THE SECOND COMING A COMFORTING HOPE--I THESSALONIANS--LESSON 5

THE SECOND COMING A COMFORTING HOPE

I Thessalonians Lesson 5 By E. L. Bynum

Lesson: I Thessalonians 4:1-18

Memory Verse: I Thessalonians 4:4

I. THE DIVINE CALL TO SANCTIFICATION. vs. 1-12

A. God Calls His Own To a Higher Life. vs. 1-2

1. The seriousness of the call. v. 1. It was serious enough for the apostle to beseech and exhort.

2. The source of the call. v. 1. "by the Lord Jesus."

3. The sacredness of the call. v. 1. "walk to please God." (How do we know what pleases God? Listen to Him.) See I Corinthians 6:20; Galatians 1:10; John 8:29. One of Paul's favorite pictures is the Christian life compared to a walk.

a. Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. Ephesians 4:1

b. Walk not as other Gentiles walk. Ephesians 4:17

c. Walk in love. Ephesians 5:2

d. Walk as children of light. Ephesians 5:8

e. Walk by faith. II Corinthians 5:7

f. Walk in the light. I John 1:5-7

g. Enoch walked with God. Genesis 5:24

4. The success of the call. v. 1. It leads to abounding "more and more."

5. The survival of the call. v. 2. It hasn't changed. It was the truth that he had taught them before. "Commandments" a military term. It refers to orders handed down from superior officers.

B. God Call His Own to A Holy Life. vs. 3-8

1. God calls to sanctification. v. 3. God's people are to be separated from the world and are to live holy lives before God.

2. God calls to sexual purity. v. 3. Exodus 20:14, Thou shalt not commit adultery. Adultery and fornication seldom condemned among the Greeks, much the same as in our society today. God built a fence around sex, not to rob of joy, but to safeguard joy. A fence around a garden is not to make a prison, but to safeguard the garden. God created sex and He has the authority to govern it, for the continuance of the human race and for pleasure. Hebrews 13:4, Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

3. God calls for successful control of the body (vessel). v. 4. This can only be when one is saved, sanctified, and separated unto the Lord.

4. God calls away from sensuality and lust. v. 5. The unsaved then and now cannot hear and obey this call.

5. God calls us away from swindling a brother. v. 6. Sexual looseness certainly defrauds others, and brings God's judgment upon the guilty party.

6. God calls to sanctification and not to immorality. v. 7. I Peter 1:15, But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Galatians 5:16. His call is not an excuse for sin--it is an encouragement to holiness.

7. God calls to a Spirit led life. v. 8. Sexual sin is rebellion against the Holy Spirit. Sexual sin is one of the biggest problems in churches today.

C. God Calls Us To An Humble Life. vs. 9-12

1. It is a life of brotherly love. v. 9. See John 15:12,17, This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. 17These things I command you, that ye love one another. James 2:8, If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well; and I John 3:11-18. The Greeks had three words for love. "Eros" = erotic, and is not found in the New Testament. "Philia" = deep affection, and is used in New Testament. "Agape" = love. God shows us that it is the highest type of love. Fish swim because they are fish. Birds fly because they are birds, and Christians love because they are Christian. I John 4:8, He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

2. It is a growing life of love. v. 10

3. It is a life of honesty and labor. v. 11

4. It is a life of testimony to the world. v. 12. "Honestly" is also translated "decently" in I Corinthians 14:40, Let all things be done decently and in order.

II. THE DIVINE CALL AT THE SECOND COMING. vs. 13-18

A. The Blessed Hope Of the Saints. vs. 13-15

1. We are not to be ignorant concerning dead saints. v.13

2. He would not have us sorrow for these. v. 13

3. His resurrection points to the resurrection of the saints. v. 14. I Corinthians 15:20,52. The souls of these dear departed Christians will the Lord bring with Him, to be reunited with their bodies.

4. The living saints will not precede the sleeping saints. v. 15. The "we" seems to be an editorial we, and does not indicate that Paul expected to be alive when the Lord comes.

B. The Lord's Coming. vs. 16-18

1. The Lord Himself will come with proper sounds. v. 16. See Daniel 12:1,2; and 1 Corinthians 15:54-57.

2. The dead in Christ shall rise first. v. 16

3. The resurrected saints and the living saints shall go up together. v. 17. "Caught up,” is its meaning.

a. To catch away speedily. Acts 8:39

b. To seize by force. John 6:15

c. To claim for one's own self. This is what Christ will do.

d. To move to a new place. Paul's visit to heaven. II Corinthians 12:1-4. A prepared place. John 14:1-6

e. To rescue from danger. Acts 23:10. Reminds us of the pre-trib rapture.

4. All the saints shall meet Him in the air. v. 17. A reunion where we will forever be with the Lord.

a. A glorious meeting. We shall have glorified bodies.

b. An everlasting meeting. Forever with the Lord. John 14:3

c. A time of reckoning. Judgement seat of Christ. Romans 14:10; II Corinthians 5:10

5. None of the saints shall ever be separated from Him. v. 17

6. This is a message of comfort to the living saints. v. 18.

If the Thessalonian Christians were concerned about the Christians who had died, then this should forever settle in their minds the fact that all these sleeping saints would share in His Coming.

STUDY QUESTIONS

1. What is God's will for the Thessalonians?

2. To what have they been called?

3. What does it mean to defraud a brother?

4. What does it mean to possess ones vessel in sanctification and honor?

5. Why was it not necessary for Paul to teach them about brotherly love?

6. What did Paul teach them about work?

7. Give the order of events at the rapture and comment upon each event, as is described in this chapter.