Knowing God is Loving God Part 10: How the Story Ends

Sunday Morning | May 10, 2026 | John C. Majors | Louisville, KY

Pastor John’s sermon, “Knowing God is Loving God Part 10: How the Story Ends,” focused on the hope and certainty believers have concerning the end of all things through 1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11. While the world is filled with confusion and speculation about the future, Scripture gives three clear truths: Jesus will physically return in power and glory, heaven is real for those who belong to Him, and His return will come suddenly and unexpectedly. Drawing from Acts 17 and Revelation 19, Pastor John reminded the church that Christ’s return is not symbolic, but a promised reality that should shape how we live today. Because of this hope, believers are called to walk confidently in their identity as children of light, remain spiritually alert, stay faithful in encouraging and serving one another, and remember that a final day of judgment is coming for all people. The message challenged the church not to live in fear of the future, but with readiness, faithfulness, and hope in the returning King.

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Transcript

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Thank you Isaac. Good morning everyone. It's great to be with you on this Mother's Day. Few probably about six weeks ago or so, we were looking at the church calendar and looking at the sermon series and how it was going to wrap up. And this week we wrap up our series on You are a Theologian. What does it mean to love God and know him? And the more you love him, the more you can know him. The more you know about him, the more you can love him. And we were looking at the topics and someone pointed out, John, you realize that's Mother's Day and your sermon topic that day is end times. And I thought, oh boy, not your typical Mother's Day sermon. Let's talk about the end of all things and how the world will end and how Christ will return. And for some that will be rejoicing, for some it will be judgment and wrath. And I thought, you know, there's some connections there to mothering. I think partly possibly. Mom says, I brought you into the world. I'll take you out. And she can read. Some mothers can relate. Now, my mom never said that. I'm sure others might have. I could try to make a real strong connection to Mother's Day, but I'm not even going to try. We're just going to say Happy Mother's Day. And now let's wrap up the theology series, and maybe we'll try to do better next year and how we connect the two more clearly. But it makes sense to wrap up this series on knowing God is loving God. And one of the questions we have and we all have is how will my own life end up? Many are often thinking, I wonder what my legacy will be. I wonder what I'll be remembered for. You might even think, what will it say on my gravestone? What will others say about me? We often think about ourselves, but also how will all things end if God created the world and there's going to be a time where things in Ephesians one talks about this, all things are summed up, drawn together in Christ. How's that going to happen? What's that going to look like? Well, there's a lot of speculation around that. There's a lot of crazy ideas out there. There's a lot of questions that people have. When will Jesus return? What does that mean for his church? How does that relate to modern current events? How does that relate to Old Testament prophecy and the nation of Israel, and how all that fits together? And what does that mean for us today? Obviously, I can't cover all that today. That's a real long sermon series, probably involving the entire book of revelation and the book of Romans. And we're not prepared to cover all that today. But there are some absolutes we can address. And so we're going to look at First Thessalonians chapter four and chapter five. We're going to be in those two chapters today. If you have a church Bible, those are on page 939. And by the way, we have two different versions of the church Bible circulating right now. So if you're like, that's not the right page, then you may have gotten the older version, not the newer version. We're trying to get those all circulated to where they're on the same page, but ask someone around you if you can't find it and turn to First Thessalonians. And we're going to read from chapter four. We'll just read the last few verses in chapter four. And so if you don't mind, would you stand while I read those verses will stand together as I read those out, just as a way to visually honor the Word of God. As I read through this section, first Thessalonians four, verse 13, and I'll read down through verse 18, but we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do, who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words, God help our ears to be open. Help our hearts to be open, to what you have to say to us through Your Word. We love you. Amen. You can be seated. So a lot of things could be said. We're going to focus on three absolutes that we see in first Thessalonians. And the first one here comes from verse 13 and verse 16. And if you have a notes outline, Jesus will return bodily. He will return physically. It will be obvious. I often like to read at funerals, verse 13 here. We don't want you to be uninformed about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do, who do not have hope. Grieving is appropriate when someone passes. It's not a sin to grieve. It's a natural reaction to death, which wasn't intended to be at first, but it's a consequence of our sin. There should be grief along with that. But however, for the Christian, we grieve differently. We don't grieve as those without hope. We do have hope, and we have hope because of verse 16, for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first there will be a day where he descends, and it will be obvious that it is him, and it will be obvious that he is the one in control. And it will be obvious that he is the powerful, awesome, and Mighty One. And that is the day we can look forward to with hope. I shared on Easter Sunday about Barbara sharing with the EMT workers after her husband had passed. She had the sense of awareness and mindfulness to share the gospel with them. It was a I felt like a holy moment for me to witness. But prior to that, almost as if she was talking to herself when they were had maybe still working on him, trying to revive him. But right after she had a few things to say that were more along the lines of hope in the gospel, and she was just saying out loud, you know, he's gone and we're grieving, but we also know he's in a better place. He's not grieving anymore. He's not. He's suffered for years. He's not suffering any more. And we can rejoice in that at the same time. And yes, we grieve, but I also know I'll see him again. And you hear these words of hope in the midst of grief. And it's okay to grieve, but we grieve differently because we know he will come back and it will be powerful. And if you've read revelation 19, you've you've had the imagery of him coming down on a horse, and he's called faithful and true and out of his sword mouth comes a sword. And it's the imagery is so powerful and moving and stirring it will be obvious. That's one absolute truth. Now let's look at the second one here. First he will return bodily. Second. There is a heaven. Look back at verse 17. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them that were caught up in the original languages sound similar to our word rapture. That's where you get the word rapture. When people talk about how in the end times might come about, then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. So another hope we have is that not only will he come and take us, we will be with him forever. And I can't think of any better definition of heaven than being in the presence of Christ forever. You know, many people speculate about what we'll have and be like, and you'll get all kinds of different questions. Will animals be there? How much gold will be on the streets? Are the gates really pearly? How big will my mansion or my room be? And we focus on all of those secondary things. But the most important part about heaven is that Jesus will be there, and that will be in his presence. If he's not there, it's not heaven. No matter how fancy it looks, there is a heaven where we who know Christ will join him. Now, these two truths together do something for all of us who know Christ. And he sums it up here in verse 18, therefore encourage one another with these words. These two truths, these two realities, should be an encouragement and a comfort to all who know Christ. Many times the temptation is to walk in fear about the unknown of how things will end. I think many of us, just even thinking about it, get a little fearful. You hear words like Armageddon. You hear things like how will think the apocalypse? And you wonder, how's it all going to turn up? And you become fearful. But Paul says, no, we're not controlled by fear. We don't walk in fear. Encourage one another with these truths. No matter what happens, you will be with Christ forever. If you know him. Now the Thessalonians. And by the way, Thessalonica was the name of the city to whom this letter was written. And it's still a city in modern day Greece. It was the capital of Macedonia at the time. I think it's the second largest city in Greece. And Paul had gone there. We know from acts chapter 17, Paul had gone there to preach, and he had preached in the Sabbath, on the Sabbath, three consecutive Sabbaths in a synagogue. And as a result, the number of people in the community came to know Christ. The number of the Jews came to know Christ. A number of the Greeks came to know Christ. And it also said, some of the leading women came to know Christ. So his his preaching made a difference. It led to conversions. But then what happened is some of the Jews got jealous. You know, you're taking some of our people, Paul. You're becoming a little more popular than us. And so they stirred up a riot against him and his followers and drove them out of town. Now, imagine you're in the seat of the First Thessalonians. You've just come to know Christ. You've known him three weeks. You heard about him three weeks ago. And the guy who brought all this good news here to you is run out of town. You're probably going to have some questions you still need answered Paul. Hey. Great ideas. I love that I'm now in Christ. What does that mean? How do I live? How do I make decisions? What does that mean about the way I approach family and work and the culture and the idolatry in the culture and all of the things I'm used to? What do I do? You're going to have a lot of questions. And one of the big ones they seem to have that he's addressing. Okay, you say that we will go to heaven with our loved ones who have passed. Well, when is he coming back? That's what we want to know. I think that's a natural question for a lot of us. When will he return? And Paul goes right into addressing it. Chapter five, verses one through three. When will he return? What will that look like? Here's what he says now concerning the times and the seasons. Brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, while people are saying there is peace and security. Sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman. Oh, here we go. Here's our Mother's Day verse. Sorry, I had just noticed. Happy mother's day. There's your sermon. Now let's get back to the message. And they will not escape. How? What will it look like when he comes back? Here's here's this third point in your outline. Here's the third absolute. It will be sudden, right? His return will be sudden. It says it will be like a thief in the night. You know, we get lulled to sleep in our life. Even here. People around us are saying, oh, peace and security. Everything's great. The culture will say to you, what do you mean? That some bad guy that you think is God is going to come back and judge people? Wasn't that like 2000 years ago? It didn't come back then. You think he's going to come back now? It doesn't matter. Live however you want. Peace, security. Everything's fine. But then sudden judgment will come upon them. The Bible, over and over again gives examples of this. Where there is warning and warning and warning and it's ignored and ignored and ignored. And people assume because he hasn't judged, he won't. We went, I took my mom and my youngest son to Africa with me to teach at a Bible college. This was 15 years ago. Now. And while there, I was going to visit a family. We knew we were connected to their son, who was here in the U.S. going to college, and they lived right next to the big game park there. And you can go and see the elephants and the lions and the giraffe and the hippopotamus and these crazy animals. There. I said, I definitely want to do that. However, I'm not going in one of these open trucks that have no doors and windows. You've seen those safaris where they do that. I don't know how they convince anyone to do that. By the way, what did they say? Oh, don't worry, the lions, they don't bite. I mean, I love it when people say that to me about their dog. Oh, he doesn't bite. Really yet. Right? I said, the only way I'm going is if I'm in one that's got doors and windows that lock. And it's very secure because right before then, I'd heard the story. There was one of these safaris, and they had the open truck, and they they're driving along and they stop somewhere for the guy to point some things out. He steps out on the on the little running board on the outside of the truck. He's still attached to the truck, is holding on to the truck, point some things out. While he's talking, a lion jumps out and drags him off into the wilderness. Just because you they never have attacked doesn't mean they won't. Just because it's never happened. Just because he hasn't judged and hasn't come back doesn't mean he never will. We've got to be ready. It will be sudden. Yes. Now, I think that means a few things for us to take to heart today. Those are three very basic truths. But they're easy to forget. We're easy to get lulled to sleep in life. What are four truths that we can hold on to today? Four actions that we can take today in light of those three truths. Here's the first one. Walk in your identity. Walk in your identity as a child of God. And he talks about this more in chapter five. Look at verse four, but you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. You don't have to be worried because you're not in darkness. You are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So first walk in your identity as children of the light. Your heart is one that is drawn to light, not to evil. And of course, there are times there a temptation. But walk in that identity. This is who I am. I'm a child of the light. I long for Christ. I long for the things that he represents, not the things of evil and of this world. Now he goes on from there to tell us ways that we can do that. What does it mean to walk as children of light? How do we do that? Number two, be alert. Stay alert. Look at verses six through eight. So then let us not sleep as others do. But let us keep awake and be sober. Keep awake, stay alert and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night. Those who get drunk are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober. Having put on the breastplate of faith and love. And for a helmet the hope of salvation. Be alert, stay alert, stay mindful. Of course, this idea of sobriety is certainly referring to physical sobriety. We talked about that. And when we talked about the Holy Spirit, do not be drunk with wine or anything else, but be filled with the spirit. We want our bodies, our presence, our minds to be sober, but also spiritually. We want to be sober. We want to be alert to this world and all the tricks this world has. We want to be aware. We don't want to be naive. We want to be mindful, present, focused on Christ, ready for all the things the world is going to throw at us. And let me just make a plea to you. As a result, really try to reduce the amount of noise you take in from news and social media. Because as much as you might think that you are selecting what you're consuming, let me tell you they are very intentionally feeding to you what they want you to hear. No matter whatever, whatever branch you're taking in from, you're not fully in control of that. They've got a narrative. They want you to believe, they've got an agenda. They want you to become their little puppets, their little parrots that repeat back their story. They want to control you, and they're very good at it. They spend billions of dollars every year doing it. Now, I don't want you to walk in fear, but don't just mindlessly consume everything that's out there. Instead, be sober minded. First, Peter, we quoted that verse all the time. Be sober minded. Self-control for the sake of your prayers. Be alert. Be on guard. Be proactive, not just being led along by whatever message this world is sending you. Mindlessly consuming. Be alert. And then number three, stay faithful. Stay faithful. Look at verse nine. In chapter five he says, For God has not destined us for wrath. Here's hope, here's encouragement, here's joy. He's not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might live with him. Stay faithful. Stay encouraged. You know, the same way he ended chapter four, he said, be encouraged. Encourage other with these words. He ends verse 11, therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing so in the midst of all the chaos. And I know it probably feels like to a lot of us, like the end has got to be any time now. I mean, things just every year seem to be ramping up. You see the evil in the culture. You see so much chaos across the world with wars and rumors of wars. And it seems like whenever one war ends, the next one starts, and sometimes they overlap and go back and forth. It seems like all the signs are pointing that he could return at any moment. We don't know. I mean, even Jesus said in Mark 1332, no one knows the day of thou, and not the son, not the spirit, only the father knows. That means Jesus could know, but he was choosing not to know. And we don't know either. Either way, our call is to stay faithful. Stay faithful to the gospel. Don't let all the noise drive you away from faithfulness and into despair and giving up and feeling like, well, nothing I do matters. I'll stay faithful. And then lastly, number four, remember there will be a day of judgment. Yes, it said in verse nine, God has not destined us for wrath, but for those who don't know him, there will be a day of judgment. Don't forget that. Don't be lulled to sleep by the culture thinking everything's going to be just fine. He hasn't come back yet, therefore he never will. In fact, if you turn your Bibles one page to second Thessalonians chapter one spelled out real clearly, verse five. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering. Since indeed God considers it just to repay with a repay with a fixed repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted, as well as to us. When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. And look at this picture of judgment, of when he comes in mighty with mighty angels, in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. You see the contrast here, first Thessalonians, you will be with Jesus forever. Second Thessalonians and those who don't know him have a very different destiny. There will be a day of judgment. Remember? Julian, I when we lived in Phoenix, we had some neighbors, two single ladies trying to raise the kids together. One mom worked in the morning, one worked at night, and so they helped each other out that way. They were just friends, but they were helping each other out. And one of them who worked at night was a dancer at night, if you know what I mean. That was her main job, and we kept inviting them to church. Come join us at church. And our church was going through them through some light easy series during that time. You know, about the love of God or something. One Sunday they say, hey, yes, we're going to come. We'll be there and they show up. Well, the guy who normally preaches, who is preaching through the series on love, was sick that day. And the guy who came to preach instead preached from first Thessalonians chapter four and five about the judgment and vengeance of God and His return one day. And we thought, oh boy, how will this go? And we got home. We came back, invited them over for lunch, and we asked them, what do you think? How was it? And the girl who was the dancer, she said, you know, that was incredibly depressing. She said, I'm used to the churches I've gone to. The messages are light and uplifting and encouraging and building up. And by the way, we want to be that too. But for some, the message of God's return and judgment is very depressing. And it should be if you don't know him, if you're not walking with him, this should raise concern. This should lead to discomfort. This should lead to you wondering what is going to happen to me. That is an appropriate response. And we tried to say something similar to her. Maybe this is God speaking to you and saying you need to get right with him. And I don't know where each of you are today with the Lord. We're all probably in a different place. Some of us have been walking with him for decades. Some are still trying to figure out what does it mean to have any faith at all. But don't be load to sleep. There will be a day and it will be sudden. Don't wait forever. Don't wait. It feels like you have forever. Listen. Every day in the news someone is stabbed or shot. It seems like someone dies every week on Dixie highway just going along for their normal day. Just driving. It will be sudden. Don't assume you have another day. And so here's what I want to say to you today. Let me just plead with you. We're actually going to do a baptism service June 7th, and we already have some people who have said, yes, I want to be baptized. They're planning to be baptized that day. Maybe you've been putting that off. Maybe, you know, I need to commit to follow Christ, but come join us for that on June 7th. Come talk to us today. I'll be down front right after the service. So will my wife, Julie. One of the elders will be down in front as well. And our student, Pastor Colby, is going to be down front. Can't talk to one of us after and say, you know what? I do want to get baptized. I do want to follow Christ. I know I've been putting it off. I know I've been playing the game. I know I've been trying to walk a fence and I want to in that today. So come talk to us after. I'm going to pray. And then I've got a couple of people to present as new members to the church. But as I pray, I want you to wrestle with that. God. Are you calling me to follow you today or not? Let's pray. God, thank you for this morning. I thank you for the picture this morning that we started our service with a families walking up front and saying, we want to dedicate our families to you. We want to raise our children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Would you give them wisdom and favor? And I thank you for the truth that we can walk in, that you will return one day, visit visibly, bodily, and we will join you. For those who know you, we will join you in heaven. But that return will be sudden. And for those who don't know you, Lord, I pray that you would bring them under conviction today. Godly holy conviction. And they would not wait another day. They would choose to walk with you today and follow in baptism. Thank you Jesus that we can gather. We love you. Amen. Okay,