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166 one 6/6.
Lord, thou hast drawn us after thee. Now let us run and never tire in 166.
But thou hast drawn up early.
Now that must come.
My present? Come on 13.
I shall follow Art.
Lord and.
God will follow you.
Our sunlight.
When hearts were strong.
Oh my goodness.
Our granddad's name.
Our grandfather.
I love you. I'm from our restraints.
I'm sick of.
I'm going to be home before.
Nsnoise our earth. Sleep time, I please must hear.
Nsnoise.
So this thing also 280.
Oh, joyful day, Oh Gloria.
00:05:04
'S not on the grave.
In all his birthday all the way.
MMM.
Zero Eight, 2018.
Nsnoise.
9539 and what my spirit said first of all.
MMM 17994.
98 persons not in the brain.
For a refreshing girl long story.
When she passed 100000.
I suggest we go on to 1St Thessalonians 5 verse one, and if there's a need for another comment or two behind that, that'd be perfectly fine, obviously.
First Corinthians chapter 5. I'm sorry, First Thessalonians chapter 5, beginning at verse one. But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you, for yourselves. Know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
Before when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.
But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light and the children of the dead. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober, for they that sleep, sleep in the night.
And they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us.
00:10:02
That whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly.
In love for their work sake and be a tease among yourselves.
Now we exalt you, brethren. Warn them that are unruly. Comfort the feeble minded, supports the weak. Be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man, but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men. Rejoice evermore.
Pray without ceasing in everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit, despise not prophesizing, prove all things, hold fast that which is good, abstain from all appearance of evil, and the very God of peace. Sanctify you holy and I pray God.
Your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved flameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us. Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss. I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
Nsnoise.
Unlike the end of the last chapter where the Thessalonians Saints were being taught something they hadn't heard before that they didn't understand, which was that they.
Uh, those that had already physically died that were asleep in Jesus were going to be caught up out of the grave to go up together with those that were still alive at the time of the Lord's coming. That was a great comfort to them that they weren't going to be separated from the brethren that they come to know and love that they were part of the same body with. Here in this chapter, it begins with truth that they already knew that was already revealed in the Old Testament says that at the times and the seasons brethren.
You have no need that I write unto you for yourselves know perfectly. And then he begins to speak of the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord is spoken of many, many, many, many times in the Old Testament. It's that time that we often refer to. I think we did yesterday as the the time of the appearing when the Lord comes back from heaven with his Saints in order to reign and rule and put everything under the his authority as Lord, the Lord of all. And so this was something that they were already familiar with.
But after that brief introduction in the first few verses is going to go on to lay out for them its present effect in their lives. And so, uh, as was referenced some several times in the address that we've just had, this wasn't doctrine to put on the shelf and store as a, a set of thoughts and ideas and facts and then to walk away from, but rather here in this portion, he's, he's refreshing the memory a little bit.
As to what the appearing was that they'd already been exposed to and knew about. And then he's going on to lay out for them the practical, uh, result of that truth in their life.
00:15:04
Times and seasons, that usually is related to things that happen on this earth, not in the future day. But sometimes we may get confused with times. There were times mentioned. So we find perhaps in a place where it says that in the folders of time. Well, that's a little bit different, isn't it? So when we see that verse, is that in the fullness of time He sent forth his son born of a woman. So that's God's time that he sent a Savior in the world.
And we find that phrase in the fullness of time. And then we find perhaps an efficient, we find that it's just that in the dispensation of the fullness of times without the different reference, again, isn't it that referred to the millennial day, There are different phrases that we let the, uh, Scripture use in regard to that. Uh, we find that Millennium is mentioned in Revelation chapter 20. Then we find perhaps even the, the phrase, the times of refreshing.
Well, that referred to the same time when the Lord Jesus will reign, that in Acts we find that we find perhaps a phrase of restitution of all things that refer to that time or the regeneration or the, the, uh, the Reformation. And there are various phrase like that describing different things as compared to here where it referred to things that are gonna happen on earth. And then also, as our brother mentioned that he talks about the day of the Lord.
We'll see here, choose other language start to change a little bit when it talks about the rapture or is coming for us. We found the word we or ye is mentioned often. So as we read those next few verses about the day of the Lord, we find the word they are being mentioned. So we see the distinguisher in there. So let's look at verse 3/4 when they shall say that's not us.
The reason is not us is as we deem one. We learn from the previous chapter that we have already been taken out of the scene. Those earth dwellers, those who are left behind, the unbelievers are left the face. The day of the Lord, when the Lord this is Speaking of the Lord's coming to execute judgment, is this day.
When God created the heavens and the earth.
Created time.
Time didn't exist in past what we call past eternity.
But when God created time and he had a purpose in creating things, so he created the earth.
And the heavens. And he placed different parts of his creation on the earth, Most importantly, man.
And at that point God in his own purposes decided or decided in his own councils, that he would work with time and man in different ways.
And so he divided up the period of what would be time until it goes on to the future when these things will be done. And there will be a future eternity in which there will no longer be time. But Scripture because of that and the way the fact that God deals in different ways at different points in the history of man on earth.
Uh refers to times and seasons.
He also makes use of the difference between night and day and the fact that we can think about certain things that we do and we don't do at night and other things we do and don't do in the daytime. And so some of the periods and that God has established for His ways with man have involved and used in Scripture the times, the seasons, and so on.
That are referred to here and I find it rather interesting that these.
Quite young believers had already been given some understanding of that, perhaps being introduced to the Old Testament and getting some instruction from it with respect to this way that God is dealing. But I don't think it would be profitable to go too far in that direction as to the various sometimes people have used the word dispensations as to dividing up these different periods of time.
00:20:15
But uh, I would like to make particular reference to one, and that is at the present moment, God views this world in a period of night.
God sees it, and the Scripture sees the time in which we are in a period of night.
Yeah, well.
The day will come when the Lord Jesus returns, and then it will be the day.
So the Lord as with respect to ourselves and our walk, we've been called to walk during a period in the history of God's ways. Let's look at as night time. Peter comments on it in his first epistle and he talks about it and he says the daystar arise in your heart. That is, we are those who are supposed to be enjoying and looking for.
The signs that the morning is coming, that the day is coming and have the enjoyment of the the Daystar which appears in the sky. I don't know that I've ever seen it in the Northern hemisphere, but in the Southern hemisphere it comes just before the break of day. And Peter said get that star, that enjoyment of what's coming in your hearts. But here in connection with our chapter.
Uh, we weren't created for night.
You know, everything's different at night, right? But we all normally speaking, we like the day and, uh, what the day brings. And so he's saying to the brethren, well, the Lord, as it said in Luke 12 That we had yesterday and in Matthew 24 yesterday, umm, the person is not looking for the Lord. He's refers to the watches of the night and the in those watches of the night, he.
He's, he's not looking, he's not watching and uh, he's asleep to it. But those who wait for their Lord during the period of the night ought to be, if you will, awake and watching spiritually awake and watching for their Lord to come.
These and so when he comes, so he says here in connection with that, uh, verse four, ye brethren, are not of the darkness.
Yeah, you're the that's a day should overtake you as a thief. No, he said. What are you, verse five? You're children of light, Your children of day. We've been brought into light.
Through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, what were we before Romans? One says.
Oh, I should say John One says, When the Lord came, it says He came as light.
And the darkness.
Didn't perceive, didn't comprehend the light, because man is not only in the dark, but in his sense he's darkness itself.
We are of the light and we enjoy the light, the light of God, the perfections of His person and His Holiness and His character. We've been brought to enjoy that. But an unbeliever.
Is characterized as a person of darkness. Why? Because his deeds are evil, morally speaking. He prefers moral darkness because it can hide the character of his life and he doesn't want life. That's why he works better, if you will. He hopes, like the thief, to get away with what he's doing in a moral darkness. But the contrast is for these dear believers in Thessalonica and us here.
His brethren, we're not darkness anymore, we're light. We're not children of the night like the Worldling is. We're children of the day. And so our proper environment, we're waiting for it. We're not in the nice setting that's coming because we're children of day and yet we're going through a period of darkness. And so we look on and hope.
00:25:18
To the the day that's coming when everything is consistent with the life and character that, uh, the life and person that God has given to us, the Son of righteousness.
SUN of Righteousness.
Sometimes with a light is in contrast to darkness, or light is the opposite of darkness, which is not true because darkness cannot overcome light. You cannot bring darkness into light, but you can bring light Into Darkness because light would dispel darkness.
As more of a light, there is still dispelled darkness.
I remember years ago, I, I can't remember what we passed through as we head out West. There was a, a cave that they advertised you can go for a tour. So with young children, we went in for the tour. They took us into this big cavern and then the man told us to blow the candles out and we were in total darkness. You could put your fingers in front of your eyeballs and you couldn't see it. And then all of a sudden he struck a match. That's all he did, just a match. The light from the match lit up the whole room.
It wasn't bright like this, but it was enough to dispel the darkness in this in that room.
So we find light is not that light would dispel darkness totally. And we are, we are, as we've been reminded, children of light. We are different than the world. And there is one more thought about light and darkness. God looked at time differently than we do. We have a problem that we look at everything from our perspective. Everything is about me is how we look at it. And we even find in this country, you look at a map, North America, North North America is always in the center of a map. That's how important we think we are.
But dear God, look at things and we have to see His view to.
God, it's an evening and then the morning it's a day. It's not interesting for us. We say what a day and a night. We make up the day. But Scripture always look at the evening. The darkness comes first and then come as we're reminded to see that they dawn, the morning star arise. So men love darkness rather than light. But it's going to be exposed when the Son of Man who will come and give us that true life.
1St to mention about him coming as a thief as we deem one we have a look at and waiting for our Lord to come as a thief. So here's another distinction there. This is the Lord's coming for this world because he's going to come as the world not expecting him to come. And the world thinks that as he used to the the language he appears and safety, well, how much peace and safety did this world have?
But here Word of God tells us that then sudden destruction cometh upon them. God has given this world a taste. We find that Adam and Eve, when they disobey, it was quite sudden, they were sent out.
Of that garden, NOAA in Noaa's day, God show man that God must punish sin. And there we too find judgment was executed. Would you know God is a God of patient? We find that in the book of Jude, he he said about Noah, but rather his great grandfather Enoch, who was a preacher of righteousness, who forewarned this world of the ungodly deeds and the ungodly acts.
God gave men ample time, but then we know the story when it comes that day, that moment when that door and the arc was shut, the judgment fell upon this world. So already once before, only eight souls were saved, Noah, his three sons and the wives and execute judgment was executed. And now we're perhaps in the brink of another judgment, ready to fall upon this world. And the God, our God is so gracious that we've been reminded we're going to be taken out of this scene.
00:30:06
Rapture out, ****** your weight in the air to be with the Lord.
Whatever with the Lord, what a blessed, blessed hope that we have to dwell where it is.
Does the peace and safety.
Umm, we can see other people who say that in the Old Testament, in Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 23.
At verse 17.
They say still unto them, that despite thee, the Lord has said, he shall have peace.
They say unto everyone that walketh after their imagination of his own heart, no evil shall come upon you.
These are the false prophets just before the destruction of Jerusalem, umm, and the captivity in Babylon. And as our brethren were saying that in, in the darkness, umm, they'll avoid the light. But we can see that the character of the darkness, not only to avoid the light, but to declare the darkness to be light and to attack anyone that would, uh, bring true light into the darkness. This is something we can see through the whole history of the Bible and.
We should expect that character today, and we compete in our modern Society of declaring good evil and evil good.
So Satan presents himself as an Angel of light, but he's really the great deceiver.
Was just remarked on in that way.
Uh, the thief is the one that takes from somebody something that they consider their possession.
When the Lord Jesus was here.
As perfect light to man.
He said man said we don't want him.
We don't, as it were, want him to take from us what we want.
They were convicted and convinced in spite of themselves by the conscience God had given to them, that what was being presented to them was truth and light from God. But what do you do when?
If you will, if you had the power to do it. When you don't want something, you get rid of it.
And that was man's wish and will with respect to perfect light of the Lord Jesus. And so in this period of the world's darkness, umm, the world, Satan would seek to deceive man not to recognize that the Lord of all will come, as might be said, like the thief in the night, like the one who comes at a time unexpected to do something that's unwanted.
And, uh, he will come unexpected and do what's unwanted. But the contrast is for us in verse 7, verse six, what do you do at night? What's the typical natural thing? Most everyone in this room, if you have a typical night, you're going to go to bed, you're going to sleep.
And uh, that's the normal activity during a period of, of night. But in the picture that's being presented to us here in verse five and six and seven and so on, it says, well, your children of the dead of the light, verse six. So don't sleep.
Don't go to sleep.
Be watchful as those that wait for their Lord to come during the night hours.
That is with respect to the world, the night time. It's very practical and our lives need to be characterized by it and not settle down and rest if you will.
Indifferent to the condition of the world and what kind of people we are in contrast to that world. So he's telling these young believers, he said, let's not sleep.
Our place right now is to watch. Watch for the Lord to come and be sober. Be careful to recognize that.
Lots of bad things happen at night.
00:35:03
Umm, lots of bad things happen at life just because it's dark. Most robberies take place at night because people tend to do at night what they may not do in the day. And morally we're susceptible to the same things. And so he says watch and be sober, be careful. And it gives us some armor later to help us to be careful.
And not get into this pattern that my Lord delays is coming and, uh, which has been so much before them in the previous chapter. And that as was said to the dear Saints, he turned to God from idols. You turn from the things of the world, the idols that characterize man's night time to serve the living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven. And so.
Where to watch as we wait and be sober.
The Lord's coming and His glorious appearing, which is in contrast to the thief in the night. Ours is the blessed hope. I was just talking to Steven there earlier. Umm it was a mega church in Rockford where we live. I challenge the man one day. My niece goes there and they have what they call an article of faith they posted on their website. There was nothing in there pertaining to the rapture.
At all. So I challenge him on it and I thought, what do you do with that? You know your scriptures right here first. That's only before he said it was too controversial amongst his, uh, group there like 10,000 people there. And I just thought about Paul and his dealings with controversy, but I saw too controversial. What is your blessed hope that he didn't have no answer for that?
But they gave that up and it's scary really amongst the Christian community how many people, Christians have given up this blessed truth. And Paul writes this, he got a direct revelation from the Lord, verse 15 for this we say unto you by the word of the Lord in verse 18 he says, wherefore this is important. He says comfort one another with these words. These are words of comfort for the believer.
And to think of how many have given that up.
How sad that is though, who is, who is behind that? Well, I think we know who's behind that. That would cause believers to give up that blessed hope. The Lord's coming and uh, this young Christians here don't give that up. Hang on to that type and they're going to try to rob you of that in the community of Christians today. They want to ride you in the enjoyment of our blessed home. If we look for the Lord to come today to take us home to the Lord.
This is something that the church as a whole have forgotten or given up, but it is very important for us to understand the sequence of events that happens in Scripture. Understand.
The difference between the rapture and the Lord's coming. Because among Christendom some have given up, but some are just.
Quoting it from a very different standpoint, I was at a wedding a couple of weeks ago sitting next to a youth pastor from some Baker church. And he said to me, he said, we didn't give that up. He said, the Lord has come already. I said, the Lord has come already. Oh yes, he come in different installments. Well, I think those freights are borrowed from us because we used that phrase yesterday. While the two installments, the first one is you come to take us out of the scene. And 2nd, when it comes as as the, as the, uh, the judge, well, his version of different installment was, well, he's just come gradually taking some home a little bit at a time. I don't believe scripture tells us that. I said, what do you read? If it came that the dead in Christ shall rise first. Have we seen that? He couldn't answer that. But then he even went on and say, he said, well, you know, we, we, we place Israel.
So whatever you read of Israel blessing your powers now, so we find that the, the Christendom as a whole, they, they don't, uh, divide the word of God properly. They will quote from certain places.
I remember years ago I was doing a business with a client and he, he threw the conversation, recognized I'm a Christian. You know, as Christian, we are like, we don't need to say we are. They often can tell from the way you talk, from the way you behave. And then they said to me, he said, are you pre or post? I said the dumbfounded, I have no idea what he meant at that time. Are you pre opposed? Because there are some Christian felt, uh, believe that.
00:40:24
There is so-called pre mole, uh, pre rupture and after. Some believe that you will be raptured out, but some believe that you will believe you will be leaving behind to do the Lord's work and continue on presenting the gospel of God's grace, which is false teaching. So we need to understand this, study it by ourselves, young people, older ones too. There is so much in there that would encourage our heart. As our brother mentioned here, we can use this to comfort one another with these words.
Let me make another comment. Often I find when I'm in trouble, when I feel down.
Often is the time when I have forgotten or not enjoying the coming, the soon return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Think that for yourself. If you feel down and feel forsaken, think about those moments. Did you remember that your Lord, my Lord, is going to take us out of the sea?
There are some moral features in Bible teaching pertaining to prophecy in the Lord's coming, and of course all of scriptures for our heart and conscience, not just for intellectual exercise, but these things that are true are supposed to have a positive impact on us. When we have false teachings such as we were talking about here, Satan's counterfeits, they are also for the effect that he wants upon us. Now, one of the teachings of our Lord's coming being installment, very common amongst, uh, mainline Christendom of the Dark ages.
Was that the coming of the Holy Spirit is the Lord's coming. Well, people who believe that they aren't really going to be walking truly in the Holy Spirit because you know, the Holy Spirit himself would not seek such a teaching. So there are these counterfeit spirits out there that Satan would have us follow after in place of the Holy Spirit. And you mentioned post millennial. This was the common teaching for most of Christian, uh, era, including by the wonderful Protestant reformers. That was basically.
The idea that we, uh, either are living in the Millennium now or that we should create a Millennium by Christianizing the world. Well, obviously we know this is totally untrue, but it would give us to have an earthly hope, an earthly perspective, cause us to be citizens of this world and not citizens and ambassadors for heaven. And, and that's a real, real danger, isn't it? Because we look at the bad influence it's been so much when Christians have been politically involved and, and had really given up the gospel.
Thinking that they're doing it in good and to help the world. So again, there's a reason why Staton has these errors for us. There's there's little things where we may not agree with every little position on prophecy, but but you look at these big errors. It's there for a reason. It's it's there for the bad influence that he wants to have on our souls to get us tangled up in this world instead of looking to heaven and truly being in this scene as ambassadors for Christ.
Purify the effect is, I believe in first John chapter 3 that you mentioned, uh verse one. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.
Therefore the world knows us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as he is. And every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure. So it has a purifying effect.
That our soul, I believe right now as we go through this scene, to have that object before our hearts and the Lord's coming.
That's true.
Should, and if submitted to, always has a positive moral effect upon our lives. Umm.
One brother said the only truth you really have is the truth you walk in.
And.
I'd like to just emphasize that and the connection here in verse.
00:45:05
6/7.
Umm, well, no. Let verse six let us not sleep.
Verse seven they that sleep sleep in the night have already commented on that the importance, the practical effect upon the hope that we have of our Lord coming for us and he will during this period of night. Uh, the practice full effect upon our lives and the measure in which we truly live it out and don't just accept it as a doctrine is seen in.
Whether we are awake or whether we are asleep. The second effect given here there are others in other places is verse six says let us watch and be sober. The contrast of is in verse seven they that be drunken that's in contrast to being sober. They that be drunken are drunken in the night and if.
The truth of what we profess is not a reality in our.
Daily life, we will get drunk. I don't mean that we will go out and have to be arrested by the police for intoxication, but it's the moral effect upon our lives of not being sober. We will indulge ourselves.
In that which takes away our moral capacity to discern good and evil.
We will take off with things that are a pleasure to us to access.
The scriptures didn't forbid you might say in fact, in another way use the word joy in connection with wine in a natural world and it Georgia, it was a symbol of of that which gave joy. But if taken to its excess, the person became drunken by it and it will it's not it might, but the moral instruction to us here is.
If we are not practically watching, we will get drunk.
In a moral sense we will take up and indulge ourselves to excess in that which is part of the world system of things that is no different than our neighbor or somebody else, and just as a moral force of it, brethren.
Were not exempt because we might say we're not part of Christendom. We have exactly the same hearts and the results will be the same with us regardless of what we profess our doctrine to be. You can have correct doctrine and bad practice, and having correct doctrine does not is essential, but it is not in and of itself.
That which will keep from bad practice and so these expectations are given.
To us sitting in this room to live out what we profess and watch and be sober.
So in verse eight there are several indications of what real Christian life involves. It says, but let us who are of the day be sober. We've just been Speaking of and then it says putting on the breastplate of faith and love and friend helmet, the hope of salvation. There are those three things, faith, love and hope. They were referred to yesterday as we started in Thessalonians. We went back to the first chapter and faith, love and hope are referred to.
Actually, in the epistles, that trilogy appears, I believe, at least eight times.
It occurs four times, and it occurs in First Corinthians. It occurs in Galatians, it occurs in Hebrews and occurs in Romans with the order of faith, hope, and love in those four places. Its faith, hope, and love twice here in First Thessalonians, also in Ephesians, also in Colossians. It appears in the order we have here, faith, love, and hope. All eight of these times are in the Epistles because they're the.
00:50:12
Maybe this isn't the best analogy, perhaps someone has a better one, but it's kind of like the green on indicator of the Christian life and a believer. If there's a believer where there's life, there's going to be these three things, faith and then the order that we have them here, faith, love and hope. And if those things, the indicator lights getting a little bit dim, it's an indication if our faith is weakening. Really that comes first and all 8 occurrences. It's what connects us to God and to truth.
Faith is that living link that we receive from God himself as a gift that connects him, connects ourselves to him. And so any of the 8 occurrences in the epistles, it comes first. It's essential. And if that's flickering, if it's weak in us, there's an indication that the there's the creeping darkness of the world is having a practical effect in our life. If love, love to our brother, as we'll see later in this chapter.
Love, uh, in a sense of the Lord's love to us, just the love that we have as believers. If that starts to dwindle, if I have favorites in the family of God and I like this one better than that one and so on. And it's, it's sunken from the divine love to a brother in love with my natural favorite. That's an indicator that there's something of the darkness Speaking of an immoral practical way that's creeping into my life.
And the hope, the hope that we've been enjoying is a practical, daily fresh living thing, an eager expectation of a person, if that.
I wake up one morning and you, you know, it's been a week, it's been a month, It's been, wow, how long has it been since I got up in the morning and thought.
I am absolutely looking forward today to being with my Lord. Perhaps I'll be with him practically morally here and in life, but but maybe I'll see him today face to face, if that hope is when we have to stop and we have to think that. When was it that I last really woke up in the morning or put my head on the pillow at night enjoying it?
Then there's something that's sneaking in, that's grabbing a hold of my heart, that's coming from the darkness that's around. And it's not the children of light. And so it's a, it's an indicator that there's a need to go back to the beginning, the the face link to the word of God and to be refreshed. And so they're presented here as armor. It's a breastplate of faith and love and a helmet of hope. So what keeps us from that moral darkness that we are surrounded by?
Out of these three, we find faith with the foundation as if it were because we learned even when we're a child without pay, it is impossible to please God. So faith has to come in. And then we even find in the book of Romans is that whatsoever is not a faith is sin. So faith is the basis because without faith and we would have no hope and we don't have the holes. We can exhibit the love the the love that God would have us exhibit to the world.
We can show passion and we sometimes call that hope, I mean love, but it's not the same love, is it?
Another little example of this truth. Just to go back to refresh ourselves before turning to another place, to the first chapter.
These young Saints in Thessalonica.
Paul having been with them and is praying for them, he says in connection with his prayer for them in chapter one and giving thanks for them. He gives thanks remembering and verse 3.
Your work of faith, labor of love and patience of hope.
Work of faith, labor of love and patience and hope is just mentioned that.
Those same three things are recorded in Ephesians as characteristic of the Christian life. Now turn over to Revelation chapter 2.
00:55:01
In Revelation chapter 2.
We have the beginning of the Lord's assessment.
Before his coming.
Of seven specific assemblies.
That had been formed during the lives of Paul and John and so forth.
And uh, we are thankful for the letter that was written to the Saints in Ephesus. Now these Saints are again addressed by the Lord himself in connection with their walk, their practical walk as they waited for his coming. And so he says in chapter 2, verse one unto the Angel of the Church of Ephesus, right?
And then in verse two, notice.
I know thy works.
And thy labor and thy patience.
And how thou canst not bear them which are evil?
Says thy works.
What's left out?
Motivating connection with God Himself. The activity was there. There was work there in Ephesus with the faith could not be reported as active.
He then says Thy labor.
For the Thessalonians, Saints, and.
Activity of first love. What did it say? Labor of love. The activity is there, but the motivating power of that activity was lost. The love wasn't there.
The third.
By patience.
The patience was in them.
But the patience of hope Hope is not mentioned. It was no longer an active.
Ingredient in their daily lives.
The next item is equally to my own conscience, important.
How thou canst not bear them that are evil? There was a holding on to correct doctrine.
They hadn't given up some doctrine they couldn't bear evil as it were. They were going to walk in proper doctrine.
And so is everything OK?
What's the Lord's statement to them?
Umm, he says, and to them first the end of verse 5.
Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen, and repent.
And do the 1St works, weren't they doing the 1St works? Wasn't their faith? I mean, wasn't their labor and patience and work this there was what was it the 1St works? No, it wasn't because the thing that had was had to be in it in order to be acceptable to God was the faith, the hope and the love that motivated and activated them to those those activities. And so he says or else I will come quickly.
And remove the Candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. In other words, they're seen here as a light for God in the world. Ephesus was to be a light for God in Ephesus and the surrounding area.
They were gods, the Lord, when he was here, he said, I'm the light of the world. He's he went home to heaven. How are they addressed in Ephesus in the epistle he says to them, Ye are the light of the world.
You're the light of the world now. I'm not here, but you're here, and I put you here as a candle. Stick to bear the light.
But just to take one of those 3.
Expressions of the eternal life that's given to us. The love God is love.
You can have all the labor you want.
But if it does not properly express what God is as love, then you're not a testimony for God.
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You might be a testimony to your own glory for your own labor and how much activity you can be involved in, but it's not a Candlestick for God. That is, it isn't fulfilling the purpose for which you were placed in the darkness of the world to be light to the world in its dark period of darkness. And so he, he says, I'm going to put you aside.
As not.
Being of use to me as a Candlestick unless you repent and go back and do the 1St works.
You have to go back to the labor of love and then you will manifest me. Otherwise I will remove the Candlestick.
Solemn words, but it is the expression of what happens if we don't have on that breastplate that protects the heart.
Since we have in our chapter.
The vision just says where the breastplate of righteousness, doesn't it?
Or put on the breast later.
Particularly because the enemy and Ephesians, where the breastplate of righteousness in the 6th chapter is given. The enemy there is Satan, and if we give up the breastplate of righteousness.
Were made a coward to the influence and work of Satan to keep us from being light because Satan could say you're not righteous.
And, uh, he uses that. And so the most subtle of our enemies, our enemies of the world, the flesh and the devil and Ephesians, the one that's brought out in the last chapter is Satan is the enemy and he wants.
Bring us into unrighteous behavior that then robs us of power and it makes a coward out of us. Because if one is not righteous, one tries to protect the exposure of what they are.
The end of verse 8 speaks to the hope of salvation, using salvation in the sense not of eternal salvation and forgiveness of sins, but in the salvation, if you will, of the body. It's the salvation of the whole being that is so worthy of God in this tremendous work. He's redeemed us. We've had the words, their spirit, soul, and body, and uh, I believe they were referenced yesterday a little further down.
But there's the spirit, soul and body, all of them belong to God. And so here they were concerned again, these Thessalonians Saints, concerned about their brethren that had died that were asleep in Jesus. And that was touched on in the last chapter. It's brought up back again in verse 10 when it says whether we wake or sleep, that sleep is the sleep or death of the body. It's in contrast with, it's a different sense of use of the word than the sleep that we've been talking of so far in this reading meeting, which was a moral sleep.
Because there's many English words, we use them and they're context defines them. Uh, just so with these words here. And so in verses 8-9 and ten, it's talking about the hope of salvation when our spirit, soul, body are all together with him. And so it refers to it in that way. And that's what we look forward to in these verses. And so in verse nine, it makes it very clear God if not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.
Who died for us? He's the one that's introduced here as the one that's going to be the comfort because of his death for us. There are some parallels here between this chapter and the prior one. Umm, in verse 10 is who died for us that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves in the prior chapter, it was he died for us. And then it introduces the fact that those that were awake or asleep, uh, were going to be caught up together to be with him.
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And so the the two chapters of a lot of parallels, but it's found it founded on the death of Christ. It's founded on the person and being attracted to him. It's his power that keeps us in the chapter end of chapter 4. It's his power that snatches us out of this world and puts us in his presence in this chapter. It's his power that keeps us from that day of wrath that's being spoken of.
Just want to re emphasize the point just made. It's.
Can be very confusing if it's not clear in the soul, in the reading of the New Testament, and that is.
The perspective given of the word salvation is not the same in every place and I want to use one example of it and it's just been referred to here in the same way with the same meaning.
In First Peter, the Saints of God had been largely saved out of Judaism and were very familiar with the journey of the children of Israel.
In leaving Egypt and the Lord taking him through the wilderness to Canaan, the promised land, it was a very dangerous journey.
And there was not food for them. God was going to have to sustain them in the wilderness. They were going to face enemies, not the least of which was themselves. Umm, and, uh, they.
The point was, could the Lord take them all the way to the promised land? And that was the place, you might say, of where they their hope was. Peter takes up that way of looking at it with these brethren that had a Jewish.
Way and says you're on a journey, it's a dangerous one and you have the hope that set before you, but the salvation was seen as that which they would enter into at the end of the journey and it's important for us to recognize that otherwise we only look at the word salvation in the context of believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
And that's the most first and a fundamental way in which to look at the word and that when we put our trust in the Lord Jesus were cleansed by his precious blood and were eternally saved. But the word salvation doesn't always have that sense. And as it's given in this chapter in first Peter and elsewhere, it's the thought of you're on a journey and you're not safe home yet. And so their exhortation.
To not to be careful.
There's danger.
Uh, we're at in a night time, We've got to be sober and not have a falling out, if you will, by the way. And uh, so it's given that way here. So the purpose of God in verse nine is God hasn't appointed us to self wrath, but to obtain salvation. And so God's purpose is to take us all the way home safely, but he also gives us exhortation.
To live out in reality and be careful not to come as we see the all the things that happened to the children of Israel on their journey.
And it says, bosses, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. He's not talking about the salvation of the soul, is he?
It's our present salvation that we need to work out. He would soon be gone from them. Another example of it can be confusing like you say, if you don't understand the word salvation.
This comment on verse 8 two The breastplate protects the heart. The helmet protects the mind.
Put on the head and I just want to say.
Some of the remarks that have already been made about.
People redefining terms and changing what things mean and so on. It's often a work of Satan to play with the mind if you can. And so very important for us to go back and stand on the Word of God in its completeness and recognize that Satan will even take the Word of God if he can and misuse it in a way that plays with our minds and introduces doubt and so on.
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But don't give up the word of God because.
Of Satan doing that. The Lord Jesus was tempted by Satan as he started his public ministry and Satan tried three different ways to get him to give up.
Some truth and Satan quoted the scriptures too when he was tempting the Lord Jesus.
But in spite of that, the Lord's answers all three times for Scripture.
He answered him with the word of God, and so it's, if you will, very important for us to fill our minds with the word of God. Be careful of where you get your thoughts.
The world's full of man's spots. Books are full of man's thoughts. The Internet's full of man's thoughts.
Sometimes we unguardedly absorb those thoughts because that's where we've gone to gain something, knowledge or understanding or something else, and we take in unguardedly thoughts which are not in accordance with the Word of God.
We need to be careful where we learn things. What's the source that was said to the children in Sunday school? The source, Uh.
Needs to be if we want the certainty of the truth of something. Be sure that the source of your thought is the word of God and not something you've absorbed from unconsciously absorbed because it's the thought of man.
The number 212 #212 stands as one and seven.
9000.
831934.
Nine and three days time to come.
Umm.
We need 100 bucks for anything.
All right.
Gave me my my friend.
I.
Went from here.
I felt far treasure and I'm brighter.
238 the last verse.
Nsnoise.
Just now falling asleep.
01:15:05
On.
Breathing.
Right.