to everyone on this thread;
Are people saved now or later? Jesus and His disciples spoke of salvation in three tenses.
Scripture speaks of salvation in three tenses: past (we were saved), present (we are being saved), and future (we shall be saved). Much of the confusion comes from people grabbing one tense and ignoring the others. Some say it is all finished the moment you believe. Others say it is all still ahead. Jesus and the men who walked with Him taught all three, and each one needs the others.
You were saved. It begins the moment you believe.
Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24). He did not say "will have." He said
hath, and the words "is passed" describe something already done.
He kept saying it:
- "He that believeth on me hath everlasting life" (John 6:47).
- "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him" (John 3:36).
- "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already" (John 3:18).
- "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name" (John 1:12).
People who came to Him in faith were told it was already done. To the woman who washed His feet, He said, "Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace" (Luke 7:50). Of Zacchaeus He said, "This day is salvation come to this house" (Luke 19:9), and then gave the reason: "For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10).
Peter and John say the same. "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever" (1 Peter 1:23). "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life" (1 John 5:11-12). And John wrote so that nobody would have to guess: "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life" (1 John 5:13).
Who is this for? Everyone. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Jesus opened His ministry with, "Repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15), and warned, "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3). Peter said there is no other way: "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
The Old Testament shows the same pattern. "And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness" (Genesis 15:6). "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else" (Isaiah 45:22). "Whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered" (Joel 2:32). "The just shall live by his faith" (Habakkuk 2:4).
You are being saved. Salvation is a life you stay in.
This is the tense people skip. Jesus spoke to people who already believed and told them to continue. "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed" (John 8:31). "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me" (John 15:4).
He was also honest about what happens to a branch that does not abide: "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned" (John 15:6). Then He showed how to stay: "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15), and "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love" (John 15:10).
He also said that words alone are not enough. "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that
doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21). His sheep are safe in His hand, but look at who they are: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me" (John 10:27). They hear and they
follow, in the present tense.
The apostles teach the same thing:
- "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).
- "If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life" (1 John 2:24-25).
- "Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall" (2 Peter 1:10).
- "Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life" (Jude 21).
- "Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls" (James 1:21).
James says it in everyday terms. Faith that never shows up in how you live is not the real thing. "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone" (James 2:17). "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" (James 2:26). Works do not buy salvation. They are the proof that the faith is alive.
Walking away is a real danger. Peter warns, "For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning" (2 Peter 2:20). The prophet said it long before: "But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity... all his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned" (Ezekiel 18:24).
And there is a way back. "Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins" (James 5:19-20).
God does not leave us to hold on alone. We are "kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Peter 1:5), and Jude speaks of Him "that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 24). He keeps us, and we keep believing.
You shall be saved. The finish is still ahead.
Believing is the start, and the full deliverance comes at the end. "He that endureth to the end shall be saved" (Matthew 10:22). Peter calls it "receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls" (1 Peter 1:9).
Jesus tied the present and the future together in one sentence: "And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:40). You have life now, and He will raise you up at the end.
John says the same: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2). Look at the tenses. "Now are we" is already true, and "we shall be" is still coming.
The promises are for those who hold on:
- "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life" (Revelation 2:10).
- "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels" (Revelation 3:5).
- "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him" (James 1:12).
- "And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away" (1 Peter 5:4).
Putting the three together
If you believe on Jesus, you were saved the moment you believed, and you have eternal life today. Jesus said, "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life" (John 5:24). That is the past tense, and it is settled.
Stay in Him and keep following, because you are being saved every day. That is the present tense. Jesus said, "If ye
continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed" (John 8:31).
Endure to the end, and you shall be saved when He comes. That is the future tense, and He promised, "I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:40).
Hold on to only one of these and you end up either too sure of yourself or too afraid. Hold all three and you have both confidence and a reason to keep going. Jesus did not give us salvation to leave us guessing. He gave it so we could know where we stand, walk in it daily, and finish well.
So if you have believed, rest in what He has already done, stay close to Him today, and look forward to the day He returns. "He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus" (Revelation 22:20).
