Let us pray. Holy Father, we thank you that you have given us this wonderful portion of your word, which is a great word of encouragement for us as believers as we await for the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you, Lord, that you have given us also the Holy Spirit so as we read your word, we can have understanding of your word. More than understanding, we can have faith in what you have written here is your truth, your word. Help us, Lord, to live encouraged by these words today. Help us, Lord, to be reminded that as we are here, awaiting for the second coming. We're looking forward to this great and wonderful moment when we will be you with you forever. We pray all these things in Jesus name. Amen. So we're getting close to the end of this book, Second Thessalonians. And if there is something in common between these two chapters, chapter 14 and chapter 15, is that Paul is addressing the concerns that these brothers and sisters had in Thessalonica in connection with the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you remember from last week, We saw that their concern was or had to do with those who have fallen asleep before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Basically, they were concerned for those who have died before the coming of Jesus, whether they were lost or they were missing or will miss the great blessing of being with the Lord at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul reaffirmed then that they will not precede those who are alive at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, those who have fallen asleep. that when Christ will come, we will come together, those who will be alive and those who have fallen asleep before the coming of Jesus Christ, to meet the Lord in the air and welcome him and come back with him, to be with him forever. What a wonderful word of encouragement for them and for us as well today. And Paul sent them to encourage one another with these words. and to be encouraged by these words. Basically when we move now to this chapter, chapter five, Paul is again addressing another concern that they have regarding the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this time have to do with where they're ready or will they be ready when Christ will come? Will they be ready in terms of being right before God when Christ will come? And we don't see that question put here on these verses, but we can assume that that's the question that was brought to Paul by Timothy, maybe from then, or maybe from concerns that Timothy had when he was with them, regarding how they felt regarding the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And before we go into these texts, I can tell you that I have Probably here or being in places where this passage has been preached before, maybe when I was very little and I remember not leaving the church very encouraged. Actually, I remember leaving the church kind of scared. And probably the reason was because there was an approach that was done to the test that this test was preached to Christians. who better be careful and better be ready in terms of be careful with your works so the Lord Christ will come and maybe you will be left behind. And that's not what we find in these verses because what we find in these verses is words of encouragement. Then what Paul does is Paul speaks actually about two groups, non-believers and believers. and the believers, and he describes both of them, how they will be when our Lord Jesus Christ will come. And there is a word of exhortation there. Yes, there is a word of exhortation. And that's maybe the problem that some people have had with the test, that they look at the test just as an exhortation, but there is exhortation and encouragement. So, we're going to start by looking at, especially in verses one through three, sudden destruction will come upon them. Paul is actually speaking to the non-believers. Sudden destruction will come upon them. So Paul starts saying, now concerning the times and the seasons, the chronois and the kairois, the times and the seasons, these were two expressions that were understood by the New Testament people as the time when our Lord Jesus Christ will come or the judgment day. Now he's saying concerning this, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. Remember that in chapter four, Paul says he didn't want them to be uninformed, so there was some information that they needed to know more about those who have fallen asleep. But here in this chapter, Paul is speaking about something that he has already taught to them. Now he says that they had no need to have anything written to them because even our Lord Jesus Christ in Acts 1-7 said this word. He said to them, this is to his disciples before his ascension, it is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. Basically, Paul has already told them that, that they were not supposed to know when our Lord Jesus Christ will come. Remember, they are concerned if they will be ready for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And their solution was I better know the day, so I will be ready by the day he comes. But Paul has the real solution. It's not knowing the day, but there is something else. So it's not that he's dismissing their concern, saying, I have no need to write anything to you. I don't want to tell you anything, period. Then we don't have anything else done, but just wait. He actually tells them some things. One is that for you, yourself, are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. Now, this is not something new that Paul came up with. This is actually that Paul is getting actually from our Lord Jesus Christ himself, who in Matthew 24, verses 43 to 44, he says these words. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have left his house being broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." So our Lord Jesus Christ also used the metaphor of the thief at night. But Peter as well used it. 2 Peter 3, verse 10, he says, 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. And John also talk about the same thing in Revelations chapter three. He says, remember then that what you receive and heard, keep it and repent. If you will not, wake up and I will come like a thief. and you will not know at what hour I will come against you." Something that is in common from these passages that we just read, or I just read, is that there is a warning here for those who will not be ready. This is why Paul is talking about The day of the Lord will come like a thief at night. And this is a metaphor that could be actually easily understood. Think about this. The thief, when he comes, he doesn't send you an email or a text message or a postcard to let you know that he's coming so you are ready when he comes. And when he comes, he comes at night, so it's dark. Most likely, as you will see later, you will be asleep, or as you can see also in the text, for some people, they will be out partying and maybe drunk. So these are kind of the images that Paul is trying to plant in people's minds. But Paul here is not talking about the believers. How do we know that? Because he says in verse three, while people are saying there is peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them. We know that sudden destruction will not come upon the sons and daughters of God. Paul here is referring to those who are non-believers at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, some people have talked about what does that mean, peace and security, and they have interpreted it in different ways, but I think that what this means is that for anybody who is a non-believer, in his life he thinks that he is actually living in peace and security, and there is no need to have God in his life. I remember a conversation that I have with one of my friends, a Chinese student who was coming to Bible study faithfully every week, and he knew the Bible very well. I think that he could teach the Bible study. He came for about three years, and one day I came to him and asked him, Do you believe in Jesus as your savior? And he said, well, Enrique, you know, my father is very wealthy. He has a big company in China. And actually, I don't need to even be doing what I'm doing here, studying. I just can go back and study and enjoy all what I have. I don't need God. I don't need Jesus. I don't need a savior. I was actually in shock after all this time hearing him. And then he completed his statement by saying, you know what, but maybe in the future if there is a problem in my life, maybe I might need a savior. That's the kind of peace of security people will have at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ will come and it will be sudden destruction for them. We know that the day of the Lord is a wonderful day, but there is also, in a sense, it's also a terrible day for those who will not be ready because they have no faith in Jesus. Then Paul used another metaphor. The other metaphor is, he says, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman. The similarity between the thief at night and the pains in a pregnant woman is that it's sudden, that you cannot be prepared for that. I was just talking with my friend last night whose wife delivered at home. Thanks God he was a doctor, he was a physician, but she was not even be able to get to the hospital because it was sudden. It came just like that. Now, something is different between these two metaphors. One is that the thief at night, we don't know if he's coming, but the labors of pains, yes, we know they will come. Six months, seven months, eight months, nine months, at some point, they will come. And he says, and they will not escape. That is what is gonna happen with those who do not believe in Jesus. at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the difference between this metaphor, which is the labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, is that for those who are mothers, you know that once you see the baby, you forget about the pain. I think so. I think so. And I think so because I have seen the face of my wife. When she sees the baby, she forgets about the pain. But, In our metaphor, in what Paul is trying to say here, there will be no forgetting about the pain. Because when it comes, it will come sudden, and there will be, as he says, sudden destruction will come upon them. Now here is where I'm saying that some people have misunderstood this as this was actually talking about believers. And the reason why you can see clear that it's not is but. the but that you have in verse four. He says, but, then he's making a contrast. These are the non-believers who will receive the Lord as a sudden destruction for them, but he says, you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. You are not in darkness for that day to surprise you like a thief. So I said that this metaphor is It's kind of easy to understand, but there is some difficulty here because we can ask questions like, will the Lord, as a thief at night, come also for the believers? This is how the Lord is coming also? For the believers as a thief at night? That will surprise us? Yes, there is an element of surprise. None of us know when the Lord will come. But the Lord will not come as a thief at night for us who are Christians. Why? The second question that we can ask is, will we be taken by surprise? Will we be taken by surprise? And Paul answers that question right away here. He says, but you are not in darkness brothers for that day to surprise you like a thief. So we who are Christians will not be surprised by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not in the sense of we will know when he will come, but we will not be surprised in the sense of we will not be prepared. We will be prepared for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And here is where you can see that Paul actually describes two groups again. The believers and the non-believers. He says, But you are not in darkness. So the non-believers are in darkness. They don't have their eyes open. They don't see the coming judgment. They don't see, as my friend, that their life was not in peace and security. that he was actually walking straight to hell if he doesn't believe in Jesus. Also for them, for the non-believers, the Lord will come at night and in darkness. They will not see because it's going to be dark. And he says that they will be asleep. They will be asleep. And some of them will be drunk. It means that those who are awake and out are paring and they will be drunk. And these are just pictures to describe that they will not be ready because they have no faith in Jesus. Now he's contrasting here, Paul is contrasting here those who are in darkness, at night, asleep. or drunk with us who believe, he says, but you, and who are you is the Thessalonians, Christians, and us, we are what? Children of light, children of the day. So here is where, in a sense, the metaphor is a little bit complicated. The Lord comes one day, but he comes during the daytime for us believers, and we will be awake because we are children of light, children of the day. But the same day, he's coming at nighttime for those who are no believers, because they are children of night, they are in darkness, they are asleep, and they are drunk. Now what is the word of encouragement that we find here for us as believer? It's what we find here in verse nine, which is a wonderful promise for Christians. He says, for God has no destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Here, Paul is talking about God prophesies before the foundation of the world when he have appointed us believers for salvation, not for wrath. That's what we know and we understand as assurance of salvation. He has assured us that we will be saved at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what Paul wanted to remind them. Remember, they wanted to know the day of the Lord, the day, the exact day so they will be ready. And he said if you are a Christian, you are destined for salvation. You will not be destined for wrath. Who is destined for wrath? Those who are in darkness, in night, are asleep and are drunk. To them, Paul says, sudden destruction will come upon them. the day of the Lord will be a terrible day. I think that that should put in us an urgency to go out and bring the gospel to those that still don't know our Lord Jesus Christ. Because as we are rejoicing and as we are saying Maranatha, we look forward to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are also concerned about those who still don't know Jesus. Many of them are relatives, are friends, people that are co-workers to them. If the Lord comes today and they are not ready because they are not believers, there will be sudden destruction. There will be wrath poured out on them. And we cannot solve this message because that's the message of the Bible. That's what salvation is about. He save us, God save us from himself. God save us from his own wrath. Now he says in verse 10, something that actually can make our metaphor also a little bit more complicated. He says, who die for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might live within, wait a second, Paul. So are you saying now that those who are awake and those who are asleep, those who are Christians and those who are unbelievers will be saved? Is Paul preaching universalism? No. What Paul is doing is that he's going back to what he taught in chapter four. referring to those who are asleep as those who have died before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And those who are awake as those who will be alive at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And he is actually summarizing the whole chapter four verses 13 through 18 by saying, If we are asleep, if we have died before Jesus Christ come, or if we will be awake, alive at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, we will be with Jesus. And if you remember in chapter 14, it says, always, which is forever, we will be saved forever. Is this encouraging? Yes. It is encouraging for us to know that we have assurance of salvation, that as we await for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, we know for sure, because God has given us the first fruits in our hearts, the Holy Spirit, that prepare us for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But is that all that Paul is saying here? No. Okay, Paul talks about sudden destruction that will come upon those who are non-believers. He talks about the children of light, that they will not be taken by surprise, but there are some let us, let us, let us, let us through the test. And this let us is the exhortation part that we have in these verses. He says in half part of verse five, we are not of the night, or of the darkness, and then he said, so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. So you are already a children of light, you are already awake because God has awakened you from your darkness and he has given you spiritual insight to understand the gospel, but he is also challenging you to keep yourself awake, to be sober. That doesn't mean that you can lose your status as being a child of God, because once we have put our faith in Christ, we have been declared as just, justified. What that means is that we keep pressing on in our lives. We keep pressing on in studying God's Word. We keep pressing on in reading God's Word and meditating in God's Word. We keep pressing on in praying. We keep pressing on in confronting ourselves with sin and our temptation. Therefore, we are awake at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He also says in verse eight, but since we belong to the day, we belong to the day, that's a taken, this is already, God has already destined us for us, we belong to the day. He says, let us be sober. Let us be sober. This is who you are. As Paul says in chapter four, what you are doing, do it more and more. This is who you are. Let's press on. And then he gives you here something that I will call the values of God's kingdom. You have mission and vision, and you have the values of an organization. The values of God's kingdom are summarized, in my opinion, in these three things, faith, love, and hope. Put on faith, love, and hope. Yes, Paul is using here the armor metaphor, a little bit different than how he use it in Ephesians, where he talks about the breastplate as righteousness, and here he talks about that as faith and love. But what he is emphasizing is what we have to put on is faith, love, and hope. We think about love, He's encouraging us to love one another, to pray that we grow and abound in love for one another. And when we think about faith and hope, right away I think about Romans 5, when afflictions and difficulties produce stiffness, et cetera, until we grow in hope. Thus, the Christian journey, a journey where we continue daily to grow in hope, that we continue to live not by sight, but by faith, and that becomes more real and real and clear in our lives. I think that once we experience closeness to death or those around us, We see them dying. This is actually God challenging our hearts to remove our affections from this world and to put our affections in what is to come. God is teaching us to look forward to that day when sin, death, sorrow, and pain will be no more. You might wonder yourself how many times a week, how often do you think and pray about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ? Or are we so distracted about The things that we enjoy in this life that we forget that we are just sojourners moving forward to that wonderful day. Paul closed this portion by saying, therefore encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing. Remember, that's exactly how he closed chapter four. Regarding those who have died before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and are with the Lord, and that we will meet them. That's how we are called to encourage one another, but we are also to encourage one another that we have assurance of salvation. That as verse nine said, God has no destined us for wrath, but God has destined us for salvation. That we, brothers and sisters, we have assurance of victory at the end. Let us look forward for that day. Let us pray. Dear God, we thank you for this wonderful news of salvation. We thank you for these wonderful words of encouragement. We thank you, Lord, that in your mercy, you save us, God, from yourself, from your own wrath. through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, who died for our sins and transferred to us his righteousness, making us justified before you. And as we await for your coming, we know, Lord, that we are children of light, children of the day, because you have opened our eyes to the truth of the gospel. And we thank you, Lord, for the great opportunity that we have to await and celebrate. Help us, Lord, to press on. Help us, Lord, that while we live here on earth, we live lives that are worthy of the gospel of Christ. And help us, Lord, not to forget those that still don't know you. to go out, to bring the gospel out of these walls to those that still don't know you. Because for them, Lord, if they are not ready when you come, it will be a terrible, terrible day. Help us as we look forward to that, as we look forward to the day that you will come to also consider our friends, our relatives, those that still don't know you. We pray all these things in Jesus' name, amen.