He Does It!

1 Thessalonians 5 ESV

2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. 5 For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.
9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

Things to keep in mind from 1 Thessalonians 5:

The day of the Lord is like a thief in the night, an unexpected surprise to those living in darkness.
You are not of the night, therefore you will not be surprised.
God has not destined you for wrath but salvation.
Whether alive or dead, at His return you will rise to live with Him.
Keep encouraging each other because you obtained salvation through Jesus.
Jesus completely sanctifies you and keeps you blameless until He returns. HE DOES IT!

Have any of you had someone break into your house while you were sleeping? How could we describe that situation and its repercussions? Terrifying? Traumatizing? Victimizing? The day of the Lord will obliterate the false security of the unsaved (those living in darkness), and He will seem like a criminal to them. When Jesus calls His followers to Himself (the living and the dead), the world will see it like a home invasion and Christ as a grave robber. But followers of Jesus will not be in the night, therefore we will not be surprised in the darkness. We will not experience the dreadful day of wrath, because we live in Him. Jesus Christ keeps us completely, our whole spirit and soul and body. HE DOES IT!

1 Thessalonians 5:8 (ESV) says, “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.” The breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation are also famously mentioned in the “Armor of God” in Ephesians 6:13-17. The breastplate of righteousness is faith and love, and the helmet of salvation is hope.

Our hearts are made right before God and guarded by faith and love. Our minds are saved and guarded by hope. Jesus Christ is our righteousness and our salvation. Having put on Jesus (being baptized, saturated, and immersed in Him), our hearts remain steadfast in faith and love and our minds continue in hope.

Galatians 3:27 ESV — For as many of you as were BAPTIZED into Christ have PUT ON Christ.
Isaiah 61:10a ESV — I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the GARMENTS OF SALVATION; he has covered me with the ROBE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS…
2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV — For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that IN HIM we might become the RIGHTEOUSNESS of God.
1 Corinthians 1:30-31 ESV — And because of him you are IN CHRIST JESUS, who became to us wisdom from God, RIGHTEOUSNESS and SANCTIFICATION and REDEMPTION, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Jeremiah 23:6 ESV — “In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD IS OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.’”
Acts 4:12 ESV — “And there is SALVATION in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we MUST BE SAVED.”
Romans 10:9 ESV — because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you WILL BE SAVED.

NOT EVERYONE WHO SAYS “LORD, LORD”?

There is a famous quote by Jesus that the religious spirit twists and uses to keep people bound in fear and works. The misuse of this scripture condones an “edge of your seat” salvation. It keeps us in a place of anxiousness about whether we’re saved or not. And unfortunately religious leaders use this unsureness to push their own agendas. Questioning our salvation makes us prime targets for manipulation. We remove the simplicity of the Good News that complete salvation, redemption, and adoption come through faith in Jesus’ finished work on the cross.

Philippians 2:12 (ESV) says, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” This does not condone a fearful, unconfident salvation. It’s about remaining in awe of the one who has done it. The following verse (Philippians 2:13) says, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” He works His will for His good pleasure. He does it! What role do we have in our salvation? Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV) says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” You are saved through faith, but even your faith is a gift from God. None of us can brag about anything because He does everything. He does it!

Now let’s look at Jesus’ words in Matthew 7.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the ONE WHO DOES THE WILL OF MY FATHER who is in heaven. ON THAT DAY many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I NEVER KNEW YOU; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” — Matthew 7:21-23 ESV

I’ve had moments of hearing people preach these words and I’ve questioned. I’ve called Jesus Lord and done things in His name, but will He know me? Let me clarify this for you right now. Jesus says, “On that day.” This is the day of judgement. Those who have faith in Jesus are not included in this conversation. We don’t approach the throne of judgement but the throne of grace. Jesus is speaking to those who did not do the will of the Father but were workers of lawlessness. What is the will of the Father?

John 6:40 ESV — “For THIS IS THE WILL OF MY FATHER, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
John 6:29 ESV — Jesus answered them, “THIS IS THE WORK OF GOD, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

The WILL of the Father and the WORK of God is faith in the Son. The people cry out, “We did this for you and that for You,” but they are deceived. They did it for themselves, attempting to work into their salvation. Jesus says to them, “I never knew you.” 1 Corinthians 8:3 (ESV) says, “But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.” Our faith in Jesus immediately activates a complete and perfect love relationship with God our Father, and we are thoroughly known by Him as His children.

John 5:24 ESV — “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
1 John 5:1 ESV — Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.
1 John 4:18 ESV — There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

Notice in 1 John 4:18 that “perfected” is past. Jesus completed everything necessary so that through faith in Him we have no fear of punishment or judgement or falling short. He does it! The spirit of religion always leaves us short of perfection, in a place of fear that we may not make it. This puts the burden of our “perfection” on our works. Yet the work of God is faith in His finished work. His love perfected me and my relationship with Father, therefore I have no fear of punishment.

Now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). We are not led to repentance and saving faith in Jesus by condemnation but by a revelation of His kindness (Romans 2:4). Our holy fear is our immeasurable awe of our Heavenly Father’s extreme glory and goodness and grace. The Spirit of the Lord is also the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:2), but through faith in Christ fear becomes, power, love, and a Kingdom mindset (2 Timothy 1:7). In Christ we boldly enter the Holy of Holies in restored intimacy (Hebrews 4:16). Through Jesus, the throne of judgement becomes the throne of grace, from which we receive mercy and power to advance. Where before we were terrified, now we are greatly exhilarated because His love perfected us. Philippians 1:6 (ESV) says, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion.” Hebrews 12:2 says Jesus is the founder and perfecter of our faith, the author and the finisher. Trust Him. He does it!

We look away from the natural realm and we focus our attention and expectation onto Jesus who birthed faith within us and who leads us forward into faith’s perfection. His example is this: Because his heart was focused on the joy of knowing that you would be his, he endured the agony of the cross and conquered its humiliation, and now sits exalted at the right hand of the throne of God! — Hebrews 12:2TPT

Seeking His face!
Matt