But you, brothers, are not in the darkness so that this day should overtake you like a thief.But you, brothers, aren’t in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief.But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief:
5 sermons cite this verse
… and we'll come back to this at the end of tonight. 1 Thessalonians 5, verses 1 through 4, Paul said to the believers in Thessalonica, but concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you'll have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief of the night. For when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness. Notice the contrast. The believer is in the light. They, them, those, they're in the darkness. So that this day should overtake you as a thief. Isn't that a great word? In other words, everything that you're reading right now is that we are to be a people that are sticking to the word of God. We should be a people in prayer and that we should be a people that are not surprised by the day and the age in which we live in. We should be as the sons of Ishakar, the Bible tells us in the Old Testament, that they discerned the seasons and they knew what Israel ought to do. That's a good thing for you and I to do. Look around the world, look around our community, look around our life, this culture, our nation, and we should know what to do next as believers. Amen to that? God's given us the roadmap. So we're going to do this the best we can. And if we do, if we finish tonight, it will …
… They shall not escape, but the very next verse says, but you brother are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief. Hallelujah. And then in verse nine, he says, for God has not appointed us to wrath. I tell you, this ought to make us shout right here in this little church. God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. My, oh my, I'm telling you, we cannot imagine what God has prepared for us. Eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared. I want to throw up Romans 13 and 11. I close with this. Romans 13 and 11. And that knowing the time. Now it's high time to awake out of sleep. Turn to somebody and say, wake up. Tell them again. Shake them a little bit. Say, wake up. It's high time. Do you believe we're in that time prophetically? Do you believe we're in that time spiritually? …
Look at verse 4. But you, brethren, are not in darkness so that that day should overtake you as a thief. It's going to come like a thief to those who don't expect it, people in the world, unbelievers, those living in darkness. Nobody looks forward to a thief coming. Nobody watches and schedules the thief, leaves a note on the counter, hey, I'm on vacation, take what you'd like. Oh, by the way, my wallet's in the second drawer from the right. a thief just breaks in and it's a shock. It's all of a sudden. But, brethren, you are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief. You are waiting for it. You're watching for it. As Jesus told us to watch and be ready for his coming. So you're not in darkness that that day would overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober. …
… of the saints in light, for He rescued us from the domain of darkness. You see it also in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verses 4 and 5, but you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief. For you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night, nor of darkness." One more Scripture just to illustrate the familiarity that the text of Scripture has with this idea, 1 Peter 2.9, "'You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. This is the contrast that's so familiar in the New Testament. Now darkness represents, I think, four things. If you understand these four, you'll sort of understand the range of the expression of this term darkness. It represents depravity. It describes the human condition in sin. Not only does it represent depravity, but it represents deception. …
… usually means to be ambushed. For example, in 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 4, it says, beware unless judgment day katalambanos you. Grasps you, surprises you, amazes you, jumps on you, surrounds you. You don't want to be ambushed. It means to surround and capture people who are amazed and surprised. however the word is also used with an intellectual in an intellectual sense for example in acts chapter 10 verse 34 peter uses it of himself and he's talking uh it's this is in chapter 10 after pardon me before the incident in chapter 10 peter was very loath to admit Gentiles into the church. As we often say around here, you know, today the question always comes up, should a Jewish person be a Christian? But in the very beginning of the church, the real question was, can a Gentile person be a Christian? Because the early church, of course, was a movement of Jewish people. And Peter was a person who was loath to let the Gentiles in, and he was taken by God to the house of Cornelius, a Roman officer, and he saw Cornelius and his household gloriously converted. And the upshot of it was that Peter realized God was trying to get through to him. …