Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

The point: Repent and believe the gospel that you might become one of those in the family of God, as this message is 'children's bread' for believers.

A man describes his preaching method: 'First of all, I tell people what I'm going to tell them. Then I tell them what I told them I was going to tell them. And then I tell them what I told them.' This illustrates Paul's clear, structured approach in stating his purpose before delivering doctrine.

Paul's statement of purpose for that which is to follow. It's wonderful when somebody who's writing or talking says, now this is what I'm going to try to tell you. Someone asked a man once how he preached. He said, well, first of all, I tell people what I'm going to tell them. Then I tell them what I told them I was going to tell them.

7:56 - 8:15 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains that 'sleep' is a synonym for death used exclusively for believers in the New Testament, signifying a temporary state of repose, primarily for the body, with the…

The word 'cemetery' meaning 'sleeping place' and the grave being 'like a bed' for believers' bodies illustrates the temporary, reposeful nature of death for Christians, reinforcing the 'sleep' metaphor.

One of the connotations, and of course you could draw it out in many ways, is to remind us that those believers are sleeping, referring primarily for the body to the body. The very word cemetery means sleeping place. And the grave is like a bed upon which the body of believers sleep. To infer from this the doctrine of soul sleep is unwarranted, for the passages which talk about the state of the soul don't speak of sleep.

13:31 - 14:01 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Paul's purpose is to combat the Thessalonians' ignorance (agnosticism) regarding dead believers, which led to sorrow 'as the rest who have no hope.' Martin defines 'hope' as a…

Martin uses the definition of an agnostic ('I don't know') to explain the Thessalonians' ignorance about death. He applies this to Christians who 'don't know what they ought to know,' leading to incorrect feelings and actions.

which was leading them to a heathenish despair in the face of death. But we would not, have you ignorant, brethren, that ye sorrow not as the rest who have no hope. Now the word he uses for ignorance is the word from which we get our English word agnostic. Now who's an agnostic?

14:32 - 14:55 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Paul's purpose is to combat the Thessalonians' ignorance (agnosticism) regarding dead believers, which led to sorrow 'as the rest who have no hope.' Martin defines 'hope' as a…

Quoting the heathen writer Theocritus, 'Hope goes with life. All hopeless are the dead,' illustrates the pagan worldview of death as final and without hope, contrasting it with Christian hope.

you came out of a background that had no place in its thinking for resurrection. When the heathen writers talk about death, it's with words like this, and I quote one of them. Theocritus said, Hope goes with life. All hopeless are the dead.

16:47 - 17:05 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Paul's purpose is to combat the Thessalonians' ignorance (agnosticism) regarding dead believers, which led to sorrow 'as the rest who have no hope.' Martin defines 'hope' as a…

Another heathen writer's analogy of the sun rising and setting (with hope of rising again) versus man's death as an 'eternal setting' illustrates the finality and hopelessness of death in the pagan mind.

Another heathen writer said, The sun rises and sets, and so when it sets, you can always wait for the hope of its rising. But when man dies, it's like an eternal setting of the sun, never to rise again. So, coming out of that Jewish background, as many of these people did, they were converts from the synagogue worship, and out of that heathen background, as many of these were heathens, they turned to God from their idols, they were idol worshippers, they had very little background of instruction in the doctrine of the resurrection. Then there was the leavening of faith, the effect of these pas...

17:05 - 17:49 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Hope is a confident expectation of future blessing based upon fact. That's what hope is.

Examples like 'I hope so' or 'I hope everything will turn out all right' illustrate the common, weaker understanding of 'hope,' contrasting it with the deeper, confident biblical meaning.

And he says of the rest, that is those who are not in the family of God, they have no hope. Now, what's the word hope mean? Not what we usually mean. You're going to come over and see me?

19:37 - 19:49 Read in full sermon

Driving home: And to hear the hopeless wail of the wife who had no theology of resurrection. It's something I don't even recall often, deliberately, because it's haunting. It's haunting.

Martin recounts being in a hospital room minutes after a man died and hearing the 'hopeless wail of the wife who had no theology of resurrection.' This vivid personal experience illustrates the profound despair that flows from a lack of hope in the face of death.

But I shall never forget when I saw the despair that flowed out of the theology of no hope. I was in a hospital just minutes after this individual died. They hadn't even wheeled him out of the room yet. And the blue face of death was upon him.

22:04 - 22:23 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin clarifies that Paul's prohibition is not against all grief, as sorrow is a part of true humanity, exemplified by Christ and the apostles. He argues that suppressing grief…

Examples of a businessman leaving for a week or a serviceman leaving for a year illustrate that sorrow over separation is natural and not sinful, scaling in intensity with the duration and significance of the separation.

Sorrow in the face of separation is real and not sinful. Acts 20, 37 says that they sorrowed most of all that they would see the face of Paul no more. Now is there anything wrong with that kind of sorrow? A business man is going away for a week he experiences a little sorrow.

25:41 - 26:03 Read in full sermon

The point: Allow your grief to be qualitatively different from those who have no hope, disciplined by the facts of divine revelation.

Martin's personal experience of coming home late and his children being asleep, but knowing they will 'come running into daddy's room' in the morning, serves as an analogy for how believers view their loved ones' bodies in the grave – temporarily asleep, awaiting the morning of resurrection.

of the one who is gone. So the Christian though his grief may be real and deep and lengthy it's always disciplined by the theology of the nature of death it's only a sleep the morning of resurrection is going to come and there are times I know when I come home at night late I've been out preaching somewhere and I'd love to have my kids meet me at the door and hug me but they're asleep but I say in the morning when they wake up they'll come running into daddy's room that's the way the believer through his tears looks upon the body of his loved one laid in the earth oh how I'd love to be able

28:46 - 29:31 Read in full sermon

The point: Allow your grief to be qualitatively different from those who have no hope, disciplined by the facts of divine revelation.

The metaphor of Christian grief being held 'within the banks of biblical truth' versus the grief of those without hope being 'like a flooding river that breaks over its banks' illustrates how doctrine disciplines and contains sorrow.

to communicate express my joy my sorrows my griefs pray with awe I can't now they're asleep but morning's coming morning's coming and we'll be with him so the Christian's grief you see is disciplined by the theology first of all of the nature of death it is but a sleep for the child of God and then of course secondly disciplined not only by the theology of the nature of death but the fact of the resurrection they shall rise and those two factors act like riverbanks through which the grief of the Christian moves

29:31 - 30:16 Read in full sermon

The point: Store up facts about death and resurrection now, so that when faced with death, your grief is held within the banks of biblical truth.

Martin contrasts the idea of comforting someone with 'sweet organ music' with Paul's method of giving 'big healthy wholesome doses of doctrine.' This highlights his argument that true comfort for grief comes from theological truth, not mere emotional solace.

to instruct these people so that they will no longer grieve as those who have no hope and how does he do it and I want to hammer it home again he doesn't do it by writing a sweet little poem that makes him feel good no sir you know how he does it he starts giving them big healthy wholesome doses of doctrine now you say here you go again well I'm sorry that's what Paul did he didn't say now I don't want you to sorrow as those who have no hope so I'm going to come over and we'll play sweet organ music for the next week until you feel better no he said I'm going to give you some facts

33:11 - 33:55 Read in full sermon