Night People/Day People, Part 2

You need to protect yourself against the temptation to do the deeds of the night. And if you do that, you'll continue to see before your very eyes your distinctiveness and that will give you great assurance as you look at the future and you'll have nothing to fear.

On the other hand, if a Christian falls into patterns of sinfulness, he loses assurance, loses confidence, loses hope, and may fear that he will get caught in the day of the Lord. The kid's a natural. That's how a coach might describe a gifted player, and that's how teachers might talk about prodigies. It's an affirmation of skill.

People who are especially talented, whether it's in music or sports or whatever they're calling, they seem to do their work effortlessly. They're born to do what they do. Well, if you're a Christian, the issue is not what you were born to do, but what you were reborn to do. It's a compelling subject that John MacArthur looks at today on Grace to You. So stay here as he shows you what it means for Christians to live in this world and yet stay separate from the world. It's part of John's current study titled The Rapture and the Day of the Lord.

And now here's John. We're going back now to 1 Thessalonians 5, 4 to 11. Let me just read the text for you beginning at verse 4. But you, brethren, are not in darkness that the day should overtake you like a thief, for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness. So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.

Therefore, encourage one another and build up one another just as you also are doing. In that text, obviously, Paul speaks about day people and night people. And he is not the one who introduces this concept. It goes way back even into the Old Testament.

Let me see if I can't give you a little bit of the history of this particular emphasis. In Psalm 107 verse 10, the Scripture says, There were those who dwelt in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in misery and chains, because they had rebelled against the words of God and spurned the counsel of the Most High. Now there is a description of people who are night people, people in the darkness. They dwell in darkness.

They dwell in the shadow of death. They are prisoners in misery and they are chained by their sins, as implied, because they have rebelled against the words of God and spurned the counsel of the Most High. The next verse says that God, therefore, has humbled their heart with labor.

That is, there's a tremendous amount of humiliating effort that gains them nothing. They stumbled and there was none to help, such as the plight of the night people. Then beginning in verse 13, we read about a rescue from the night, bringing people into the day. It says, Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble. He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and broke their bands apart, that is, the cords of sin and iniquity and misery that made them prisoner.

Consequently, let them give thanks to the Lord for His loving kindness and for His wisdom to the sons of men, for He has shattered gates of bronze and cut bars of iron asunder. And so here you find this introduction of night people and the terrible bondage of being in the night and in the darkness and the note about their liberation through the loving kindness of God and the wonder of His grace to men. He has brought them out of darkness into light. And so we find then that God has the desire to bring people out of the night into the day.

Isaiah made more specific this desire of God when he wrote about the Messiah. For in Isaiah chapter 9 we read, The people...verse 2...who walk in darkness will see a great light. Those who live in a dark land, the light will shine upon them. And who is it that can bring men out of darkness?

Who is it that is this light who shines? Well, down in verse 6 it says, A child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, the government will rest on his shoulders and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on. And forevermore the zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this and of course the child to which Isaiah refers is the Messiah.

So the heart of God in Psalm 107 is to take the people in the dark and bring them into the light. The Messiah comes for the very purpose of bringing the light and shining it in the dark place. If we go into the New Testament, preliminary to the discussion of Christ, Luke chapter 1 discusses John the Baptist. And in Luke chapter 1 we have the father of John the Baptist, a priest by the name of Zacharias, the husband of Elizabeth. Having heard that his son was to be the forerunner of the Messiah, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, he prophesied. And in Luke 1 verse 68 and following you have what came out of the inspired lips of Zacharias in response to the promise of a son, John the Baptist, who would be the forerunner of Messiah.

Down in verse 76, we can pick up what he says. Speaking of his son, John the Baptist, "'And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways, to give to His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins because of the tender mercy of our God with which the sunrise...that is Christ. From on high shall visit us to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace.'" And so Zacharias rejoices and exalts before God with praise because he knows his son will be the forerunner of the sunrise, the sun light, the son of righteousness, as the Old Testament prophet called him, who would bring the light to shine in the darkness that makes day people out of night people. And so you start with the desire of God to bring men out of darkness to light. You move to the prophecy of the prophet Isaiah who said it will be the Messiah, to John the Baptist who came to declare to the world that the sunrise was coming who would bring the light to the darkness. And then you hear the words so powerfully spoken in Matthew chapter 4, beginning in verse 12 it says, "'He withdrew into Galilee and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum which is by the sea in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali and this was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet saying, the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali by the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great light and to those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, upon them a light dawned.

Isaiah said it would and Zacharias said his son would announce it and now Christ says it has...it has. I'm here, the light has dawned and from that time He began to say, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." And again in John chapter 8 in those lovely and familiar words, Jesus said, "'I am the light of the world, he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness but shall have the light of life.'" And so this theme of night people and day people is an old theme. You find it way back in the Old Testament where God sees the unconverted sinner as the night person and the believing saint as the day person, Jesus Christ the Messiah, the Savior being the means of transporting people from darkness to light.

But how so? What makes it happen given that Christ is the one who can do it by what means? In Acts 26 we find the magnificent statement of God Himself through Christ, speaking to the Apostle Paul on the Damascus Road as Paul recites his testimony in Acts 26, 15. The Lord said, "'I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but arise and stand on your feet for this purpose I have appeared to you to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen but also to the things in which I will appear to you, delivering you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified...here's the key...by faith in Me." The Lord Jesus Himself said to Paul, "'Your task is to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light, which is the same as turning from the dominion of Satan to God and receiving forgiveness of sins and an inheritance. But it happens to those who are set apart by faith in Me.'"

To become a day person, you must put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are set apart unto God as children of the day by faith in Christ are transferred out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son, the kingdom of light. It is by faith that that takes place, by believing. In Colossians 1, 13, He delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son in whom we have redemptioned the forgiveness of sins.

And how so? By believing, putting our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Ephesians chapter 5, it says, "'You were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.'"

And so we see the flow. God has a desire in His heart to take people out of darkness. The prophet prophesies that there will come a child who indeed will be the one to bring the light in the dark place. The New Testament tells us there will be a forerunner who will announce His coming and then He will come and He will announce that He is the light of the world. And then in the book of Acts there is a preacher who is sent and he is to say that He will bring darkness where there is faith in Him. And then we find that those who have put their faith in Him are indeed translated from darkness to light. They become children of the day. They were formerly darkness, now are they light and in them lives the light of life. And so by the time we come to 1 Thessalonians, we've had much of this.

We've heard much of this. We understand the difference between night people and day people. The world then is divided into those two kinds of people, night people and day people.

And this is a forever division. Hell is the eternal darkness and the eternal night occupied by the night people. Heaven is the eternal light, the eternal day occupied by the day people. And so the theme of this distinct difference between night and day is familiar to the text of Scripture. Night people, Paul says, back to our text now, 1 Thessalonians 5, are associated with darkness, sleep and drunkenness.

Day people are associated with light, alertness and soberness. The apostle then is drawing a very clear line of demarcation, a very stark and complete contrast between those who have salvation in Jesus Christ by faith in Him and those who do not. Now why is he making this contrast here as he comes to a conclusion in this epistle, simply stated, in order to encourage the Thessalonian Christians? In chapter 4 and verse 18 he says, therefore comfort one another with these words. And in chapter 5 verse 11, therefore comfort one another or encourage one another, same word, and build up one another just as you also are doing.

So this section that we're looking at is bracketed by two statements about comfort. Here his purpose is to comfort some fearful Christians. This is very, very reminiscent of an earlier group of people who had similar fears. If you look at the last book in the Old Testament, the prophecy written by Malachi, you find a very interesting parallel there.

Here were some Jews in Israel who had somewhat the same kinds of anxieties. There was a major message being preached by Malachi on the day of the Lord. In fact, in chapter 4 verse 5, he even uses the phrase, the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. And so, Malachi's message had been about the day of the Lord, coming judgment, coming damnation, coming final fury from God, burning like a furnace consuming sinners. And this caused some anxiety among some of God's children. If you look at Malachi 3.16, it says, then those who feared the Lord, here it means those who reverenced the Lord, those who knew the Lord, those who were saints, who had a true relationship with God, spoke to one another. And what were they saying?

It doesn't tell us but we can...we can pretty well guess. They were sharing their concern. I wonder if we're going to get caught up in this furnace, if we're going to get caught up in God's fury. Are we going to get caught up in the terrible justice of a holy God as He comes against sinners? And it says the Lord heard their conversation, gave attention to it and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who feared the Lord and esteem His name.

He had a book and the names of those who really loved Him and served Him and believed in Him were written in that book. And in verse 17 it says, and they will be Mine, says the Lord of hosts, on the day that I prepare my own possession and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves Him. No way are they going to get caught in the wrath. No way are they going to get caught in my fury. No way are they going to get caught in the day of the Lord, the day of vengeance.

No, I know who they are and I have a book and their names are there and they're going to have a different day, a day when I make up my own possessions and I'll spare those who serve Me. In verse 18 He says, so you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who doesn't serve Him. God has no problem knowing the difference. And the prophet says, you shouldn't have a problem either. God has promised always to spare the righteous and they will escape His wrath completely. So here in this letter to these disturbed young Christians, Paul gives great assurance that they will not be judged with the ungodly world, that there's no way they're going to miss the rapture and end up in the day of the Lord. There's no way they're going to miss heaven and end up in hell.

No way. And in order to make this encouragement firm, it is delineated through a series of stark contrasts and we've been looking at these contrasts. The contrast between the rapture and the day of the Lord, being caught up to heaven and being destroyed on earth. The contrast between salvation and wrath, life and death, hope and no hope, day and night, light and darkness, being awake and being asleep, being sober and being drunk, being forever with the Lord and being forever without the Lord. All of those are very clear contrasts through this whole text starting back in chapter 4 verse 13. And it shows the total separation between believers and unbelievers, Christians and non-Christians, the saved and the lost. Any fearing Christian can look deeply into this passage and have his or her fears calmed. We will not suffer wrath.

We will not be in the day of the Lord because we are distinct from those who will be there and we will be in the rapture and we will be in glory because we are children of the day and children of the light. Now in looking at verses 4 through 11, Paul says we should be encouraged because of the distinctiveness of three things, our nature, our behavior and our destiny...our nature, our behavior and our destiny. And if we understand how in these three dimensions we are utterly different from the ungodly, we should not have any fear.

Now reviewing very briefly, first of all, we already looked at the distinctiveness of our nature. Look at verses 4 and 5. But you, brethren, are not in darkness that the day should overtake you like a thief, for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness.

In other words, there's an inherent difference. We don't even live in that sphere. We aren't even of that ilk. We are day people, not night people. We live in the light of Christ's life and He lives in us. And we are in God in whom is no darkness at all, 1 John 1, 5 to 7 says. We are not in the domain of darkness. We are not in the domain of night. We are not in the domain of drunkenness, darkness, sin, ignorance. Death is the realm of the fallen, cursed and the dead who are in Adam. But we are in Christ.

We have a new nature, a new domain, a new sphere of life, a new kingdom. And because of this, the day will not overtake us like a thief. The day of the Lord does not enter our sphere of life. It does not impact us. As we've been saying all along, the church will be taken out before the day of the Lord and those of Israel who are saved after that and of the Gentile world will be preserved through the day of the Lord so that they will actually tread on the ashes of the ungodly that perish. The day of the Lord has nothing to do with our sphere of life.

We have nothing to do with it. Sin has no dominion, no condemnation with day people. Secondly, we saw not only the distinctiveness of our nature, but the distinctiveness of our behavior.

Verses 6 and 7, he says, so then, and that is based upon the difference in nature, here's some words about conduct, identity and conduct being inseparable, you will reflect your nature. So let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober for those who sleep till they're sleeping at night and those who get drunk get drunk at night. By the way, night people can only be night people. They can't be day people and night people can't do the deeds of the day. But day people can do the deeds of the night. We can reach back to old patterns of conduct.

We don't have to. It's not consistent with our new nature and our new identity and our sphere of life. We are day people living in the light, but we can do the deeds of darkness and if we do, we do them in broad light, don't we?

We do them with full understanding and we do them with full exposure. But he says here, there's no place for night life among day people. Our behavior is different. As a pattern, our behavior is different. And the very commands here to believers indicate that we can do the deeds of darkness. And if you do, you're going contrary to your nature. You're violating your very identity.

We don't want that to happen. Our behavior should be consistent with our nature. Our behavior should be so distinct that we know we are of the day and because we know we are of the day, we do not fear wrath, judgment, damnation. And that's what he says in verse 8. Look at the beginning of verse 8, but since we are of the day, that's our identity.

That takes us back to verse 5. We are sons of day. We are sons of light, not of night or of darkness. Since this is true, since our nature is such and the pattern of our conduct is such, then let's be sober.

What do you mean by that? Let's be watchful. Let's be alert so that we don't get sucked into doing the deeds of the night.

That's his point. Even though they're inconsistent with our nature, they can occur. You need to be alert. You need to protect yourself against the temptation to do the deeds of the night. And if you do that, you'll continue to see visibly before your very eyes your distinctiveness and that will give you great assurance as you look at the future and you'll have nothing to fear. On the other hand, if a Christian falls into patterns of sinfulness, he loses assurance, loses confidence, loses hope and may fear that he will get caught in the day of the Lord. And so he says, since you are of the day, since we are of the day, let us be sober. The idea of sober is alert, watchful and undoubtedly, as Paul said that, the idea of alertness suggested to him a picture of a soldier on duty because he moves immediately into describing a soldier. Let us be sober having put on the breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet the hope of salvation.

Fascinating and very, very basic statement. As he thinks about a Christian who is a day person, a child of the day, a son of the light, and as he thinks about that person being watchful and alert so that he doesn't get tempted to do the deeds of the night, his mind goes to the one who was most watchful, most sober-minded, most alert and that would be a soldier on duty. And he sees him properly armed with protective armor. And so he says in verse 8, having put on the breastplate, keeping on, keeping it on, it fits in with the present tense of be sober, the idea of being sober by being continually armed. Now, a well-equipped soldier only had two essential pieces of equipment that preserved him. One was the breastplate, the other was the helmet. Those are the vital areas.

Breastplate covering all the vital organs and, of course, the helmet covering the head. You notice there's no sword here because this is not the imagery that Paul is concerned about. He's concerned about a person on guard against the onslaught of the night and defending himself. He's not concerned about attacking with a sword. He's not saying that children of the day attack the night people. That's not the imagery here. What he is saying is you need to be protected.

And so he only deals with the two pieces of protective gear, the breastplate and the helmet. This is Grace to You with John MacArthur. Thanks for being with us. Along with being a pastor at Grace Community Church, John is also president of the Master's University and Seminary, both of those in Southern California. And today's lesson is part of his series titled The Rapture and the Day of the Lord. Now, John, some people listening to this series might be tempted to think the books of 1 and 2 Thessalonians are only about the end times and the rapture, the day of the Lord, but that's not really the case. Yeah, the book of 1 Thessalonians and even 2 Thessalonians certainly deal with an awful lot more than just eschatology, just the rapture and the day of the Lord. Excellent, excellent presentation of divine revelation on matters that really do touch life, sexual purity.

How about this? Discernment, praying for the right things, wisdom in the workplace. How about effective spiritual leadership? There are so many wonderful subjects dealt with in 1 and 2 Thessalonians. I would love to suggest that you get a copy of the commentary that I've written, the MacArthur New Testament commentary, on 1 and 2 Thessalonians.

I don't know if you've read commentaries, maybe you say, what's that? It comments on every phrase in the text, takes you through the book word by word by word, and explains its meaning. This is rich, rich material in 1 and 2 Thessalonians, very practical, and it's not long.

This would be a great commentary to start with. So let me encourage you to get a copy of the MacArthur New Testament commentary on 1 and 2 Thessalonians. And then, by the way, we have commentaries on all the books of the New Testament, each volume reasonably priced, shipping is free in the U.S., and you could order the whole set and have a full commentary on the New Testament, a great resource and reference. But this would be a good place to start if you've been fascinated by the rapture and the day of the Lord and all the material around it in 1 and 2 Thessalonians. Start with that volume, you can order it from our ministry today.

That's right. Again, 1 and 2 Thessalonians' commentary doesn't only talk about the rapture and the day of the Lord. It has much to say about the Church and sexual purity and prayer and much more. It's great to use in your daily devotions or Sunday school preparation, sermon study, or whatever. Contact us today to get your copy.

Call us at 800-55-GRACE, or you can order online at gty.org. The commentary on 1 and 2 Thessalonians is available for $19, and shipping is free. The commentaries are the product of more than four decades of John MacArthur's teaching ministry, and they are excellent for anyone who wants to know God's Word in greater detail. To order any individual commentary or the entire MacArthur New Testament commentary series, call us at 800-55-GRACE or visit our website, gty.org. Keep in mind also, we'd love to hear how you're benefitting from John's teaching. That is more important to us than you may think. If these broadcasts have helped you better understand your salvation, if you've been equipped to tell your neighbors and your co-workers about Christ, or if someone you know has come to faith after hearing Grace to you, would you let us know? Email us at letters at gty.org, or send your letter to Box 4000, Panorama City, California, 91412. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson, encouraging you to be here tomorrow when John will look at the ultimate destiny of all believers – the glorification and final redemption of our bodies. It's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Friday's Grace to You.