Salvation Past, Present, and Future
Tom Shrader walks through 1 Thessalonians 5, contrasting the rapture's comfort for believers with the coming Day of the Lord's inevitable judgment on the unbelieving. He unpacks the three tenses of salvation — saved from sin's penalty at the cross, being saved from sin's power in the present, and one day saved from sin's very presence in eternity. Drawing on supporting passages from Romans, John, and 2 Peter, he calls Christians to live as children of light: sober, alert, and encouraged by the certain hope of salvation through Jesus Christ.
“When Christ said, 'It is finished,' he meant that the penalty is paid for all of the sin of all of the people who would ever come to him in repentance and faith.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: 1 Thessalonians
Recorded: 2000 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 39 min
Themes: salvation, second coming, rapture, hope, judgment, eternity, living in the light, encouragement, grieving a loss, fearful about the future, new believer, doubting salvation, parent, seeking assurance, young adult, struggling with sin
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, Acts 1:6-7, 2 Peter 3:10, 1 Corinthians 15:52, Colossians 1:13, John 8:12, John 12:46, Ephesians 4:17, Ephesians 5:8, John 10:14, John 10:17, John 10:27-29, Romans 6:8-13
Theological Themes: soteriology, three tenses of salvation, eschatology, day of the lord, sanctification, justification, rapture doctrine, glorification
Full Transcript
The Context of Paul's Letter to Thessalonica
First Thessalonians chapter 5 is where we begin today. Paul is writing to a church that resulted from his work in Thessalonica. He was there, God moved, people were saved, and this church was established. Paul spent a brief time there, and then we are told he wanted to know the status of that church. So he sent Timothy on a reconnaissance mission. Timothy returned with the information and reported that the church was indeed doing well, though there seemed to be confusion about the second coming of Christ.
This book, 1 Thessalonians, has each of its five chapters ending with a reference to the second coming of Christ. The second coming was very much on the minds of the people in that early church, perhaps differently than we have it on our minds today. Many people are in the process of reading the Left Behind series, and Tim LaHaye has signed a contract for six more of those books. There is a fascination we have always had with the second coming of Christ. I have talked to people who came to Christ as a result of that book.
We often look at the second coming, I think, with some idea of dread. That was not the way the early church looked at it. They were filled with anticipation that Christ was coming again, and they were convinced they would be alive when He came.
Confusion in the Thessalonian Church
Paul is writing now because some things are happening. Men and women who had made a profession of faith, who had been converted and become Christians, had since died. The church at Thessalonica was confused about what happens to these people. So Paul addresses that, and at the end of chapter 4 he writes to them about this end time.
Here is what he says in First Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 16: "So the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, thus we shall always be with the Lord." The phrase "we who are alive and remain" seems to indicate they thought they would still be living at this time. Why did he write these words? To inform them, to be sure, but the real reason is given in verse 18: to comfort one another.
The Promise of Christ's Return
When I was a young boy, I heard almost every day from my mother, "You wait until your dad gets home." That was a threat. When we look at the red-lettered words in our Bible, the words that Jesus spoke, we see the majority of them in the Gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John — with some sprinkled throughout the book of Acts. But if you go all the way to the end, virtually within a verse or two of the last verse of the Bible, we see Jesus say, "Behold, I shall come soon. I will come quickly." Not meant as a threat, but as a promise.
Jesus is coming again, and that should be a source of encouragement to one another. Paul writes to these believers, and to you and me as well. There in verse 17 he says we will be "caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we will be with Him always." There is our source of encouragement.
We in this life are to live with one eye focused on the future, understanding that this rapture Paul writes about, if it takes place during our lifetime, means we will be those who are alive and will join those who have passed away. If we have already died, we will be raptured. Either way, together we will be with the Lord forever. That is our future, and it should be a source of encouragement. Paul is saying, listen, I want you to be encouraged. Don't be worried about those who have fallen asleep, those who have died. Know that Christ will come again.
Times and Seasons
Now in chapter 5 there is a change of emphasis. He writes, "Now as to the times and epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you." Some translations may begin this with the word "but," marking the shift. He has been talking to the church about the rapture as a source of encouragement, and now he turns to the matter of times and seasons.
The word "times" comes from the Greek word from which we get our English word "chronological" or "chronology." It carries the idea of a specific sequence, a 24-hour period. The other word, "epochs" or "season," gives an idea about the character or quality of that time. Paul is saying you do not need to hear any more about it, because the specific days remain a mystery, and you already know the quality or character of that time. You do not need to know anything more.
This sounds very familiar to what we looked at when we started the study of the book of Acts. In the very first chapter, the disciples came to Jesus, and in verse 6 they asked, "Lord, is it at this time that You will restore the kingdom of Israel?" And Jesus said to them, in Acts chapter 1 verse 7, "It is not for you to know the times or the epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority."
Why God Leaves the Time Unclear
The minute we start talking about the second coming of Christ, almost inevitably we head to the question: when is it going to happen? For 1,950 years the church has appropriately thought it could happen at any minute. Why would God leave it unclear? I would think one of the overriding reasons is so that we would live as though it could happen today — as though this very day might be the end of life as we know it.
Waiting as Witnesses
"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth." What should we here at East Valley Bible Church be doing as we wait for Christ to come again? We are His witnesses in Gilbert, in Arizona, in the United States, and throughout the world.
One author writes this: "This ought to be a solemn warning against making too much of the details in the chronology of the second coming. The truth is that no man knows the way or the time God is going to bring these things to pass." But God has given in His word clear instruction that our attitude toward His coming should be one where we understand we have enough basic teaching, and now we need to apply it, live by it, and let it be seen in our lives.
Paul says there is not much more for him to say on this matter. You will not know the day, but you do know that it is coming, and you know the character of it.
The Day of the Lord
In verses two and three, Paul begins to shift his emphasis away from the rapture — away from the joining of the church to be with the Lord — to something he identifies as the day of the Lord. Here is what he says: "For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While they are saying peace and safety, then destruction will come upon them suddenly, like birth pangs upon a woman with a child, and they shall not escape."
Paul uses a phrase here that is found nineteen times in the Old Testament and four times in the New Testament — the day of the Lord. Whenever we see this phrase, it is attached to the idea of judgment, of divine judgment, of the wrath of God. It is called in the New Testament the day of wrath, the day of visitation, the great day of God Almighty. It is the idea that God is coming this time to judge.
Look at 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 10. Peter writes this: "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat and the earth and its works will be burnt up." When we talk about the day of the Lord, we are talking about something different from what we looked at at the end of chapter 4. It is a day of judgment and a day of destruction.
One author writes this: "God will incinerate the universe, probably in an atomic reaction that disintegrates all matter as we know it. The elements — those atomic components in which matter is ultimately divisible, which make up the composition of all created matter, the atoms, the neutrons, the protons, the electrons — all are going to be disintegrated. The whole of the physical and natural earth in its present form and its universe will be consumed." He is talking about a time when Christ will come that seems separate from the rapture — a time when Christ comes to destroy the earth as we know it.
If you are here today and you do not know Christ, this should frighten you. And the fact that it does not shows how hard your heart really is. It shows how desperately you are lost. There is a day of the Lord. It is a day when Peter says this world will pass away, destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and everything in it will be burnt up.
Characteristics of the Day of the Lord
What are the characteristics of this day of the Lord? The first is this: it comes like a thief in the night. A thief comes unannounced. My mom and dad, a few years ago, were sitting upstairs one early evening. My mom was watching TV and my dad was sleeping. When they were done, they went downstairs — and while they had been upstairs, someone had broken in through the back door, taken the TV, and removed items from her credenza. They had no idea. They had no idea the thief had come, no idea he would come, and no sense of it at all.
The day of the Lord is going to come like that — when you least expect it. It will come at a time when people, the lost and the false teachers, are saying peace and safety. When they say everything is going well, we have nothing to worry about, it has never been better, everything is fine — then suddenly, as 1 Corinthians 15:52 says, in the twinkling of an eye, destruction. Then destruction comes upon them suddenly.
In the midst of this climate of peace and safety, like a thief in the night, the Lord will come and there will be swift and sudden destruction. Are there any exceptions? No. See what he says — like birth pangs upon a woman with child.
The Illustration of Birth Pangs
I have been through two births. And I say this every time and everyone thinks I am kidding, but I am serious: it is much more difficult on the man than the woman. Because we are so helpless. I wish I could do something. I would trade places if I could. What I do know is this: once labor starts — whether it takes one hour or ten hours or twenty hours or thirty hours — once it starts, inevitably there is birth. That is the illustration Paul is using here.
Our two labors were totally different. Sarah was born on New Year's Eve, back in the old days when I was not the loving, caring person that I am now. We had played golf all day. It had rained, so we played a little, went in and sat a little, then played a little more. I came home that night — Sarah was due around January 3rd or 4th, so it was close — and Susan was just acting strange. I said, "Do you think you're having the baby?" And she said, "Well, I don't think so." And I said, "Oh, well, let's eat then, because we're not going to—"
Caught Off Guard
When that labor started, that baby was coming. That is the message Paul is delivering. It is going to come suddenly, like a thief, in a time of peace and safety. It is inevitable, and notice he is writing to the Christians, but he says "they." Who is the "they"? The unbelievers. They have no way out. There is no place to hide.
If you are here today and you do not know Christ, this is your future. There is no place for you to hide and no place for you to run. I am not trying to scare you. I want you to be informed. I do not want you to be oblivious to this.
Paul writes to the Thessalonians and says they know this is going to happen and they do not need to be worried about it. That destruction is not going to come to them. Colossians 1:13 tells us, "For He delivers us from the domain of darkness and transfers us to the kingdom of His beloved Son." I believe we will not be around for that day of the Lord.
Light and Darkness
Verse 4 brings a shift: "But you, brethren" — notice the change — they, now you. "You are not in the darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief, for you are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. So then let us not sleep as others do, but be alert and sober."
Paul sets up a contrast between light and darkness, and it is not new to him. Jesus spoke of it in John 8:12: "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." And again in John 12:46: "I have come into the world that he who believes in Me may not remain in darkness."
Paul writes to the church at Ephesus and says, "This I say therefore and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God." And again in Ephesians 5:8: "You formerly were in the darkness, you are now in the light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. Do not practice the unfruitful deeds of darkness."
Paul's point is that there are people who will indeed be the recipients of the day of the Lord, the wrath of the Lord — but not you. You are not in the dark. You are in the light. So be alert and be sober. Be on your guard, be calm, but be aware.
Do not fall prey to complacency. You know these things are true, so constantly call yourselves away from over-complacency and toward a life that is alert, godly, and under control. You are calm, not afraid — this is not whistling through the graveyard. You are fully aware, you understand these things will come to pass, and you understand that God is in control.
Asleep and Drunk
Paul now builds the contrast further in verse 7. He describes two groups of people: those who are asleep and drunk, and those who are awake and sober. "For those who sleep, do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night."
We have come a long way — we have moved happy hour into the daylight hours — but the principle remains. Paul says they are drunk, they are asleep, they are oblivious. They have no idea. Some of you sitting here today are lost and have no idea. And that is when you are most vulnerable.
If you have some awareness that there is a predator out there, something to overtake you, something to destroy you, you are on your guard. But if you have no awareness at all, you are completely exposed. A year or so ago — in fact, it was last Thanksgiving — my brother and I went over to Los Angeles to visit the Reagan Library, and we were flying back out of Ontario.
As you come out of Ontario, you almost always take off to the north, then bank and head west and begin to climb. They do a brief noise abatement maneuver where they back off the throttle, and then they start to accelerate and climb again. It was dark, and I was sitting by the window looking out, and all of a sudden — bam! There was an explosion and a flash. I happened to be looking directly at the engine at that moment. I looked over at my brother and said, "What was that?" And I said, "We're dead. We're —"
The Plane, the Lightning, and the Sleeping Passengers
He said there was a fire or something wrong. I said there was definitely something. You could feel it — all of a sudden the plane was as though it was just hanging there. I said, "I don't know, but this is it." I looked around, and there was not another person in the cabin watching this. I said to myself, this is a perfect metaphor for life. We're in trouble, and I'm the only one who gets it. I'm the only one who understands how desperate this situation is.
About five minutes later, the captain came on and said, "I don't know if you noticed it." I wanted to say, well, none of these people did, but I'm with you, buddy — I saw it, I know something happened. He said that right under where we were sitting, the plane had taken a bolt of lightning, right in the front. I thought, okay, now what do we do? He said all the instruments were working, so we were going to continue on to Phoenix.
When we got off, I sought the pilot out. He was standing out front and I asked him if that had ever happened before. He said in 25 years it had never happened. The mechanics were out there, and indeed they had found a small spot where the lightning had struck. Because the plane is grounded, the charge simply passes right through.
As I drove away I kept thinking: how did they not see that? How could you be in that plane and not notice? Apparently, they didn't.
Sober, Armed, and Awake
That is exactly what Paul is saying in verse seven. These people are asleep — they are oblivious, hanging there by a thread, and they don't even realize it. But notice how the language shifts: *they*, *theirs* — and then *we*. We are of the day. We are not of the darkness; we are of the light, so we understand it.
"Let us be sober." That is the idea of calmness. We are realistic, we are not afraid. There is a discipline to our life, a control to our life. We are sober, and we have put on the breastplate of faith and love, and at the same time, the helmet of the hope of salvation. Paul speaks of us in military terms, but notice we have no offensive weapon here. We are standing guard, and all we have are defensive measures — the breastplate that covers the vital organs and the helmet that covers the head.
The breastplate is the breastplate of faith and love. It is the unwavering belief in God's Word, in His Son, and in the things He said He would do — that is faith. And once we understand that, we immediately move to love. There is no way you can sing those songs — "Death could not hold them down" — and not move to love. The Lamb of God was sent to save His people from their sin. God so loved His people that He sent His Son to die. Faith, then love.
The helmet guards the head. What is it? The hope of salvation. The word *hope* here is a little different from how we typically use it — it speaks of the certainty of future events.
Two Destinies
That certainty is exactly what Paul continues with in verse nine: "For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us." There are two destinies. One leads ultimately to wrath; the other leads to salvation. God has not predestined His people to wrath.
That idea of wrath is anger that spills over into punishment. In fact, wrath is often used simply to mean punishment itself. It is not that God is capricious, and it is not that God is just arbitrarily angry. Some people struggle with this and ask, isn't God a God of love? He absolutely is. But because He is a God of love, He is also a God who hates. Because He loves righteousness, holiness, and purity, He must hate sin, and that sin must be judged. Our destiny, by God's predestination, is not wrath but salvation.
Salvation in Three Tenses
When we see the word *salvation* in the New Testament, we see it used in three different tenses. We were saved. We are being saved. We will be saved. When we talk about salvation, we need to be sure we understand the word. The idea is deliverance, preservation, safety — deliverance from an enemy. In this case, it means being saved in the past from the penalty of sin, in the present from the power of sin, and in the future from the very presence of sin itself.
Saved from the Penalty of Sin
First, we were saved in the past from the penalty of sin. The wages of sin is death. Whenever we do a baby dedication — and I'll admit I'm just a little partial to the girls to start with — there was a little one out here the other day, ten months old, just getting her legs, just starting to move, teeth coming in, filled with life and all over the place in the best possible way. Sometimes those little ones are so cute that you forget they are sinners.
That prompts the question: how many sins do I have to commit to be a sinner? The answer is none. We come into the world as sinners. As soon as those children get their own strength, they will go and get what they want when they want it. They will grab, kick, scream, and bite. They will see another child with something they don't even want and say, "I want it — it's mine." Why? Because I am a lost, depraved, sinful — and very cute — little girl. We need to be delivered from the penalty of sin, because the wages of sin is death.
Now, Jesus says this in John 10:14: "I am the good shepherd —"
Christ's Voluntary Sacrifice
"I know my own, and my own know me." Verse 17: "For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one has taken my life from me. I lay it down on my own initiative. I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it up."
When Christ died on the cross, He died there voluntarily. It was not the nails that held Him to that cross — it was His love for His people. Do not for a second think that somehow God had this plan, but then everything went awry and got carried away, and Christ said a few too many things so they had to kill Him. No. That was part of God's plan.
Saved from the Penalty of Sin
We have been saved from the penalty of sin. When Christ said, "It is finished," He meant that the penalty is paid for all of the sin of all of the people who would ever come to Him in repentance and faith. At that moment, it is finished. You were saved.
Right after this, the Jews say, "How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you're the Messiah, tell us that." Here is what Jesus says: "I told you, but you don't believe. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me, but you don't believe because you are not my sheep." My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand.
All of those whom Christ calls will hear Him. He does not lose any of them, and when He comes, no one will snatch them out of His hand. Why? Because He did the work to start with.
Saved from the Power of Sin
You and I were saved from the penalty of sin, and we are being saved in the sense that we are being delivered from the power of sin. Paul writes this in Romans chapter six, verse eight: "Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall live with Him also, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life He lives, He lives to God." He is now talking to us: "Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to Christ. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lust, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourself to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness of God."
You and I as Christians have been saved from the power of sin. You are no longer under the chain. You are no longer enslaved to sin. You cannot say the devil made you do it. You cannot say the temptation was just too much. You have been saved from the power of sin.
The question I am probably asked most frequently during the week is this: "Can you refer me to a Christian counselor?" It seems like everyone who has a problem thinks the first thing they need is therapy. So I will ask, a counselor for what? What is the problem? Well, my wife and I do not get along. As we start to unpack it, here is what we see: the man is selfish, prideful, and arrogant. He does not need a counselor — that is the problem. He is a sinner. He is either a lost sinner who does not know Christ and needs to be redeemed, or he has been redeemed and does not understand that he does not need a bunch of therapy and mumbo jumbo. He needs to confess that sin and repent.
You have been delivered from sin. If you are stuck in sin, it is your fault. You have been given all you need in the Holy Spirit. Do you need someone to come alongside you and encourage you? Absolutely — that is the whole idea. We are here to encourage one another. We do not try to figure out what happened to you when you were three or four or ten. We figure out what happened to you before your birth: you were a sinner. And now you repent. You continue to struggle and wrestle, but you have been saved from the power of sin. Christ accomplished on the cross all you need to overcome that sin, and when you sin, it is because you choose your own way and want sin more than you want God.
Saved from the Presence of Sin
You were saved from the penalty of sin, you are being saved from the power of sin, and in the future you will be saved from the very presence of sin. You will be in heaven — the absence of sin entirely. A resurrected body that is not aging and falling apart. No pain, no suffering, no broken relationships, no anxiety, no anger, no fear. And here is a big one: no pride.
When Christ died on the cross, we were saved from the penalty of sin. We are being saved from the power of sin. And one day we will be saved from the very presence of sin itself.
Encouraging One Another
Why would Paul go back and say to these people, through this whole passage, that God has not destined us for wrath but for salvation through Christ? He says it as a reminder: "Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you are doing." He says this not to chastise them but to encourage them.
That word translated "encourage" is also translated in the New Testament as "comfort," "exhort," or "entreat." The idea is to call someone to your side, to summon them, so that you can encourage or exhort them and build them up. The word is also used in the Greek to describe the process of building or erecting a house, and as a metaphor for the promotion of wisdom, piety, grace, virtue, holiness, and blessedness in our lives. This is how we are to live.
Two Groups of People
Paul, in chapter four, is talking about the rapture — the gathering of the church together to meet the Lord. But he makes clear that this is not everybody. There is also the day of the Lord, a day of judgment. As we move into 2 Thessalonians, he speaks even more about that day of judgment and that wrath. But to Christians, his word is this: you do not need to think about or worry about that day of wrath. Be alert and be sober, understanding that you have faith and love, and most importantly, you have been saved — delivered from the penalty, the power, and the very presence of sin itself.
As Paul writes, he identifies two groups of people, and I guarantee there are two groups of people present as I speak. The first group consists of those who do not know Christ as Lord and Savior. It may be that you are here for the very first time, that you came because a friend or family member invited you, or perhaps you simply felt you ought to be in church on Sunday. It may also be that you have been here many times, or that you are visiting from another church — a church you have attended without ever realizing you were lost.
The Call to Salvation
Have you been saved? Do you believe that God raised Jesus from the dead? Do you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord? If you do, you will be saved. The word "believe" there means to trust — we say it this way: I believe Jesus is who He said He was, I believe His promises, I believe He will do what He said He would do, and I prepare for my life and death accordingly.
Have you been converted? Is there change in your life? Did you get swept away four or five years ago in some emotional experience — you walked an aisle, prayed a prayer — but there has not been any life change? Then you have no biblical assurance of your salvation. Your future, if you are not His, is destruction and punishment. God will punish you — eternal anguish, separated from Him. There is no encouragement here for you today; there is only the challenge to come in repentance and faith.
A Word to Believers
The second group — and I pray it is the majority of people in this room — is made up of men and women, students, and children who know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. To you, Paul says: be sober, be alert, be prepared. You are ready to live for Him. In fact, the balance of this chapter, which we will look at next week, is Paul writing to this church and telling them how they can encourage one another and build one another up. What does that look like? What does it mean? How does it play itself out in the lives of Christians and in the body of Christ — and specifically, what does it mean for us at East Valley Bible Church? We will look at that next week.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You that through Your word You have so clearly told us what the future holds — destruction and wrath for some, and joy and union with You forever for others. Two destinies, two different groups of people. God, we pray this morning that every person in this room would understand this truth, understanding that there is a heaven to be gained and a hell to be shunned, and that these are real — that as magnificent as the joy of heaven is, equally real is the destruction, the damnation, and the punishment of hell.
God, thank You. Thank You for loving us enough to make this clear to us. We pray that our lives bring joy and glory to You, and that as we live this week, those around us would see our love for You — and that we might have the privilege of telling them: it is not us, we did not figure this out, but it is Jesus who saved us, and the Spirit who came into our lives to open our eyes to see the truth. Father, thank You for the privilege of calling You Father. Thank You that we are sons of light and not of darkness, and that even this is a gift from You. In Jesus' name, amen.