The Model Life: Alertness, Part 6

Take your Bible and turn with me to the 5th chapter of 1 Thessalonians as we continue to look at this marvelous book and this great passage in verses 1 to 11 of chapter 5 concerning the coming of our Lord and what it means to the modern life, the life that truly exemplifies Christ In chapter 4 and chapter 5 of 1 Thessalonians, talk to us about what that life looks like It is a life of abstinence, verses 1 to 8 of chapter 4 It's a life of aspiration, verses 9 to 12 of chapter 4 It's a life of anticipation, verses 13 to 18, as to the coming of our Lord for His church

It's a life of alertness, alert to the day of the Lord and the coming judgment upon the world The modern life is consumed with the coming of Christ and how we live in anticipation of the day of Christ, which is the rapture of the church and the reward for the believer And we live alert to the day of the Lord, which truly is the revelation of Christ and His retribution upon unbelievers and His redemption of Israel It's so important to understand these subjects because it motivates us, it stimulates us, it encourages us, it moves us to action

And in chapter 5, verses 1 to 11, He's specifically talking about the day of the Lord And so He reminds them of a couple of things He reminds them of the time and epics And no one knows the day or the hour He reminds them of the term, the day of the Lord He reminds them of the thief that comes suddenly He reminds them of the terror that will come upon the unbeliever Look at it with me, if you will Verse 1 of chapter 5 But everything about this day of the Lord set us around the thrill of the day of the Lord And the Bible says in verse number 4, Awake Completely aware And sober

For those who sleep, do their sleeping at night And those who get drunk, get drunk at night But since we are of the day, let us be sober Having put on the breastplate of faith and love As a helm with the hope of salvation For God has not destined us for wrath But for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ That's the thrill of the day of the Lord Who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with him Therefore, encourage one another and build up one another Just as you also are doing Here's the thrill of this day

That you are to encourage one another and build up one another Just as you are doing But as I thought about that, I thought about the fact that, That why is it, there is this absence in the church today Of this anticipation of the day of Christ And why is it there is this absence of alertness to the day of the Lord Why is it there isn't this thrill to encourage one another and build up one another As you see this day approaching Why is it there is this sort of stagnation in the church About the coming of the King So I thought about that And I thought you know that the 21st century

Isn't really much different than the 1st century In other words, what we anticipate Around the 2nd coming of Christ In the 21st century is a lot like How they anticipated the 1st coming of Christ in the 1st century As I thought about that, I thought you know it would be good for us to understand What is it about my life that is not so thrilled about the day of the Lord And the day of Christ Why is it I come to church and I don't live in anticipation of this. I'm not alert to this Why is it off somewhere else In the far corners of my mind If at all There Why is it my life is as dull as it is

So I began to think about that And begin to realize that Solomon said there's nothing new under the sun So the way it was in the 1st century is the same way it is in the 21st century So let me explain to you the way it was in the 1st century And why is it Israel did not live in anticipation Of the 1st coming And why they were not alert To the day Of the Lord They should have been But they weren't We should be But we're not And that's because There's nothing new under the sun So I thought that it would be good for us to compare The 1st century with the 21st century

And there are several reasons why Those in Israel We're not anticipating nor alert To the coming of the Messiah The very 1st reason was apathy Apathy This complacency About the coming of the Messiah And if you're a Jew in the 1st century and you're going to the synagogue Every Sabbath And some would go every day to the synagogue To learn To read To hear The Old Testament would be filled With prophecies and predictions and promises Around the arrival of the Messiah And so they would hear And know from the very beginning in Genesis 3.15 That the seed of a woman Excuse me Would come

And crush the serpent's head That this Messiah Would be born of a virgin Isaiah 7.14 This Messiah Would be called wonderful counselor Mighty God Prince of peace Everlasting Father And the government would rest upon his shoulders This was the promise Abraham had been given a promise About a seed that would bless the nations Of the world The prophet Isaiah would speak about The suffering of this Messiah And through that suffering would come Man's redemption And they would hear these things but But there was this This apathy This indifference This non interest About the coming of their Messiah

After all it had been 400 years Since the prophet had spoken After the prophet Malachi There was silence There was no angel from heaven Coming to make an announcement There was no prophet speaking about The arrival of the Messiah The Lord was not speaking from heaven There was silence And Israel had come back from captivity And they had begun to To build the walls around the city And begun to rebuild the temple In anticipation of the Messiah But there was nothing but silence And Israel became more And more apathetic To the arrival of the Messiah Ezekiel had seen the glory of the Lord depart

He had seen it leave the temple Cross over the Kidron Valley Ascend up the Mount of Olives And disappear And the prophet Haggai Chapter two Would speak of the fact that One day the glory of the Lord Was going to return to the temple And you think that Israel Would be living in anticipation And completely alert to the arrival Of their Messiah But when he came Hardly anybody noticed And John would say And the glory of the Lord Tabernacled among us We beheld the beauty of the Lord We beheld the glory of the Lord And on the day of his birth The angels came And said as the glory of the Lord

Would shine all around The shepherds The Messiah had come And yet outside a very few Handful of people Nobody really cared There was Zacharias and Elizabeth That's because For after 400 years The angel Gabriel spoke to Zacharias As he was doing his priestly duties And told him that his wife Would have a son who would be the The forerunner to the Messiah So he and Elizabeth are ecstatic Mary has the angel Gabriel come to her And announced to her that she will be the The mother of the Messiah So Mary and Joseph know about this And they're ecstatic They're anticipating the arrival of the Messiah

That there's There's Who was married for just seven years And so most Jewish girls were betrothed at the age of 13 And she would have been married around that time And she was married to her husband Luke 2 tells us for seven years So at the age of 20 Her husband dies And she remains a widow for 84 years But Anna Was looking for the redemption of Jerusalem Luke 2 tells us And so she was in the temple Day and night Fasting and praying For 84 years Because she longed for the arrival of the Messiah She lived in anticipation She was completely alert To what the prophets said About the Messiah

And she could not wait for him to come If you're a widow today You probably haven't been a widow for. 84 years But learn the lesson of Anna Her hope was resting in the arrival of her Messiah Before she is mentioned in Luke 2 There's Simeon He's an old man He's up in years He's a righteous and devout man And he's been looking for the consolation of Israel The light of revelation to the Gentiles And he's in the temple And he was given this promise by the Lord That he's not going to die Until He sees the Lord's Messiah So he's living in anticipation Of the Lord's Messiah Every day he's looking

He's longing He's waiting He's anticipating And for years he's waited Until one day Mary and Joseph come And bring the baby Jesus to the temple And Simeon beholds him and holds him in his arms And rejoices at the arrival of the Messiah There were the Magi First Gentile converts The Magi They lived in anticipation That they were longing They weren't apathetic to the arrival of the Messiah It had been passed down from generations Since the time of Daniel By their parents about this star that would come And they should follow that star Because Daniel told them about the prophecy of Numbers 24

Verse number 17 That a star will rise That a Jacob and a scepter will be in his hand This will be the king of the Jews So the Magi would get on their Persian steeds And make that 700 mile journey to Jerusalem Arrive in the city and say Where is he who was born king of the Jews? And everybody is like Who? What are you talking about? The Magi anticipated But Jerusalem did not And Jerusalem had all the prophecies All the promises But here come these Magi And you would think that when the Magi would arrive in Jerusalem And Matthew 2 tells us that Herod was terrified And the whole city was in fear

Why? Because it wasn't three Magi on the backside of camels Riding into Jerusalem It was hundreds of king makers on the back of Persian steeds Coming into Jerusalem They were king makers There were hundreds of them And all of their entourage was following them And they come riding into Jerusalem Saying where is he who was born king of the Jews? And all Jerusalem is in fear And terrified But they were apathetic Do you think that any of them asked you what are you talking about? Let us follow you Where are you going? We want to be and see this king But no one did

Because apathy and complacency ruled the day They just weren't interested anymore It had been too long They had waited and waited and waited And nothing had come So whether it's the Magi who ride into the city of Jerusalem Announcing that there's a king and want to know where he is Or whether it's Simeon or Anna Zacharias or Elizabeth or Mary or Joseph Or the shepherds The shepherds went proclaiming everywhere about what they had heard and what they had seen But do you think anybody said, hey, the Messiah? Where is he? We want to see him No Apathy ruled the day

And so there were just a few who lived in anticipation and were alert to his arrival And the same is true today Most people just are not interested They don't care that much After all, it's been 2,000 years since he came the first time And so many years have passed since his arrival And his announcement that he's coming again In spite of the fact that there is more said about his second coming than his first coming in the Bible And that one out of every 25 verses speaks of his second coming in the New Testament

And every New Testament book except for 2, Philemon and 3 John, speak of the second coming of the Messiah We live in apathy and we're not interested in his arrival How sad Peter would say it this way In 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 1 This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder Peter was a master of reiteration of the same thing He was a master of reminding people of the same thing over and over and over again

He says, I want to stir up your sincere mind. I want to remove from you the complacency. I want to remove from you the apathy And I want to revolutionize the way you think about the day of the Lord So I'm going to stir up your sincere mind by way of reminder Because when I reiterate this truth to you, it is going to give you a renewed conviction It is going to give you what you need to stir you on and spur you on So I'm going to write this to you by way of reminder so that you don't forget Peter was a master at this In fact, if you go over to chapter 1 of 2 Peter, he says this, verse 12

Therefore, I will always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them and have been established in the truth which is present with you. I love that verse People say, you review so much week after week after week Of course I do Peter did And if Peter did and he was a great apostle and preacher, I'm going to follow his example So he says, I'm going to stir you up by way of reminder. I know you know the truth. I know you've been established in the truth, but you need to be reminded

And then he says this in verse 13. I consider it right as long as I am in this earthly dwelling to stir you up by way of reminder Knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me In other words, I'm going to die My time is short And if my time is short, you know what I'm going to do? I'm just going to keep reminding you over and over and over again And the same thing Why? It tells you And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure, you will be able to call these things to mind One day I'm going to be gone

One day I'm going to die If the Lord tarries, I'm going to go home to be with the Lord And I want you to be constantly reminded over and over and over again of the truths that have been established in your heart So that when I'm with the Lord, you will say, our pastor used to always tell us this He used to remind us of this over and over and over again Because one day I won't be here to remind you any longer So I'm just going to keep reiterating the same thing over and over and over again Go back to 2 Peter 3

Peter says, this is now, beloved, the second letter I'm writing to you in which I am stirring you up, stirring your sincere mind by way of reminder That you should remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets And the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles. I'm going to remind you what the prophets said. I'm going to remind you what the apostles said. I'm going to keep reminding you over and over and over again So that you never forget, what? About the day of the Lord Look what he says For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice

And a thousand years like one day This is what I'm going to remind you of About the day of the Lord It's coming again Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5 says, I don't need to write anything else to you Because I've already said this to you But by way of reminder, let me tell you about the day of the Lord coming like a thief in the night And sudden destruction will come upon those who are saying, peace and safety But know this, you're not of the night, you're of the day. I'm going to remind you of these things Why? Because all good preachers are into reiteration

They're into reminding people of that which they know Because they know that the only way to destroy the apathy in the lives of people Is to keep driving them back to the same truth over and over and over again They need to hear what the word of the Lord says And you would think that Israel would know About their Messiah But they were apathetic When he arrived And they missed him They missed him completely Why? The same reason we miss him today John chapter 5 verse number 39 You search the scriptures He tells the religious elite And in them you think that you have eternal life

But in your searching, you missed me The giver of life That's why we're apathetic We read the scriptures and we're in searching the scriptures To find that which we think we need But we miss Jesus Listen, the scriptures are all about Christ And if you're looking for something else when you read the Bible Other than the Christ You will become apathetic In your life Because in our reality You're looking for things outside of Jesus And Jesus is all you need And people miss him The religious leaders missed him And therefore when he came There was no longer an anticipation No longer were they alert

Because of apathy Let me give you another one Wow, time flies Activity Not just apathy, but activity When we become apathetic We become involved in the meaningless and mundane things of life There are certain responsibilities that we have We have to go to work And we have to take care of our children And we have to be responsible We have to pay our bills Those are things that we do Because we're responsible people But there are activities that we engage in Because we're so apathetic That somehow they will fill the void of our pathetic lives If I can say it that way

That's the way Solomon was, right? Solomon would search the ends of the earth With all the money and power and prestige that he had to do And fill the void of his life To somehow find meaning and significance in life That maybe it's in the gardens I plant Or maybe it's in the buildings that I build Or maybe it's in the women that I collect Or maybe it's in the gold and money that I obtain Maybe it's in this Or maybe it's in that Maybe there's meaning here Maybe there's meaning there But you know, it's all empty It's all vain There's nothing there That was his conclusion

Realizing that the end is all about fearing God and keeping his commandments But he went on a search If you were with us for the last 26 weeks on Wednesday night You're well aware of his empty search for meaning and significance in life Even though he was the king of Israel But we involve ourselves in all kinds of activities That really don't mean anything And Paul would say in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse number 4, I believe it is These words No good soldier engages himself or entangles himself in the affairs of this life So that he can please his commanding officer No good soldier

We have a lot of soldiers in the army of God who entangle themselves in the everyday affairs of the world But no good soldier is going to do that No self-respecting soldier is going to do that No God-fearing soldier is going to do that He's not going to engage in all these extracurricular activities so as to detract from the arrival of the Messiah Anticipating his coming and living in light of his coming No He wants to please his commanding officer He knows his commander is going to come He knows about the day of Christ He knows about the day of the Lord

So he lives in anticipation of those days And yet like the people in the days of Jesus when they gathered together in Bethlehem Because there had been a decree sent out by Caesar Augustus that there would be a census taken And so everybody was going back to their hometown That's why Mary and Joseph left Nazareth and went to Bethlehem When she was nine months pregnant And make that 75-mile journey Either walking on the backside of a donkey or in a cart However she would make that journey And everybody was busy with all kinds of activities Finding a place to stay Finding food to eat

Doing all kinds of things And here the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem Just like the prophet Micah said And the glory of the Lord would shine all around the shepherds That's the presence of God manifested in brilliant light Don't you think that all these people in Bethlehem would have at least got a glimpse of the brilliance of the light of the glory of the Lord as it shone around all these shepherds? Were they at all interested? No, they were busy doing everything else but the one thing they needed to be doing And that is focusing on the coming of their Messiah

But all their activities, all their busyness, all their mundane meaningless efforts to fill the void of their lives to make them somehow satisfied with their everyday boring pathetic lives They missed the arrival of the Messiah Same is true in the 21st century We engage in all kinds of activities We do this and we do that and we go here and we go there Because we're so apathetic we need to somehow fill the emptiness of our lives with something that will give us meaning, happiness, joy So we go here, we go there, we do this, we do that

And all the time our lives are absent from anticipation and alertness to the arrival of the Messiah So whether it be apathy, whether it be activity, or whether it would be familiarity That's another reason we don't live in anticipation. I hear this all the time Well, yeah, I've heard about the coming of Jesus. I know all about that Do you? I talk to people all the time Oh, yeah, I know about that Okay, explain to me the difference between the day of Christ, the day of the Lord, and the day of God And they say, what? And I say, explain to me where Jesus is going to return when he comes

Oh, I know, Zechariah 14, the man of olives Wrong Didn't read Isaiah 63, Isaiah 34 You missed it He will eventually go there, but he doesn't descend there So how familiar are you with the coming of the Messiah? I asked him, do you know anything about the Battle of Armageddon? Oh, yeah, I know all about that. I said, there is no Battle of Armageddon It's called the Battle of Bozrah You missed that too You see, we're not as familiar with the coming of the king as we think we are But familiarity breeds contempt, does it not? And we think we know enough, like the days of Jesus in the first century

His own brothers did not believe in him until after the resurrection They were so familiar with him In Luke 4, when Jesus gets up and quotes or reads from Isaiah 61 and reads about that prophecy and says that today this prophecy is fulfilled in your hearing Every rabbi would come and say, one day this prophecy will be fulfilled in your hearing But on this day, Jesus says, today this prophecy is fulfilled in your hearing because the spirit of the Lord is upon me and I've come to proclaim the favorable year of our Lord

He closed the book and sat down and everybody said, whoa, is this not Joseph, son? Who is this guy? Does he actually think he's the Messiah? And then he would begin to interpret more and speak more They became so angry with him, they wanted to kill him You see, familiarity hindered their alertness to the coming of the Messiah Their anticipation of his arrival because they were so familiar with him His own brothers and sisters did not believe in him They grew up with him You would think that they would believe, but they didn't until after the resurrection

And then James, his brother, would write about the coming of the Lord in James 5. I love what he says It's so good He says these words in the fifth chapter of James He says, therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord Be patient The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil Be patient about it until it gets the early and late rains You too be patient Strengthen your hearts for the coming of the Lord is near Do not complain Listen, why do we complain? Why do we bellyache? Why do we moan? Because we're not patient until the coming of the Lord

His arrival is not in our mind We're not anticipating his coming again We can't be patient with anybody else We complain about everybody else He says, do not complain, brethren, against one another so that you yourselves may not be judged Behold, the judge is standing right at the door Stop complaining about your brother Don't worry God will judge The judge is right at the door You be patient until the coming of the Lord Like the farmer waits for the early and late rains, be patient He's coming But because of apathy, but because of activity, but because of familiarity, the anticipation wanes

We find ourselves more asleep than alert to the day of the Lord There's another reason. I got a whole bunch of them Religiosity That's a good one Religiosity This was the religious elite, the Pharisees in the time of Jesus Religion is a good word We don't like to use it because, quote, we're Christians But James uses it James says it this way If anyone thinks himself to be religious and yet not bridles his tongue, he deceives himself And then he says in verse 27 of James 1, pure religion, pure religion

And undefiled before the Father is this, that you visit the widows and orphans in their affliction and keep oneself unstained by the world So James, the brother of our Lord, would talk about religion But it's religiosity that's a killer when it comes to anticipating the return of the king It's the church attender, the one who involves himself in the rituals of his religion You see, when we become so familiar with the story but unfamiliar with the Savior of the story, then we engage in religious activities And our religiosity tends to hinder our anticipation of the coming of the Messiah

And even though the scribes and the Pharisees would hear the Magi say, Where is he who is born king of the Jews? And they would go and search the Scriptures and know that it was Micah chapter 5, verse number 2 They couldn't make the five-mile journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem to see whether or not this had taken place Why? Because their religion was good enough Their religious status was good enough And we come to church and we sit in church and we sing a few songs We hear a sermon We might put a 20-spot in the offering And we might even engage in some kind of service

But we quickly go home because we're more into the religiosity of our Christianity than the true relationship we have with the Christ who is the author of Christianity That's always a problem We have so many people who come to church that are into religion but not true and pure and undefiled religion before the Father They're willing to keep themselves unspotted from the world So whether it be apathy or activity or familiarity or religiosity, there's also jealousy This is where Herod comes in, King Herod

Where was he who was born king of the Jews? And Herod's like, whoa, there's no other king here but me. I'm the king But he wasn't Jewish He was an Idumean He was descendant of Edom, the Edomites He wasn't a Jew And so he didn't want a rival to his kingship That's why he set out to kill all those two years and younger because he was trying to assess when the Magi saw the star and the time it was So he figured that if I kill everybody two years and younger, all these boys two years and younger, then I can rid myself of any competition. I can still be the king

See, we have people today that believe they're their own king, their own master, their own ruler of their own lives And they don't want to give way to the Messiah They don't want to subject themselves to the king of kings and lord of lords They don't want to deny themselves, take up the cross and follow Christ and be subject to another king because they want to rule their own lives They want to be god of their own lives Destroys the anticipation and the alertness to the arrival of the Messiah Idolatry is another That's Rome Rome plays a big part in the life of Christ

It was from Rome came the decree about the census It was Rome who arrested Jesus It was Rome who killed Jesus Rome was involved in the life of Jesus But Rome was an idolatrous nation And they were into worshipping other gods Israel worshipped the true God the wrong way And Rome just worshipped the wrong God all the way That's what they did And so it's in the 21st century, we can very easily engage in idolatry and not even know it Paul would say in Colossians 3, 5 that covetousness is idolatry

In Romans 7, verses 7 and 8, Paul says, It was because the law said, Thou shalt not covet, is where I realized that I was a sinner He would go through the whole entire list of the commandments and realize that he was a keeper of the commandments Until he came to the end when it says, Thou shalt not covet And he realized that in his own life there were things he coveted after Things he wanted And just because it's the last of the Ten Commandments doesn't mean it's the least of the Ten Commandments

It means that it's the root of the sin of all the other reasons we break the first nine commandments The reason we murder is because we covet The reason we lie is because we covet The reason we commit adultery is because we covet The reason we have other gods is because we covet We want something other than the one true God We want something else to fulfill the emptiness of our lives And that becomes something more important to us than the God of Israel himself And anything that rises above God in your life is your idol It is that which you worship

And when you commit covetousness because you're an idolater, what happens is that this destroys your anticipation and your alertness of the coming Messiah Another one is self-sufficiency. I'll end with this one Self-sufficiency The scribes, the chief priests, the keepers of the law, the interpreters of the law, the transcribers of the law, they live the life of self-sufficiency Our lives are good enough We're okay My family's good My job is good My health is good Everything's good until it's not But right now, everything's good. I'm self-sufficient. I rule my own life. I'm good

And self-sufficiency is a killer to a life of anticipation and alertness to the day of Christ and the day of the Lord It just destroys it Maybe you fall into one or two or even all of those categories It will be the reason why you sit here today and you think, are you covering 1 Thessalonians 5, 1 to 11 again? Haven't we heard it enough? Are you speaking on the coming of Christ again? Yes And I'm not even done yet Although this is the 10th week on chapter 4, verse 13 to 18 to chapter 5, verse 1 to 11, this is the 10th week of covering that material

And we're just scratching the surface, just scratching the surface So let me close with this If you have your Bible, turn to the last book of the Old Testament, the book of Malachi Let me close with this These six verses are just absolutely rich with truth Malachi is the messenger of God Malachi means my messenger, my angel And Malachi is the last prophet in the Old Testament He's going to speak And he ends with the day of the Lord and the coming Messiah But he's speaking to a nation

He speaks or writes 100 years after the decree from Cyrus for Israel to go back to their land and to rebuild the walls in the city of Jerusalem So it's been 100 years since that decree And you know why he writes? He writes because of the apathy and complacency of the nation of Israel He's God's messenger And he writes because of the fact that they are morally corrupt They had come back and they had done their duty around the city of Jerusalem, and they sat and waited And in their waiting, their anticipation waned Their anticipation became wet and damp And so he wants to stir them up

How? By way of reminder to get them to remember And so he gives this prediction, then he gives this promise, and then he gives this plea That's how he outlined the last six verses of Malachi 4 Here's the prediction For behold the day What day is that? That's the day of the Lord The day is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaffed And the day of that is coming will set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch Ah, the day of the Lord is coming

It's coming like a blazing furnace, and everybody is going to be destroyed and be burned up There's no root left This is the prediction by Malachi He wants them to understand that this is a guarantee because the Lord of hosts or the Lord of armies makes this decree Then he gives the promise The prediction, judgment is coming The promise, but joy can be yours He says, but for you who fear my name, the son of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings, and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall

You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day, which I am preparing, says the Lord of armies Wow There's going to be salvation There's going to be vindication There's going to be celebration That's the joy that's coming

For those of you who fear my name, those of you who live in the fear of God, because right now you're not doing that, but because you fear my name, the son of righteousness, and every rabbi before the time of Jesus would say, the son is the star of Numbers 24, 17, and he's called the son of righteousness because in Jeremiah 23, 5, and 6, it's the Lord of righteousness who is the branch, who is the star, who is the son So the son of righteousness is the Messiah

Psalm 84, 11 says the Lord God of Israel is a son and a shield, and that's why Jesus said that he was the bright and morning star in Revelation 22 That's why the promise in Revelation chapter 2 is you will receive the morning star That's why Peter calls him the day star that rises in your hearts, and that's why Zacharias in Luke chapter 1 would quote from Malachi chapter 4 about how the son of righteousness has risen and now is here This is the joy Those who fear my name, here's your promise You'll be vindicated You'll be saved

You'll be protected because you'll rise with healing in his wings, and wings is a symbol of how God protects his people, how he shelters them under his mighty wings and protects his own You'll have protection You'll have salvation You'll have vindication Why? Because I will have performed my ultimate destruction upon your enemies That's the promise So now it gets really good If that wasn't good enough, now it gets really good Listen to this Verse 4, remember, there he is, good enough for Paul, good enough for Peter, good enough for Malachi, good enough for me

Remember, remember what? The law of Moses my servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel Listen, you want to receive the joy of the Lord Understand the righteousness of God You need to understand this plea Remember my servant and his submission to my law because you are my servant and I want you to submit to my law Remember And then he says, behold, I'm going to send to you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord

He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse Things are going to change when Elijah comes before the great and terrible day of the Lord Revelation 11 speaks of two witnesses, one like Moses, one like Elijah On the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus was Moses and Elijah In Acts chapter 1, there were two men in white apparel They were not angels There were two men in white apparel

Maybe, a definite maybe, one was Moses and one was Elijah because in this text, he mentions who? Moses and Elijah Elijah will come before the great and terrible day of the Lord Well, didn't Jesus say that if you would have received what John said, he would have been the Elijah-like figure and the kingdom would have been restored? Yes, he did say that He did But they did not receive their Messiah because of their apathy, because of their activity, because of their religiosity, because of their idolatry, because of their familiarity, because of their jealousy They did not

But the prophet Malachi says, before the great and terrible day of the Lord, there's going to be an Elijah who's going to come When he preaches, the hearts of men will be revived They'll be redeemed They'll be changed So I will not curse the land And the Old Testament closes That's 400 years until God speaks again

But I wonder this morning if the son of righteousness has risen in your heart, if you understand the beauty of Christ's forgiveness, that the Lord Jesus Christ came because it was promised that he would come, and that he came to die because that was the promise, that he would rise again, again the promise, that he might redeem his own, which he has done and is still doing But he is going to come again In the modern life, man just lives this great thrill that it could be today, lives in anticipation, excitement, joy, and celebration

Because the sun, the day star, has risen in our hearts, we know the Lord But as the bride of Christ, we anticipate the coming of the bridegroom We live this way That's the modern life And if you want to live the modern life, the Christ-like life, it centers around not just abstinence from sexual immorality and not just aspiration to loving the brethren, but it lives to the anticipation of the day of Christ and the alertness to the day of the Lord and all that entails Because this is the sanctifying event of our lives He who has this hope in him purifies himself even as he is pure

It was Nathan Busenitz who said the hope of Christ's coming was of paramount importance for the early church In fact, its certainty was so real that first century believers would greet one another with the term Maranatha, meaning Lord come quickly Instead of being frightened by the possibility, they clung to it as a culmination of everything they believed Maranatha Maranatha, my friends My father used to close every card, every letter he wrote with that phrase Maranatha, our Lord come

Because my father used to live in anticipation to his coming again, his arrival. I want you to live that way. I want you to be able to walk into church and say Maranatha And hear someone say back to you, Maranatha, our Lord come Let's pray Father, we thank you for today, the opportunity you give us as brief as it is to study your word. I pray for everyone in the room that they would know Christ as Lord and Savior

They would have embraced the son of righteousness who rises in their hearts, offers them the protection and salvation so needed in their lives, which leads to the ultimate satisfaction of every person For he who believes in him will never be disappointed, Peter tells us So we thank you for this day and this opportunity once again to be reminded, to remember, to stir up our sincere minds by way of remembrance Lord, help us never to forget Help us not to be so preoccupied with the everyday events that we've lost focus and touch and preoccupation with your coming again

Help us to live each day anticipating, alert to your arrival until you come again as you most surely will And all God's people said, Amen.