Concerning Them Which Are Asleep

Introduction to the Section and Context

0:03 Let us turn, then, to 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4.

0:09 As we continue our studies in this section, beginning with verse 13 and continuing through chapter 5 and verse 11. I understand last week I said this lengthy session going from verse 13 to verse 11.

0:29 That was a regression of two verses. It's chapter 4, verse 13, through chapter 5 and verse 11.

0:42 We're in this general section announced at the beginning of chapter 4 as one in which the Apostle would deal particularly with the kind of walk that pleases God and how to abound in the same.

1:00 He dealt then with the subject of sexual purity, indicating that this area of our lives must be governed by the word of God that we might please Him therein. And then he introduced and dealt with the subject of brotherly love in verse 9 concerning love of the brethren. And then either introduced a new subject or one that's in some way related to it in what we call sanctified industriousness in verses 11 and 12. Then in verse 13 he introduces a new subject which then flows in to a rather lengthy treatment of the subject of the coming of Christ

1:42 both as it relates to believers in verses 14 to 18 and more particularly as it relates to unbelievers in chapter 5, verses 2 and 3. And then he comes back to its application to believers. So the main subject matter or doctrine in this section beginning with verse 13 of chapter 4 and going through verse 11 of chapter 5 is the second coming of Christ. However, it has been made a veritable gymnasium of conflict because people have failed to allow this passage

2:25 to be disciplined by its immediate context and the expressed purpose for which the apostle is touching this subject. So last week I preached around the passage. I didn't preach. I preached from it.

Guidelines for Interpreting the Passage

2:38 I preached around it. And I gave you, if you will remember, three general guidelines that must be kept before us in our study of the passage. The larger context, whatever Paul says about the second coming, it's in the larger context of how to walk so as to please God. The specific subject matter is dead saints.

3:02 In verse 13, I would not have you ignorant concerning them that fall asleep. So whatever he says about the second coming in that first section has only to do with dead saints and anyone directly related with them. And then his stated goal is verse 18 that when we're done we ought to have fuel not to fight one another in prophetic congresses but to comfort one another in the face of death when it breaks into the ranks of the saints of God. Now, since he seeks to accomplish that, he does so by giving a solid dose of doctrine and we saw last week that we learned something about the importance of doctrine

3:46 as it relates to the Christian life. They had a problem of a worldly sorrow in the face of death and he cures that sorrow not by dealing directly with the sorrow or the emotions but by giving them a dose of doctrine so that as they absorb the doctrine it would...

Outline of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

4:07 exercise its leavening effect in their emotions and they would feel right because they believed right. And that's always the pattern of God. Now this morning we want to preach from the passage itself not around it but in it and from it and through it and we will begin to grapple with the first section which is verses 13 to 18. The second section dealing with the general subject of the second coming begins with chapter 5 and verse 1 but it's a different focus.

4:41 Verse 13 says, I would not have you ignorant concerning them that fall asleep. But now chapter 5 verse 1 says, but concerning the times and seasons. Now he follows his line of thinking. He says, now you're having a problem with those who fall asleep.

4:58 I want to clear up your problem and to do so I want to tell you some facts about the second coming. But after he deals with the facts about the second coming he says, now I want to clear up some ideas about the second coming so concerning the times and seasons. So he moves from dead saints to second coming to times and seasons. So that we want to keep that progression of thought in our minds as we study through the passage.

5:25 Now how would we outline verses 13 to 18? And I confess I've sweat hours to try to find out just what would be the best way and after I give it to you say, well any old fool could see that. That would have taken me about three minutes. Well the next time I get that problem I'll call you up and maybe you'll get it in three minutes but I just couldn't seem to find the progression of thought.

5:49 But may I suggest that this will help you to think through the passage. Verse 13 is a statement of his purpose. But we would not have you ignorant brethren concerning them that fall asleep that ye sorrow not as the rest who have no hope. Why am I going to tell you what I'm telling you?

6:08 Because I don't want you to be ignorant lest being ignorant you sorrow in a way that you shouldn't. So he states his purpose. Then beginning with verse 14 we have a statement of his doctrine continuing all the way through down to verse 17. How does he state his doctrine?

6:27 Well he does so in verse 14 in general. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus' will God bring with him. That's the general statement of doctrine. Then in verses 15 to 17 he gives the specific details of the doctrine.

6:48 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord. And then he talks about the relationship of dead saints to living saints who shall be raised up first the trumpet, the voice of the archangel, etc. He gives the general statement of doctrine verse 14 specific enlargement upon the doctrine verse 14 15 to 17 And then he applies the doctrine in verse 18, wherefore, in the light of the doctrine, comfort one another with these words. So you should be able to think through this passage in terms of Paul states his doctrine, verse 13, states his purpose, I'm sorry, verse 13.

7:25 Then he states his doctrine in general, verse 14, specifically, 15, 16, 17, and then he applies his doctrine, wherefore, comfort one another. Statement of purpose, statement of doctrine, general, detailed application of doctrine. And you find this pattern in other portions of scripture. I was going to look at some, but in the interest of time, we'll bypass it. All right, let's grapple then with verses 13 and 14 as time permits.

Paul's Purpose: Addressing Brethren and Dead Believers

7:56 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.

8:16 And then I tell them what I told them. You get it? I tell them what I'm going to tell them. Then I tell them what I told them I'd tell them.

8:28 In other words, he sticks to it. He sticks to his subject, and then he reviews, and he says, I tell them what I told them. Well, that's what Paul is, in essence, doing here. He says, now I'm going to tell you what I'm going to tell you.

8:37 And then he proceeds to tell us. Well, what is he going to tell us? Well, whatever he's going to tell us, well, you'll notice in the first place, it's addressed to the brethren. But we would not have you ignorant brethren. And he uses that wonderful name of endearment used by the apostles and the other New Testament writers.

8:59 As a family name, you will nowhere find them using this term of endearment when speaking of those outside the family of God. When Scripture says, I'm to love my neighbor as myself, that's speaking of all men. But this term is a family name. And the apostle reminds himself that he is addressing himself to the people of God, those who have a common birth.

9:28 Those who have been blessed by the Spirit of God and who have been baptized into the family of God or into the body of Christ who share a common life. You see, you can't escape the evangelistic edge of the Scriptures. No matter where you turn, you face it. And I ask myself as I have prepared and as I preach, do I have a right to preach this to some of you? Are you brethren?

9:53 This is children's meat that is not fit to give to the dogs. This is the meat that is not fit to give to the dogs. This is the meat that is not fit to give to the dogs. This is the bread of the people of God.

10:02 And there are some of you here who are not brethren because you've not been born of the Spirit, incorporated into the family of God. And the message that Paul would bring to you is the same message I would bring to you. Repent and believe the gospel that you might become one of those in the family of God. So, at the very outset of stating his purpose, he reminds his hearers that this is...

10:29 This is children's bread. Now, what is the particular matter of his concern? His purpose addressed to brethren, and in the second place, it regards dead believers. We would not have you ignorant brethren concerning them that fall asleep.

The Connotation of 'Sleep' for Believers

10:50 How do we know he's speaking of dead believers by the term fall asleep? Well, he uses it as a synonym with death in verse 16. The latter part of the verse, notice what he says. And the dead in Christ shall rise first.

11:08 This word sleep is an interesting word. It's used sometimes in scripture to speak of physical sleep. In Luke 22, 45, taken from that section dealing with the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus came and found the disciples sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. But it's preponderant use in the New Testament, speaks of the state of death for believers.

11:33 There's one passage where it's used that it may or may not refer to a believer. It's not clear, but every other place, the word sleep, whenever it's used as a synonym of death, is used for believers. Now, in the secular world, profane writers, they would use the word sleep of the state of death. But God nowhere says that the death of an unbeliever is sleep.

12:02 It's a peculiar word used for the state of death as it relates to a believer. One of the most beautiful passages in all the word of God that sets this forth is the seventh of Acts, where we have the picture of Stephen being stoned by his accusers. His face shines as the face of an angel. And then it says, after he says, Father, lay not this sin to their charge.

12:26 Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Acts 7, 60 says, And he fell asleep. Isn't that beautiful? He fell asleep.

12:35 He fell asleep. You see, the whole connotation of sleep is that though there is no communication with the one sleeping, it is a temporary state. And it's not a state of extinction or annihilation. But morning will come when their eyes will awaken.

12:52 With the waking of the eyes, there will then be the ability to communicate with that person. Sleep, you see, in that sense, is a much less...

13:02 less harsh word than death, which speaks of finality of separation. It's the word the apostle uses as his choice word in 1 Corinthians 15, when he speaks in verse 6, verse 18, verse 20, and verse 51 of believers as those who, when they die, they sleep. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.

13:31 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.

14:01 Paul said to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. I have a desire to depart and be with...

14:06 with Christ, which is far better. But it's speaking of death primarily from the standpoint of the state of the body. It's in that situation of repose.

Addressing Ignorance and Heathenish Despair

14:20 So the subject matter that is before the apostle addressed to brethren regards dead believers. And now notice in the third place, it focuses on their ignorance,

14:32 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?

14:55 An agnostic is the man who says no, no. The atheist says, no God. The Christian says, there is a God. The atheist says, you say there is?

15:08 You say there ain't? Well, no. See agnostic is a man who says, I don't know. Now Paul said, I don't want you to be agnostics.

15:18 You know, Christians in many areas are agnostics. They don't know what they ought to know and because they don't know aright, they don't feel aright and act aright. And that was precisely the problem here. He said, I don't want you to be agnostics.

15:32 Now, why would some Christians, see to us this is strange, you say, well how can Christians be agnostics? How can they not know? How can they not know about the state of their dead loved ones? Well, if you came out of the Old Testament background, as many of these believers did, there were some dim lights and some little glimpses of the state of believers after death in the Old Testament, but they were dim shadows.

16:04 Scripture says Jesus Christ has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. So that though there are times when the Psalmist can say, I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy lightness, the whole general drift, even of the Old Testament, is that they saw through a glass much more darkly when it came to the state in between death and the resurrection. And even the doctrine of the resurrection was not spelled out anywhere near as clearly in the progressive revelation. Then if you came from a heathen background, as many of these Thessalonians did,

16:47 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.

17:05 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 past thought patterns, and even at the church of Corinth, there were people denying the resurrection right within the church.

17:49 He said, How say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? Now, here's the principle of hermeneutics that Mr. Stare will be bringing out. You can't understand this passage reading it from the standpoint of someone who's been brought up in a context where the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead has been a part and parcel of what you've been handed down as truth.

18:11 You've got to put yourself back in that situation where coming out of paganism, coming out of the dim light of Judaism regarding the whole area of death and the resurrection, these people had no solid convictions and no deep knowledge of the state of their departed loved ones. So, he said, I'm going to focus on supplementing this ignorance. I want you no longer to be agnostics about your departed loved ones. I want you to know the facts of divine revelation.

18:44 Now, why does he want them to know that fact? And if we miss this, we miss the whole thrust of the message. Not that they might pass a theology test in their Sunday school class. Not that they might be able to sign a doctrinal statement saying, I believe in the resurrection of all believers from death to a state of everlasting bliss or something else.

19:07 He said, this is my purpose. I would not have you ignorant that ye sorrow not as the rest who have no hope. Now, who are the rest? Well, the rest, of course, are those who aren't brethren.

19:22 Anyone who's not part of the brethren is part of the rest. Here's that cleavage. Either you're a brother or you're the rest. In the family of God, out of the family of God.

19:37 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?

19:49 Well, I hope so. And so we use the word hope. Someone said, well, I hope everything will turn out all right. That is, I wish.

19:56 The word hope has a much deeper connotation in Scripture. Hope is a confident expectation of future blessing based upon fact. That's what hope is. A confident expectation of future blessing based upon facts.

20:17 So when the Bible speaks of the hope of the Lord's return, it doesn't mean, well, I hope He'll come back. It's a confident expectation that He will come back based upon the facts of His declaration. See? Now he says the others, the rest, the world has no hope in the face of death.

20:39 No confident expectation of future resurrection. Why? Because they have no facts. They can sit down and say, well, we'd like to believe that we'll see them in the world to come.

20:53 But how do you know you will or you won't? There are no facts. Since there is no embracing of divine revelation, since there is no subjection of the mind to the truth of God concerning these things, they are without hope. Ephesians 2.12 says this is one

21:11 of the characteristics of the Gentiles. They are without God and without hope. In the world. So those who took death seriously looked upon death as mysterious, foreboding, final.

The Despair of Those Without Hope

21:28 When they saw their loved ones breathe their last, they had no confident expectation they'd ever see them again. Now if that's true, what will that produce? Well, unless you're a heartless stoic, it'll just immerse you in a baptism of despair. They're gone.

21:52 Gone forever. I haven't seen death face to face very often. The Lord knows the sensitivity of my temper and the rest of it. I probably couldn't take it very often.

22:04 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.

22:23 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. You see no hope, no facts upon which to base any confident expectation.

Legitimate Christian Grief vs. Heathenish Despair

22:47 And Paul said, Now you believers, I don't want you to be like that. Because you have some facts that ought to produce some confident expectation. Now as we seek to develop this thought, the question I would like to think has come to the minds of some of you. Is this a blanket prohibition of all grief in the face of death when our loved ones in Christ die?

23:13 Is he saying, and some of the commentators take this position, I was amazed in reading some of the commentators the past two weeks on this. They say when Paul says that, gee sorrow not, he means absolutely no sorrow, no grief. I would submit to you that that's a perversion of the teaching of scripture. For in the first place sorrow and joy are a part of our true humanity until we're glorified.

23:42 Sorrow and joy are a part of our true humanity until we're glorified and then sorrow will drop off forever but joy will continue on for eternity. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. But here in a state of sin and imperfect sanctification not only is joy a part of our true humanity but sorrow and that's why it says of the Son of God he was a man of what? Sorrow and acquainted with grief.

24:19 It says in Matthew 26, 37 Jesus began to be sorrowful, same word in the original. Peter says to Christians in 1 Peter 1, 6 ye are in heaviness. Same word in the original. Ye are in sorrow through manifold trials and he doesn't rebuke them for their sorrow.

24:39 He says that's the state of the case. That's the fact of it. You're in heaviness. And then Paul says in Philippians 2, 27 expressing gratitude that God spared one of his companions from death.

24:54 He said this is why he did it. Lest I should have had sorrow upon sorrow. Indicating that had God taken that companion Paul would have experienced genuine sorrow at his departure. And then there is that touching picture of our Lord standing at the tomb of Lazarus in John 11 and verse 35 and Jesus wept.

25:16 Later on it says his spirit was stirred with something other than sorrow. It was holy anger either at the unbelief of those there or at death itself. As he longed to see its overthrow. But I think it's difficult to read anything into verse 35 but that Jesus experienced the sorrow we feel at the separation that comes with death.

25:41 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.

26:03 A serviceman that kisses his wife goodbye for a year of duty in Vietnam experiences deeper sorrow. Now is that wrong? The sorrow of separation of what we shall lose in not being in one another's presence? Of course not.

The Qualitative Difference in Christian Grief

26:18 To destroy this is to make us inhuman and Christianity does not make us inhuman. As we saw with the matter of sexual purity God's perspective does not tell us to push down and minimize and try to squeeze out of our lives our sexuality but to accept it as the gift of God and to see it channeled into the purpose of God. The same way with grief and sorrow since they are a part of our humanity God wants us to accept them but to have them channeled and disciplined according to his purpose. Well what's the essential difference then between the legitimate grief of a Christian and the sorrow that Paul says here he never wants to be seen amongst the people of God

27:02 that he sorrow not his others who have no hope. Will you follow me closely I think this is the essential difference. When we grieve as believers when we've lost loved ones who die in the Lord we are sorrowing for our loss. We won't have them anymore.

27:25 Their smile their voice of comfort their kindness what we see of Christ in them we've lost something that's precious to us. We sorrow for our loss. There's no thought of sorrowing for them because through our tears we rejoice because they have departed to be with Christ which is far better so if I really love them I want their best right? Well they've got their best should envy them you see so that my sorrow is not for their state but for my loss.

28:03 Ah but the grief of those who have no hope is not only what they have lost but what the one laying there in the cold pale of death has lost. Since there's no fact to assure them of anything beyond that what was their most precious possession even if they lay upon a bed racked with pain they still had life their most precious possession now it's gone and as far as they know when the sun sets it sets never to rise again and so the awful despair of those who have no hope is not primarily because of the loss of those left behind but the terrible despair of the loss

28:46 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

29:31 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

30:16 and is therefore held in check whereas those who have no hope their grief you see is like a flooding river that breaks over its banks and inundates the countryside and brings nothing but destruction and Paul says I'm writing to you brethren concerning dead believers that you no longer be ignorant of the facts in order that your grief may be qualitatively different from the grief of those who have no hope that's his purpose that there'll be a qualitative not quantitative people who have no hope

31:00 grieve a lot saints grieve a little no the measure to which you grieve will be determined by a lot of factors it'll be measured in terms of what you have left around you to take some of the heaviness of that grief it's one of the things brought out in scripture that when that widow lost her son it was her only son when Isaac was to be offered up take Isaac thy son thine only son you see and so in some cases where parents lose a little one whom they have reason to believe dies in Christ their grief in some measure is restrained

31:45 by the half a dozen other little arms that can still hug and say mommy there are factors of temperament all these different factors that will lead to a different degree of grief amongst believers and unbelievers so it's not a matter of degree but of kind you see in one the grief is focused upon no hope I have no assurance of the state of that one now or for eternity so I not only grieve that I've lost them but they are lost forever where is the child of God his grief is real and in terms of all these other variables maybe more or less on the outside than even that of the unbeliever

32:27 but it's qualitatively different because he grieves for his loss and he grieves in the consciousness that that one sleeps and the day of resurrection will come when he shall be raised up I don't want to labor the point but have I made this sufficiently clear that there's that qualitative difference that's why the Bible says weep with those who weep if the weeping of grief were sinful would God be telling me to go sin with someone else who's sinning that would be contrary to the entire teaching of scripture I'm to grieve but a qualitative difference qualitative difference now how does Paul accomplish that goal we've said his goal is

Doctrine as the Cure for Sorrow

33:11 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

33:55 about death and resurrection and the world to come and so we can just touch briefly then on the general statement of the doctrine in verse 14 and that's very obvious the general statement of the doctrine what is it he starts with what they already know in fact I better stop because if I get started in this I'm going to go too long and it's not right to just hit the surface of it so you read it over this week and ask yourself this question what's the connection between the two notice what he does he starts with what they know if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so then that sleep in Jesus

34:40 will God bring with him now what's the connection as Christians they believe the first two facts Jesus died and rose again in Acts 17 he said that's what he preached to them when they were baptized that's what they confessed every time they came to the Lord's table they remembered his death till he come they knew he was raised from the dead now what's the connection between his death and resurrection and that of believers and there's the core you see of his argument as he states the doctrine in general and then he goes on to give particulars and the Lord willing we shall consider them next week but I hope you get his purpose and by the grace of God that we shall be so thoroughly Christian

35:25 in the face of death for all of us have either faced it or will face it in the near or more remote future it's one of the things we must face until that last enemy is destroyed and oh how I long that we as God's people as brethren face it with a grief that is held within the banks of biblical truth that we sorrow not as those who have no hope for oft times Christians who have borne a good witness in the everyday experience of life have utterly broken down in the face of death and many times

36:10 it's simply because they were ignorant of these facts I don't need them right now yes you better get them stored up so that when you're faced with this you may say ah I remember when we looked at those words they sleep they sleep I can't talk to them now I can't communicate now but the morning of resurrection is coming when I shall be able and through the bitterness of the tears of the separation comes that swelling joy of anticipation that we shall see them in that day so I'm anxious that as God's people

Call to Seek the Lord

36:53 we be sanctified in our emotions in the face of death as well as in our love to one another and in every other area that we need to be well pleasing unto God and I say in closing to those of you who do not have a saving relationship to Christ death ought to be a horrible thing to you the thoughts of death ought to hound you day and night and make you restless until you know that you're in Christ that you're part of the brethren because death is a frightening thing all the sweet little poems printed on the obituary page notwithstanding death is a horrible thing

37:36 if you face it severed from Christ may God grant that this consideration will stir you up to seek the Lord while he may be found and to call upon him while he's near let us unite in prayer