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the the the the the 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, the Bible reads in verse number 1, Furthermore, then, we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication. Now it says in verse number 1 there, ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God. In verse 2 he says, you know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. And then in verse 3 he says, for this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication. And a lot of times when people talk about the will of God, they talk about it as this mysterious thing where they're seeking after the will of God and they're praying and trying to figure out what God wants them to do. But honestly, when you study the Bible, we pretty much know what we need to do as Christians 99% of the time. And people make a mystery out of something that's actually revealed in scripture. The Bible is saying, you know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication. You see, if you follow the commandments of the Bible and obey everything in the word of God, then you're in the will of God. And when you're not obeying God's commandments and when you're not obeying scripture, you're not in the will of God. And it's really that simple. Now a lot of times when people are seeking the will of God, they're looking to know things about specific locations, for example, or people. They'll say, I'm looking for the will of God concerning where to live, where to start a church, what to do for a living, who to marry. But in reality, many of these things are actually choices that God has left unto us. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes, fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man. Once you have obeyed everything that the Bible tells you to do, that's your whole duty. You're done. God gives us choices in life and he gives us free will to decide who we want to marry, to decide where we want to live. These things are not set in stone somewhere where God has a certain place for us to live and a certain person for us to marry and we have to somehow figure out and solve this mystery. No, we need to obey the word of God and the Bible does say that God will direct our paths if we do that. The Bible says, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. The Bible says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. So we just need to focus on being that good man so that our steps can be ordered by the Lord. We just need to worry about trusting in the Lord with all our heart and lean not unto thine own understanding and then he will direct our paths. But people spend a lot of time agonizing about things that are questionable when we really ought to be agonizing about that which we know to be true and we ought to be putting more effort and thought into how can we obey the Bible than in trying to know the unknown and searching for the will of God. He says, no, this is the will of God. That you're sanctified, that you live a holy life, that you obey the Bible, that you keep the commandments. That's what God wants us to do. He's revealed us those things in scripture. Honestly God is okay with you marrying who you want to marry. As long as you marry someone who's saved, as long as you follow the commandments of the Bible and marry a godly person and you're a godly person, well then everything will be fine. And it's the same thing with a lot of the choices in our life. I heard someone say it this way, the what of God's will is more important than the where of God's will. Sometimes young men are agonizing about where to start a church. They know that God wants them to go out and preach the gospel and be a bishop but they agonize about where. When in reality the where is not really that important. People are dying and going to hell everywhere. People need to be saved everywhere. We need a soul winning church everywhere. So honestly it's not that important. What's important is that you meet the qualifications. What's important is that you study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needed not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. And there are even some guidelines in the Bible that could help someone decide where to start a church but it should all be coming from the Bible, not just seeking some ethereal mysterious will of God. But I've seen a lot of people get really wrapped up in that and waste a lot of time and energy thinking about that. But the Bible says here in 1 Thessalonians 4, he says in verse 1, furthermore then we beseech you brethren and exhort you by the Lord Jesus that as you have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God. He's saying look, you already know how to walk. You already know how to please God. What you need to do is just abound more and more. He says in verse 2, for you know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus for this is the will of God, even your sanctification that you should abstain from fornication. Now what does sanctification mean? Go back to Exodus chapter 13 if you would. Exodus chapter number 13. And I love how the Bible defines itself. The Bible is truly its own dictionary. A lot of times whenever there's a difficult word in the Bible, if you go to the first time that word is mentioned, it'll define it for you right there in the Bible. And actually we're going to see that with a few different words in this chapter that could be looked at as difficult words. But look in Exodus chapter 13 verse 2. The Bible reads, sanctify unto me all the firstborn whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both a man and a beast, it is mine. Now the two words that I want you to pay attention to there are the word sanctify at the beginning of the verse and then halfway through the verse you'll see the word womb, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel. Shout down to verse 12 and notice that virtually the same statement is made but a few words have been switched. It says in verse 12 that thou shalt set apart unto the Lord all that openeth the matrix. So notice instead of saying sanctify unto the Lord, it says set apart unto the Lord. And instead of saying whatsoever openeth the womb, it says whatsoever openeth the matrix. So right there we can define some difficult Bible words. We can see that sanctify means set apart. And then we can also see that matrix means the womb, okay? So right there the Bible is defining itself. Elsewhere if we studied the Bible we could see for example that the Old Testament holy place is known in the New Testament as the sanctuary. So we can see that sanctify means made holy or set apart. If we just use the Bible to define its own terms. So when the Bible says this is the will of God back in 1 Thessalonians 4, even your sanctification that you should abstain from fornication, what's he saying? He's saying that you should be holy. And what does he mean by being holy? He means that you should be set apart, okay? Set apart for the service of God. Paul said in Romans 1, 1, Paul a servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle separated unto the gospel of God. So the Bible talks about being set apart for the use of God. Different from just your average person in this world. Someone who is holy. Someone who is set apart for God. And when the Bible says that it's God's will for us to be sanctified, what's he saying? To be different from this world. To be cleansed of the filth of this world and to live a godly, righteous, holy life that's different from the unsaved people around us. That's what he means when he says this is the will of God, even your sanctification that you should abstain from fornication. Why? Because this world does not abstain from fornication by and large. And the Bible is saying here that it's God's will that we as Christians be different. That we be sanctified and that we abstain from fornication. Then he expands on that thought in verse four by saying that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification, there's that word again, and honor. Now our vessel is referring to the body, the physical body. This is the vessel that we dwell in and it says that every one of us should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor. Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God. That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter because that the Lord is the avenger of all such as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness. So again we see these words being repeated, sanctification, holiness, and he's saying you're not going to be like the Gentiles which know not God. You don't want to be someone who is unclean but rather you want to be holy, different, set apart, cleansed from the filth of this world. Now there's a word in verse five that's kind of a difficult word that we don't use very often and that is the word concupiscence. And again the Bible actually defines this word for us. Go back to Romans 7. This word is used three times in the New Testament and it's interesting if you look at the first time that it's mentioned in scripture and then if you look at this mention in 1 Thessalonians 4, the definition is right there built into the verse. You can see what it means from the context. Look at Romans 7 verse 7. The Bible says, what shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I have not known sin but by the law. For I had not known lust except the law had said thou shalt not covet. So right there we get the definition of the word covet, to lust after something. And we know that lust and covetousness have to do with desiring something that does not rightfully belong to you. It's something that is off limits unto you. Desiring something that belongs to you, that's great. You know desiring your wife, desiring your car, desiring your house, the things that you have. But when you desire other people's stuff, that's covetousness. Lust is when you're looking at someone who is not your wife. Okay, you're looking at someone else's wife and you're desirous of her, then that's why the Bible says thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife. So right here he defines for us covetousness as lust and then in verse 8 it says, but sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence for without the law sin was dead. Now flip back over to 1 Thessalonians 4. So if we look at that passage, he's saying before the commandment thou shalt not covet, he had not known lust, but once the commandment came, then it talked about him having all manner of concupiscence. So we see that concupiscence is lust. If we look at those two verses together, we see that they're being used interchangeably. So when the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, not in the lust of concupiscence, we again can see that that definition is consistent, not in the lust of concupiscence even as the Gentiles which know not God. And you say, well, why would it say lust of concupiscence? Lust of lust? Well, no, because concupiscence is specifically lust of the sensual nature, lust in regard to adultery and fornication. So when the Bible says the lust of concupiscence, we're getting more specific here. You're not coveting your neighbor's house or his car, but rather you're coveting a woman. You're coveting either someone to commit fornication with or to commit adultery with. That's what the Bible is teaching here. So it says, not in the lust of concupiscence even as the Gentiles which know not God that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter because the Lord is the avenger of all such as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God has not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness. Now, what does that have to do with defrauding your brother? What does the lust of concupiscence have to do with defrauding anyone, right? Because he says, don't walk in the lust of concupiscence that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter because that the Lord is the avenger of all such as we also have forewarned you and testified. The context here is about basically sins of fornication and adultery and so what he's saying here is that going beyond and defrauding your brother would be committing adultery with your neighbor's wife, number one, or it could be if you were to commit fornication with a woman before she's married, you're basically defrauding her future husband because the Bible throughout the Old Testament talks about the virtues of a woman being a virgin when she gets married and that is a great price in the sight of God but if you go and deflower some girl that you're not married to, then basically now you're defrauding someone there. You see, whenever we commit sin, we're harming other people. Sometimes we just look at it as, well, it's my life, I'll face the consequences of my actions but honestly, whenever you commit sin, you're harming other people too because other people have to live with the consequences of what you're doing. You commit adultery with someone else's wife, someone else's husband. There's that marriage that's being destroyed. There's the other person that you're hurting, the person that you're with is being hurt and when you commit fornication, you are harming people's lives. You're harming your own life. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 6, he that committed fornication sin is against his own body but you're also harming the person that you're committing fornication with and their future spouse, their future marriage is not going to be the same because the damage that you're doing with the sin that you commit. Now this kind of preaching isn't that popular today because so many people participate in the sin of fornication in the United States in 2015 but this is what the Bible teaches. God sets the standard as being pure when you get married and not committing fornication. That's the will of God for our lives and he says, don't defraud your brother. Don't defraud someone by taking away what belongs to them because of your covetousness and lust. He says, don't go beyond. Beyond what? Beyond the scope of what God has given you. You know, God has allotted you the right to every man have his own wife and every woman to have her own husband. Don't go beyond that. Be content with such things as you have and rejoice in the wife of thy youth. Don't go beyond that is what the Bible's teaching. It says in verse number six that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter because that the Lord is the avenger of all such as we also have forewarned you and testified for God has not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness. Notice at the end of verse six, he says we've forewarned you. There's a warning associated with this. If you commit fornication, if you commit adultery, God will revenge that sin. That's what the Bible says. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter 13, marriage is honorable and all and the bed undefiled but whoremongers and adulterers, God will judge. You see the punishment that's associated with that sin? It's a warning. He says we also have forewarned you and testified for God has not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness. Verse eight, he therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man but God who has also given unto us his Holy Spirit. This goes back to what he had said in chapter two when he said in verse 13 for this cause also thank we God without ceasing because when you received the word of God which he heard of us, you received it not as the word of men but as it is in truth the word of God which effectually worketh also in you that believe. So in chapter two, he said when you heard us preach the word of God, you didn't treat it like it was our word. You treated it like it was the word of God because that's what it was. It was the word of God and that's why here he says he therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man but God. He's saying if you get mad at this preaching, when the preaching gets hard against fornication and gets hard against adultery, he said you're not despising man. You're not despising the preacher. You're despising God. And a lot of people want to kill the messenger. They get really mad when a preacher gets up and preaches hard against sin and rails on sin and they try to call him hateful and mean but honestly a preacher is just faithfully delivering the word of God and a lot of times the Bible is mean. A lot of times the Bible is harsh. The Bible uses strong language. Why? Because God is trying to send us a strong message that we don't have the right to live an unclean, unholy, wicked life and that he demands our sanctification and he wants us to keep our bodies as the temple of the Holy Ghost and to keep them from uncleanness and not to defraud other people of their wife and what they deserve and to just be content with such things as we have. We're supposed to keep our body and honor our body and not just make our body the members of an harlot as it says in 1 Corinthians 6 but to actually keep ourselves sanctified and set apart and you say well everybody's doing it but God says be different, be holy. I'm holy God says. You need to be holy. And so that's what the Bible is teaching here when he says that he therefore that despises not man but God. Don't get mad at the preacher. It's God who said to us these things. It says in verse 8 there, who has also given unto us his Holy Spirit. Verse 9, but as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another and indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia but we beseech you brethren that ye increase more and more. So here he's praising them for being a very loving church. He's saying you don't even really need me to take the time to tell you to love one another because you've already been such a great example of the love of God and you've already shown love but he's saying just increase more. You're doing great. Just keep on doing what you're doing and increase even more and more. Then it says in verse 11 and that ye study to be quiet and to do your own business and to work with your own hands as we commanded you that ye may walk honestly toward them that are without and that ye may have lack of nothing. Now this is another theme in the books of 1 and 2 Thessalonians that comes up over and over again. You see Paul had been to this church and he knew what things they were strong in and what things they needed work in. He knew that they were a very loving church but he feels the need to really warn them about fornication. He also is constantly talking to them about the persecutions, tribulations and things that we will endure as Christians. He talks to them a lot about Bible prophecy. But another theme that comes up in the books of 1 and 2 Thessalonians is this idea of working hard and being a good worker. Now flip over to 2 Thessalonians chapter 3. Look what the Bible says in verse 10. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you that if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all but are busybodies. Now them that are such, we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ that with quietness they work and eat their own bread. So notice the similarity here. He says that with quietness they work and eat their own bread. Over in 1 Thessalonians 4 he said that you study to be quiet and to do your own business and to work with your own hands as we command you. The translation, shut up and get to work is what he's saying. Now the reason he's saying that is because the Bible tells in Proverbs, in all labor there is profit but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury or poverty. He's saying people who just talk and run their mouths instead of working become poor. And so God's telling us that we need to study to be quiet and to do our own business and to work with our own hands as he commanded us. He's saying if any will not work, neither should he eat. God is saying that we as men were born to work, six days shalt thou labor the Bible talks about over and over again. Back in Genesis he told Adam that he would work by the sweat of his face all the days of his life. And we as men have been created to work. When you talk to people who don't work much as men, they're miserable people. They get depressed because work is what we're created to do. And so men are happy when they have important work to do and stay busy working. But one thing that sometimes people do instead of working is just talking. And you know that sometimes at your job you've seen people who get carried away talking instead of working. And God is telling us that he doesn't want us to be that guy. He wants us to be a hard worker and especially children. When you tell them to do their school work or you tell them to clean their room or do any kind of work in the yard or work around the house, you often catch them just talking and talking and talking and work isn't getting done at the same rate as when you just shut up and just put all your focus on working. Now there's a time to talk and there's a time to speak and there's a time to be silent and to focus on work and to just get serious about getting something done. And it's great to be a talkative person but you just need to know when is the appropriate time to talk and when is the appropriate time to just buckle down and get some serious work done. These people at Thessalonica obviously had a problem in this area because he says, I told you when I was there. Then he writes him a letter about it. Then he comes by and visits again and tells him again. Then he writes him a second letter about it. I mean he just keeps telling these people, work, work, get to work, shut up, work. And notice the people who don't work are busybodies and what do busybodies do? Talk about things. The Bible says busybodies speak of things which they ought not. They talk about other people's matters and they get involved in everybody else's business and so we need to be careful not to fall into the trap of talking too much and working too little. We need to find the balance in our lives of working when it's time to work and talking when it's time to talk. There are times at work when there are opportunities to talk where you're doing something where you can talk or maybe you're driving to the job site or you're on a lunch break or you're doing an activity where talking doesn't take away from it. But often talking does take away from productivity at work and you want to give your boss 100% be a good testimony and work as unto the Lord and not unto men. That's what the Bible's teaching here when it says study to be quiet and to do your own business and to work with your own hands and he says, as we commanded you, reiterating that he'd already told them this and then in verse 12 he says that you may walk honestly toward them that are without. What's that mean? People that are outside of the church that you'll walk honestly that you would be a good testimony unto them that they would see your work and they would be impressed by it and that they wouldn't be looking at you as the worst worker on the job or as someone who's always bumming money off of everybody and taking all the freebies that they can. They're seeing that you're a hard worker that works hard. They can provide for themselves and they can even be generous with the people around them. That's the kind of testimony that we want to have as Christians that we may walk honestly toward them that are without, that they don't see us being dishonest instead of working hard for our money and that we may have lack of nothing, that we will have the food and clothes that God has for us. You see, God has promised to supply all our need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus, but that doesn't mean that if you don't go to work, he's just going to supply your need even if you don't go to work. Why? Because the Bible says if a man won't work, neither should he eat. So God has promised to provide us with food, but that doesn't mean that we're not supposed to go to work and earn the money for our food. You see, God expects us to do our part and then he'll take care of it from there, but if we're going to be lazy and not do our part, he's not obligated to feed someone who's lazy and not working. You know, we talked earlier about the fact that God gives us a choice of who we're going to marry and God says that ladies may marry whosoever they will only in the Lord, you know, and we do have choices and we're not forced, you know, unless you're in a country or something where they're forcing you into an arranged marriage, but that's not a biblical teaching. The Bible teaches that people should be able to choose their own spouse, but that there are certain criteria for choosing and I'm not going to go into that. That's outside the scope of this sermon to go into all the criteria and choosing a wife or choosing a husband, but it always cracks me up when people have this attitude. I'm waiting on the Lord for a wife. That always just blows me away because that's like saying, well, I'm just, I'm waiting on the Lord for food. You're not putting in job applications. You're not going out and knocking doors and I'm just waiting for God to give me a job. No, just because God says that a prudent wife is from the Lord, just because God says that he'll supply our need and give us food and Raymond doesn't mean, Hey, just sit back and just wait for it all to come to you. Now it's your job as a man to go out and find a wife and it's your job to go out and work and put food on the table and there, you know, the, this thing of just, well, I'm just going to sit back and wait on God, just wait for it to happen. Yeah. Well, good luck with that. See you in 10 years, you know, when you're still single. It's true. And then what, and then what cracks me up too is when somebody will sit there and, and basically say, Oh, I'm going to marry this divorce woman. And you say, well, you know, the Bible says that that's adultery. And here's what they say. Well, then I'm just gonna be single for the rest of my life because it's the only person I can find. There's 7 billion people in the world. Half of them are women. That's like if Adam and Eve said, well, this is the only tree I can eat from the tree that's forbidden unto me. That doesn't make any sense, people. There are all kinds of fish in the sea. We just live in a society that's so smartphoned and internet that basically they can't interact socially with people anymore and just meet people organically. I mean, they can't just talk and meet people, walk up to people, because they're so used to just, you know, texting or something that they can't talk and, and meet people. There's a lot of people out there to meet, you know, and oh, oh, every, every girl in my whole state is ungodly. What? There are 7, look, there are 7,000 men who haven't bowed the knee to Baal. I'm sure there are 7,000 women also have not bowed the knee to Baal. You know, you just need to find them. Okay. It says in verse number 13, but I would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep that you sorrow not even as others which have no hope for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. So here he gets to some prophetic things about end times Bible prophecy and he's explaining it to them in the context of people that they've lost, loved ones that have gone on to be with the Lord. He says I would not have you to be ignorant brethren, so he's speaking to the saved here, concerning them which are asleep that you sorrow not even as others which have no hope. Now those which are asleep are those that have died because if you notice at the end of verse 14 where it says them which sleep in Jesus, that is the same group as where the Bible says at the end of verse 16, the dead in Christ shall rise first. So the asleep in Jesus are the dead in Christ. Now when the Bible says they're asleep, the Bible is talking about their body. The Bible talks about in the book of Daniel that them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall rise. That's talking about their body. We know that when a person dies their soul goes directly to heaven. You say where does the Bible say that? Well the Apostle Paul said I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better. He said for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Why was it gain for him to die? Because he would depart to be with Christ. He said in 2 Corinthians 5 to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. He said we are confident and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. And we also see in Revelation that at the fifth seal being opened in Revelation chapter 6 that the souls of them that have been beheaded for the witness of Jesus are up there in heaven saying how long O Lord holy and true does that not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth. So they're very conscious very awake and they're saying how much longer do we have to wait Lord until you judge. So they're up there waiting. The body is asleep. So this doctrine of soul sleep of the Jehovah's Witnesses and Seventh-day Adventists is a false doctrine. You know the sleep in Jesus is talking about the body. Now that's very clear also in this passage because the Bible says right here you say well I'm still not convinced. Okay look what the Bible says in verse 14 for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. Well where is God coming from? From heaven. So he's bringing them with him from where? From heaven. So the asleep in Jesus those people their souls in heaven. That's why he says the dead in Christ shall rise first. That's the body and he'll bring them with him. That's the soul. Two different places because when a Christian dies their body doesn't go to heaven their body remains. We bury it. The soul goes to heaven immediately but then a person who's unsaved their body remains the soul goes to hell. Later there's a resurrection of life. This event right here where the body and the soul are reunited and the body is changed in a twinkling of an eye onto a new glorious body and then later there's a resurrection of damnation the Bible calls it where actually the unsaved are bodily resurrected and then their soul and body is cast into the lake of fire for all eternity. But what's interesting about this passage also is that it's a great proof of the deity of Jesus Christ. This is another great proof that Jesus is God. See throughout the New Testament the Bible will often refer to Jesus as God. For example in Hebrews 1-8 it says, but unto the Son he saith thy throne O God is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom. The Bible says and without controversy great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. That's all talking about God and those are all things that Jesus did. So throughout the New Testament Jesus is referred to as the Lord or he's referred to as God. That's why Thomas fell before him when he had seen the print of the nails in his hand. He said my Lord and my God. And what did Jesus say to Thomas? Blessed art thou Thomas because you believed, you've seen and believed but blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed. So he didn't correct him when he called him my Lord and my God because that's what he was. But this also calls Jesus God because look what it says in verse 14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. See in this passage whenever it talks about Jesus Christ coming in the clouds, when it talks about him descending with the sound of a trumpet, it only refers to him in this passage as God or the Lord every time. But of course we know it's Jesus because of the fact that in Matthew 24 it says the Son of Man will come in the clouds with the sound of the trumpet and so forth. So the same person is being called the Son of Man, God and the Lord, it's Jesus. And it says right here for this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord. Now again I can't emphasize enough, this event commonly known as the rapture when the believers are caught up into the clouds to be with the Lord in the air to be with Christ, this event is known as the coming of the Lord. This is the second coming of Jesus Christ. The event in Revelation 19 is never referred to as the second coming of Jesus Christ, that's referred to as Armageddon, that's a different event. The second coming is Christ coming in the clouds, people say well he didn't touch down. That's none of your business. If the Bible calls it the coming, it's the coming. Well it doesn't fit my criteria for coming, nobody asked you. If he came in the clouds and sounds of trumpet and gathers the believers and he wants to call that the second coming then I'm going to call it the second coming. You say well it doesn't say second, well okay but it's the second one because the first time was in Bethlehem, coming one, this is coming number two. There's no one and a half coming, okay? Or you know, I always say to people when they say well this isn't the second coming, I say well are you denying that Jesus came the first time? I mean that's the only way you could not call this the second coming. Well you're just playing semantics, no they're playing semantics to try to twist scripture to teach a rapture that comes before the tribulation which is not what the Bible ever teaches anywhere. Including in this passage, there's no pre-tribulation rapture in this passage. In fact in chapter five, God's going to very clearly give us the timing of the rapture and it's after the tribulation and in fact the timing given in 1 Thessalonians chapter five is exactly the same as the timing that we find in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. You see in chapter five verse one it says, but of the times and the seasons brethren you have no need that I run into and he goes into discussing the times. See in 1 Thessalonians four there's no mention of the timing of when this will take place. There's no mention of timing. There's no mention of when this is happening and then in chapter five he gets into the subject of the timing, but a lot of people just stop reading at the end of chapter four. They don't get to chapter five where he lays out the timing. So here in chapter four, let's keep reading. It says in verse 15, for this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. Now prevent means come before, pre means before and then vent comes from the same root word is like the Spanish verb venir which means to come. So prevent means come before. So it says shall not prevent them which are asleep for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first. So notice he says we that are alive and remain will not prevent them which are asleep. We're not going to come before them. Why? Because the dead in Christ shall rise first. So the Bible is real clear on the timeline here. First the dead in Christ are resurrected. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. Now the interesting thing here is that in this passage pretty much every verse mentions the departed loved ones because remember that's the subject. In verse 13 I says but I would not have you to be ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep. That's the topic of discussion. What happened to our beloved that has died and gone to be with the Lord? Are we ever going to see dad again, mom again, grandma and grandpa if they were believers in Christ the Bible says we do not mourn like those who have no hope because look at each verse. Verse 13 he says them which are asleep. Verse 14 says them also which sleep in Jesus. Verse 15 says at the end them which are asleep. Verse 16 says the dead in Christ. Verse 17 says that will be caught up together with them. So right there every single verse is making reference back to the departed loved ones. That's the subject because a lot of people will point to verse 18 where it says wherefore comfort one another with these words. I've had many people tell me oh that proves that it's a pre-tribulation rapture. That proves that the rapture happens before the tribulation because he's comforting us. He's comforting us. See and there's what they say. How is it comforting to know that we're going to go through great tribulation? That's not comforting but here God's not comforting you saying you're not going to go through tribulation so just get comfortable buddy. Just sit back relax and just enjoy because you're going to disappear and before any of the crazy stuff happens you're going to be gone. That's not what this passage is about. So people have twisted this passage. The real passage is teaching that those who've departed to be with Christ they're with him and we're going to see them again one day so comfort one another with these words is telling us that when someone dies and they're in Christ let's say at a funeral this would be something we could use to comfort people. To get up and say we don't mourn like those who have no hope. We will see this person again. They are in a better place. We will spend eternity in heaven with that person and in the new heaven and the new earth with the Lord Jesus Christ so we don't have to mourn like those who have no hope. Now the sad part about this is there are some people who have no hope. People who are not saved when they lose a loved one they have no hope of ever seeing that person again or if you're saved and someone you know who did not know the Lord Jesus Christ their savior departs you will never see that person again. So that's a hopeless situation isn't it? But when we lose someone who's a believer we don't mourn like those who have no hope. We don't you know and here's the thing some people when they lose a saved loved one are going to be very sad and they're still going to mourn the Bible saying we don't mourn at all. No that's not what it's saying. The Bible is not saying we don't mourn at all. The Bible is just saying we don't mourn like those who have no hope. So there is mourning obviously when we lose someone we're going to be sad just because we're not going to be able to see them anymore on this earth and we're going to miss them but we don't mourn to the depths that we would mourn if we actually were never going to see that person again. In fact if a believer loses someone that's a fellow believer or a baby or a young child that we know according to the Bible will go to heaven then when they lose that person it's almost like that person is just maybe gone to a distant country. I mean think about it there are people in our lives who might move to another country move to the other side of the world especially before the internet and Skype and all the different technologies of communication. You know it used to be if somebody traveled across the ocean to a distant land you might never hear that from that person again. Maybe you'll get a letter occasionally but sometimes the letter couldn't even get through. And so that's really what it's like when we as Christians when we lose a child when we lose a parent or a friend or brothers sisters whoever it's just as if that person just took a journey to a far country and in fact they're in a better place and in fact we know that we're going to be joining them eventually. So that's a comforting thing to know as believers. That is the comfort of 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. That's what he's referring to in this passage but when we look at this passage it's very clear that all of the things mentioned here are consistent with what we see in Matthew 24. Let's just quickly go over there and just make that quick comparison. Matthew chapter 24 and this also ties in perfectly with 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. But if you want to look at 1 Thessalonians 4 and just get the basic elements of the rapture basically you have Christ descending in the clouds the trumpet sounds and then of course the believers are caught up into the clouds to be with the Lord in the air. Now look what it says in Matthew chapter 24 verse 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken and then shall appear the sign of the son of man in heaven and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory and he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. So right here we see the same element of Christ coming in the clouds the trumpet sounding and him gathering the elect. It's clearly the same event especially when you see that the same things are mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 5 when it talks about the day of the Lord which we know is associated with the sun and moon being darkened and then right here in Matthew 24 what do we have? The sun and moon being darkened. These are clearly the same events. Christ comes in the clouds the trumpet sounds and then the elect which means the saved are gathered together and the Bible says he'll gather together his elect from the four winds. The four winds is referring to the four compass directions north south east and west. So he's just saying he's going to gather them from all over and then it says from one end of heaven to the other. Now a lot of people just don't want to accept that this is the rapture because they just can't come to grips with those words at the beginning of verse 29 immediately after the tribulation so you ask them well why isn't this the rapture? Well because it's after the tribulation and we know that the rapture isn't after the tribulation right but how do we know that? Well first Thessalonians 4 did first Thessalonians 4 say anything about before the tribulation? There was nothing like that. So in reality they just form a preconceived idea which is actually a lie that the rapture happens before the tribulation and then when they look at this they just say oh well this can't be the rapture because it's after but then what's funny is that they'll often quote the verses that are just a few verses down where it says in verse 40 then shall two be in the field the one shall be taken in the other left two women shall be grinding at the mill the one shall be taken and the other left watch therefore for you know not what hour your lord doth come and it's funny because they love to quote that to tell you he can come at any moment so a minute ago this passage had nothing to do with the rapture but when it's talking about coming at any moment in their mind it's like oh yeah that's the rapture but it's the same passage it's the same story see nowhere does this teach he can come at any moment just because we don't know the day or the hour doesn't mean that he can come at any moment look at verse 36 but of that day and hour knoweth no man know not the angels of heaven but my father only but the question is which day and hour if he says but of that day and hour he's referring to what he was just talking about and what day and hour is that of Christ coming in the clouds the trumpet sounding and the elect being gathered of that day and hour knoweth no man so we do not know the day nor the hour of the rapture but we do know that it's after the tribulation because he just finished saying that it would be like if I said well I'm gonna go take a trip and I'm gonna come back after summer but I'm not gonna tell you which day or hour I'm gonna be back so just be ready for me to come back because I'm gonna come back sometime after summer and you're not gonna know when that is so just be ready so then should I say in July he's coming today he could come today it wouldn't make any sense would it he told us it's after summer okay so it's the same thing with this we don't know the day or the hour but we do know that it's after the tribulation in fact we know that it's immediately after the tribulation okay because the Bible is really clear about that in this passage and in other passages this teaching is all over the Bible but I've even heard some people in their zeal to try to teach hey this is not the rapture they'll look at verse 31 where at the end it says from one end of heaven to the other and they I've literally heard people say oh he's just moving people from one end of heaven to the other like the heaven where God dwells okay now look at Mark 13 because obviously that statement from one end of heaven to the other is just a figure of speech when you think about how if you look outside right and you see the heaven as in the sky you've got the horizon on this side and the horizon on that side so one end of heaven to the other is just basically saying everywhere the whole earth that's what it's saying and if we look at Mark 13 this interpretation kind of falls apart of this teleportation from one end of heaven to the other okay look what the Bible says in Mark 13 verse 24 but in those days after that tribulation the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars of heaven shall fall and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken and then shall they see the son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory and then shall he send his angels and shall gather together his elect from the four winds from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven so here it gives us a slightly different figure of speech that means the same thing just everybody so again these people are grasping at straws a lot of times just to try to find some way to say this is not you know the rapture and then they'll talk about what's missing they'll use the argument from silence by saying oh well where did the dead rise in Matthew 24 but here's the thing if Matthew 24 brought up all the exact same things as first Thessalonians 4 we wouldn't need first Thessalonians 4 so it's silly to talk about everything that wasn't mentioned when you have all these things that line up perfectly you have zero contradiction between first Thessalonians 4 and Matthew 24 they're clearly talking about the same event so sitting there and saying well but there was a detail over here that was left out over here that's like saying well Matthew Mark Luke and John they don't agree with one another because you know there were stories left out of Matthew that I found in the book of John or there were stories in Matthew that weren't in Luke you know that proves that it's a fraud no they're telling different details otherwise we would only need one gospel he gave us four gospels to give us four different stories to focus on four different themes different things to be emphasized different details to be added or left out to make the point that he's trying to make in that particular book and in Matthew 24 he's focusing on certain things for a reason in first Thessalonians 4 he's focusing on the positives because of the fact that the whole point is to comfort people who've lost loved ones he's not saying hey people let me lay out for you all of Bible prophecy and all of the end times here in first Thessalonians 4 no he said I don't want you to be ignorant concerning them which are asleep that's the context so therefore he's going to focus on the dead in Christ rising because that's who we want to see whereas in Matthew 24 he's not comforting them concerning departed loved ones that's why he's not making a big deal about the dead in Christ rising he's focusing more on look you're going to see these things come to pass you're going to see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet you're going to see the sun and moon darken and when you see these things look up lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh so Matthew 24 Mark 13 Luke 21 is geared toward people that are going to be alive during that time to understand what to expect what's going to happen what to look for with the coming of Christ in the clouds whereas first Thessalonians 4 is talking about your dead departed loved ones that's why there's a different emphasis in both places so to say well it must be two different events you know because it's giving us different details is ridiculous and it's just people are really stubborn about this doctrine of the pre-tribulation rapture they don't want to let go they have no evidence they have no leg to stand on they can huff and puff all they want but there's no verse that says before the tribulation or anything like it and there's no verse that says Jesus can come at any moment there are verses that say we don't know the day and the hour there are verses that say we're looking for him to come back but you know what the bible talks a lot about looking forward to things that are even further than that into the future as we already covered in weeks past let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer father we thank you so much lord for this clear chapter from your word that tells us how to live holy how to know your will lord by studying the bible following your commandments abstaining from fornication being holy and lord thank you for the comfort concerning those that we've lost and that we don't mourn like those who have no hope father i pray that we would all study to show ourselves approved study to be quiet do our own business lord help us to work hard and live godly and clean lives that would honor and glorify you until that day when you come back in the clouds for us and in Jesus name we pray amen you you you you