Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro:

Yesterday we celebrated the birth of Jesus.

His first coming… and now this morning we are going to be talking about His second Coming.

One of the toughest subjects of study in all of scripture is the study of the end times.

Prophecy is a very difficult subject.

The language is heavily figurative, and some of it hasn’t happened yet.

It often feels like putting a jigsaw puzzle together without the box top...

Melissa loves to do puzzles… but part of her being able to do them so well, is the ability to look at the picture on the puzzle box.

Have you ever tried to put a puzzle together without seeing the picture??.

It is difficult.

In our last study Paul dealt with the comfort, the assurance and the certainties of the rapture of the church that would include all of those who have been born again, living and dead alike.

Now he turns his attention to the Day of the Lord.

The rapture of the church will precede the Tribulation and after the church is taken away, the events of the Day of the Lord, or the Great Tribulation, will begin in rapid succession, culminating with the return of Christ to judge the world and Satan, establishing His throne for the Millennial Reign.

The words Paul sent to Thessalonica were not a complete theological examination of the Second Coming, but rather a pastoral address to settle and guide them as they looked toward that day… Part of this pastoral address was showing them the difference between believers that are “Ready and Waiting” for the Lords return and the rest of the world that is living in darkness.

One of his main purposes in writing this section of Scripture is to encourage the believers in Thessalonica and ultimately the believers of today, to live out what they say they believe.

We are to be a light in the darkness that surrounds us each and every day...

With that in mind… Lets start in to Chapter 5 of 1 Thessalonians… ( Read vv.

1-5)...

Meat:

As Paul continues on with his letter, he elaborates a little more about…

1.

The Return of Christ:

Again, This is a separate event from the rapture...

During the rapture Jesus will appear in the clouds, removing every believer and starting the events associated with “the Day of the Lord” (also known as “The Tribulation period”), which we will talk a little bit more about in a few minutes… after that period of time has ended, Jesus Christ will actually return bodily to the earth and stand on the Mount of Olives.

The Thessalonian believers had the same questions that we do concerning these events and the main question they had is one of the main questions that most, if not all, of us have asked at some point or another… and that is a question of; When???

When will all of this take place?… and that tells me that, for them, and hopefully for all of us as well, The Return of Christ…

1.1 Is Expected

Paul tells them in verse 1 “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you.”

Remember, Paul is answering questions that Timothy brought back with him after his visit to Thessalonica.

So, one of those questions was regarding the timing of the Rapture and the Second Coming of Christ.

Paul uses the phrase “The Times and the Seasons”… “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you.”

This is a phrase that is only found a few times in Scripture and I believe that Paul is re-iterating the point that Christ Himself made just before His ascension...

To often we get focused on the “When” question instead of focusing on the “What” question… We get so caught up on “When will these things take place??”, but in reality, our focus should be on “What am I supposed to be doing until these events take place?”

Just a quick google search reveals that numerous people either skipped over these words of Christ, or just didn’t believe them…

***Examples of Books***

This is Ronald Weinland.

He predicted that Jesus will come back on June 9th, 2019.

What happened on that day?

• Ashleigh Barty won the French Open.

• It was Father’s Day in Austria

• It was Pentecost Sunday.

• Hopefully most of you were in Church.

• And… The Rapture didn’t happen…

But here is the real kicker.

Ronald Weinland predicted that Jesus would come back

• On the September 30, 2008… didn’t happen…

• On Pentecost of 2012… didn’t happen…

• On Pentecost of 2013… didn’t happen…

Ron has also said that if Jesus doesn’t come back in 2019 Christ could still return – but not until 2020.

What do we say to people like Ronald Weinland?

- Open your Bible and read it.

- Stop trying to predict when Jesus is coming.

1.1 Is Expected

God has ordained specific times and seasons for the nations on earth, particularly Israel, and all of this will culminate in a terrible time called “the day of the Lord.”

This phrase “The Times and the Seasons” that Paul uses… Comes from the Greek word chronos and deals with “chronological time, clock or calendar time.”

He also deals with seasons, from the Greek word kairos, and it deals with “events, eras, or seasons.”

Two different and distinct indicators that men look toward to try and figure out when the Lord will return… Paul was stating that there was no need to invest their time in such desires, but instead, invest in living each day in full expectation of His coming.

Clearly the church today ought to live in expectation and earnest anticipation of the Lord’s coming.

It is not a fairy tale or a myth… It isn’t something we hope will one day happen.

The Lord will come for His Bride (The Church) and rapture us out… The question is; Are we really living with that expectation?

Did you wake up this morning thinking, this could be the day?

Christ’s return should be Expected and...

1.2 Is Imminent

v.2 “For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.”

Now we have come to that phrase “The Day of the Lord”…

When studying Scripture it is very important to realize that even though the same word is used, it could be referring to several different things…

For example, the word “Day” in the Scriptures can be talking about a literal 24 hour period…

“The Seventh Day” of creation was a literal 24hr day…

But the word “Day” can also talk about a longer period of time in which God accomplish some other special purpose…

“Day” in this verse refers to the week (7 - 24hr days) of creation.

Also, look at the words of Christ...

In this context, a “day” is considered... the amount of time that the sun is up...

When we are looking at the “Day of the Lord” mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 5, we are talking about the period of time when God will judge the world and punish the nations…

Another term for this period is “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer.

30:7).

Many students of the Scriptures also call it the tribulation period and point to Revelation 6–19 as the Scripture that most vividly describes this event.

Paul tells us that this period of time comes like “a thief in the night”

Peter says the same thing…

1.2 Is Imminent

When is the last time someone walked up to you and said “hey, if you get woke up by some strange noises tonight, don’t worry about it… I am just downstairs robbing you of anything that I can carry...”

I am guessing that nobody has ever had a conversation like that… and if for some strange reason a burglar (or thief) was that considerate to let you know that he was coming,… my guess is y’all wouldn’t just leave the front door unlocked, the safe open and a snack on the counter just in case they were hungry when they showed up.

You would stay up all night waiting, ready for action, protecting your belongings…

Folks, Thieves do not schedule their nighttime appearances with homeowners in advance… Likewise, the events that usher in “The day of the Lord” will happen suddenly and to the ones that are not ready and waiting… they will happen unexpectedly… and they can happen at any time…

Christ said…

This analogy describes the suddenness and the surprise involved in the coming of the day of the Lord.

Warren Wiersbe says “Christ used this image to warn believers not to be caught napping.

Since we do not know when the Lord will return for His people, we must live in a constant attitude of watching and waiting, while we are busy working and witnessing.”

The world will not be ready or prepared for that day when it comes… and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it…

Christ’s Return…

1.3 Is Unstoppable

v.3 “For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman.

And they shall not escape.”

Paul likens these events to that of “labor pains of a pregnant women”… now this is subject that I know a little bit about…

***Illustration of contraction monitors***

- Thankfully Melissa has a strong relationship with her heavenly Father and He commanded her “Thou shalt not kill” or else I probably would not be here today…

A standard pregnancy lasts 9-10 months but the Labor and delivery portion only lasts, for some, a few hours up to 1 - 2 Days.

Once hard labor has started, the pregnancy will soon come to an end.

Once the Church is raptured out and we meet Christ in the air…, the hard labor pains will start to intensify and get closer and closer... and very soon after… the Lord will return to earth as Ruler and King!

As I said before, the start of all of this will happen suddenly and will take the world by surprise.

Paul says that it will happen at a time when they are saying “Peace and Safety”

That word safety can also be translated as “Security”… again a quick google search of the words “Peace and Safety” and the first things you will see are articles with biblical references, but not to far down the page and I stumbled upon this…

From what I can tell, this section of their website is dedicated to articles that deal with what they believe are things that are important to get the world to a point of being Peaceful and Secure… and would you know it, the first one that I read, had several suggestions for the nation of Israel to make changes in their customs and practices in order to have peace in the middle east.

Folks, the platform is there… and I strongly believe that we could be living in the generation that see’s these events take place.