The Return Of The King: Assurance Series

INTRODUCTION

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• When you love someone, what is one of the biggest fears we have, especially when we get older?

• We live in a world where death often feels like the end of the story.

• When we stand by the graveside of someone we love, questions naturally rise in our hearts: Where are they?

• Will I ever see them again?

• Is death really the end?

• Death is possibly one of the most intense types of grief we can face.

• Some of the hardest moments I’ve ever faced as a minister have been standing by the graveside, watching families say goodbye.

• The tears are real.

• The grief is heavy.

• But I’ve also seen something remarkable: in those same moments, I’ve heard songs of hope, words of assurance, and prayers that look forward to a reunion.

• That’s what Paul is giving us in 1 Thessalonians 4—a truth that changes how we look at death: it is not the end, because Christ has the last word.”

• I have done funerals for Christians and non-Christians.

• The grieving process is so different.

• What makes the difference is not that Christians don’t grieve; we do.

• But we grieve differently.

• We grieve with hope.

• And that’s exactly what Paul wanted the Thessalonians to understand in 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18.

• The people were worried: What happens to those who die before Jesus returns?

• Will they miss out?

• Are they gone forever?

• And Paul writes this passage not to erase their tears but to fill their sorrow with hope.

• He reminds them, and us, that because Jesus died and rose again, death does not have the final say.

• Christ does.

• Paul longs for the Thessalonians to know that he sees that the grief they face is real, and he wants them to deal with it properly.

• Remembering their status as sons and daughters of God will help them face grief honestly.

• Paul begins by talking about the comfort of Christian hope in verses 13–14.

• Let’s look at how he helps us face grief with hope.

1 Thessalonians 4:13–14 NET 2nd ed.

13 Now we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest who have no hope.

14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also we believe that God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep as Christians.

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SERMON

I. The Comfort of Christian Hope

• Houston, we have a problem!

• At the time of the writing of Thessalonians, it seemed as though people had the idea that Jesus was going to return at any moment, literally!

• In 2 Thessalonians, Paul addresses confusion and possibly panic among some believers who thought that the Day of the Lord had already arrived.

• He urges them not to be shaken or alarmed.

• Some people were expecting Jesus' return imminently and were abandoning normal responsibilities (2 Thessalonians 3:10-12), thinking the end was near.

• Can you imagine how you would feel if your loved one, who belonged to Jesus, died just before the return of Jesus?

• It appears that Paul and his crew talked about the Second Coming, but not all of what they taught was being caught by the listeners.

• Paul tells the people in verse 3 that his STRONG desire is that they know and understand what will happen.

• Notice in verse 13 that Paul does not tell us not to grieve, but rather to not grieve as those who have no hope.

• Paul acknowledges grief is natural, even necessary.

• As John Stott puts it, mourning is natural, even emotionally necessary. What Paul forbids is hopeless grief.

• In other words, the main reason he wants them to be informed is so that their grief is not grieving like we have lost our loved one forever and always.

• Paul addresses the Thessalonians’ grief: death is painful, but it is not hopeless.

• What did Jesus do at the grave of Lazarus before He raised him? John 11:35.

• Wept!

• Jesus knew He was going to bring Lazarus back, yet He felt the pain He had over the loss, and He felt the pain of all those who loved Lazarus.

• Those outside of Christ have a hopeless grief; their loved one is gone forever.

• There is no expectation beyond death; death is the end of all things.

• Why is the grief different?

• Verse 14 gives us the answer.

1 Thessalonians 4:14 NET 2nd ed.

14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also we believe that God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep as Christians.