To kill one time is bad enough, but some of the serial killers have killed 30 to 40 people.
Illus: Every time they catch a serial killer they generally give them extensive psychological tests to try to find out what motivated them to do such things.
As Christians, we know that man and animals were created on the same day. We also know, if a person is not gloriously born again, he can be as vicious as any animal that has ever lived. It would be a marvelous thing to turn the television on and hear the network news media state clearly that the reason the serial killers do what they do is because of the depraved, sinful nature they were born with and then close the news broadcast by saying that to keep that from happening in the future, we need to tell sinful men - THEY NEED TO BE BORN AGAIN!
It is the sinful nature of people that motivates them to live as sinners, and when they do not restrain evil tendencies, the resulting actions can be devastating. Sinners sin because they are sinners.
Illus: The reason a duck quacks is because he is a duck.
The reason a dog barks is because he is a dog.
The reason a cat meows is because he is a cat.
And, the reason a sinner sins is because he is a sinner.
We Christians know what motivates an evil man, but let us look at the positive side and ask, "What is it that motivates a godly man to live a godly life?"
For instance, what motivated the apostle Paul to live a godly life.
Illus: I believe the book of 1 Thessalonians tells us one thing that motivated him to be the man of God he was. If you will notice, every chapter in 1 Thessalonians ends with a reference to Christ's return. Paul was convinced that Christ could come any day he lived.
There is nothing that will motivate God's church to serve Him to the fullest like knowing that Christ might come today.
The church of Thessalonica was not motivated with that same zeal. That was why Paul was writing to them.
He knew they were...
-Living recklessly spiritually.
-Abusing the public worship service.
-Needing to increase in LOVE and HARMONY.
Paul knew they had those serious problems and he dealt with those problems by contrasting TWO things that would show them the difference between the life of A SAVED PERSON and the life of A LOST PERSON. First...
I. HE SPOKE OF THE CONTRAST BETWEEN DARKNESS AND LIGHT
He used these because they are direct opposites. There is a big difference between LIGHT and DARKNESS and there is also a big difference between CHRISTIANS and SINNERS.
In verses 1-5 we read, "But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness."
Paul told the Thessalonians that there was a sharp contrast between saved people and unsaved people. Notice, he said that...
A. Sinners are children of DARKNESS There are many references to this truth.
In Ephesians 4:18 we see the sinner's DARKNESS is a darkness of IGNORANCE, "Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart."
In John 3:19-20 we see the sinner's DARKNESS is a PREFERRED DARKNESS, "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved."
In Matthew 8:12 we see the sinner's DARKNESS is an ETERNAL DARKNESS. "But the children of the kingdom (of Israel) shall be cast into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
The Bible refers to sinners as children of darkness because their evil lifestyle reflects they have not seen, or have rejected, the LIGHT of the gospel.
When a man walks in the dark, he can do harm to himself and to others. For example:
Illus: Someone said, "The reason God places toes on our feet is so that when we walk across a dark bedroom, we can use our toes to find the bedposts." We have all probably bumped up against something in the dark, and usually it hurt.
Listen, we would not stub our toes on the bedpost if we had the light on. And, sinners would not do the ridiculous things they do if they were not walking in spiritual darkness.
Then Paul describes Christians by comparing them to the thing that is in contrast to darkness - light.
B. Christians are children of light
In 1 Thess 5:5 we read, "Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness."
Just as there are many scriptures in the Bible to describe SINNERS as CHILDREN OF DARKNESS, there are also many scriptures that describe CHRISTIANS as CHILDREN OF THE LIGHT.
In Acts 13:4-7 we read, "For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be A LIGHT of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth."
In Ephesians 5:8 we read, "For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light."
We Christians, who are looking for Christ to come back any day, do not recklessly live our lives in the dark the way sinners do. We have many who claim they are saved, but who live as in the dark. That lifestyle reflects the fact they have never truly been born again. We walk in the light as He is in the Light.
Paul shows us, children of the light, two things to help us understand how we are to live our lives.
1. We are to live in an air of readiness, like an EXPECTANT MOTHER.
1 Thessalonians 5:3 alludes to this as it relates to the suddenness and unpredictability of the time. We read, "For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape."
Illus: And, to carry this a little farther, consider this, once a mother knows she carries a child in her womb, all her decisions have to be made based on what is good for that child. The mother has to be careful...
-Of what she eats.
-Of what she lifts.
-About her sleeping habits.
-About trips, etc.
Why does she have to be careful about all these things? Because she can not know exactly when that child may come, and she knows she has to BE READY no matter when it may be.
Then Paul gives us another comparison.
2. We are to live with an air of expectancy and readiness like the HOMEOWNER WHO EXPECTS A THIEF
We hear a lot these days about people whose houses are broken into and everything of value is taken.
The Lord is not a thief. He does not take anything that is not His own. When He returns He will not take one of the devil's children. HE IS NOT A THIEF, BUT HE WILL RETURN AS A THIEF IN THAT NO ONE KNOWS EXACTLY THE DAY OR HOUR OF HIS COMING! He will come when evil men least expect Him.
A lot of Christians are not living as if they expect Him to return. Can you imagine how embarrassing it is going to be when the Lord returns and catches some Christians disobeying God's Word and doing things they should be absolutely ashamed of.
For example:
-Can you imagine how embarrassing it would be for some Christians if the Lord came back and found they had joined churches where God's Word is not preached, and souls are not being saved?
-Can you imagine how embarrassing it would be if the Lord came back during church meeting time and they were out playing golf, or shopping on the Lord's day, or at home watching television?
Paul compared LIGHT to CHRISTIANS and DARKNESS to SINNERS. He knew sinners were not looking for Christ to return, that was obvious because of the way they were living. It should be just as obvious that Christians, who are children of the LIGHT, are looking for His soon return because they live holy lives.
Then Paul gives the other contrast in this passage that shows a clear difference between SINNERS and CHRISTIANS.
II. HE SPOKE OF THE CONTRAST BETWEEN SOBRIETY AND DRUNKENNESS
There is a big difference between a SOBER MAN and a DRUNK MAN and there is a big difference, again, between a CHRISTIAN and a SINNER.
We read in verses 6-8, "Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation."
Most of us have had some experience with a person who was drunk. Not only is a drunk's behavior disgusting, but when a drunk gets to a certain point, he will pass out and it is almost impossible to wake him up. This is what Paul wants readers to understand. By making this point, that the drunk man's behavior is horrendous, and it is almost next to impossible to wake him, we can understand that the sinner is "asleep" in his sin, as if there is not a thing to be concerned about, and all the while he is only one heartbeat from eternal damnation.
Illus: The sinner is like the drunk man who used to live in Columbia, S. C. He went out and got himself in that state of being disgusting in his behavior and then he finally went home and went to sleep and his house caught on fire and he never woke up.
That is a perfect picture of what happens to sinners. A sinner should be filled with great trepidation, but he lives his life as if he does not have a thing to be concerned about.
In contrast to this, Paul shows us the SAVED MAN who IS SOBER. He tells Christians, "BUT LET US, who are of the day, BE SOBER, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation."
The word translated "SOBER," here, means: "Mentally alert, watchful." In other words, Paul was telling them that they would not be having the problems they were having in the church if they would be "on their toes" looking for the Lord's return.
Illus: Often, when a driver swerves back and forth down the highway a patrolman will pull him over and make him take a "sobriety test" by walking the white line, to see if he is drunk or not.
Many Christians are wavering today and it makes us wonder if, spiritually speaking, they would be able to pass a "sobriety" test!
Paul then told them ways to guard against wavering - "...BE SOBER, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an helmet, the hope of salvation."
Every day Satan tries to steal our love and devotion from the Lord Jesus Christ. He will send SOMEONE or SOMETHING into your lives that will rob our hearts of the love of God and cause us to place our love and devotion somewhere else.
We are to protect ourselves with THE BREASTPLATE OF FAITH AND LOVE, and THE HELMET OF THE HOPE OF SALVATION! One of these pieces of armor protects our HEART and the other our MIND. If they are not protected, then we are in trouble.
Illus: Married people know that every day all kinds of temptations come to break up their marriage. If a person does not protect his HEART and MIND, he will soon find himself in a divorce court.
Conclusion:
One of the ways you can know that you are living in God's will is when you know if Christ was to come in the next five minutes, you could continue to do what you are doing.
Illus: A dedicated Christian man was painting a house. A sinner asked him, "If you knew Christ was going to come in the next five minutes, what would you do?" The Christian replied, "I would continue to do the best job I could do and finish painting this house."
Many Christians could not say that. If they knew Christ would come in the next five minutes they would...
-Have to find a place of prayer and start confessing un-confessed sins.
-Get on the phone and call people to apologize to them for the way they had treated them.
-Have to get their check book out and begin to write checks to the church for back tithes that they had robbed God of.
Why would they have to do these things? Because they would not want to meet the Lord in their present condition.
In verses 9-11 we see one more contrast. That is, the sinner is a child of God's wrath, but the Christian is not - "For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do."
Some people will work all their lives for a few years of retirement. That is, from the time they are young until they reach retirement age, they gear everything toward those few short years. They sacrifice and work hard to be able to enjoy those few short years.
But, there is a better way to live our lives. That is to live it every day as if this is the day that Christ will return. We who are saved by His grace know that when He comes we shall enjoy our eternal rewards FOREVER. All the sacrifice and hard work we have done will be worth it.
I. HE SPOKE OF THE CONTRAST BETWEEN DARKNESS AND LIGHT.
II. HE SPOKE OF THE CONTRAST BETWEEN SOBRIETY AND DRUNKENNESS.
