[0:00] Without further ado, I would like to read the passage that we'll be studying today together as his church. And again, we're going through 1 Thessalonians and we're arriving in chapter 5 today.
[0:16] And so the sermon title for today, excuse me, is the day of the Lord, the day of the Lord. And we're going to read about this day in chapter 5, starting in verses 1.
[0:34] So if you're with us in your handheld Bible, whether it being physical copy or your app, please turn there and keep that open.
[0:46] The entire sermon will be going right through these verses from verse 1 to verse 11. Verse 1 begins, Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you, for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
[1:15] While people are saying there is peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman and they will not escape.
[1:30] But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day.
[1:42] We are not of the night or of the darkness. So let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.
[1:53] For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the salvation, the hope of salvation.
[2:10] For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might live with him.
[2:23] Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. This is the word of the Lord, and quite a word we have today.
[2:38] You may have heard the phrase, the end is near. Right? The end is near.
[2:50] You see it plastered on billboards down on the southern highways of the United States. You see it on the cardboard signs of the street preacher on the corner of downtown.
[3:05] The end is near. Now, regardless of the delivery or the reception of such a phrase, I believe its intended purpose and its intended aim is to provoke self-evaluation by saying the end is near.
[3:23] It's a moment to pause and to think practically for a moment, are you ready for that end?
[3:36] Various people groups exist today and have strange ways of viewing this preparation process. Now, I'm not condoning anything, but George Strait has his method with his southern twang.
[3:53] I know the end is near. I've seen the warning signs. Been preparing myself, laying in supplies. I bought a case of Jack, a box set of Merle.
[4:07] I'm getting ready. Ready for the end of the world. Right? Or maybe, maybe if you're not a country fan like myself, what?
[4:19] I'm going easy. I speak the truth in love. Grace and truth. Or maybe the punk band, R.E.M., from the late 80s.
[4:30] It's the end of the world as we know it. And I feel fine. Kick in the fast drum beats and the punk rock sound.
[4:43] The end is near. The end is near. Between the world and the church, the world becomes relaxed because they've sort of been taught and conditioned to relax at that reality.
[5:02] Life as they know it is sort of like a continuum to the world. That we're simply, just like we covered last week about the sanctity of life, we're just an advanced species in this world.
[5:17] So make the best of your life now because this is all that there is. Let's eat, drink, and be merry, right? In the passage today, Paul is making that clear.
[5:30] That the church ought to be anxious, separate from the world, but not out of fear of the unknown, but rather anticipation of what is known.
[5:45] Sort of that anxious excitement of what is to come. You see, at the beginning of time, the church understands that all that came to be was determined by the sovereign and often hidden will of God.
[6:02] The age of mankind has experienced great effects of the fall as far as additionally the rise of sin that stemmed from the fall in human life.
[6:15] That stems back to the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. And the world has been groomed, it seems, to be okay, to have this false sense of security in life that everything's going to be okay.
[6:29] The end of the world, and we feel fine, even if we're apart from Jesus. The world has been groomed through educational systems to undermine the biblical reality, which to them is nonsense.
[6:43] It's a bunch of nonsense to them. And they uphold this cyclical pattern of human life as if we'll die and may we'll come back as a butterfly or we'll die and we'll come back as an angel.
[6:56] And rather than the linear process of a beginning and an end and then something else as the Bible teaches. The church, to the church, we know that the end will come.
[7:10] And how do we know that? Because it is the one that we know how the beginning begins and the one who is in the beginning. And so we also know how the end ends because we know the same one who is in the ending.
[7:24] And so we are empowered with confidence as we draw near to the ends, regardless of when it happens, how it will happen, in the order, millennial order, that it will happen.
[7:35] We know it will happen. The Bible teaches about what is known as the day of the Lord. And this is something that's rooted in the Old Testament.
[7:47] It reminds us today of that day that God will punish the wicked and he will vindicate his people.
[7:58] He's been doing this all throughout the Old Testament. And for those who ignore God their entire lives, ignore the warning signs, ignore that preacher up there at Youngstown Metro Church, not heeding his warnings that come from the Word of God.
[8:15] It will be reckoned with the reality of his existence at this very time. And it should be a very anxious anticipation, a fearful anticipation.
[8:31] This will be a moment where reality, the biblical reality, will not be debated anymore. Truth will be unveiled, unmasked for all to see. And for those who are known by God, they'll be reckoned with an inheritance that lay waiting ahead, as Scripture promises for those in Christ.
[8:50] So here we find ourselves today, church, amid the tension and anxiety between the already and the not yet.
[9:00] Here today, this day in April, sunny day in April, the already and not yet. Between, a time between the ascension of Christ and the return of Christ.
[9:14] And Paul brings forth a reminder of the coming end. And how our lives ought to look as that end approaches. And I have to ask you, church, are you ready?
[9:27] Are you truly ready for that end? I'm going to take out three reminders and pull out for us today, for any note takers, three reminders in the presence.
[9:40] But let's pray as we begin. Father, we are grateful to be gathered here. And we know that we're gathered not by our own doing or by chance, that every ear that is open to hear right now has been brought to fruition by your Spirit, by your leading, by your providence.
[10:01] So at this time, we turn to you with that providence intact. We understand that this is no ordinary Sunday. This is no ordinary message.
[10:13] Father, when we encounter your Word today, we are encountering the living and true God. And we encounter absolute truth here today. Father, help us to submit ourselves to that truth of your Word.
[10:25] And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. So the first reminder today is a present reminder that the world will be judged.
[10:39] The world will be judged. Paul reminds this church, he writes to this young church in continuation of his previous thoughts of the last chapter.
[10:51] The last chapter's sentiments and different doctrine that he was talking about as far as the day of the Lord when the dead, the people very dead, bones dead, six feet underground, at the call of Christ and return of Christ will be brought to life.
[11:10] They will be risen. And they will actually precede those who are alive and on this earth. We saw that in chapter 4. This is hope in the coming of the Lord.
[11:23] And as you can imagine, the Greeks were very astrological. They were very chronological. They were concerned, as Paul says in this verse, they were concerned about times and seasons.
[11:37] They want to know the times and the seasons. They want to know dates. They want to know hours of that. They're very astrological and chronological.
[11:48] However, Paul is presenting to them a theological reminder of something. Specifically, how God will unfold the future in the coming day.
[12:02] And he says in verse 1, Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
[12:20] While people are saying there's peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman and they will not escape.
[12:35] Paul describes that day that lay waiting ahead to this predominantly Greek audience in this church in Thessalonica describing this day that they're fully aware of that it will be as if it's a thief in the night.
[12:56] They're going to wake up and boom! The day will be here. But for those who are sort of on the sidelines that don't believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ have not submitted themselves to him in faith, this will be for them a sudden military invasion.
[13:20] It will be similar to birth pains. And this church is aware that it would come suddenly. As Paul says, he doesn't have any need to write them of the expediency of this day.
[13:35] But what he does do here, look, he compares the behavior and disposition of the world when that day will come because the world will feel fine on that day.
[13:50] So they think. They'll be carefree. They'll write a song about it and call that band R.E.M. Peace and security.
[14:04] Then suddenly like a thief, a military invasion, birth pain, truth will be unveiled for all to see. You can lay your doubts aside at that point because it's too late.
[14:17] It's here. It will be as if the world will live without heeding the warning of the coming feast. The neighbors can warn you all you want of there's been some suspicious activity out there.
[14:31] I think something's, I think some robber's gonna hit our community here. There's some suspicious activity. It's like, oh yeah, okay. Yep, I got it.
[14:43] So you go to bed, not locking your home, not setting the security system, maybe keeping the windows open to get that nice breeze, you know, as you're living carefree and peace and security, then surprised when they suddenly wake and all their possessions are gone.
[15:02] All their valued possessions, everything that they've had is gone, including their disbelief being still intact.
[15:15] It'll be as if the world will continue living without heeding the warning of a coming invasion, sort of sitting in your, we'll say in ancient times of like a castle, just sitting in your castle, just drinking, eating, being merry, having parties, feeling fine, remaining relaxed in your possessions, your wealth, and your stuff.
[15:45] And they become surprised when all of a sudden their walls are coming crashing down with a sudden invasion. And it'll be as if the world is clearly a pregnant woman.
[16:00] Y'all know what that looks like? A woman full of child. And that woman saying, oh, I'm not pregnant, I'm just a little bloated from last night's dinner.
[16:14] Right? All the while walking around, having these interesting episodes of contractions and just saying, oh, no, it's just that meal I ate, it's not pregnancy.
[16:26] Ignoring the fact of the upcoming and inevitable delivery date. And when it arrives, this person becomes surprised at the excruciating pain of that delivery day.
[16:42] Amid those excruciating contractions. I've seen it three times. Now, regardless of the precise aim of Paul's usage of such metaphors and figures of speech and a simile for the birth pains, I believe one aspect is clear.
[17:05] One aspect is clear in his usage of these metaphors is that on that day of the Lord, all will be witnesses, but only some will be prepared for that sudden arrival.
[17:24] A thief is on his own time, a military invasion is strategically planned well in advance, and labor pains can't be avoided or controlled or minimized.
[17:34] in the simple sense of the phrase, when the baby's coming, the baby's coming, look out. So it will be when the day of the Lord arrives.
[17:48] It will involve pain and surprise by the world as their peace and security, their comfort, that they idolized. All their lives, apart from Jesus Christ, will soon and quickly be gone.
[18:03] the church though, the church who were viewed hostile as a bunch of imbeciles upon earth, believing in a God they don't see, and living a vulnerable life of the world's scrutiny, will be the ones who stand vindicated as having the true peace, having the true security when this day comes, because they are united with the God of Israel through Jesus Christ.
[18:34] Now, if you're not in Christ today, if the end is coming, and you have the ability to take this moment to realign your life with God through faith in Christ, that this is no ordinary day, this is no ordinary message, this is the day of salvation for you.
[19:00] God, what's prohibiting you from taking this moment to finally waking up from the lies of the world and coming to the truth of God, coming to the light?
[19:16] Maybe it's the things that you've been taught all your life, it's just confusing. Yeah, there's some aspects confusing, but faith in Christ is not confusing, it's a truth, it's a saving truth.
[19:28] Maybe your last church or last couple churches you've been abused in is prohibiting you. Maybe it's how you were raised, but today, if you have ears to hear today, in person here or on the live stream, you are without excuse today.
[19:46] You are hearing. So begin thinking as we continue our time of turning your life to the living and true God and turning away from idols. We get the second reminder in this passage as we continue in verse 4, a present reminder the church must be ready and alert.
[20:11] Verse 4 continues, giving some contrasts here. It says, But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.
[20:24] For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.
[20:40] For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.
[20:59] Such a great passage today. In essence, Paul is making it clear that it will be quite a surprise when the day of the Lord comes, because nobody knows the day or the hour.
[21:11] You can make your predictions. You can have these wackos come on the news and say, this is the day, this is the hour it comes every season, every couple of decades here. But we know according to the Bible, no one knows the day or the hour of the times and the seasons.
[21:25] We know signs of those times and seasons, but we don't know the exact day or hour. As far as biblical history is concerned, upon the moment of Christ's ascension, 2,000 years ago, about 2,000 years ago, that began the end times.
[21:40] All right? So we are still in those end times. We are closer than they were before, but we might still not be there for another couple hundred years. But nobody will know the day or the hour.
[21:53] All mankind will be surprised, however, only the church will be prepared. And so that surprise is kind of alleviated. They are not going to be fully surprised as the world is surprised.
[22:05] And a practical analysis of Paul's usage of light and dark and day and night is simply the understanding of the gospel. That to be in the dark is to have a misunderstanding of the gospel or be blinded by the gospel.
[22:20] And to be in the light is to have that illuminating aspect of the gospel penetrating our hearts, changing our hearts, changing our nature, become new creations. To be in the night, to be in the day, to be in the dark, to be in the light, that's what he's getting at here.
[22:39] Now, those who are not prepared for this day to come will live life out in ignorance, living in darkness, sleeping and drunk.
[22:53] That's how they'll spend their time. But those who are prepared for this day of the Lord to come live out that preparation in their new nature as children of light, as children of day.
[23:06] And I love how Paul puts it in a military sense of fashion. He mentions the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet of hope for salvation.
[23:20] It brings to my mind, in reflecting on this passage this week, that of a military uniform. Regardless of what century you're in, when you're wearing that military uniform, you're ready for battle.
[23:33] When you're wearing that backpack, that heavy backpack, you know that this could be the day of battle. You're prepared in that sense for what would come.
[23:45] And so, Paul alludes here to the attentiveness for action, that of a military imagery. He draws upon a military sense of the mental state of readiness, of vigilance on our part.
[23:57] So, believers should be vigilant and ready for battle that protects those who are in Christ. And so, we see that this, if we turn back to Isaiah 59, Paul is literally referencing word for word here about the righteousness as a breastplate.
[24:18] In Isaiah 59, verse 17, he put on righteousness as a breastplate and placed the helmet of salvation on his head.
[24:29] Just thinking of all the times that Paul refers to this military sense of fashion, of battle and things like that, I think him and I would actually get along and watch some nice wartime movies, Saving Private Ryan and things like that.
[24:44] Some of my favorites. But, he mentions this in Romans, 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians, 2 Timothy, and here in 1 Thessalonians. He's calling for us to get a mental picture of what the church ought to be looking like.
[25:00] Notice here the description of that breastplate and consider the usage of such a breastplate.
[25:12] The breastplate here is known as faith and love. What does a breastplate do? It protects your vital organs.
[25:23] It protects your heart. It protects all the things that are keeping your body going. But not only that, he mentions the helmet, referring to hope, and that protecting our minds on this earth.
[25:41] That, in other words, our hearts and our minds are ready at at all times, in faith, love, and hope.
[25:54] We're equipped with his triad that he loves to hone in on of faith, love, and hope. This is how the church ought to stand in this life.
[26:09] In this, Paul has created quite a sense of call to holy living in this point of the letter. The church is called to be dressed appropriately out of readiness for action, readiness for assault.
[26:26] You don't put on armor to go make friends. dress. You put armor on to protect yourself. And so Paul's calling the church to be dressed appropriately out of readiness, which can express itself in several different manners.
[26:45] Even looking at within the context of this entire book from chapter one all the way to where we're at today, things to uphold, such as the church upholds deeds of love, the garments of the military, of patience, peace, of gentleness, of mutual encouragement within the body of Christ, within hard work, within proper use of alcohol, upholding sexual purity, treating others properly, evangelizing, giving thanks, and always praying for one another.
[27:20] And if readiness, if that's the vigilant church, we can take on those many forms. We can also say that the opposite is true in the world's sleepiness.
[27:35] So we can avoid things like drunkenness, of not only just of drugs and alcohol, but just an insensitivity towards God. Just having this drunken mindset that everything is fine if you're apart from Christ, and that your neighbors are fine because they're choosing what they want, they have their choice, without heeding a moment to talk to them.
[28:00] Even in our culture today, as we see was a cultural issue back in Thessalonica, there was this idolatrous reliance on the government for peace and security.
[28:12] You understand that? And that's idolatry. Our peace and security come, yeah, that's provided through the Constitution of the United States, and we thank God for that, but that's not the source of it.
[28:26] It's our sources in Jesus Christ, regardless if we have the Constitution to give us our freedoms. Just as the government in Thessalonica kicked and drove Paul out of there and threatened civil treason.
[28:42] We see this of things to avoid, blocking the spread of the gospel, sinning by our tongues, of lying, of gossiping, of hypocrisy, of greed, of egotism, of laziness, of stunted spiritual growth, or kind of just apathy that leads to apostasy, lack of sexual self-control, taking advantage of others, being impatient or vengeful, and maybe ignoring God's word and trading for charismatic revelations of the unknowns.
[29:18] We have all here, church, that is to be known through God's written word. And the end should change our perspective today. The end should change our perspective today.
[29:32] That as we pull into work tomorrow, we're not simply just pulling into our nine-to-five, our mundane experience in the office with the same old people.
[29:44] You're pulling into a mission field. When you're parenting your kids, you're not just parenting and dealing and trying to keep kids alive.
[29:54] You're raising up disciples. In our marriages, we're reflecting Christ's sacrifice. If you're not married, in your relationships, you're putting others before yourself, outdoing one another in love.
[30:09] And in your spare time, there is no time available on this earth to sit back and veg out for the rest of the afternoon on Netflix or Peacock, whatever you like to watch these days.
[30:24] There's no vegging out. It's the day of the Lord's coming. In this, we reflect people who are prepared, seizing the moment of the day with a mindset gripped upon the readiness of tomorrow.
[30:41] You're only ready for today if you're ready for the end. Does your life reflect that readiness for the end? I have one more reminder out of Paul's writing here in verse 9.
[30:56] It's a reminder that there is hope in life on that day. There isn't just doom and gloom. This angry preacher up there at that church just telling us all this bad stuff.
[31:14] I want to hear something that lifts me up. I want to feel good today. Well, let's feel good through the word of God.
[31:24] There is hope in life on that day. Amen. Verse 9 makes it clear. For God has not destined us for the church for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or sleeping, alive or six feet in the ground, we might live with him.
[31:53] Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. you want to be lifted up this morning. Let the word of God here lift you up.
[32:07] As Paul wraps up his encouragement to this church, he leaves them with quite a high note as summarized that you wear that armor, church, confidently, proudly, and vigilantly.
[32:21] Let your attitude in your mind be ready for battle because you are a people who will receive salvation. In other words, your end is victory, church.
[32:35] It is victory. And this is the echoes all throughout the pages of the Old Testament to the nation of Israel, that there is a promised victory, there is a promised land that God is unraveling his love and his covenant with you, and you are wrapped in that, and you are protected and assured of that until the end.
[32:56] This is the only source of peace and security mankind can take refuge in. The only source of peace and security that mankind can take refuge in.
[33:09] It is only through the death of Jesus Christ that we will live with him, as verse 10 talks about. And the dead also, as well, as we saw in chapter 4 of the coming of the Lord.
[33:22] When the church considers the victory in the end, we are able to keep our eyes lifted above our suffering and our affliction, whether that be something like a plumbing problem at home.
[33:33] You can lift your eyes above those issues that just weigh us down, that are just gnats in our lives. But also, even if we're being tortured to renounce our faith, as many third world countries are experiencing, this victory lifts our eyes above our suffering and affliction, which we are also destined for, according to chapter 3, verse 3.
[34:04] But we are lifted in encouragement because we are not destined for just suffering, we're destined for forgiveness, we aren't destined for wrath.
[34:17] And so in this church, the church must continuously encourage one another in this truth. All the days of Paul, through today at Youngstown Metro, and however many days were afforded on this earth in the years to come.
[34:35] The truth of the gospel never changes. In this, the church must build one another up. It cannot be done through worldly wisdom, through whatever ten-step book is on the Christian living section at Barnes & Noble.
[34:51] We see that worldly wisdom does not compare to the biblical truth of how we are to build one another up. We build one another up within these words written through scripture.
[35:03] Because all else will prove to be folly compared to the power of the gospel found within as it changes our lives and our hearts. And not only has God acted miraculously through the provisions of the Old Testament that some view as archaic historical writings that are just for those times.
[35:25] He miraculously works and acts on those who he calls to his marvelous light. And it happens within the depths of their hearts as dead hearts are raised to life in the gospel truth.
[35:47] This verse says the gospel, for God has not destined us for wrath but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live for him.
[36:01] You know what he's talking about here? You are a new creation in Jesus Christ. To live for him, to have something pass away, to die just as the three baptisms we saw maybe that was last week or the week before or maybe the week before.
[36:17] Time's flying. Whenever that happens, when those old lives are gone and you're risen to this new life, you are a new creation.
[36:28] Colossians 1.13 talks about that. He delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son. He transferred us.
[36:41] Not your good works. Not your best efforts. Not this extra biblical nonsense. He, according to his word, has transferred you into the kingdom of his beloved son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
[36:57] If you're in Christ, you're a child of light. You're a child of the day and this truth is not simply that you know a lot of stuff. You know how to articulate the gospel better than that pastor does.
[37:08] But it's a reminder that we continually to live against the grain of the culture in very manners of ethics and morals. And this is because in Christ we are a new creation.
[37:23] We're given a new DNA, spiritually speaking. We're given new motives, new ambitions, new attractions. You're a new creation and Christ is not legalism, it's not intellectualism, that what you say reflects in what you do.
[37:42] Because we know faith without works is dead. Our works verify the very faith that we have as James 2 talks about. We're not living as legalists in hypocrisy.
[37:54] This new creation is not just a sudden boom, like Emeril with his cooking, just bam, here goes the spices, you're a Christian, voila, receive your glory.
[38:05] Amen. That felt good. It's not just a sudden instance of sanctification, like voila, God's bringing them in like an assembly line of perfect, perfect, perfect, perfect.
[38:24] We often miss what it means to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and we undermine the steps, every step that it takes over a long period of time to make progress.
[38:38] And it's like if you're familiar with youth groups and some rallies, even Christian rallies, you go down for the conferences, you got the lights, the fogs, the music, the emotion, and you're just like, oh, I want to come to Jesus.
[38:51] And you feel it, it's going through your bones and you come forward and you're feeling it and all this emotion, emotion, emotion, and feeling and feeling and feeling and then all of a sudden you come down and you're like, oh, my life has changed and then you go to bed that night, you wake up and guess who you stared in the mirror?
[39:11] Someone who's taken one step out of many series of steps and you become discouraged, utterly discouraged because that feeling, that emotion you received, it's not there anymore.
[39:26] Because faith is not equal to an emotion. creation. Okay? It's not sudden being a new creation. And a new creation, becoming a new creation, being risen with him, as this passage says, is not a solo sport, but it's a team sport.
[39:46] Many will say that, well, you know, you became a Christian, it's just you and God, you know, you got your brother in the heavens and you're just, it's just you and God, you and the Bible, you don't need any pastor or any church to hold you accountable.
[40:02] Or maybe even your family, we live in a day where it kind of like idolizes our family, like God isn't raising up Christians, a holy family of a couple members, he's raising up a holy nation, right?
[40:16] This includes every person in this room exceeding that, that significance of a solo endeavor or that of a family endeavor.
[40:28] We have to be reminded that the Christian life is church life. Everything within our life, including our families, stem within this gathered nation called the church.
[40:38] God never intended to raise up lone wolves, but a holy nation. And being a Christian, regardless of what Mark Zuckerberg wants to put out there about what social media has created, this virtual community that can replace church and things like that, it's nonsense.
[40:53] According to the Bible, this is an in-person, this is a very personal endeavor where you are known by other people and you know other people and we need this, right?
[41:06] And so, when the world identifies the church, they don't just point to buildings, they don't just point to a pastor, they point to people, they point to a congregation. And so I praise God that I have the breath in my lungs in order to present the gospel to you today in this manner to show you, to be reminded of the power of the gospel through the word of God is, it's a sufficient anchor to be ready to be secure in what lays waiting ahead.
[41:32] The destiny of the church is an unwavering promise, not receiving God's wrath, but forgiveness because we are new creations in Christ.
[41:43] This is the gospel. If you need a reminder this week of what the gospel is, start at verse 9 and read to verse 10. That is the gospel.
[41:55] And we know the one who is in the beginning and we anxiously await the moment. We are united with the one who is in the ending. Amen? As we conclude our time today, we sort of have to ask, are we ready ready for the end?
[42:18] Are we ready for the end? Would the people, better yet, we're our own worst critics, give ourselves sometimes more credit than we deserve or less credit than that we actually should be attributing to ourselves.
[42:33] But what would other people in your life, other coworkers in your work environment, your spouses, your friends, your neighbors, in your community, according to what readiness looks like according to the pages today, would they say you're ready?
[42:50] Ooh. You guys stepped on some toes. Jesus may have put it as clear as he could in the parable in Matthew 25.
[43:01] It reads, Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise.
[43:16] For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept.
[43:28] But at midnight there was a cry, Here is the bridegroom! Come! Come out to meet him! And all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps.
[43:41] And the foolish said to the wise, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered, saying, Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.
[43:59] And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.
[44:13] Afterward, the other virgins came also saying, Lord, Lord, open to us! But he answered, Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.
[44:30] Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. Are you out of oil today?
[44:44] On this day at Youngstown Metro Church? Church, we must view our lives today through the lens of the end. Living today with the perspective of what is laying, waiting ahead.
[45:00] When we do so, we won't get caught up in the drama of today. That in uncertain times, just as that opening video shows to our service, in those uncertain times, we rest on something that is certain.
[45:17] All of our Christian liberties in this country could be taken away. Yeah, it's going to be serious, but so be it. We live today through the lens of the end.
[45:31] With extra oil. To the world, this will motivate sin. Eat, drink, and be merry. Right? I feel fine.
[45:43] We have peace and security. Look at all those things. I got this boat. I got a couple cars. I'm fine. Whatever. Just do a couple good things and leave a legacy here.
[45:58] Living life as it is the end will reveal itself in concrete, everyday actions as empowered by the spirits. The world, your neighbors, your co-workers can attest that you're carrying some oil.
[46:13] You are prepared. If you are in Christ, God has summoned you to be watchful, to be vigilant, to be ready and confident. How many of us are too distracted right now in the presence?
[46:25] all wondering about conspiracy theories about the coronavirus and things like that? So be it. Lift your heads above that.
[46:37] There's victory for us in Christ. We don't even know truth even if we watch the news. If you haven't arrived at that conclusion yet, you're missing something. We know truth and it's found in Scripture.
[46:51] How many of us are too distracted today? I ask that all of us ask Jesus to realign ourselves when we lose our way to regain that readiness constantly.
[47:05] Just as a drill sergeant calls upon the military squad, attention! How many of us today need that very call from our sergeants?
[47:17] Attention! Stand in order, ready for action. Some need it more than others, and I myself am one of them, to be attentive to action.
[47:30] If anyone in Christ seems to drift off, it is not simply because of the Bible you use or the books that you need to read or maybe the church you attend or your friends or the family.
[47:41] When a Christian drifts off from this truth and is distracted is usually due to the lack of willingness to focus and realign ourselves presently to the end, to live today as if the end is tomorrow.
[47:55] So may we reflect upon this and be ready for that action, church. Let's pray. Kind of Peng Jovi, who bits of do everyone, everyone, people and pictures that might come up with what they what they need to be if you need to give them when we compare them to the drawing.
[48:17] So let's pray. I guess we're asking that what the problem is? Through the process of you, the work I've mentioned. There seems so many some of my absolute ways that all of these can be in charge and