Understanding the Day of the Lord, Part 2

as we have moved up toward the celebration of our Lord's first coming we have been looking at his second coming when when he went away the angel said the same Jesus who has gone away will so come in like manner as you've seen him go so the promise of our Lord is that he would return and we are obviously nearer to his return than ever in history as time marches on his return becomes nearer and nearer I think it's important for us to live in the light of the return of Christ is not necessarily a popular subject to talk about today because with the prospects of the returning Christ there's the reality of divine judgment on sinners on the earth and even on the earth and the universe itself but it's important for us to understand that it is the very reality of the return of Christ and judgment and the eternal punishment goes along with judgment that is behind our need to preach the gospel have to be faithful to give the bad news in order to make the good news good news and that is exactly what the Apostle Paul did we're looking at 1st Thessalonians he wrote two letters to the Thessalonians 1st and 2nd one and much of the discussions in both letters has to do with the second coming of Christ which is remarkable I guess in one sense because he was only in Thessalonica for a very brief time we don't know exactly how long some have said weeks others have said a few months probably more likely a few months but in the time that he was there in that city preaching the gospel he made the coming judgement very very clear in fact he always did that it was necessary for people who understand the judgment of God which loomed over them and had eternal consequences of eternal conscious punishment in hell it necessary to preach that and to make that clear to make the gospel the good news to which people would flee for rescue from the wrath to come clearly this church was aware of that they were even aware of the event itself which the Scriptures call the day of the Lord when man's day is over and Satan's Day is over and it's the Lord's Day he returns to judge as we have been saying there are many events connected with the day of the Lord we have been considering some of them we'll continue to do that in the weeks yet even to come but I want to draw you back to 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 and let's go back to that and look at it if briefly this morning before we have the time with the lord's table chapter 5 verse 1 now as to the times and epochs brethren you have no need of anything to be written to you for you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night while they are saying peace and safety then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child and they will not escape but you brethren are not in darkness that the day would overtake you like a thief or you are all sons of light and sons of day we're not of night nor of darkness and we'll stop there now Paul was a faithful preacher as I said and even though he was only in Thessalonica perhaps a few months he made sure that they understood the reality of judgment that is required for all faithful preachers it's not very common in the contemporary world in which we live today but faithful preachers preach the reality of divine judgment I want to give you an illustration of it if you'll turn over to the twenty-fourth chapter of the book of Acts 24th chapter of Acts we meet Paul in a very interesting setting he is really a prisoner of the Roman governor by the name of Felix actually his name was Marcus Antonius Felix Paul is his prisoner in the 24th chapter of Acts verse 24 of that chapter we read this some days later Felix arrived with Drusilla his wife who was a Jewess and sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Jesus Christ now just a brief little bit of a background Felix was the Roman governor in Judea between the Year 52 and 58 ad so that would have been during the time of the Ministry of the Apostle Paul he had married this woman named Drusilla when she was 16 years old she was a Jewess prior to that she had been married to someone else but he seduced her and took her as his wife what is so interesting about her is that she was the youngest daughter of Herod Agrippa the first who was the monarch eaten by worms in Acts chapter 12 they actually had a son and that son was buried in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii in the year 79 according to history Drusilla was curious about Paul as I think her husband Felix was so they want to hear from Paul and they want to hear him talk about faith in Christ Jesus that's the gospel you'd have to talk about who is Christ Jesus what does it mean Christ that means Messiah he is the Messiah Jesus as we saw Jehovah saves he is the Messianic Savior and we can know him and we can receive all that he provides by faith so he preached about the gospel of faith in Jesus Christ but as he was doing that what's in a notice in verse 25 but it says he was discussing righteousness self-control and judgment to come righteousness self-control and judgment to come this is where we have to begin with any presentation of faith in Christ Jesus we have to talk about the problem before we can offer the solution and here here is the an articulation of the problem God is righteous God is absolutely righteous God is absolutely holy God demands absolute righteousness for those who would come into his presence God has a standard for acceptance with him that is perfect be ye perfect that's what God requires so Paul must have established the absolute holy standard of acceptance with God which is perfect consistency with God's holy nature then Paul talked about self-control what does that mean the problem that sinners have is that they don't have the power of self-control to conform themselves to God's perfect law so they are always short of what God requires they lack the nature the self-control the ability to keep the law of God the consequence of that is judgment so Paul talked about judgment the judgment that is to come the judgment that God will bring down on the heads of all who have not completely obeyed his law and nor have come to faith in Christ Jesus the inevitable result of violating God's law is that you are under judgment now the text says in acts 24 that Felix was frightened and that is an essential part of gospel work to frighten the sinner to terrify the sinner that's what we do we terrify the sinner we let the sinner know that he is on the brink of eternal judgment which means eternal conscious punishment in hell that's a frightening reality and whatever was the condition of the soul of Felix it was very obvious that Paul made his message clear enough to terrify the man and he basically said go away get out of here all faithful preachers must speak of righteousness self-control and judgment and Paul had done that on his short visit to Thessalonica so much so that they knew well those issues and they knew what the judgment to come was back in chapter 1 Paul says about these believers they were waiting for God's Son from heaven that is Jesus who rescues us from the wrath to come that's the gospel wrath is coming you're under that wrath you're under that judgment unless you're rescued by faith in Jesus in chapter 2 of this same letter Paul makes in verse 16 another comment about the wrath that has come and will come to the utmost in chapter 4 and verse 6 he makes another comment that the Lord is the Avenger in all these things just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you again he warned them about wrath he warned them about divine vengeance he warned them about judgment to come so clearly did he warn them that he says back to chapter 5 verses 1 & 2 you have no need of anything to be written to you for you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night they had full understanding of the coming day of the Lord and as I told you last time the day of the Lord is a technical term for divine judgment divine judgments used 20 19 times in the Old Testament four times in the New Testament it always refers to coming judgment sometimes in the Old Testament we saw last week it can refer to a coming temporal judgment like the Assyrian invasion of the Northern Kingdom Israel was identified as the day of the Lord historically the invasion of the Babylonians into the southern kingdom of Judah was characterized by the prophets as the day of the Lord so there are historic days of the Lord historic divine invasions and judgments and the prophets spoke of them but those were previews of the final ultimate day of the Lord which is yet to come when the Lord Himself returns to judge all the sinners all over the face of the earth and to destroy the universe and recreate a new heaven and a new earth and as I've been saying to you the day of the Lord is a big event it has many parts the verse verse 1 begins as to the times there are chronological times there are days and weeks and months and years and even a millennium in this big sweeping concept of the day of the Lord and then the epochs which means the event so you have times and you have multiple events the prophets wrote about those events Jesus spoke about those events in Matthew 24 and Luke 17 we have the record of his sermon on his second coming from the Mount of Olives and then of course the book of Revelation lays out these times and these events so they were taught a wide range of eschatological doctrine so much so that they didn't need any more teaching and they knew full well what the day of the Lord meant and that it was coming in an unexpected time in fact the old test because it's a great and terrible day of the Lord whenever you read about the day of the Lord it is talking about divine judgment we're now living in man's day in a sense we're living in Satan's day and this is when all of that is ended in it's the lord's day the final wrath of god unleashed on all unbelieving sinners so our text is a text that is intended to warn us or help us warn others this is very very important at the same time it is encouraging that we will not be a part of this coming day of the Lord will be snatched away we saw that in chapter 4 13 to 18 we're snatched away before this event happens he makes that clear in verses 4 and 5 we are not in the darkness that the day would overtake us like a thief we are sons of light sons of the day not of the night nor of the darkness we're going to be gone in the snatching or the rapture as it's called in the previous passage the previous passage closes therefore comfort one another with these words we're comforted in the fact that we're going to be taken out we're going to meet the Lord in the air the dead in Christ rise first we are alive and remain are gathered together to meet the Lord in the air and we go to heaven to the place he's been preparing for us and we're with him from then on forever even when he returns in judgment he comes with his Saints to set up his kingdom on earth and then were with him through all eternity so Paul had given them thorough eschatological doctrine this text is a warning passage that after the church is snatched away the day of the Lord will begin to unfold the actual day of the Lord is when the Lord returns but there are some preliminary precursors and signs that lead up to that in a very brief time a period of time of seven years called the tribulation so for seven years there are preliminary signs precursors previews of the coming of the Lord who will return at the end of that time and judge all sinners all over the world now the followers of our Lord have always been curious about when is this going to happen the disciples asked that in acts 1 they asked that in Matthew 24 when is it going to happen when is it going to happen and we have already noted that the Lord said it's not for you to know the times and seasons there's not helpful for you to know the details of that you don't need to know when you just need to be ready you need to be ready at all times the rapture is the signless event the snatching away of believers the signless event there there's nothing it has to happen on the prophetic clock before that can happen it's the next thing that happened in a split second any moment and it'll be over in the twinkling of an eye but we don't need to know the time we don't need to know that because it's instructive and helpful for every generation of Christians to live as it would happen in their lifetime and that says John 1st John 3 is a purifying hope that's a purifying hope if we know he could come at any moment it's likely that we will keep ourselves ready now before the Lord comes in the day of the Lord then there will be some signs the first sign is going to be the snatching away of the church we talked about that a little bit a couple of weeks ago can you imagine how the world is going to be when all believers all over the face of the earth disappear in a flash they're all gone instantaneously there has to be an explanation that's the first sign that we're very near the day of the Lord because following the snatching away of believers into heaven to be with the Lord at the marriage supper of the Lamb and receive our eternal rewards on earth after we're gone all hell breaks loose as the events leading up to the day of the Lord begin to unfold as the wrath of God begins to be unleashed the first thing that people should think about when all believers disappear is the day of the Lord must be near the day of the Lord must be near they could have some other signs as well if you look at second Thessalonians chapter 2 Paul says now we request you brethren with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him that's the rapture did you not be quickly shaken from your composure or disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us to the effect that day the Lord has already come there was some who had pulled out a false letter supposedly from Paul to say the day of the Lord had already come and they were in the day of the Lord he says that's not true verse 3 let no one in any way deceive you for the day of the Lord it will not come unless the apostasy comes first that's the massive religious defection of the Christian Church and the man of lawlessness is revealed the son of destruction who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called God or object of worship so that he takes his seat in the temple of God displaying himself as being God the day of the Lord will not come until there's a snatching away of the church until there is an apostatized true Christianity in the false Christianity which becomes the universal character of Christianity and until the Antichrist appears that the rebellion and the rise of the Antichrist who is clearly described in the Old Testament in the New Testament as to his character and his career so Paul says they're going to be signs the rapture is the first sign the the rebellion and the rise of Antichrist is another sign apostasy of false form of Christianity is another sign there are more Joel 2:31 looking at the day of the Lord says the Sun will be turned to darkness the moon to blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord pretty dramatic signs and our Lord repeats that in Matthew 24:29 but immediately after the tribulation of those days the Sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken and there's one more monumental sign that the day of the Lord is very near it's one that you're familiar with Matthew 24 listen to verse 29 immediately after the tribulation of those days as I read the Sun is darkened the moon doesn't give its light the stars fall powers of the heavens will be shaken and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky he will actually appear in the sky the Lord the son of man and all the tribes of the earth will mourn and will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory that's the final sign everything from the rapture to the actual appearing of the Son of Man after the time of tribulation there are many more signs between the rapture and the appearing of our Lord many many more signs they are outlined for us in the teaching of our Lord in Matthew 24 and Luke 17 and also paralleled in Revelation chapter 6 to 18 they're all laid out their explicit signs in fact there are 21 specific signs seven seals seven trumpets and seven bowls and they run sequentially telescopically one after the other after the other after the other after the other those are all explicit clear signs and they're not mistakable signs because they involve the the death of life in the seas the third of the population of the earth is killed 1/4 of the population of the earth is killed meteors or some kind of heavenly bodies crashing into the earth the water fresh water is poisoned green grass burns up very very devastating things earthquakes like the world has never known all of these things Wars rumors of wars there's even a desolation of the Temple in Jerusalem called the abomination of desolation so there are plenty of signs they begin after the church is snatched out now the question is how is it then that the Lord will come like a thief in the night how is it that he's going to come and nobody's going to expect it the thief comes when he's not expected how is it that the world is going to be able to explain away the rapture explain away the rise of Antichrist explain away the apostasy explain away the events of the seals and the trumpets and the Bulls that are outlined explain away all of the preliminaries and precursors that our Lord explicitly identified in his sermon on his second coming how is it possible that the world having all of that going on around them is still not going to understand the day of the Lord is near the answer comes in verse 3 while they are saying peace and safety then destruction will come upon them suddenly we can stop there for the moment while they everything up to here has been you you believers have no need of anything you be written to you you yourselves know full well this is you who are they now we have another group who are they who could do such convincing of a world that is literally under siege by God Himself who could cause them to believe there say we have an Old Testament illustration of that to answer it go back to the Book of Jeremiah for a moment God had called Jeremiah to warn the people of the coming enemy the captivity the slaughter the judgment this was a temporal historical day of the Lord in Jeremiah chapter 6 and verse 1 flee for safety o sons of Benjamin from the midst of Jerusalem now blow a trumpet in Toccoa raise a signal over beth ha carolyn for evil looks down from the north and a great destruction this is a warning the destruction is coming down in chapter 6 verse 8 be warned o jerusalem or i shall be alienated from you and make you a desolation land not inhabited this is jeremiah the prophet telling the people the day of the Lord is coming historically the judgment is coming at the hands of the Babylonians is going to be a bloodbath of horrific proportions what did they do they took Jeremiah and threw him in a pit they rejected him completely and everything he said and every warning he gave they got rid of him they virtually silenced him how could they do that when he was speaking the Word of God how could they not see the signs that he pointed to of their own sin in their own corruption how could they not have except expected judgment go back to chapter 5 verse 30 an appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land the prophets sigh falsely and the priests rule and their own authority and my people love it so but what will you do at the end of it what was happening here was that even in the midst of all of the signs and indications the judgement was coming the prophets were prophesying lies and here's the most important thing of it my people love it so they hear what they want to hear down in chapter 6 verse 14 the prophets and the priests who deal falsely from verse 13 have healed the brokenness of my people superficially saying peace peace when there is no peace over in chapter 8 and verse 11 we have another reference to this again the prophets and the priests from verse 10 verse 11 they heal the brokenness of the daughter of my people superficially saying peace peace but there is no peace over in chapter 14 we get another indication of this in verses 13 and 14 but all Lord God I said look the prophets are telling them you will not see the sword nor will you have famine but I will give you lasting peace in this place then the Lord said to me the prophets are prophesying falsely in my name I haven't either sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them they are prophesying to you a false vision divination futility and the deception of their own minds why is it that people living in the events leading up to the day of the Lord don't see the day of the Lord coming the answer is because there are going to be countless false prophets lying to them and they want to believe the lies in lamentations 2:14 we hear it again this written also by Jeremiah your prophets have seen for you false and foolish visions they have not exposed your iniquity so as to rescue you from captivity they have seen for you false and misleading Oracle's what's going to happen in that era is that the world is going to be overrun with false religious teachers Micah 3:5 speaks of prophets who lead my people astray crying peace now go back to 1st Thessalonians 5 while they are saying peace and safety who is they false prophets false teachers false leaders our Lord addressed this very powerful terms turn to Matthew 24 and his sermon on his second coming he says in verse 21 of Matthew 24 there will be a Great Tribulation that's that seven year period of tribulation the latter three-and-a-half years will be more severe than the first three-and-a-half but there will be Great Tribulation such as has never occurred since the beginning of the world until now nor ever will this is the worst accumulation of natural and supernatural disasters in history and it's all unfolding in a very brief time it is so devastating that an unless those days were cut short unless they were abbreviated no life would have been saved for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short but notice what happens in verse 23 if anyone says to you behold here is the Christ or there he is do not believe him for false Christ's and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead if possible it's not but if possible even the elect behold I've told you in advance so here's something else not only is the day of the Lord coming but when the preliminaries leading up to the day of the Lord begin to unfold in human history on this earth be aware that false teachers are going to lie to you and tell you peace and safety when there is no peace and there is no safety why can people possibly living in the middle of this not believe they're near the day of the Lord back to chapter 24 verse 5 many will come in my name in that time saying I am Christ and will mislead many verse 11 many false prophets will arise and will mislead many verse 24 false Christ's and false prophets will arise showing signs and wonders and misleading people this is going to be the character of that time it's going to be an unleashing of lying false teachers to explain away what's happening another section of scripture that I think is instructive Ezekiel 13 another prophet who prophesied of the coming judgement of the Lord on Israel on Judah chapter 13 of Ezekiel and you remember Ezekiel prophesied to God's people about more judgment to come verse 10 it is definitely because they have misled my people by saying peace when there is no peace this is what the false prophets have done verse 9 says they have offered false visions and lying divinations they have misled my people verse 11 gives kind of an analogy so tell those who play turn it over with whitewash well let's pick up the end of verse 10 when anyone builds a wall behold they plastered over with whitewash so tell those who plastered over with whitewash that it will fall a flooding rain will come and you Oh hailstones will fall a violent and wind will break out behold when the wind has fallen will you not be asked where is the plaster with which you plastered it therefore thus says the Lord God I'll make a violent wind break out in my wrath there will also be in my anger a flooding rain and hail stones that consume it in Wrath I will tear down the wall which you plastered over with whitewash and bring it down to the ground so that its foundation is laid bare and when it fails you will be consumed in it Smits and you will know that I am the Lord then I will spend my wrath on the wall and on those who have plastered it over with whitewash and I will say to you the wall is gone and its plasterers are gone along with the prophets of Israel who prophesy to Jerusalem and to see visions of peace for her when there is no peace declares the Lord God what is this about the Lord says the prophets are erecting a wall it's a wall of lies it's a wall of Lies they plaster it over with whitewash so that it looks substantial but when the flood comes and the hail stone falls and the rain drops it will completely collapse false teachers are building a false wall a wall that offers zero protection that's going to come crashing down in judgment but that is what false teachers do that's their stock and trade our Lord is saying the same thing as Jeremiah in Matthew 24 he's saying judgment is coming and here are the preliminaries and at the same time you're going to be overrun with false teachers who were going to convince people in the midst of all of this that there's peace and safety that's the work of false but the day of the Lord is coming and I want you to know what those signs are and what those events are for two reasons one so you can thank the Lord you're not going to be a part of it the two so that you can warn people as to the reality of it what our Lord says about the precursors to his return in Matthew 24 and Luke 17 is explained in detail in the visions that our Lord gave John in Revelation 6 through 18 so over the next couple of weeks we're going to look at both Matthew 24 Luke 17 and the book of Revelation but go with me for just a final moment to second Thessalonians 2 verse 9 [Music] once the Antichrist is released the lawless one the one verse 9 who's coming is in a court with the activity of Satan with all power and signs and false wonders and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish this is what is going to be characteristic of that time deception over all who are wicked because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved if they reject the gospel look at verse 11 for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth but took pleasure in wickedness Wow they're going to believe the false teachers they're gonna believe the lies they're going to reject the gospel and then God is going to send them a diluting influence and lock them in their deception we should always give thanks to God for you brother and beloved by the Lord because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation this isn't for us but this is what will happen in the world more on the day of the Lord next time more on the preliminaries the precursors that lead up to it now in the light of this we have a great responsibility don't we like the Apostle Paul to speak to people concerning righteousness self-control and judgment to come the same time we're here at the Lord's table our hearts are full of praise and worship and gratitude because we have been rescued from the wrath to come we are waiting for God's Son from heaven who rescues us from the wrath to come the day will not come on us like a thief in the night we're not of the night we're of the day because the Savior has been our rescuer when that day comes life will be going on as usual pretty amazing our Lord said people be married and giving in marriage eating drinking planting harvesting life as usual the prophets will have been so convincing that everybody will just be going on like it's normal and then the day will come with unbelievable devastation look at verse 3 then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child and they will not escape this is the day of the Lord of which we must warn everyone the only escape from it is in the Ark of safety the Lord Jesus Christ let's bow in prayer father we come now to the table which celebrates our Savior our rescuer the one who delivered us from the wrath to come we come now to remember his sacrifice for us he offered his body he poured out his blood He gave His life up in death in our place he died the death we deserved he bore your wrath for us in our place in order that we might be delivered and forgiven and redeemed as we come to the major we see across the manger of the shadow of the Cross as we come to celebrate the birth of Christ we can't help but be reminded that the child needed to be named Jesus because he came to save his people from their sins by dying in their place under divine wrath so that we would escape that wrath we thank you that you will take us to glory but Lord as John the Apostle saw it this kind of truth was both sweet and bitter sweet because we are delivered bitter because so many are not may we be faithful like the Apostle Paul to speak of righteousness self-control and judgment to tell the truth about the bad news in all its horrible detail to frighten sinners so that they may flee to the only one who can rescue them our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ that's our prayers

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Keywords: John MacArthur, Bible, Preaching, Christianity, Expository, Exposition, Sermon, Jesus, Christ, end times, bible prophecy, day of the lord, the day of the lord, great tribulation, biblical prophecy, jesus returns, end of days

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Length: 42min 19sec (2539 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 17 2018