In Jason Dohm's sermon titled 'Act Like What You Are,' based on 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, the focus is on the contrast between the children of light and the children of darkness. Christians, as children of light, are called to live lives that reflect their identity in Christ, characterized by watchfulness, soberness, faith, love, and hope. The sermon emphasizes the importance of living out one's faith according to the truth of God's Word. Dohm highlights that salvation is a result of Jesus' work, not human effort, and that believers should comfort and build each other up with these truths. The sermon challenges listeners to examine whether their lives are consistent with their profession of faith and to identify and counteract distractions that may lead them away from God.

Our sermon text for today is 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 5 through 11, but we're going to read 1 through 11. But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape. But you brethren are not in darkness so that this day should overtake you as a thief.

You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as others do, But let us watch and be sober for those who sleep sleep at night and those who get drunk are drunk at night But let us who let us who are of the day be sober Putting on the breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet the hope of salvation for God did not appoint us to wrath but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him therefore comfort each other and edify one another just as you also are doing. Let's pray. Oh God, we ask that you would come and be in our midst, that you would help us now to put aside all distractions and help us to focus on the preaching of your word.

God, I pray that we would be convicted from your word and that we would be a changed people by the preaching of your word. Please be with Jason as he brings your word. Please strengthen him and help him. And thank you so much for this time. Please bless it.

Amen The title of the sermon this morning is act like what you are and It's a phrase I lifted out of Jean Green's commentary on first and second Thessalonians And he says exactly that Act like what you are. I think it's a good summary of what our text sets before us today, which is that there is a manner of life that's fitting for the Lord's people. There's a manner of life that's not fitting for the Lord's people, that's inconsistent with the truth of God's Word and our profession of faith. But there's a manner of life that fits perfectly with the truth of God's Word and the profession of our faith. And that's what Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are calling us to in that text.

To act like what we are. In other words, Christians have become something. In a very profound way, Christians have become something that they never were. They were nothing like they are now. The heart of stone has been removed.

The heart of flesh has been given. And you can never be the same again. You have been saved through the mercy of Jesus Christ. And so then you should cultivate a life that is consistent with God's goodness to you. That's what we're being exhorted to.

The title of the sermon last week was A Friend or a Thief. And That actually came from Matthew Henry talking about the end of chapter 4 and the beginning of chapter 5. At the end of chapter 4 it talks about what a glorious day the coming of the Lord will be for those who are His. It ended with this wonderful phrase, thus we shall always be with the Lord. So the second coming comes as a friend to the Lord's people.

They can't wait for it. They live in expectation of it. They are running towards it. But not so with those who are not in Christ. That day for them will come like a thief in the night.

They will be saying to themselves, peace and safety. Things will just roll on forever. We are not in any danger here, but the text said something quite different. It said that then sudden destruction comes upon them. So for the Lord's people, this day that Paul and Silvanus and Timothy have been speaking of, the second coming of Jesus Christ in glory and for judgment is going to come like a friend for the Lord's people, but come like a thief in the night for those who are outside of Christ.

This week we are continuing really on the same subject, but it's further developed. A contrast is being drawn between the children of light and those who are of darkness, and how they live. In other words, you have these two groups of people. They're nothing like each other in their state. They are children of light and they are children of darkness and they have lives that aren't any more alike than they themselves are.

So that's what our text is bringing us into this week. So as we go to the text, let's pray. Our God I thank you that you in your goodness, in your kindness, in your mercy have saved the people. They couldn't save themselves. They deserved what all sinners deserve.

The righteous wrath and indignation of a holy, almighty God. But you have not left it like that. But you have desired to show yourself a God of mercy, and so you have sent your son and he has willingly laid down his life and shed his blood so that sinners could be cleansed and reconciled. And brought into this family and made sons and daughters. So we thank you that you have not left all under wrath, but that you have poured out your mercy on many.

Many have received your grace. Thank you Lord. Pray that you would press these truths on us. Drive them deep into our hearts we pray in Jesus' name, Amen. So I'd like to begin by looking at a subsection of our text.

I'd like to begin by reading and then considering verses 5 through 8. So hopefully you have your Bibles open to 1 Thessalonians 5 and your finger at verse 5 and I'll be reading through 8. Please follow along. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy write, You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.

Therefore let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation." Here in this section we have the stark contrast between families and therefore lives. If you are taking notes on the handout and filling in the blanks, it's contrast and families. The stark contrast between families, meaning there are two families that are spoken of here, and they're nothing like each other, and therefore lives.

This family has lives that look like this, and this family has lives that look like that. They are very, very, very markedly different. Here in this portion of the text, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy divide the people of planet Earth into two and only two families. An argument is being made here by Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy that you only can fall into one family or another. There is really not a third choice.

There are the children of light and there are the children of darkness and never the two shall meet. And the flow is very important. In other words, the order of the argumentation means everything. Here's what I mean. In verse 5, there's what I am.

It's my state. It declares me to be the member of a family. And then in the following verses, in verse six and following, it's what I am to do because of that. So if you get the flow of argument wrong, everything is lost. In other words, I'm part of a family and there is a corresponding lifestyle that's consistent with being part of that family and I'm to seek to live true to the family that I'm a part of.

So first I'm part of a family then I am to live like it. If you flip it, if you get the order wrong, if you're not paying attention and you get the order wrong, here is what you end up with. I am to live a certain lifestyle that earns me a spot in the corresponding family. This is the difference between the true gospel of grace, the true gospel of Jesus Christ, where salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, and legalism where I have to work and earn my spot in the family. So the order is essential.

Verse 5, I am, verses 6 and following, therefore I am to do. Don't put the doing on the front end, or you end up with legalism and works based salvation, and you abandon the true gospel of grace. We have a saying in the dome house, it's better to get five spankings than to tell one lie. Meaning, Domes, we're a family and when you're in this family, the truth ought to be so important to you that you'd rather take your lumps. You'd rather take your five spankings than abandon the truth and lie.

That's what we want the identity of the domes to be. But telling the truth doesn't make you a dome. You can't decide that you want to be a dome so you're going to take your lumps and tell the truth and not lie and then somehow you'll automatically be a dome. No, no, no, no. You don't get to be a dome.

That doesn't determine whether you are a dome. So it is family identity first, I am this and then because I am in this family, therefore I am to act like that. So The first family that is put before us in the text are the children of light. That's the family. God is the father of this family.

His children are children of light. The text says, sons of light, but the word that is rendered sons in New King James, it does not have to be gender specific. So I like the rendering children better because this has to do with all the Lord's people regardless of any Subclassification it is the children of light If you're the Lord's you are a you're a child of the light. You are part of that family. It is offspring of the light.

This is who Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy had been writing to all along. Believers. Let's remind ourselves of who this letter is addressed to. Just flip back to chapter 1 verse 1, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Who is he writing to?

Those who are in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are in Christ are the subjects of the letter. The only rightful subjects of the letter. He's, they, they are writing to believers. So that's why in verse 5, chapter 5 verse 5, they can start out by saying, you are all sons of light and sons of the day.

Because if he's writing to you, you are. He's writing to those who are in Christ. Now what does it mean to be a child of the light and to be a child of the day? I want you to consider Matthew chapter 4 verse 16. This is the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew.

It's after the baptism, it's after the temptation, and it's right as Jesus' public ministry begins. And so, Matthew, the Gospel writer, is framing Jesus' public ministry. He is setting the stage for Jesus' public ministry. He says this, The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned." What is Matthew doing there? He's looking at the public ministry of Jesus and he quotes the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 9 verse 2.

That's what that verse is quoting. Matthew is quoting an Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah and he is saying Jesus is the Messiah. This is what's happening when Jesus starts his public ministry. It's that the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. It's this picture of a people just huddled, paralyzed in darkness, and then Christ.

And then light floods the scene with Jesus coming. So it's the picture of a world plunged into sin, into ignorance, into death, into darkness, and then Christ. So Matthew, setting the stage for Jesus' public ministry, quotes a prophecy about the Messiah. It says Jesus is the light that is dawning. Now turn in your Bibles to John chapter 12.

Jesus also speaks to, John chapter 12, Jesus speaks to what it means to be a son of light, or a child of light. Using those exact words. So undoubtedly, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, as they write this letter to the new converts in Thessalonica, are pulling from drawing on the words of Jesus. It's John chapter 12. I'd like to read verses 35 through 37.

In this text the disciples are there but more than the disciples are there. There are others that are there as well and Jesus is asked a question about the Christ and what something means relative to the Christ. Here's John chapter 12 verses 35 through 37. Then Jesus said to them, A little while longer the light is with you. He's speaking of himself.

Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. He who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of the light. While you have the light, believe in the light that you may become sons of the light. People in darkness don't know where they're going.

That's what Jesus just said. They don't know where they're going. They're huddled in sin, in ignorance, in death. And then comes Christ. And then you're confronted.

Will you believe? Will you transfer your trust and grab hold of this Christ, this light by faith and become a child of light? That is what it means. Believing in the light. Faith makes you a son, makes you a child of the light.

And the day is the time when the light prevails. The day is the time marked by light. And there are things that are fitting for the daytime, and things that are completely inappropriate for the daytime. Think about people who sleep in the daytime. It's their pattern of life.

They sleep during the days. That's completely unfitting. Think about people who are drunk during the day. You say, what is this manner of life where someone spends their days that way? Their daylight hours that way, completely unfitting.

Something is very fitting for the day. Something is completely inappropriate for the day. That is what is being drawn on in this text. So Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy exhort us to three things that are fitting for Living in the light, living in the day. So here are the three things from our text.

We're back in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 now. Three things believers are exhorted to. Number one, let us not sleep. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy put them right in there with these new believers and they make it we and us. All the Lord's people, Apostles, new believers, everybody.

Let us not sleep. Sleep is what? It's a state of oblivion. You don't know what's going on when you're sleeping, around you. It's a state of insensibility.

It's a state of unconsciousness. You don't know what's happening. 12 inches away from you when you're sound asleep. It's the most vulnerable state, isn't it? The state of sleep.

Now this is figurative. It's not saying we can't go to sleep at night. Obviously, he is speaking figuratively. And so, he is speaking of, they are speaking of, the most vulnerable state. Remember last week when we were talking about the Day of the Lord coming as a thief in the night.

And I was trying to paint the picture of your son asleep in bed, and then you wake up, and there he is! The thief is right there at your bedside. And the terror of that moment. Why? Because when you're asleep, the thief has every advantage over you.

You're completely exposed, you're completely vulnerable when you're asleep and the thief's coming in. And you don't even know it, you're insensitive to it. You're in a state of oblivion. You're in a state of unconsciousness and so you are completely exposed. It is not fitting for genuine believers to be in a state of oblivion.

We are people of the light. God has given us light, truth. We are to walk by the truth of God. It is not appropriate for the people of God to be unaware, to be like the people of the world who do not know what is happening because they have no eyes to see and no ears to hear. They are asleep.

It's not right for the people of God to be like that. That was number one, the first exhortation, let us not sleep. It's not right for the Lord's people to be in that state. Number two, let us watch and be sober. This is the exact opposite of being asleep.

So there's a logical progression here in the text. Let us not sleep, don't be that. Let us watch and be sober. Be this, which is the exact opposite. Watching indicates a state of alertness.

Not only are you not asleep, you're on your tiptoes. You're watching, you're looking out, you're aware and expecting. You might define it this way, being alert in expectation. Being alert in expectation. You're expecting something.

That's what it means to watch. If you've ever had a guest arriving, A greatly anticipated guest, maybe the grandparents are arriving. How many kids do you have? There are that many little noses on the window. They're alert and they're expecting.

That's how we are to be. Being sober indicates keeping your wits about you. Again, all this is figurative language. It's not literal soberness, although it includes literal soberness. But it's figurative, it's representative.

In the literal sense, being sober means not being swept away by intoxication. You know, drunkenness, intoxication sweeps people's brains away. Their brains are gone. Even though they're not asleep, they're still not aware. They're still not alert.

They're still not expecting. They're just barely reacting to everything. They're, It means not under the influence. When someone is drunk you say they are under the influence. So it has dulled their senses.

It has made them not aware. Now, what would intoxicate a Christian in this sense? In the figurative sense? If we are to be sober, figuratively speaking, what would be the opposite of that? What would intoxicate you as a Christian?

For me, sports. So, I often describe myself as a recovering sports idolater. You've probably heard me say that at some point. From my youth, the idolatry ran really deep. I can get, this is all figurative language, I can get sports drunk.

I can throw myself into that where I sort of forget the other things. I could be so enthusiastic about either playing or watching this, that, or the other, that I'm not there. I'm not in the room. It's sort of a form of intoxication. For me, politics, sort of a more adult form of sports addiction.

It's a little more serious minded, but really has nothing to do with me advancing an agenda in our country. It has to do with me being a political junkie. With many men, Lust is intoxicating. Lust sweeps many men out of a right state of mind. Their eyes are fixed only on the earth and they lose sense of everything heavenly, everything that rightly belongs to the kingdom of our Christ.

They become drunk in that sense, and so much is lost. So with watching and being sober, all vulnerabilities of sleep are reversed. Meaning this is the opposite of that. When we watch and when we are sober, when we put away those things that would figuratively intoxicate us, the vulnerabilities of sleep where you wake up and the thief is right there and it's too late, are reversed. It's a state of readiness.

Christians are called to a state of readiness. Watching sober. Ready for whatever our king might bring to us. If you've ever been around a person who's not watching or a person who's intoxicated, It just takes them forever to be ready for the next thing. It takes them forever to be ready.

Christians aren't supposed to be like that. It's not consistent with the truth of our faith or with our profession to be like that. To Take forever to be ready for the next thing that God brings us to know Christians live in a state of readiness So number one was let us not sleep number two is Let us watch and be sober number three in our text is let us put on two pieces of armor. We are told to gird up. Put on two pieces of armor.

First, the breastplate of faith and love. Now remember, in the context of the letter, Timothy brought a good report in chapter 3. Chapter 3 is Paul and Silvanus sending Timothy back because for some reason they couldn't go back themselves. There wasn't a time when they could go back themselves, which is what they wanted. They all wanted to go back together, but they couldn't.

So they settled for sending Timothy back, and then he goes, and he's there, and he brings back a report, And he brings back a good report of their faith and their love. So this isn't a rebuke. When these new believers are told to put on the breastplate of faith and love, It's not a rebuke saying you have no faith and you have no love. We know that from chapter 3. A good report has already come back.

They're continuing in faith and love. But as we've seen already a number of times in this letter, increase more and more. There's a good report about your faith and love, but guess what? Tomorrow you need to get up and put on the breastplate of faith and love again. And again the next day.

And again the next day. And again the next day. Increase more and more. Grow in faith. Grow in love.

Now think about how trusting in God, faith, is a defense against the world, the flesh, and the devil. These are our three great enemies, right? The world, the flesh, and the devil. Think about how Trusting in God is a mighty defense against the temptations and the attacks of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Think about how You are in the face of those temptations when you are throwing yourself on the mercy of God, trusting in God, forsaking self-reliance, and looking to God you are ready.

You are defended against those attacks. But the reverse is also true. What's the opposite of faith? Unbelief and self-reliance. So if we're defended, if it's like a breastplate, If faith is like a breastplate that protects us, unbelief and self-reliance expose us to the temptations and the attacks of the world, the flesh, and the devil.

So we've got to be growing in faith, in trusting God, in looking to God. We've got to be turning our back on unbelief and self-reliance. You better be turning your back every day on unbelief and self-reliance. Otherwise you are exposed. Now think about how attention to the two great commandments is a defense against the world, the flesh and the devil.

The two great commandments are what? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. These things are a defense against the world, the flesh and the devil.

And the temptations and the attacks that they send to every one of the Lord's people. Nothing fortifies us against the threats that are coming our way than giving attention to the most important things. How many times have you heard this expression? The best defense is what? A good offense.

The best defense is a good offense. I think This is what is being taught by Paul and Silvanus and Timothy here. The best defense, like a breastplate that covers up your vital organs, is giving attention to the things that God told us we should be doing. When we busy ourselves to grow in love for God and to grow in love for our neighbor, we're actually fortifying ourselves against attacks. The best defense is a good offense.

We are going on offense when we say, today I need to grow my love for God. Today I need to grow my love for my neighbor. You are fortifying yourself against the attacks that come our way. That is the first piece of armor, the breastplate of faith and love. What mighty defense against the world of flesh and the devil.

Then the second piece of armor, the helmet of the hope of salvation. Having a confident expectation that God is going to bring you to the finish line. Knowing that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion in the day of Jesus Christ. Knowing that what God starts, He finishes. The hope of salvation.

It enables us to endure. It enables us to endure, to know that God has promised that no matter what hardships, trials, persecutions he brings into our lives, They are really in the light of eternity really little things. They are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed. They are just momentary afflictions. The hope of salvation does that for you.

It makes the hardships that can dominate every thought in your brain, it makes them small. We need Those things in our lives that will shrink the hardships that are in front of us. So we don't get tunnel vision and we only see the hardship. We lose perspective and we can't see these things in the light of eternity which is thus we shall always be with the Lord as we saw at the end of chapter 4. When you know that eternity awaits and Jesus is there and you always get to be with Him face to face, these things that Loom so large they shrink down to nothing.

They shrink down to little things. That's the point. That is how the hope of salvation arms us, defends us against the attacks. It's like helmet is to a warrior. It keeps us cheerful, pressing ahead, keeps us from being paralyzed.

Do you see where Paul and Silvanus and Timothy have brought us? They brought us to the three core Christian virtues, faith, hope, and love. There they are in the armor, the breastplate of faith and love, and the helmet of the hope of salvation. Faith, hope, and love and the greatest of these is love. That's what Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13.

See, this is amazing how focused on the very most basic things Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are. These are new Christians who are in the middle of a hostile culture and they need to be encouraged. And Paul and Silvanus and Timothy aren't about to parse the nuances of an obscure doctrine. They go to faith and love and hope. See how practical they are with their counsels to these new believers.

In summary, the picture of the believer is the picture of a warrior in a state of readiness. That is what our text has before us. That is what believers are to be. Warriors in a state of readiness, breastplate on, helmet on, watching, sober, on duty. So that's the first family, children of light.

That's what their lives look like. They have marks. They have characteristics. You should be able to look at a child of light and see watchfulness, and see soberness, and See faith, and see love, and see hope. Those are the marks.

And they are consistent with the profession of faith and the truth of scripture. They are appropriate. A manner of life that looks like that is appropriate for the Lord's people. Now the other family, the children of darkness, they also have marks that characterize their lives that are fitting for the kingdom that they are living in. They are of darkness, and they belong to the time that is marked by darkness.

Night. They belong to night time. The things that they do are suited to nighttime. Figuratively. They say do the things that are consistent with that darkness.

The sin and the ignorance and the death that characterizes the other kingdom. What are those things? They sleep and they get drunk. That's what the text says. That's what's fitting for the children of darkness.

They slumber away. They sleep all the time and they're getting drunk when they're not asleep Here's what Matthew Henry says and I'm not going to spend Nearly as much time developing this because we've already developed the opposite of that in the lives of believers Here's what Matthew Henry says I think he hits the nail on the head. They were not sensible of their danger, therefore they slept. They were not sensible of their duty, therefore they were drunk. But it ill becomes Christians to do thus.

What shall Christians who have the light of the blessed gospel shining in their faces be careless about their souls and unmindful of another world? Matthew Henry says, it's very fitting for a child of the darkness to be careless about his or her soul. It makes perfect sense. It's perfectly consistent for someone in darkness to be careless of their soul and not to give another thought about what happens the moment after death. It's completely appropriate and consistent.

It's completely appropriate and consistent for someone living in darkness to be unmindful of another world, to have their focus so fixed on planet Earth that they never can think of another thing outside of this world and the short days of their life. So they're not sensible of their danger, so what do they do? They sleep. And they're not sensible of their duties, so what do they do? They get drunk.

They get drunk on anything in this world. Again, this is figurative language, so we're not talking about literal drunkenness, although it includes literal drunkenness. That's one of the ways that worldlings lose their senses, but not the only way. They give themselves over to every excess in worldliness. They chase every trinket and bauble that the world puts forward.

They throw themselves into it and they lose all awareness of the things that really matter in life. There you have the two families. You have the children of light. And you have the children of darkness. Now let's look at verses 9-11.

Hopefully you are still in 1 Thessalonians 5. I am going to read verses 9-11. Please follow along. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us. Whether we wake or sleep we should live together with Him.

Therefore comfort each other and edify one another just as you also are doing. Here in this section we have the great work that produces this contrast. So if you're taking notes on the handout and you're filling in blanks, it's work produces. The great work that produces this contrast. In other words, what's responsible for the stark contrast between children of light and children of darkness?

There's a great work that is responsible for it. And here's a clue. It's not my work, and it's not your work. It's Jesus' work. If it wasn't for Jesus' work, we would all be in darkness.

There would only be one family if it wasn't for the great work of Jesus Christ. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy say, for God did not appoint us, we believers, God did not appoint believers to wrath. Now, they've been saying this. They've been saying that Jesus saves from wrath. Flip back to chapter 1.

In chapter 1, verses 9 and 10, we read this. For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had to you, And how you turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God, And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come So all the way in chapter 1 Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are describing the Thessalonians as a people waiting for Jesus to come back just like our text. Who Jesus has delivered from the wrath to come so they don't have to worry about that day. Just like They are saying again in chapter 5 what they said in chapter 1. It's Jesus who saves from wrath.

It's Jesus who makes it and His work on the cross who makes it so there is not just one family, a broad road that leads to destruction with everyone on it, but that there is a second road that leads to life, and the life is in Christ. Then what are believers appointed to if they are not appointed to wrath? The text tells us to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. And then verse ten tells us how that works. How does someone obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ?

Verse ten is the answer to that question. Here's the first thing I'd like to do with verse 10. I want to take away some words and just strip it down to the irreducible, to the bare bones. I want to take away the waking and sleeping words for a moment and ask you what that leaves us with. It leaves us with this.

Jesus died that we should live. That's the irreducible form of verse 10. Jesus died so that His people would live. It's the great exchange of the Gospel. The death of Jesus Christ purchases the life of His people.

Jesus died so that we would live. Turn to Romans chapter 5. I believe that Paul himself in Romans chapter 5 expands on verse 10. In some ways we can think of Romans chapter 5 as a commentary on this more compressed verse in 1st Thessalonians chapter 5. About Jesus dying so that his people would live.

I am going to be reading Romans 5 verses 6 through 11. Please follow along. For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Much more than having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. What Paul here at the very end is calling the reconciliation, the bringing together of sinners with a holy God, is through what is called substitutionary atonement. It's put forward so clearly here.

It's the godly, the most godly, the perfectly godly Jesus Christ trading places with the ungodly in order to bring together a almighty, righteous, perfect judge together with people who are nothing but defiled and bringing them together through the shedding of his own blood. Trading places. Who would do that? The answer is Jesus would do that. No one took Jesus' life from him.

He laid it down on his own and he took it up again. And this great Work brings together the Holy God with defiled people who lose their defilements because they are washed by the blood of Jesus. This is what makes the hope of our salvation unshakable. Don't miss this. This is something so precious in our text.

Our hope is unshakable. Why is that? Because it rests totally and completely on work that has already been done. It is not future work. Jesus doesn't have to do anything to save his people now.

It is done. The last words on the cross are these. It is finished. So our hope of salvation is unshakable. That's why it's like a helmet.

Because it's not based on something that has to be done in the future. And we might wonder if it will or won't be done. It is done. It is complete. It is finished.

God is satisfied. Jesus drank the cup of God's wrath down to the bottom and there is no wrath left in the cup. He swallowed it all up down to the last drop. There is no wrath left for the believer because Jesus took the anger, the righteous anger. Think of how right it is that God would be angry at the rebellion of mankind.

All of that anger swallowed up by the work of Jesus Christ. What does that mean for those who are in Christ? It means that whether we live or whether we die, We live together with him. This is back to Thessalonians. It doesn't matter whether you live or die.

You live together with him. Listen to Romans 14. I could probably read it faster than you can get there. So listen to what Paul says in Romans 14. He says the same thing in a little different way.

For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and rose again rose and lived again that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. That's Romans 14, 8 and 9. If we live, we live to the Lord.

If we die, we die to the Lord. Either way, we are the Lord's and that's why Jesus died and rose again. So that he would be the Lord of the dead and the living. Then in 1 Thessalonians 5 at the very end, Paul and Silvanus and Timothy conclude by saying that these are words of comfort and encouragement and we should use them with each other. Now we are given a duty, it is put in our lap to use these great words of comfort and encouragement on each other, with each other.

We are to be a source of comfort to each other and encouragement to each other. How? By saying the truths of these things to each other when we need it and we need it often. And these words are for building up in the New King James it's rendered edify, but the NASV and the ESV and the NIV render it, build up. And I like that rendering better because the literal meaning it's a building term it's an actual literal building term building something up so edify is not a bad translation but I think build up is a better one It gets right to the heart of what we're to do for one another.

We're to take these truths that Paul and Silvanus and Timothy are teaching us and we're to build up one another. We're to strengthen one another. Paul and Silvanus and Timothy acknowledge that they are already doing that. But again, this is increase more and more, just as you also are doing. Comfort each other, edify one another just as you also are doing.

Comfort each other, edify one another just as you also are doing. Here's the conclusion of the matter, I think. It's at least the conclusion of the sermon. We are those who have repented and believed the gospel, those who are in Christ. We are, therefore we do.

Let us act like what we are. There is a manner of life that is consistent with the Lord's people. That is fitting for blood bought people. We are exhorted to live that way. We should be actively exhorting one another, building one another up as to our identity being in Christ and as to the life that is consistent with that identity.

Three quick applications. Number one, overall is my life consistent with my profession? You can't come to this text and not ask that question. Is my life consistent with my profession? There is a manner of life that is fitting for the Lord's people.

Does my life look like that? Would it be fair, would it be accurate to describe me as watchful, as sober? Do faith and love and the hope of salvation mark my life? That's what we are called to. Now These are exhortations in the text.

Paul and Silvanus and Timothy aren't saying Christians are automatically like this so go enjoy it. They're calling us to it. Implicit in that is we should strive towards these things, not just assume it is going to magically happen because we are Christians. We are called to pursue it. We are called to pursue a life of watchfulness, a life of soberness, a life of faith, a life of love, a life of the hope of salvation where we are looking forward to the things that are good that God has promised to his people so that we can endure anything now we can endure anything we're not promise that that's going to just fall upon us we're called to it to pursue it number one overall is my life consistent with my profession?

It's possible that you're a real live Christian, but your life really isn't very much marked by these things because you have not pursued them. You have been a lazy Christian. There are lazy Christians who need to be stirred up by sermons and Bible reading and prayer and all sorts of things. But if there is not a shred of evidence, genuine evidence of these things, you have to say, wait a minute, maybe I thought I was in this family, but I'm really in this family. Maybe I'm not a child of the light at all.

Number two, what makes me drunk? What intoxicates me? Figuratively. What are the things that sort of make you lose your senses, sort of make you lose your sight of the things that really matter, heavenly things, things that make you fix your eyes so much on the earth that you get tunnel vision and you lose sight of the things that Christians ought to be about. You might be a recovering sports idolater like I am.

We should ask ourselves this, what are the idols that are seeking my worship? What are they? There are idols seeking your worship. And they have probably had your worship in time past and they're always trying to sneak back in and get more worship now. You might have jettisoned them for a while, but now they're creeping back in.

What are those idols that are seeking your worship? What are those things that are making you drunk? Making you lose your senses about things that matter. And am I sufficiently armed against those? If you've never seen a clear call to arm yourself against those things, you have now in this text, You're supposed to put on a breastplate of faith and love and a helmet of the hope of salvation.

We're to arm ourselves against those things and part of that is naming them. You've got to name the enemy. The thing that is calling for your worship that is not God, and that makes you drunk and lose your wits. Number three. Here's a sweet one.

For those in Christ, are we sufficiently enjoying our privileges? We are promised that whether we sleep or wake, whether we are dead or alive, we have a rightful claim to live with Him. That is something that is real and substantial, not mythical. We are not talking about unicorns here. We are not talking about mythology.

It is a rightful claim of the Christian to live with Christ. As J.C. Ryle points out very helpfully in very many of his books. There's union and there's communion. And it is possible to be in union with Christ, really to have repented and believed the Gospel, really to be in the Kingdom of Heaven, but to neglect communion and lose out on one of the great privileges of the Christian life.

To know Him, to fellowship with Him, to draw from Him. This is a call to enjoy our privileges. These are meant by God to be some of the sweetest things in life. To go and commune with Christ. It's your right!

And you're passing over your right for what? What are you giving it up for? What are you forgoing a privilege of being in this family for. If you look closely you probably find that you are trading it for very little. Very little.

Oh God I pray that you would help your people to enjoy our privileges. God, I pray that you would cause them to be before us like a treasure. If we've disdained them before now, God, and not valued them rightly, I pray that today would be a change in that. That we would see walking with Christ as something sweet and desirable, and something worth pursuing wholeheartedly. God I know I want to enjoy my privileges.

I know the price that was paid for them. I pray that you would help us in Jesus name, Amen.