THE DOCTRINE OF THINGS TO COME IS IMPORTANT
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 (KJV)
Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;
Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;
Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.
For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.
And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost:
So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia.
For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.
For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;
And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
I think it is a significant thing to note how much the Bible speaks about the return of Jesus Christ.
Jesus very clearly taught about His coming again
All four of the Gospels and the book of Acts tell us that Jesus spoke about His coming.
· Peter
· James
· John
· Paul and even
· Jude
wrote about the coming again of Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul mentions the coming of Jesus Christ in almost all of the epistles of the New Testament that he wrote.
But 1 and 2 Thessalonians focus on the doctrine of the Lord’s Return:
· His coming for the believers and
· His coming seven years later with the believers
I want to take you through 1 Thessalonians and show you just how important this doctrine is to the Apostle Paul – and should be to you and me.
All five chapters of 1 Thessalonians ends with the coming of Jesus Christ.
I. A PRESENTATION CONCERNING HIS COMING
1 Thessalonians 1:8-10 (KJV)
For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.
For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;
And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
Though Paul was only able to stay in Thessalonica a very short period.[1]This may have been as little as two weeks or as much as four but either way, it was not very long to establish a church of this character.
Almost the whole of the first chapter is taken up with the example that the church in Thessalonica was.
1 Thessalonians 1:7 (KJV)
So that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia.
· I doubt that they were a large church
· I doubt that they were a rich church
· I know they were not a comfortable church
But I am sure they were
· A maturing church and
· A loving church and
· A godly church
I see three things about the people in the church in Thessalonica.”
A. They had turned from idols
Genuine faith causes a change in lifestyle.
B. They served the living a true God
They saw their faith as a reason to serve God rather than a reason to live as they pleased.
C. They waited for Jesus
It is no accident that the most persecuted church we know about in the Bible was also the focus of the doctrines concerning Jesus’ return.
Notice vs. 10
…even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
As much persecution as they faced, it was nothing compared to “the wrath to come.”
And that wrath, they had already been delivered from. It’s:
· A future tribulation with
· A past deliverance
This is the first lesson of the Pre-tribulational rapture that we find Paul’s epistles to the church there in Thessalonica.
II. A PLEASURE CONCERNING HIS COMING
1 Thessalonians 2:17-20 (KJV)
But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire.
Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.
For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?
For ye are our glory and joy.
It is widely believed that the first and second letters to Thessalonica are the first of the Bible that Paul wrote.
It makes good sense that, if he were not able to stay with them long, he would be concerned to give them encouragement and more teaching as quickly as possible.
Paul would have a good decade more preaching, church planting, and Christian trials to endure.
He could have no idea how or when his life would end.
In chapter four of this book, he proposes that, when the rapture happens, he would be among those taken alive.[2]
One thing he is sure of though,
When the Lord returns he, as well as they, would be in the presence of the Lord, and this, he says, would be his joy in heaven.
· Not the crowns he knew he would receive
· Not the name he would make for himself
· Not even the position he would have beside the Lord
He said his glory and his joy would be these Christians he had ministered to.
I just want to tell you, take care of your relationships with believers.
· Try to be a blessing
· Try to help others grow in Christ
· Try to serve others and help them in the Lord
They will be the true rewards in heaven.[3]
III. A PURPOSE CONCERNING HIS COMING
1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 (KJV)
And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:
To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.
Paul said his love for them abounded more and more.
He asked the Lord to make their love abound even as his did
And then he said
“To the end” or for this purpose.
That God would establish “your hearts unblameable in holiness before God…at the coming of Jesus Christ…”
Remember this passage?
1 John 3:1-3 (KJV)
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth 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 hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
It looks to me that one of the ways we purify ourselves is through our relationship with the members of our church.
Hebrews 10:24-26 (KJV)
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
As we see the day of Christ approaching, we are to assemble together more often so that we might be examined, provoked and exhorted unto love and good works.
The Bible goes so far as to say it is a willful[4]sin to forsake the assembling and refuse the provoking.
IV. A PROMISE CONCERNING HIS COMING
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (KJV)
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye 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.
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.
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:
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.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
I want to draw your attention to just three words:
· Ignorant
· Hope and
· Comfort
When a person has a right understanding of the coming of Jesus and the rapture of the believers, it gives hope and hope brings comfort.
A Christian who does not rightly understand the doctrines of the return of Christ is hopeless (concerning the Tribulation) and is therefore not able to be comforted.[5]
Finally, notice
V. A PRAYER CONCERNING HIS COMING
1 Thessalonians 5:23 (KJV)
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is one of the very few verses of the Bible where we find the three parts of a man in one passage
Spirit
That part that communicates with God
Soul
That part that communicates with mankind
Body
That part that communicates with nature
At the moment of our salvation,
· Our spirit was quickened and able to have fellowship with God
· Our soul was forgiven and justified of all sins but
· Our body is awaiting its redemption
Romans 8:22-23 (KJV)
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Paul prayed that, until the day of that redemption, we might be sanctified wholly.
· Separated
· Set apart
· Cleansed
The Holy Spirit of God, through Apostle Paul, tells us that He is not settled with anything less than a whole sanctification.
He is going to work on us until we are scrubbed pure of sin.
And he won’t finish until Jesus comes again for us.
Conclusion
There is a growing number of young independent Baptists who have rejected key doctrinal positions concerning when the rapture of the Christians to heaven will happen.
It varies what position they hold.
· Some believe that the rapture happens sometime in the middle of the Tribulation
· Some believe that the rapture happens after the Tribulation and even
· Some believe that there will be no rapture at all.
In response to this there are a few younger preachers, not willing to potentially lose any of these people from their church, who just don’t take a position at all, or else take a very weak position.
But it seems to me:
1. We can know what the Bible teaches concerning the rapture and things to come.
2. We can be certain that the rapture is a blessed and hopeful event – in other words, that it is pre-tribulational and
3. We find our motivation
· To be pure
· To lay up treasure in heaven and
· To faithful love and minister to others
in the doctrines of the Lord’s coming.
I’m not for backing down on this doctrine, but for defending it.
[1]Acts 17:1-2 (KJV)
Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews:
And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,
[2]I take it that he did not propose it as a prophecy under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost that HE would be raptured alive but that:
· The rapture is imminent – it could happen at any moment.
· The rapture is undisclosed – no man knows the day or hour
· The rapture is a blessed hope- he wanted to encourage these believers
[3]Matthew 6:20-21 (KJV)
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
We lay up treasures in heaven through our ministry to others.
[4]Count that wicked.
[5]Is this why so many of them are mean spirited?
