All right, we’re going to read some Scripture this morning, and I don’t know if you kind of follow the songs that we sang, but there’s a little bit of a theme to it, saying about the gospel and his robes for mine, but then what are we to do with that? We’re to send the light and share that word, and so I appreciate all those songs this morning. All right, we’re going to read 1st Thessalonians chapter 5, the first three verses, and then the verses 8 through 11. Words are on the screen, and Paul’s writing to the church at Thessalonica, and this is what he wrote a couple thousand years ago.
Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying peace and safety, destruction will come on them suddenly as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. Verse 8, but since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.
For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath, but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up just as in fact you are doing.
Well, it is hard to believe that Labor Day is tomorrow. Where did the summer go? But technically, we still have three more weeks of summer. I think fall starts September 21st on the calendar, so we can still get some summer in, but quite frankly, I enjoy the fall and great, great change of seasons and a little cooler weather.
Well, we’ve been looking at 1st Thessalonians, and we’re going to be into chapter 5, so we’re in the homestretch. Probably have three more messages on 1st Thessalonians. We’ll look at verses 1 through 11 this morning, and he’s been with us.
There’s a theme for the whole book, and I’ve taken it from Dr. Warren Wiersbe’s series commentary called the Bee Series, where he writes a commentary on every book of the Bible, and he entitles it Bee Something, and so the theme of 1st Thessalonians, and this is interactive here. I hope somebody remembers. Just fill in the blank.
It’s be? Ready. All right. We got one or two that remembered.
Bee ready, and what are we ready for? It’s the second coming of Christ, and at the end of every chapter in the book of Thessalonians, Paul writing to this church that he planted, and he had to leave suddenly because of persecution, and now he’s writing this letter to encourage them. He talks about the second coming of Jesus. Did you know there’s eight times as many verses about his second coming as there are about his first coming, and we celebrate Christmas and the coming of Jesus, but there’s eight times as many verses that tell us that Jesus is coming again, and Jesus himself made that promise in John chapter 14, those first three verses in the upper room called the upper room discourse.
It’s right before the cross. The disciples are reeling because Jesus says, I’m leaving, and you can’t come with me, and one of you is going to betray me, and one of you is going to deny me three times, and they’re just taking three gut punches, and then Jesus says this to them. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions.
It really means dwelling places. If it were not so, I would not have told you, but I’m going to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you, guess what? I’m coming back so that where I am, you may be also. What a great comfort that is to realize that Jesus is coming again.
Forty days later at his ascension, there’s Jesus on the mount there, and he ascends back to heaven after giving the disciples some final instructions, and then two men appear, and as the disciples are looking up into the sky because Jesus has just levitated back to heaven, they ask the disciples a question. They kind of chuckle at the question. Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky? Because we just saw Jesus elevate from the mountain up to heaven.
That’s why we’re looking up, but then they speak this to the disciples. This same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come back in the same way you’ve seen him go into heaven. So, they said he’s coming back, and when he touches ground, he’s coming back to that same spot that he left.
It’s called the Mount of Olives there near Jerusalem. What does Jesus say in Revelation 22, the last chapter of the Bible? Three times, look, I’m coming soon. It really means quickly.
So, while there’s different interpretations of the timing of Jesus coming and how this all works out in our eschatology, to believe the Bible, you must believe that what? Jesus is coming again, and the encouraging news is that it’s 2,000 years closer to when we first read these promises. Now, the disciples kept asking him a question like, when is this going to happen? They asked that two or three times, and Jesus told them, it’s not for you to know the date. What we’re to know is to be ready and to be busy working.
So, when we think about the fact that Jesus is coming again, here’s where our church stands as far as eschatology, the order of last things, and I’m just taking it from our doctoral statement in our constitution. We believe in the blessed hope, that’s the fact that Jesus is coming again, of the personal, he’s coming, he’s not sending a representative, imminent, it could happen at any time, pre-tribulational, before that seven-year period of God’s wrath that’s going to be poured out on the world, pre-millennial coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for his redeemed ones, that’s referring to the rapture. We also believe in a subsequent return to earth with his saints to establish his kingdom.
So, it’s a two-fold return. So last week, we looked at 1st Thessalonians 4, 13 through 18, and we talked about how Paul wrote to the Thessalonian believers about this thing that we call the rapture of the church. And he wrote them because he had been with them in Thessalonica, he had taught them that Christ is coming again, but then some time’s gone by and some of their loved ones had died.
And they’re thinking, oh no, they’re going to miss the return of Christ. And so, Paul writes 1st Thessalonians 4, 13 through 18 to set them straight on how this is going to happen. So, we looked at five points last week.
First of all, revelation. Paul says, I’m giving you this by the word of the Lord. I’m not making this up.
This is God’s revelation to me. So, revelation, return, Jesus comes back. Resurrection, the dead in Christ will rise first.
Rapture, then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet them in the air. Reunion, so shall we ever be with the Lord. So that’s the rapture that could take place at any moment.
But this morning we’re going to look at 1st Thessalonians 5, 1 through 11. And we’re going to think about this phrase, the day of the Lord. So, we’re not going to actually outline the text, but we’re going to ask three questions about this text and answer hopefully three questions.
So, here’s the questions from 1st Thessalonians 5. What does the Bible mean by the phrase, the day of the Lord? It’s found over and over throughout the Bible, Old Testament, New Testament. So, what is the day of the Lord? What does the Bible mean by that? Secondly, we’re going to see how does Paul characterize the day of the Lord in this text here? What does he say it’s going to be like? And then thirdly, and this is going to be the application part, how should we then live? In other words, in light of what we’re going to learn about the day of the Lord, and I’ll tell you this, it’s not going to be a pretty day. How should we then live? Because we know what the day of the Lord holds.
And so, as my friend, Dr. Lutzer, who’s pastor emeritus of Moody Church, always says this morning, he says, my job is to speak this morning, your job is to listen, and hopefully we end at the same time. So that would be the goal here that happens. All right, so let’s look at question number one, beginning in the text here, verse one of 1st Thessalonians 5. Now, brothers and sisters, this is the NIV, brothers and sisters, you know, I counted how many times in 1st Thessalonians Paul uses that phrase? Fifteen times.
He’s referring to the church, the body of Christ, and he refers to them as brothers and sisters. And so, we think about the fact that we are part of what? God’s extended family. There’s the universal church made up of every believer who’s put their faith in Jesus, and then there’s the local church.
And we are part of God’s family. We sing that chorus, I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God. And one of the marks of a true believer is that you love other Christians.
So, the book of 1st John gives us a litmus test of three things. Of someone who’s truly been born again, there’s the doctrinal test. You must believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
He’s the Christ. He is who he claimed to be. That’s the doctrinal test.
Then there’s a moral test that a true believer does not live a life of continuous pattern of sin. Not that they don’t sin, we all still sin, we won’t reach sinless perfection until heaven, but there’s not a continuous pattern of sin in their life. And then there’s the social test, that a true person, a person who’s been truly born again, loves other Christians.
They love to be together with other Christians and encourage one another. So, Paul’s writing to these believers that have become family to him, and what does he say in verse 1? Now about times and dates, we do not need to write to you. Times and dates, he uses two different words there.
The word for times is the word Chronos, which is chronology. So, this is August 31st, 2025. The word Kairos means a set or proper time, which means like a season of opportunity.
When the Bible says redeem the time, it’s talking about Kairos, capture those opportunities in your life. Like for parents, a number of years ago I heard somebody talk about the 216 principle. What’s the 216 principle? They said, well, from zero to 18, you have 216 months with your kids.
And you need to capture those moments and redeem that time. So Chronos and Kairos, Paul says, I don’t need to write you about the dates and the times and the seasons. Why? Because he’d already taught them this.
But he says in verse 2, for you know very well, that means with certainty, here it is, that phrase that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. So, what is this phrase, the day of the Lord? So, it’s found at least 18 times in the Old Testament.
Question #1 What does the Bible mean by the phrase, “day of the Lord”?
The phrase ‘day of the Lord’ always refers to a span of time during which God personally intervenes in history to accomplish some specific aspect of his plan.
It’s found four times in the New Testament. And so, here’s one definition, although I think this one might be a little too broad, but here’s one person’s definition. The phrase day of the Lord always refers to a span of time during which God personally intervenes in history to accomplish some specific aspect of his plan.
The Old Testament passages referring to the day of the Lord often speak of a near fulfillment and a far fulfillment. And so, when we read passages in the prophets and they’re talking about the day of the Lord, there’s like a precursor, a near fulfillment, and then there’s the ultimate fulfillment. The near fulfillment was often God’s judgment on the nation of Israel.
We know that in 722 BC, the northern kingdom, the ten tribes of Israel were taken captive by the Assyrians. And the book of Habakkuk talks about that. Actually, the book of Habakkuk talks about the second judgment, 586 BC, the Babylonians.
And that should be no surprise to us, because if you’re reading Deuteronomy 28, God clearly lays out for Israel, if you follow me and do this, you’ll experience all these blessings. But if you don’t follow me, then you’re going to experience all these curses. And some of it was that you would be controlled by another nation that would take you into captivity.
And so, some of the Old Testament passages that talk about the day of the Lord are referring to when the Assyrians took the northern kingdom, 722 BC, 586 BC, the southern kingdom, the two tribes of Judah were taken captive by the Babylonians. This is where the book of Daniel fits in. And so, they’re talking about that near fulfillment, but then ultimately, they’re also referring to sometimes later in the same book, a far fulfillment of the day of the Lord.
And that’s the day that we’re going to look at this morning. It’s a future fulfillment that hasn’t come yet. Let me just read a couple of Old Testament passages just to give you a little flavor for this phrase, the day of the Lord.
This is a prophecy against Babylon. This is Isaiah 13:6, “‘Wail, for the day of the Lord is near. It will come like destruction from the Almighty.
Because of this, all hands will go limp. Every heart will melt with fear. Terror will seize them.
Pain and anguish will grip them. They will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at each other, their faces aflame.
See, the day of the Lord is coming, a cruel day with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it.'” Now, some of these passages, as we think about this, might sound a little harsh to us because we think, well, I thought God was a God of love. He is a God of love. But God is also a holy God, and God is also a just God, and therefore, He must judge thin.
And the Bible says that day of judgment is coming, and the prophets talked about it, and it is all through the Old Testament and all through the New Testament. Here’s Joel 1:15, “‘Alas for that day, for the day of the Lord is near. It will come like destruction from the Almighty.'” Joel 2:11, “‘The Lord thunders at the head of His army.
His forces are beyond number, and mighty is the army that obeys His command. The day of the Lord is great. It is dreadful.
Who can endure it?’ And so, the prophets are talking about this future, this day of judgment that’s coming. And that’s where Paul begins to write to the Thessalonian believers. He says, “‘The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.'” So, here’s another definition of the day of the Lord.
This is from Dr. John MacArthur, who just recently passed into heaven. John MacArthur says, “‘The day of the Lord’ is a technical term to describe God’s final judgment, God’s final judgment. James 5:7 says, “‘Be patient until the coming of the Lord.'” Verse 9 says, “‘The judge is at the door.'” So, the day of reckoning.
This could be called man’s day or the day of grace. But there’s a day coming called the day of the Lord, which is a future judgment when God’s wrath is poured out on the world. If you want to read about it, read Revelation chapter 6 through 19.
And there’s three series of judgments. There’s the seal judgments, there’s the trumpet judgments, there’s the bowl judgments. In each of those judgments, God’s pouring out His wrath during a time called the Great Tribulation on planet earth, and it will be the most horrific time in human history.
Now, there are many people that question that and doubt that, and that’s true today. That was true back in the first century, because in 2nd Peter chapter 3, Peter says, you must understand in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own desires, and they will say, where is this coming, He’s promised? So, Peter says, people are going to say, oh yeah, where, yeah, oh Jesus is coming, right, right, yeah. He said He’s coming soon, that was 2,000 years ago, and they’re going to mock this doctrine of the second coming.
And Peter says what they misunderstand is that there was also a previous time in human history where God judged the world, and He begins to talk about the flood. They’re ignorant that back in Genesis 6, God sent a universal flood to the world and rescued eight people in the family of Noah. And so, Peter encourages us with these words, the Lord is not slow in keeping His promise.
Instead, He is patient with you. Why hasn’t Jesus come back yet? Here’s one of the reasons, not wanting anyone to perish, but for everyone to come to repentance. He’s not coming back because He’s waiting for people to come to faith in Jesus.
He’s long-suffering, offering the gift of salvation. But then verse 10 says, but the day of the Lord will come like a thief. Matthew 24:21, the words of Jesus, He’s describing this day of the Lord, for then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now, never to be equaled again.
Question #2 what are some of the characteristics then of the day of the Lord?
1. unannounced
So, the day of the Lord is God’s final time period of reckoning when He’s going to pour His wrath out on planet earth. So, what are some of the characteristics then of the day of the Lord that Paul’s writing to the Thessalonians about here in 1st Thessalonians chapter 5, and we’ve already referred to the first one here, it will come unannounced. Verse 2, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
You’re not going to get an advance warning of a specific date; it’s going to come unannounced. And Jesus said in Revelation 16:5, look, I come like a thief. And a thief doesn’t send you an email or a text and say, hey, I’m showing up and give you the time and the date, do they? It just happens with surprise.
I started thinking about just in our own family incidents that we’ve had with a thief. I remember my dad pastored in Cleveland, Ohio for 18 years, and I remember him telling this story. So, he was making a visit on one of the shut-ins that was related to probably my dad’s best friend, and she lived in the inner city of Cleveland.
My dad’s making a visit on her visits. Mrs. Messner was his name. He’s walking down the sidewalk to his car, and all of a sudden, a guy comes behind him with a gun.
Says, give me your wallet, don’t make another move or you’re dead. And he was robbed. No previous announcement there.
I remember when we lived in Cleveland, we were at a church event one night. I remember we came back to our home and started looking around like, who left this mess here? And why are all the drawers out? And what happened? And then all of a sudden, we begin to notice there’s some things missing. I was like, oh man, someone broke into our house and robbed us.
My younger brother, when he was right out of college, walked into a store that was being robbed. And this is in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and a fella had a gun. Said to my brother, put your wallet on the counter.
And he puts his wallet on the counter, and then he opens fire. Shot the clerk in this store and shot my brother. The clerk passed away.
My brother survived that shooting. Our middle son manages a bank in Grand Rapids, and he got moved to a new branch of the bank that was close to downtown Grand Rapids. And in the first year there, it was robbed two times at gunpoint.
So, in none of those instances does the thief say, well, hey, this is the date. This is what’s going to happen. No, it’s unannounced.
And the Apostle Paul says, that’s what’s going to happen in this day of judgment. It’s going to come like a thief in the night. Here’s the second characteristic that will characterize this.
2. Many will have a false sense of security before the day of the Lord
Many will have a false sense of security before the day of the Lord. Oh, Paul writes in verse 3, while people are saying, what, peace and safety, you know, they think, oh, you know, our life is fine. You know, we’re safe.
We’re secure. But they will have a false sense of security. Matthew chapter 24, the words of Jesus in verse 36, that he says, hey, that hour and day, nobody knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, nor the Father.
Verse 42, therefore, keep watch, because you do not know on what day the Lord will come. So, you better be ready. And there’ll be many people that will have a false sense of security.
Just like the scripture says before Noah’s flood, because people were marrying and giving in marriage and life was going on as normal. And then what happened? Judgment fell. And so many will have a false sense of security.
3. sudden destruction
And then the third characteristic here is sudden destruction. While people are saying, peace and safety, destruction will come on them suddenly. As labor pains on a pregnant woman, they will not escape.
Here’s 10 biblical words to describe God’s judgment during this time period. It’s a time of wrath, judgment, indignation, trial, trouble, destruction, darkness, desolation, overturning, punishment. Dr. David Jeremiah in his book, The Great Disappearance, this is how he describes the time of God’s wrath, that seven-year tribulation period.
Let me just read a few verses here. Nowhere in scripture will you find one word or description that says anything good about the tribulation period, unless it is the promise that it will end after seven years. Zephaniah says it’s the day of the Lord’s anger.
Moses called it the day of their calamity. Paul refers to it as the day of wrath to come. John called it the hour of trial, Revelation 3:10, the hour of his judgment.
Daniel describes it as a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation. According to the prophet Zephaniah, the day is a day of wrath, of trouble and distress, devastation, desolation, darkness. Jesus told us that the tribulation would be a time of terror and horror without precedent, Matthew 24:21 and 22.
For then there will be a great tribulation such as has not been seen since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. But for the elect’s sake, those days will be shortened.
And so, it’s a time period of tremendous tribulation, wrath, and judgment. It’ll be unannounced. People will have a false sense of security.
And then God’s judgment will come. Well, let me just read the next few verses here, and then we’ll look at some applications and how we should then live. So, here’s what Paul writes to the Thessalonians in verse 4, But you, brothers and sisters, there it is again, are not in darkness, so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You have some advanced information that this day is coming, although you don’t know exactly when.
You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness, so then let us not be like others who are asleep, but let us be, what, awake and sober. We need to be ready and informed.
Question #3 how should we then live?
Verse 8, But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, alert, putting on faith and love as a breastplate and the hope of salvation as a helmet. And so, Paul talks about, what, the three great virtues of the Christian life, faith, hope, and love. Well, how should we live in light of what Paul’s talking about here, in light of the day of the Lord? And so, we’ll just conclude by thinking about some application truths of how we should then live.
1. be informed
Number one, we need to be informed. 1st Thessalonians 4:13, when Paul is writing to the believers there, and understand they didn’t have the New Testament like we do, they just had the Old Testament prophets’ writings. They weren’t, they didn’t know about this concept of the rapture of the church.
The apostle Paul says, brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed. Some of your translations say ignorant. So, we need to be informed about, what, the future, because the Bible tells us how the world’s going to end.
Read the book of Daniel, read the book of Revelation. We need to be informed. Matthew chapter 16, Jesus had a conversation with the religious leaders of the day, the Jewish religious leaders, the Sadducees and the Pharisees, and it says they came to Jesus asking Him to show them a sign from heaven.
Jesus, show us a sign. They’re always, like, testing Jesus, always trying to get into a conversation, an aggressive conversation with Jesus. And here’s what Jesus said to the religious leaders, the Jewish religious leaders.
When evening comes, you say it will be fair weather, for the sky is red. And in the morning, today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast. You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.
And Jesus is telling these religious leaders, you’re good at trying to forecast the weather. What you don’t know are spiritual truths about what’s coming and God’s future judgment. And so, God wants us to be informed.
2. be spiritually alert
The second thought here, application, is that we need to be spiritually alert. We need to be spiritually alert. And it’s all through this text that we just read.
When the text says, be sober, it’s not talking about not being drunk, although there are places in the Bible where it talks about that. It’s talking about spiritual alertness. Be ready, be informed that Jesus could come back at any time.
The late Southern preacher, Dr. Vance Havner says, we need to take down our do not disturb signs, come out of our coma and awake from our spiritual apathy. God’s word calls us to awake out of our sleep and to walk in righteousness. And when we know that Christ is coming again to this earth, we cannot go on being the same people.
So, here’s some things that Dr. Jeremiah’s book, he says we need to be doing until Jesus comes. And because he’s coming back, they all start with a letter of R, remember the Lord’s table. We need to come together, and the Bible tells us to do this, doesn’t tell us how often, but the front of this communion table says, just do in remembrance of me.
It’s a command from Jesus what to observe, what the bread and the cup as a way of remembering what Christ has done for us, that we sang about this morning, His robes for mine, that in the righteousness of Christ, we are perfect and our sins are forgiven. Many times, we as believers don’t put a whole lot of stock into the Lord’s table. We do it seven times a year here, every other month, and then Christmas Eve.
I think we need to circle those on our calendar. Jesus’ invitation to come and remember my sacrifice for you. We need to remember the Lord’s table.
We need to restore the bereaved. That’s encouraging those who have lost loved ones, and that’s 1st Thessalonians 4:13 through 18. Don’t lose hope.
You’re going to see your loved one again someday if they’re in Christ. We need to refuse to neglect church. Hebrews 10:24, and 25 talks about not neglecting the assembling of yourselves together.
We need to remain steadfast in our faith. We need to reach the lost. If there’s any thought that wants us to be double down on sharing the gospel and making sure that people in our circle of relatives and friends know Jesus, it should be a message on the wrath of God.
It was Jonathan Edwards that back in the 1700s, I think it was, wrote, preached the sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. There’s a day of judgment coming, and so we need to get the gospel out locally and to the ends of the earth. Well, we need to be informed.
3. be thankful
We need to be spiritually alert. Thirdly, we need to be thankful. Here it is, verse 9, for God did not appoint us to suffer wrath.
Let that phrase sink in a little bit. He’s writing to believers. God did not appoint us to suffer wrath.
We sang about it this morning in one of the phrases of the hymns. When Jesus was on the cross, what did he do? He took God’s wrath upon him and paid our sins so we don’t have to suffer wrath. And what is God’s wrath? It’s eternal punishment in a place called hell.
Jesus took that for us, and so we need to be thankful for what Jesus has done. Now, for those of us that believe in the pre-tribulational rapture of the church, and that’s how we tend to interpret the eschatology, we can add a double thanks here because those that believe in that point to this verse that says the rapture of the church is going to happen before God’s time of judgment. And so, we can also say, well, we can be thankful that we think God’s going to remove believers out of this world before this time of wrath and tribulation.
So, we need to be thankful for what Christ has done for us. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. So, he’s appointed us, what, to receive salvation and to be thankful that God took our place, that Jesus took our place, and he suffered God’s wrath for us.
And then verse 10 says, he died for us so that whether we are awake, that means alive, or asleep, that means we’ve died, euphemism for death. Jesus died for us so that whether we’re living or we’ve died, we may live together with him. Oh, we could be thankful that when we live our Christian life, God promises, Jesus promises to be with us, but if we die, guess what? We’re going to go to heaven and we’ll be with him forever.
This is what Paul writes in Philippians 1:21, for me to live is Christ, to die is gain. As I heard someone say this summer for the Christian, every day above ground is a good day, every day below ground for the Christian is a great day, because it means you’re in God’s presence, a place of no more sin, no more sadness, no more suffering, no more pain, forever and ever with him. And that’s what Paul’s saying here, died for us so that we’ll be together with him.
That’s why Jesus is coming back, he said in John 14, so that where I am, you may be also. And so, in one sense, we have some descriptions of heaven in the book of Revelation and yes, streets of gold, yes, pearly gates, but as beautiful as heaven is going to be, here’s the best part of heaven, you’re going to be with Jesus. You’re going to see him face to face and the one who gave his life for you.
And so how should we then live? We need to be thankful every day that Jesus took our place and took the wrath of God on him so that we don’t have to endure God’s wrath. Well, lastly, here’s the fourth one. And it’s right in the text here.
4. encourage one another and build each other up
We need to encourage one another and build each other up. Verse 11, therefore, encourage one another and build each other up just as in fact you are doing. And so, Paul’s teaching about the second coming of Christ, the rapture, the day of the Lord, he says, what are we to do with that? Well, we’re to encourage one another.
That’s how he concludes chapter four, verse 18. Therefore, encourage one another with these words. Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up just as in fact you are doing.
And so how does that happen? Well, we encourage one another with words, can’t we? We underestimate the power of the spoken word. Proverbs says death and life are in the power of the tongue. And we have this powerful tool called speech that we can use to either encourage others or tear each other down.
And Paul says one of the marks of a person who’s redeemed, and he says, don’t use any rotten speech in your, let no corrupt communication come out of your mouth, that means rotten speech, but what, use your words to what, build each other and encourage one another. So, we need to encourage one another with our words. We can encourage one another with our works.
Ephesians 2:10 says, 8 and 9 says, we’re saved by grace through faith alone in Christ alone, not of works. So, salvation is not of works, but then verse 10 says, we aren’t saved by good works, but we are saved to do good works. And so, we encourage one another by doing good works.
Jesus said, let your light so shine among men so they may see your, what, good works and glorify your Father in heaven. So, God’s called us to do good works out of gratitude for what he has done for us. And then we encourage one another, not only with our words, not only with our works, but also, we already mentioned this, with our weekly gathering.
Hebrews 10:24 and 25, and let me just read that as we conclude here from Hebrews 10:24 and 25. Here’s what the author of Hebrews has to say. Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day approaching.
And in my Bible, that’s capital D. That’s the day that we’re talking about, the day of the Lord. And so, the author of Hebrews is saying, hey, don’t stop meeting together. Paraphrase, don’t stop coming to church.
And what’s one of our goals when we come to church? It’s, first of all, primarily to worship, but it’s also what? To encourage one another and to build each other up and to think how is we, corporately, as the body of Christ, how can we do good works and let people see Jesus in us? So how should we then live? We need to be informed the day of the Lord’s coming and it can happen at any moment. It’s going to come like a thief in the night. We need to be spiritually alert and have our radar screen up and radar up and realize that we need to live for him in the time that he’s given us.
We need to be thankful that God hasn’t appointed us to wrath, but Jesus took our wrath on the cross. And then we need to be constantly encouraging one another. Well, I want to close with some encouragement and reading some scripture.
And so, I want you to listen to this. This is the prophet, Zachariah. He’s writing about the day of the Lord and he’s referring to the second coming, I believe, at the end of the tribulation when Jesus’ feet will literally touch the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
And here’s what Zachariah has to say, referring to Jesus, on that day, His feet will stand, this is Zachariah 14:4, on the Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem. And the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel.
You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come and all His holy ones, those are believers, with him. On that day there will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness.
It will be a unique day, a day only known to the Lord, with no distinction between day and night. When evening comes, there will be light. On that day, living water will flow out of Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea in summer and winter.
But here’s where we want to close and be encouraged. This is verse 9. The Lord will be king over all the earth. On that day, there will be one Lord and His name, the only name.
When Jesus comes back, he’s going to be the king. He’s going to rule and reign the whole earth and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. That day is coming.
It’s going to be a great day. I hope you’re ready. I hope you know Jesus, that you put your trust in His finished work on the cross for your salvation.
I hope we’ll live every day in light of the fact that Jesus could come today. And I hope we’ll be busy in sharing the good news of the gospel with many that have yet to bow the knee to Jesus.