Dispensational truth (1 Thessalonians 4)

… Could we look together tonight at a few scriptures. The first you'll find in the epistle to the Thessalonians, first epistle to the Thessalonians chapter 1 and we'll read from verse 16. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. Verse 14 for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so then also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. Notice that phrase will God bring with him. Now the next epistle, the second epistle I should say chapter 2 and for brevity we'll start reading in verse three. Let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition who opposes and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not that when I was yet with you I told you these things and now you know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time for the mystery of iniquity doth already work only he who now let us will let until he be taken out of the way and then shall that wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming even him whose coming is after the working of satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and all and all and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie that then all might be damned who believe not the truth because but had pleasure in unrighteousness but we are bound to give thanks always to God for you brethren beloved of the Lord because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ therefore brethren stand fast and hold the tradition which you have been taught whether by word or our epistle now our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God even our father which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work a verse or two in the first epistle to the Corinthians chapter 15 and it's verse 24 then cometh the end when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God even the father when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power for he must reign he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death for he hath put all things under his feet but when he said all things are put under him it is manifest that he is accepted which did put all things under him and when all things shall be subdued unto him then shall the son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him that God may be all and in all lastly revelation 21 verse 1 and i saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea and i john saw the holy city the new jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride at dawn for her husband and i heard a great voice out of heaven saying behold the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them and be their God and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away and he that sat upon the throne said behold i make all things new and he said unto me right for these things are true and faithful and he said unto me it is done that's all i wish to read i notice there are many amongst us tonight who were not at the bible reading this afternoon so i think in all fairness i think we should just tell you what we were considering together and what the spirit of God brought before our souls this afternoon and i can well say with others i'm sure it was good for us to have been there the word the lord laid upon one's heart for the bible reading was in relation to truth firstly in relation to divine persons as the God of truth spoken of three or four times in the old testament the spirit of truth and the one who was the truth the Lord Jesus Christ and secondly we considered in the third epistle of john the thought of a working it out as holding fast to the truth and walking in the truth and so on and then we turn to a verse or two in ephesians in connection with church truth a great truth holding the truth in love in love in connection with Christ and the assembly and lastly we touched on the kingdom truth that's presented in Peter's second epistle a present truth the kingdom truth and we felt together as fellow helpers with the truth we were reminded of this this afternoon that we're fellow helpers with the truth and we're all in this and we feel we're letting those wonderful truths slip out of our hands so tonight the spirit of God helping me i would like just to pass on a few thoughts in connection with dispensational truth such as a truth as to the rapture the coming of the Lord to try to differentiate between the rapture and the appearing between the world to come an eternal state and Israel and the assembly might touch on these lines might be not be vitally in order but we'll leave the spirit of God to work out the truth in our hearts so we started away with that lovely thought that the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout i wonder if we're all ready for this brother is everyone in this room tonight waiting and longing and yearning to see the Lord in all his glory and beauty because he's coming you know and there's so much about us and in us around about us that's so attractive to the uh to the flesh and the course of life we're living in we're losing sight of the Lord coming but he's coming and he's coming soon and he might be here tonight i remember my first visit to find out it's a young christian we were invited to an old old home and she's told us about the the revival that swept the north country at that time and the theme of the revival was the Lord is coming he might be here today and she said this to us and i can remember this 40 odd years ago i can remember it quite clearly she says you know we were in such a condition that when we heard an uncertain noise through the night i see it here oh i wonder would to God this spirit of expectancy of the Lord's return would be in our hearts he's coming tonight my if we knew he was coming tonight we would want to put this right the next thing right brethren we're ready to go he's made us fit for this moment we're ready to go and you know it's the Lord himself that's going to descend from heaven with a shout the dead in Christ oh there's many of our loved ones who've gone before but the scripture says the dead in Christ those who have fallen asleep in Jesus shall rise first and we which are alive and remain we're going to be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air you might say we've heard this time and time again brethren i love to hear it i love to read it i love to be reminded of it because the things which are round about us and all that we have are only temporal you can do what you like with them you can treasure them you can paint them up do what you like God says they're temporal but the things which are unseen are eternal so this is what it is to get our hearts warmed up that the coming of the Lord is drawing nigh and we're looking for this moment when he shall come and take us to be with himself now that is the rapture now when he does come when he does come we are going to the father's house he's going to take us to be with himself now i want to stress this because there's a school of opinion today you know suggesting that the church goes through the tribulation but the church doesn't go through the tribulation we can point it out to you from the word of God we hope to make this clear and plain tonight now we're waiting on the Lord coming and we are going to be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air where do we go we go to the father's house from there to the judgment seat of Christ where the reviews of our works and we hope dear burn surely we're going on looking forward to that day well done now good and faithful servant oh that we might be faithful faithful until the Lord comes well done now good and intelligent service no faithful each and all of us meek and lowly though we be savior we belong to thee surely we can seek to be faithful for the short time we're left together in view of the judgment seat of Christ from there we go to the marriage supper of the lamb and we touched on this this afternoon the day of presentation we were reminded this afternoon about the assembly Christ loved the assembly delivered himself up for it oh the sacrifice of love and in view of that day of presentation when he shall present to himself think of it brethren what a wonderful day it will be for the Lord's own heart when he has us by his side the bride of Christ present to himself that glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that's the day of presentation the marriage supper of the lamb now now we come to second Thessalonians and this is the point i want to draw your attention to whilst we're in heaven whilst the assembly's in heaven and whilst that is going on in heaven this is what's going on on earth known as the tribulation and what a sad day this will be for those who believe not the truth who've turned their back against the truth they're going to believe a lie sad you know to think about it think of what has been delivered unto us the truth himself has been here the Lord Jesus Christ a man that has spoken the truth has spoken unto you and they wouldn't believe him and there are thousands today who will not believe him but there's another man going to appear i want to draw your attention to him in verse three second Thessalonians what a title this man has the man of sin the man of sin he's the false prophet he's the antichrist he's the second beast he's the one who comes out of the earth there are two beasts in revelation 13 and he's the second beast the antichrist and he's going to display some wonderful power even calling fire from heaven and they're going to believe a lie what a terrible day this will be they get the mark of the beast on their foreheads six six six six i believe you know whilst we read those scriptures if we realize this more and more i'm sure it would energize us more in gospel efforts to seek to tell others about this terrible day that's going to take place and mind you we're in the glory then i want this to be very clear the assembly has left this scene while this is all going on and if you care to read through revelation 13 you'll see the trinity of evil the devil false prophet and the beast a trinity of evil on this day during the tribulation there's a trinity of truth today and they won't believe it they won't believe it they will not believe the truth and the truth shall set you free and this is a sad day for this poor poor world the man of the world knows nothing about it of course he's trying to put it right left right and center good intentions it's only the man of god or every believer who has the spirit of god who has trusted the lord jesus and has the spirit the spirit of truth that we're guided into those lines of truth and we know what's going to happen now i'm not going to enter into detail with all this but i just want to draw your attention to another verse here verse 7 for the mystery of iniquity doth already work only he who know ladies will let until he be taken out of the way now the spirit of gods left this scene now you picture it the assemblies left this scene and this man appears and he shall bow before him this is a man in daniel isn't it daniel 6 the man of sin you know i was impressed with that title you know the man of sin in contrast to the lord jesus who was the way the truth and the life the one who came to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself and he's brought us in as the redeemed of the lord redeemed of the lord and here this man appears and what a terrible day awaits this sad sin-soiled world in which we find a lot and it's sad reading when we go into revelation and see it worsen in the last three and a half years of daniel's week it gets worse and worse and worse and we know of course at the end of all this the trinity of evil is cast into the lake of fire god deals with him but all before it what a terrible tribulation it will be for the remnant who goes through it until the lord appears and this is where the appearing comes in but before this i want to touch on a few thoughts that no doubt i enjoyed from the lord you'll notice a verse verse nine even him who's coming in after the working of satan with power and signs and lion wonders this is a man of sin and all the deceivableness of unrighteousness and so on because they receive not the love of the truth and in verse 12 that they all might be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness but i want you to notice we're not going to occupy this night with these things when we come to verse 13 ah there's a breath of fresh air isn't there paul sums up the black side of these things he rejoices he says but but we are all bound to give thanks always to god for you brethren beloved of the lord ah we touched on this this afternoon that endearing term beloved of the lord we noticed in the third epistle of john how it was mentioned four times in connection with the well-beloved gaius he was addressed as the beloved the beloved and here the apostle is embracing us and he says beloved of the lord because god hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth now there are four nice wee touches i want to put in here uh under the well verse 13 we are chosen now that's something to give god thanks for isn't it chosen chosen in christ before the foundation of the world in verse 14 we're called we're called in verse 16 we're consoled and in verse 17 we're comforted i don't want you to miss those four lovely wee touches but it is what a grand thing it is to realize that the eternal purpose of god comes in here with no hand in it at all god has chosen us chosen us in him in christ before the foundation of the world why didn't he take up my door neighbor didn't he take up someone else oh surely we can give thanks we can understand the apostle bursting into an order of thanksgiving here after giving us the black picture of the of the uh tribulation he could burst out on thanks and praise to god why we are chosen in christ we are not going to pass through this he's chosen us in christ before the foundation of the world you know what i think of the purpose of god it rejoices my heart you know why because there's no breakdown in god's purpose god never makes a mistake and the purpose of god's a good line to get hold of i think we said last saturday afternoon in the uh uh in edgefield that day in abraham we have the promises of god you remember moses he got the pattern you know of the tabernacle of god and the mount and david got the plan you remember for the house of god and kings hand it over to solomon but you know it was apostle paul who got the purpose of god purpose of god and what a grand thing it is to get hold of the purpose of god you have not chosen me but i have chosen you oh what a joy it is to our hearts to give thanks to god the father tonight that he has chosen us what a lovely verse he says from the beginning to salvation through the sanctification of the spirit and the belief of the truth ah we were speaking you know about the the spirit of truth this afternoon i'll say it again we said it this afternoon and i think it's good to be reminded of it four times the holy spirit as a divine person he's designated as the spirit of truth spirit of truth chapter 14 of john 15 and 16 the spirit of truth and you know the brother that opened in prayer this afternoon he quoted half of the verse the most of the verse and we read it together this afternoon in chapter 16 when the spirit of truth is come he shall guide you into all truth what a wonderful helper we have paraclete the one called alongside to help the power of the holy spirit and here he's brought again bringing in the spirit here the sanctification of the spirit and the belief of the truth and you know i believe we don't make room enough in our lives in our readings in our meditations for the spirit of god to work in our hearts the lord said of him when he comes he shall glorify me he shall take of the things of christ and show them unto us and oh i would encourage the young men to read their bibles and to read from genesis to revelation because the spirit of truth will see to it that you'll find christ in all the scriptures and here it is here we're being reminded of this and you know when the apostle paul thinks of it he bursts into thanksgiving as doxology worship and praise but thanks be to god for this you may say oh we've heard it before my word it's good to be reminded of it again paul could thank god the father for this wonderful revelation and for this wonderful thought that we and you and i have been chosen in christ before the foundation of the world and then he speaks about being called ah we're called in time you know mr darby has a lovely poem it's a it's a part of a hymn to in the call it in his spiritual songs it's worth reading if you have it read it the call the call oh it's a lovely thing the call blessed lord thou speakest it was thy voice that drew our hearts to thee that drew us to the better choice for grace has set us free chosen in the past eternity called in time oh what a wonderful calling this is isn't it the apostle speaks about it being a holy calling you know i've always impressed with this when he brings us in in the epistle timothy you remember he says he bursts into a note of thanksgiving again he says oh how thankful we are that god has saved us he saved us and he's called us he says with an holy calling notice the words not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace given us in christ jesus before the foundation of the world but has now been made manifest in the appearing of our lord jesus who is a null death and brought life and incorruptibility to light through the gospel and brother and sister he's given us the light of another world in our souls the world to come and he wants us to enter into this bearing in mind the purpose of god there's no breakdown and he'll safely call us to move with himself someday very very soon so there we are chosen and we're called and this is what the apostle would rejoice in and give thanks and surely as we read the black picture and then get a breath of sunshine here of heavenly sunshine giving god thanks and praise you know i was thinking in the bible reading this afternoon you know we can only worship the father in spirit and in truth you see how truth goes through it you can see how truth dominates john's ministry ah the father is seeking worshipers to worship him in spirit and in truth and every one of us surely can enter into this what a joy it is he's made us fit partakers of this and we can enter in and draw near to god and worship him in spirit and in truth now we are chosen verse 14 we're called by the gospel and then it says therefore brethren verse 15 stand fast and hold the tradition mr darby's translation reads stand firm hold fast the instructions which you have been taught aye if john told us this afternoon in his writings were to hold fast the truth paul is telling us to hold fast the truth here isn't he hold fast the instructions that you have been taught by word or by epistle and then he says now unto the lord jesus himself and god even our father which has loved us oh the father hath loved us you remember the lord says the father hath loved you why because you have loved me you have loved me you see how the father appreciates your love my love for his son the father himself loves you because you've loved me or that we might have more affection and love for the lord jesus here it is here it is here now our lord jesus christ himself and even our father which has loved us and hath given us eternal consolation and good hope through faith ah consolation what a wonderful thing it is that we're moving through a world of sin and darkness and we can rest on the words of scripture and be consoled and we can be comforted verse 17 comfort your hearts and establish you in every good work and word so with this i leave this scripture just to remind you again we've been chosen we've been called we've been consoled and we're comforted comforted comforted comfort by the scriptures of god comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work now we'll go back to first thessalonians chapter four at the end of the tribulation we have this taking place in verse 14 i want to differentiate between the rapture and appearing verse 16 we have the rapture the lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout verse 14 for if we believe that jesus died and rose again even to them also which sleep in jesus will god bring with him now at the end of the tribulation what a wonderful day it will be when he comes to set up his kingdom when we shall come with him he's coming with his saints and we are coming with him and that day his feet shall touch the mount of olives and there takes place the judgment of the living nations and everything shall be set in order and then the kingdom the world to come whereof we speak shall take place and what a wonderful day that will be when everything that has breath shall praise the lord now i want you to turn to first corinthians just to get hold of this 15 chapter 15 verse 25 for he must rain oh he's going to rain all right he's going to rain from the rivers to the ends of the earth when he sets up his kingdom you know we had a touch of kingdom truth this afternoon in peter's epistle and you know the little glimpse that peter got of the kingdom is very impressive if you read it in his epistle you remember when they were taken up in a mount mount of transfiguration they got a little view of the kingdom the sufferings of christ and the glory to follow but when he writes his epistle he seems to emphasize that wonderful display of glory of the kingdom this is what he says he writes his epistle of the kingdom this is what he says when he spoke about the mount he says it was a holy mount up the holy mount you know it left such an impression on him that he said it was a holy mount when he thought of the display of glory he says it was the excellent glory it was so impressive it was the excellent glory when the glory of the lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea what a wonderful day it will be for the lord everything that hath breath shall praise the lord in that day that's the world to come for he must reign of course he must reign jesus shall reign forever the son he must reign and we're going to reign with him we're going to reign with him the assembly is going to reign with him over the earth we're not coming to the earth reign over the earth with him in that kingdom age what a wonderful day it will be for his own heart when everything that hath breath shall praise the lord now that's the word to come now there's much more could be said about it we're just touching the fringe of it that's the difference between the rapture and the appearing now it says then cometh the end verse 24 then cometh the end what does this mean it's the end of the millennium the end of the world to come when he shall deliver up the kingdom even the father when he shall have put down all rule and all authority the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death and at the end of verse 28 when you put all things under him that god may be all and in all now that's a different day again isn't it and god shall be all and in all now we're going to move on to that day in a revelation 21 revelation 21 so but in revelation 20 i just want to read that verse 10 and the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever and forever that's the trinity of evil we were speaking about god deals with them and he puts them into the lake of fire forever and forever now i saw a great white throne now this is the final judgment the great white throne that takes place at the very end before the new heavens the new heaven and the new earth so we move from that scene to god's eternal day now i hope i've made that clear now the difference between the uh the rapture and appearing and the world to come and god's eternal day this is a wonderful day we're going on to god's eternal day revelation 21 this is finality and there's very little said in scripture about god's eternal day the day of god as peter speaks about when the earth shall melt with fervent heat there'll be a new heaven and the new earth is going to be burned up you know everything's cleared everything's burned up before this takes place this is a new heaven and a new earth this is god's eternal day and this is what we're moving on to and it says i saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away there was no more sea and i john saw the holy city the new jerusalem coming down from god out of heaven prepared as a bride after a thousand years prepared as a bride adorned for her husband wonderful isn't it wonderful language of scripture the holy city the bride the tabernacle of god is with men is with men now who's with men who's the man if the assembly is the holy city the bride tabernacle of god who's the man well i believe the men are those who come out of the the world to come the earthly people tabernacle of god who's the man well i believe the men are those who come out of the the world to come the earthly people and they're transferred into the god's eternal day and he's going to tabernacle with men there'll be the heavenly company there'll be the earthly company new heaven and a new earth god shall tabernacle with men i heard it once suggested that the holy city could be linked up with god the bride in relation to administration the one to come of course the bride with christ tabernacle of god with the spirit habitation of god for the spirit i just put that out i just put that out think it over but the great thought is this that god himself shall be with them i want you to notice this this is finality this is god himself shall be with them oh i think this is a wonderful thought we were speaking a few of us not very long ago in a house not far from here about that word himself the lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout the spirit itself maketh intercession for us so on but when we come here it speaks about the father himself love with you but when it comes to the final god's eternal day when all taint of sin shall be removed all evil shall be done away turn it of evil get with great white throne finish with into god's eternal day when all taint of sin shall be removed all evil shall be done away and we you and i shall dwell with god's beloved through god's eternal day what a wonderful day it will be when god himself shall tabernacle with men notice and god shall wipe away all tears from her eyes i mind you there's a lot of tears in this world tonight brethren there's a lot of tears shed in the closet you know a woman spoke to me the other day about shedding tears and this woman's in trouble an elderly woman i said to her my dear woman i says you know what god does with your tears she says no i says he puts him in a bottle takes account of them in a bottle yes takes account of her tears he does you know i remember a brother saying once about a difficulty in an assembly he says we've tried many things but he says we've not tried tears and you know this humbles me when i think of this have we tried tears have we been broken down before the lord in prayer and tears about certain matters because you know he's touched with the feelings first in all the reflections he was afflicted and he feels it first but oh to think that he's going to wipe away all tears from her eyes no more tears in this day no more tears that's all finished with no more sin no more tears god shall wipe away all tears from their eyes there shall be no more death can you imagine no more death their notices up and down the land keep death of the roads they can't keep it off the roads they can't stop it it's not been dealt with yet the last enemy to be destroyed is death we read this tonight but there's no death in this scene there's no more death oh we're going on to a wonderful scene brother no more death no more tears no more tears no more death no more sorrow oh this sorrow today but you know there's such a thing as christian sorrow you know you may say that's a very funny phrase there is you know the christian has sorrow peculiar to himself you see what do you mean because we sorrow not as others who've no hope we sorrow not as others who've no hope we've a hope beyond this scene of course we have but in this scene there's no more sorrow sorrows done away with no more sorrow no more sorrow nor crying and there shall be no more pain for the former things will have passed away oh god hasn't very much to say about god's eternal day scripture hasn't much to say about it but it's a wonderful scene to just sit in god's presence and read those verses and think of them that your portion and mine as being in christ before the foundation of the world and he would swat our appetites to make them good in our souls even now and then he says and he that sat upon the throne behold i make all things new new heaven new earth right for these words are true and faithful ah he comes out with his truth again isn't he he's the true and faithful witness of course he is he ever will be the truth he stands unique to it the true and faithful witness these words are true and faithful and he says it is done we can well see tonight it is done everything's finished the supremacy of god oh that our hearts might rejoice again it may have been a fragmentary some of those thoughts tonight or in the power of the spirit i hope you've enjoyed them as i have enjoyed meditating meditating and considering before the lord pray the holy spirit might make it good to each and all of our hearts to enjoy him more and more until we see him face to face …