Living on the Edge

Chip Ingram: Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, when you hear the word rapture, what comes to your mind? What is it? When does it happen? Who does it involve? Did you ever wonder how all this prophecy stuff really works out? Stay with us. That's our topic today.

Dave Drouie: Hello, I'm Dave Drouie and this is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Today our study called Building Authentic Community brings us to a phrase most people only associate with fear, the day of the Lord. But Chip is showing us why that phrase should actually change how we treat somebody in our life today. Before we get started, remember you can always revisit these messages and find other resources related to these teachings by going online to livingontheedge.org. Now here's Chip with today's message titled How to Give Hope to the Fearful and Help to the Fearless.

Chip Ingram: 1 Thessalonians 4 13 through 17. You may want to open up your Bibles and follow along. And really as you analyze and study this passage, there's three major questions that come up. The first question they have is what happens to a believer when he or she dies? He says, but brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who have fallen asleep or to grieve like the rest of men who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then is the idea we believe that God will bring with Jesus or through Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.

And so he's answered the first question and basically it's just to arrest their fears. He said, you can know with 100% bank on it accuracy that we know Jesus rose from the dead. We have eyewitnesses, over 500 of them. The fact that he rose from the dead, you can know that when a believer dies, that believer, man or woman, will be raised also. Second question that pops up. Okay, Paul, we got it for us. But what about our loved ones? His answer is going to be that the Christian dead will rise first and share in the kingdom.

Look at verse 15. For according to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord when he comes, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. And so his teaching is going to be, hey, you have a mom, dad, brother, sister, friend who's died already. You don't have to be uptight and think that they're not going to get in on the resurrection. Well, then the third question pops up. Notice now in verses 16 and 17, the answer is going to be the rapture of the church.

He's going to teach more clearly here than anywhere in the New Testament about the rapture of the church. In in about 5 minutes you understand if you're thinking the rapture of the church, what's that mean? You'll find out. Verse 16. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, and third with the trumpet call of God. And then what will happen? And the dead in Christ are going to be resurrected. Charles Ryrie gives a very brief, succinct overview of the rapture that I found very helpful.

First, the five aspects of the rapture. One, you have the return of Jesus for his church. That was in verse 16, the first portion. The key word to write under that is the word eminent. The word eminent literally means something hanging over your head that could fall at any time. The rapture can occur anytime. And And when you understand that, it will change how you live, how you believe, and how you behave. 1 John tells us that um a proper study of prophecy causes us to fix our eyes on the person of Christ. And as we do, it is the hope of his return and the lack of awareness of when it exactly will be that purifies us because we live thinking moment by moment, maybe today.

Ryrie goes on to say that not only then is the return of Christ that is eminent, there's the resurrection of the dead. This is the first resurrection that's of the church. And we'll talk later and I'll give you some information about how you can discover uh the resurrection of uh Jewish believers and Gentile believers. Third, there's the actual rapture of the church where we meet Jesus in the air and meet our loved ones who've died. Then there's the reunion of believers with Christ and with each other. What What a great thought. People that you love, the people that are in Christ.

You know, death isn't forever for believers. That's why he said, I don't want you to be ignorant, brethren. I don't want you to grieve like those who don't have hope. You grieve, but not like those who don't have hope. In fact, notice he says there's reassurance, the reassurance of hope in the face of death. Can you say that? Can you say that for you and can you say that for the people you care most about? Now, fasten your safety belt and let's turn the page and we want to look at the final portion of Paul's teaching.

Notice very importantly that in the NIV, the first verse says now. That's okay, good translation. It's not quite as hard. The word there is but. He's making a contrast. He says now. You know, if you hear it as now, it's a great word. If it's but. See, he's talked about the church, he's talked about the rapture, he's talked about the coming, but now he's going to shift gears and he says, I want to talk about the end times in general. And in verses 1 through 3 he's going to teach us as believers, we need to warn.

We need to warn the people in our relational network and we need to do it by speaking the truth and love. And then in verses 4 through 11 he is going to come back and say we need to not just warn them, we need to win them by literally living the truth out in everyday life. So let's look at these three verses and see what he says about not just the rapture, what he's going to do is talk about the day of the Lord. And the day of the Lord was prophesied in the Old Testament so they should know about it.

Isaiah 2, Isaiah 4, Isaiah 12, Joel 1, Amos 5, Zephaniah 1 and 3. The day of the Lord was I mean, they knew about the day of the Lord. And the day of the Lord then was also taught by who? Christ. His disciples ask him about it. You know, Mark 13, Matthew 24, Matthew 25. He clearly They knew and the apostle Paul taught them when he was with them about the day of the Lord. And the day of the Lord is this time where historically there's going to be great judgment followed by great blessing. And the day of the Lord in the New Testament is always used in reference to not the church, but the judgment of the nations.

So with that sort of planted in the back of your mind, let's look at the first three verses where we we need to warn others. It says, but are now, brothers, about times and dates, literally about kind of the durations and the characteristics of this whole end time scenario. About the times and the dates, we don't need to write you. Why? For you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. They know very well. Why? Old Testament teaching, teaching of Paul, teaching of Christ. So what he's talking about now is not any mystery, not any new information.

He's giving them the big picture. You know the day of the Lord when Jesus comes in final judgment, it's going to come like a thief in the night. Verse 3, why people are saying peace and safety, destruction will come on them suddenly. And then notice the simile. As labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. Now let's make three quick observations about these verses. Observation number one, Jesus' return is certain. Jesus is coming back. Secondly, Jesus' return will be unexpected. People will be saying things like, oh yeah, I know there's a crisis in Middle East, but they've always had problems.

Oh, I know there's this devastating disease called called AIDS, but people have always had that. Oh sure, there's a few wars and lots more earthquakes and I know there's three or four major third world countries that their economy could sink everything and I understand that uh you know Iraq may have nuclear arms and North Korea and the whole world could go up and smoke, but see I try not to think of those things. Besides the stock market's going up. And my own personal private little world seems to be okay. Peace, peace, safety. A thinking person who would study world history would find the level of devastation, earthquakes, wars, rumors in wars, plagues in our day are at an unparalleled level.

And only a person in denial, only a person who sticks their head in the sand, only a person who is so defensive about reality that they want to keep God at a distance can push all that information and all that truth away. A thinking person says the world's got major problems and it could go up and smoke. And he's saying Jesus is coming back. It's not peace and safety. And when he comes back, he is going to surprise a lot of people. And some of those people are your friends. Some of those people are your family members.

And dare I say probably in a group this size, some of those people are you. God brought some of you today to have a divine appointment. You don't know Christ as your savior. You might be a great person, a moral person, a great worker, a good mom, a good dad, a great single person. I'm not saying you're a bad person. I mean, you're just one of us. But you don't know Christ. You haven't accepted the Lord Jesus as his sacrificial payment for your sin. And when the rapture occurs, those who know him go. And those who don't, don't.

And it is unkind, unloving, and cruel to keep that to yourself. And the warning is, would you please tell people that? These are the claims of Christ. I'm going to be your friend whether you accept them, I'm going to be your friend whether you reject them, but I have a moral responsibility to tell you he's coming. It's certain. He's coming unexpectedly. And finally when he comes, it will not be to bless, it will be to judge. And you can either allow him to be your judge now and let him judge your sin and place it all on Christ so you come as a son or a daughter or you can wait and stiff-arm God and he will be your judge later.

And every knee will bow, every tongue will confess. And you'll suffer irreparable damage.

Chip Ingram: You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram and we'll continue today's message in just a moment. Quick reminder, do you have the Chip Ingram app on your phone yet? It puts Chip's daily teaching along with years of past series, daily guided Bible studies, and tons of other faith-building tools right in your pocket. It's completely free and it only takes a minute to download wherever you get your apps. Check it out today. Now back to our message.

Chip Ingram: We are told by our Lord to warn those in this situation. We're not only to warn them, but we're to win them. There's one major point I want you to get from verse 4 through 11. Simply put, you win them by living a significantly pure life where you live out what you say you believe. Notice verse 4. But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. In other words, hey, there there's going to be no surprise for you. You are sons of light and sons of the day.

We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. Now listen to this. Here's the application. So then, let us not be like others who are asleep. This is a different word for asleep. This means moral and spiritual lethargy. It means indifference to spiritual things. So let's not be like them who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. For those who sleep, verse 7, sleep at night. And those who get drunk get drunk at night. Contrast, but since we belong to the day, let us be Notice the repetition. Self-controlled. Live out this life.

This time it 's in the present tense. Continually be self-controlled at home, be self-controlled. How? By the grace of God. At work, be self-controlled. Specifically, how do you do it? He tells us. Putting on faith and love as a breastplate and the hope of salvation as a helmet. That's an intense of the verb that means do it once and for all. Put on a breastplate of faith, trust God, accept his love, and be loving toward others and have the security of your life, the helmet, your thinking by the hope of salvation. And it's of a soldier.

It means be not like a soldier asleep. Be alert, be strong, be ready. Go into your world and your relational network and exhibit faith and love and hope in such a way where people say, hey, man, how in the world do you do it? You got three kids, you are under such pressure. How How does your life work? Your wife walked out on you, your husband walked out on you, that boss treats you terrible. I don't know how you make it on what you live on. There's something different about you. Yeah, it's Christ. See, we're to win the world by living a winsome, God-empowered, grace-oriented life.

He gives the reason for God to not appoint us to suffer wrath. God's will isn't that we're involved when the wrath occurs, but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. And then notice verse 10, what a line. He died for us. The little word for means on our behalf and in our place. He died for us. Just let it sink in, okay? He died for You put your name in it. He died for you. He died for me. And this idea isn't just some man fully God, fully man died somewhere historically. The idea is every sin, every shameful thing, everything in your closet and mind, he died in your place.

God judged that sin when Jesus died on the cross. And all that you've done, all that I've done, all that anyone has done was poured out on Christ and he is our sin substitute. He died for us in our place. He's the lamb of God who took away the sins of the world. You know what your responsibility is? To receive him, to turn to him, to lift the empty hands of faith and say, God, I need you. Now notice why he died for you. This is so great. So that whether we are awake, alive, or asleep, dead, we may live together with him.

I don't know your background. My background in church was so terrible. I never had any idea that God wanted a relationship with me. Jesus died on the cross isn't some little thing to sing. He died on the cross cuz you matter. He loves you. He understands your hurt. He understands your pain. He understands where you've been. He understands your baggage. You know what he's saying? Come to me. Come to me today. Let me love you. Let me forgive you. Join my family. I am God and you matter to me. I died for you cuz I want a relationship.

He doesn't want to give you a list of do's and don't's and duties and how many things you're supposed to go to. He wants to bring you into a loving relationship with him and your service to him will flow out of gratitude and life and love. And then he tells us, therefore encourage one another and build up each other just as in fact you are. I'd like you to ask a couple questions before we go home. The first being, would you characterize your response to Christ's return as A uh a fearless skeptic, B fearfully confused, or C joyfully anticipating?

What What would you mark down if you had to? Are you certain that you are ready for the Lord's return? If Jesus If you knew 1:55 today the Lord was coming back, are you with absolute confidence sure that you would be a part of that event called the caught up or the rapture? Not because you're a good person, not because you go to church, not because you give the United Way, not because you read the Bible now and then, but solely because you are related rightly to God through the person of Christ and his work on the cross and by faith you've accepted that free gift.

Are you ready? Third question I would ask is is there someone you need to warn and to win before Christ returns? Did some names come to your mind as I was talking? Aunt, uncle, friend, coworker, family member, an ex, a child, a mom, a dad. Who is it? And when will you start that game plan? In the first place is to pray. As we close today, I want to tell you very upfrontly that today is the day of salvation. God brought some of you here today and you'll never hear the gospel as clearly not cuz of the guy who's preaching, but because of the spirit that's working.

You may never hear it as clearly as you have it right now. And that your response today is not I'll think about it. Your response today is Lord Jesus, I get it. Yes, I'm a strong-willed person. Yes, I want my own way, but I've been stiff-arming you long enough and I want to put down the hands of resistance. And I want to ask you today to forgive me, to cleanse me, to come into my life and make me a new person. It's called being born again or born from above. I want to pray a prayer and not by some rote, but if it really reflects where you're at and you want to respond to Christ, do it today, will you?

You may never hear his voice as clearly as you hear it today. Lord Jesus, you said that no one comes to you unless they're drawn by the Father. And that's not mystical. It means they hear the gospel. It means that they're in a place like today and they hear clearly that you love them, that they can in no way by any works or effort of their own get good enough, but they need to humble themselves and they need to trust that Jesus died in their place to pay for their sin and that you rose again to give them new life.

If you're in that boat today, I encourage you to take a courageous step of faith and entrust yourself to the savior. And if you don't know how, just follow along. You can pray in your mind, but pray along with me. Dear Jesus, please forgive me. I'm sorry for the things that I've done that I know are wrong. I'm sorry for the people that I've hurt and the promises I've broken. I can't do it anymore. Please forgive me and come into my life right now. I trust that your death paid for my sin and your resurrection will give me new life.

Make me the man, the woman, the student that you want me to be.

Dave Drouie: You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram and a message titled How to Give Hope to the Fearful and Help to the Fearless. You can revisit today's lesson and find more from our current series called Building Authentic Community by going online to livingontheedge.org. If somebody came to mind today, send them this episode from the Living on the Edge podcast. Sometimes a shared link is all it takes to initiate a great conversation. And if you'd like more encouragement throughout the week, follow Living on the Edge on Facebook and Instagram. Warning someone you love and winning them for Christ is one of the clearest ways to love them, which is exactly what Chip's book I Choose Love is all about.

Chip makes the case that real biblical love, what the Bible calls agape love, was never meant to be a feeling you wait around for. It's a decision to sacrifice, to serve, to put somebody else's best interest ahead of your own comfort. It's a practical read that will equip you for exactly the kind of conversation Chip described today. Get your copy of I Choose Love at a special price today at livingontheedge.org/offers. Somebody somewhere is one message away from finally having the courage to say something to a person they love. That happens because listeners like you keep this ministry on the air.

Today we invite you to give whatever you can and help make sure the next message finds the next person who needs it. Give online at livingontheedge.org or call us at 888-333-6003. You can also give through the mail by writing to us at Living on the Edge, PO Box 3007, Suwanee, Georgia 30024. Well, now here's Chip Ingram.

Chip Ingram: As you probably have noticed, this message today on the rapture and on prophecy in general is anything but irrelevant and esoteric. This is a message that gets right down to where we live with huge implications. And this passage in 1 Thessalonians 4 is the classic passage on the rapture and end times and you'll hear this taught many times, but I think it's interesting that today we walk through chapter 5 verses 1 through 11 where the apostle Paul takes the truth about prophecy and he says this is the important application. We must warn people that there is an end coming and we want them to be ready.

And there's only two ways to warn them. One, we have to warn them by how we live so that it makes sense that what we say is true. And then we have to warn them with our words and tell them and explain in a non-judgmental way, hey, the end is coming. In this passage we learned that Jesus' return is certain. It 's not a maybe. It's as certain as the promise that the Messiah would come one day. He came. Biblical passages for over 700 years prior to the time predicted his first arrival and Jesus, the last words he told us was, I will be back.

When he ascended, the angels looking down on that crowd said, why are you looking up as though something strange is happening? The one you see ascending is going to return. Jesus is coming back and when he returns, it will be an unexpected event. He's not going to send you a letter and say, by the way, if you've been waiting to kind of get your life right, if you've decided to kind of sow some wild oats and uh wait a little bit later, you don't get that opportunity. You'll never know when it is. And when he comes, it means judgment.

We need to understand and we need to tell others that everyone will stand before God and you will be judged. Let me ask you, are you ready? I didn't ask if you went to church. I didn't ask if you were religious. I didn't ask if you're moral. Are you ready for the Lord's return? If he returned 3 minutes from the end of this program, would you know that you'd spend eternity with him in heaven? If not, can I suggest that today is the day of salvation? Today is the day for you to ask Jesus to come into your life, to say I believe you're the savior, I believe you died for me, I believe you rose from the dead, and I know you're coming back, and turn from your sin and receive Christ as your savior.

Now, one more question before we close. Do you know someone that needs to be warned, fellow believer? Is there someone that you really care for, but you just haven't got around to telling them? We never know when he's going to come back. Today's the day. Write a letter, jot a note, set aside a lunch, tell them in a loving way he loves them, and simply share the gospel.

Dave Drouie: Next time Chip begins a lesson on what it takes to become the kind of person who leaves people better than you found them. That's next time on Living on the Edge. Today's program is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge.