Well, let's go back to the second
letter that Paul wrote to the saints of God at the Church of
Thessalonica. Now, in this second chapter of
the second letter, the great apostle Paul tells us that toward
the end of this age, that there will be a falling away of many
who profess to believe the truth of God. And this falling away
is called apostasy. Many will be deceived is what
he says in this passage of scripture. And the deception may come ever
so slowly. But many who say that they love
the gospel of God's sovereign grace, they love the gospel of
a crucified, buried, risen Savior. Many who profess to believe in
redemption by the blood of the Lord Jesus and salvation by the
free grace of God will ever so slowly desert and go back from
this true gospel. It's interesting there that in
verse three, the falling away. If we were students of the Greek
language, which we are not, but the original word here is the
word divorce. Divorce. In other words, there
are people who will ultimately divorce themselves from the very
truth of God. And if we were able to read the
Greek language, we would find that falling away comes from
a word literally translated as apostasy. That many who profess
to believe the truth, believe on Christ, believe in salvation
by grace, that the evil one will not take them away from being
saved to being unsaved, but take them away from their profession
of faith, which was not genuine to begin with, and take them
back into error out of which they professed to come forth. Preachers, churches, denominations
will be ever so slowly deceived. Error will creep in where once
the truth of God was preached. Men who once stood forth seemingly
boldly and they declared the substitutionary work of the Lord
Jesus Christ, that salvation is altogether by grace. Men who
once were bold, they're slowly deceived. And it may even
be so very slowly that even the church doesn't realize that they're
getting away from the truth. Let me tell you something, error
is very deceptive. You remember in the book of Acts,
Paul met with the Ephesian elders in the 20th chapter of the book
of Acts. He said, I know that after my
departure, men who don't believe the truth
are gonna rise up. And he said, they're gonna rise
up right out of this congregation. That's what he said. And he said, be on the watch,
talking to the elders of the church. Be on the watch. Error, you see, devised by Satan,
it will creep into a church unless God's pleased to keep it out.
Now know this, those who are saved by God's free and sovereign
grace, Those who have been truly born of God will not forsake
the truth. God keeps His people safe. He
keeps us believing. Those who have fled for refuge
to the Savior, those who have been washed in His blood and
robed in His garment of righteousness will never, ever leave the truth
of the gospel. God keeps his sheep safe. We're safe in the arms of the
shepherd. We're safe in the hands of the
shepherd. We're safe in the Father's hands. But unless God keeps us, we can be deceived. Our Lord
Jesus said, concerning the apostasy that was coming, He said, if
it were possible, this deceptiveness will be so very, very clever
and so subtle. He said, if it were possible,
they would even deceive the very elect. That's what he said. And as I was preparing this message,
I said, oh Lord, keep us on a short leash. Keep us believing. believe in the truth, because
I know this, other churches have slipped away. Other preachers
have ever so slowly forsaken the truth of the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace. And you and I, I suspect some
of you know and churches who once were very faithful, seemingly,
and loved the gospel, but now the gospel is hard to be found
in those churches. You see, when men begin to weaken
the gospel in an effort not to be offensive, Trouble is surely
to brew. Many years ago, I was asked to
preach for a man who I went to school with, to Bible college
with. He professed to believe the message
of sovereign grace. He called me and asked me if
I'd come preach for him. And I said, I will, I'd be glad
to. And I went down and preached
for him. And I believe, and I'm committed to this, and we're
all committed to this, if the Bible says election, I'm gonna
say election. If it says predestination, I'm
gonna say predestination. Well, anyway, I went and preached
for him, and I used Biblical language, that's not only the
right thing, that's the only way to preach, is use God's word. He came up to me after the first
service and he said, you know, brother, I try not to offend
people. So I don't use the word predestination,
I don't use the word election, I don't talk about particular
redemption, I say Christ died for sinners. He said, that is
true, isn't it? I said, it is true that Christ
died for sinners. But I said, a free will Armenian
could come in here and say that, that wouldn't offend anybody.
I said, we need to cross the T's and dot the I's. I said,
Christ was the good shepherd who laid down his life for the
sheep, not for the goats. He told the people later in John
chapter 10, he said, the reason you don't believe is because
you're not of my sheep. That's don't water it down. While you're tearing into the
Word of God. Say it the way God said it. But
he continued and he said, Just back off just a little bit. And
I told her, I said, I can't back off. I'm gonna use the same words
God used. Well, trying to make a long story short, I finished
up my meeting. I think I preached three nights,
as I recall. And I preached on Sunday and
three nights. And then I went home back to Rocky Mount. Next thing I heard was that he
had resigned that church and went somewhere else. and they
called a full-fledged Armenian freewheeler in. They weren't grounded in the
truth because he didn't want to offend anybody. Now listen,
I love you, but I love the Lord more, and
I'm not gonna weaken God's blessed gospel, which is the power of
God, the power of God unto salvation. Not if you weaken it now, not
if you water it down, but this glorious gospel of the accomplishment
of redemption, atonement, reconciliation, if you water that down, you've
got nothing but a false gospel. That's all you've got. So we'll say it the way God says
it. Now Paul is talking about people who fall away, who divorce
themselves from the truth, who are apostates. He's not talking
about liberals now. He's not talking about open heretics. He's not talking about vile,
filthy, ungodly people. He deals with those things in
other passages. But what he's talking about here
is people who once professed to believe the truth, and then
they departed from the faith. In these verses, he's talking
about the man of sin, that is, Antichrist. I'm sure you've read in the first
epistle of John, the second chapter, John says, many antichrists were
already at work. Now, I don't know how you believe,
but I believe that antichrist is not one man. I don't believe
he's one man. It's a system that is against
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now our Baptist forefathers and
others as well have said for years and years and years that
the Pope is antichrist. He's not the antichrist, but
he certainly is antichrist. And anybody who believes in salvation
by works, salvation by the will of man, salvation by the worth
of man is antichrist. Because you see, salvation is
by the will of Christ, the work of Christ, and the worth of Christ. And anybody who says any different
is anti-Christ. They're against Christ. They're
trying to steal His glory. So I do not believe that anti-Christ
is one man or one religious organization. If you'll read the epistles of
the Apostle Paul, you'll find that he dealt with Antichrist
in Galatia, in Colossae, in Corinth, and
in Jerusalem. Those Pharisees and Sadducees,
the Sanhedrin, they were Antichrist. They weren't drunkards. They
didn't go around cussing the name of God. And morality was
very important to them. But morality is not salvation. They tried to be moral, but they
hated God. They defended man's works for
salvation. They were religious, but they
did not adhere to the Word of God. Notice how Paul describes
this in verse 3. that Joe read to us, let no man
deceive you by any means for that day, the day of falling
away shall not come, the day of apostasy, of utterly forsaking
the truth, shall not come except there be a falling away first
and the man of sin be revealed the son of perdition. How can you identify false religion? You identify it by this, very
simple. If salvation or redemption or
regeneration, if it hinges on man, it's anti-Christ. It's against
the Lord. Paul says that this man of sin,
the son of perdition, he is one who opposes God, He exalts himself
above God. He sets himself up in the temple
of God and is worshipped as God and shows himself to be God.
Antichrist religion prevails throughout the denominations. And it is every system and every
church that believes in man's will makes the difference instead
of the will of God. Isn't it astounding that so many
people defend man's will as being that which is the determining
factor when the Bible says it's not of him that willeth, nor
of him that runneth, but of God that shows the mercy. People
think nothing of flying right in the face of Holy Scripture. And it doesn't matter what the
system of religion is, whether it's conservative or liberal,
mainline Protestant or a wild cult, Baptist or Methodist or
Pentecostal or Presbyterian, Buddhist, Islamic, Jewish, Hindu,
doesn't matter. They all really are peas in the
same pot. You say, well, there's some of
them, they're closer to the truth than others. You mean they're
not quite as dead? They're almost right. To be almost
right is to be altogether wrong. I was thinking about, I told
you this morning, a couple of Mormon fellows came by Friday
and then yesterday, two ladies who are Jehovah's Witnesses stopped
by. They're really no worse than
the average Baptist because they make salvation dependent
on man. What is it but going about to
steal the glory of God? All those who teach that the
success of Christ's redemption resides in man's will, man's
decision, man's faith, they're antichrists. Those that teach the quickening
work of the Holy Spirit can be hindered, can be frustrated. They're anti-Christ. Folks, let's just say it the
way it is. I received an email today and
somebody said, thank you. for preaching in a clear manner. I don't want to be misunderstood. Surely you're not misunderstanding
me tonight. A salvation that is not of God's
will by the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ, brought
home to the heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. Anybody who
says anything contrary to that, they're against Christ. That's
the only truth there is, you see. Salvation is of the Lord. And here's what Paul said to
these people. He said, because you folks didn't
believe the gospel, because the people He's talking about here
didn't believe the gospel, when they heard it, He said, God's going to send them
a strong delusion. You mean He's going to send error?
Yes. And He will make sure they believe
the error. They wouldn't have the truth.
They wouldn't glorify God. They wouldn't glorify the Lord
Jesus Christ in his work of atonement. They wouldn't glorify the Holy
Spirit in being the author of spiritual life. They wouldn't
have the truth. So God says, okay, I'll send
error to you and you'll just eat it up. Then I'm going to
damn you for believing. That's exactly what, you can't
make anything else out of this but that. And remember, the Thessalonian
church, they're hearing the letter written. And then the letter, the preacher,
the pastor, I suppose, He got down to verse 13, and he says,
but now, wait a minute, brethren, he says, listen to what Paul
says now, but we're bound to give thanks always
to God for you. Boy, don't you know that was
good news. Brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Who made the difference? Not the Thessalonians, but the Lord who chose them unto
salvation. The people today who don't believe
the gospel, who will never believe the gospel. They're in one group,
and here's another group, folks like us, who believe and give
all the glory to the Lord, that salvation is all of Him, it's
all in Christ. Well, who makes the difference? The Lord makes the difference.
That's what Paul is saying. He says, but we're bound to give
thanks always to God for you. We don't thank you for what you
did. We don't thank God. Tell you
what, when the Lord reveals the gospel to somebody, we don't
go up to them and congratulate them and say, it's about time,
I'll tell you. We've been waiting on you. No, we're not waiting
on you. We're waiting on the Lord. And when he gets ready, at the
appointed time, if you're one of His, and I don't know whether
you are or not. I don't know whether He loves you or not.
I don't know whether Christ died for you or not. I don't know
whether the Holy Spirit's gonna call you or not, but I'll tell
you what, if you're one of His, the day's going to come when
the gospel of the free and sovereign grace of God through the redemption
of the Zent Christ Jesus will come to you in the power of the
Holy Ghost, and you'll believe. And you're not going to run around
here saying, well, I made the difference. You're going to say, the Lord
did a miracle for me. Paul says, we're bound to give
thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. through
sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto
he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ. How should we deal with the doctrine
of election? Well, we have to deal with it
biblically. Let's go all the way back. Did
you know the Bible talks about elect angels? Sure does. But what about those
that were non-elect? They fell, individually. They didn't fall through a representative,
but they fell individually. Well, why didn't all of them
fall? Because some were elect. I don't hear anybody fussing
about the non-elect angels. Well, it wasn't fair. I don't
hear anybody talking about that. Let's go back in the Old Testament. Israel was a chosen nation, an
elect nation. Surely nobody would disagree
with that. They were an elect nation. Deuteronomy
14 says, For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God,
and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto
himself above all the nations that are upon the earth. Israel
was an elect nation. God didn't choose to send His
prophets, His preachers, and His Word to Syria or to Assyria. Or to Egypt? He didn't choose
any of those nations. He chose Israel. He said, I'm
going to deal with you. I'm going to send preachers to
you. I'm going to send my word to you. I'm going to send my
son through you. Wasn't that in the election?
God chose one nation? Why didn't God choose Egypt?
Then somebody said, well, that's not fair. I don't hear anybody
saying that. The answer is, it pleased God
to choose Israel. The Bible speaks of those who
are chosen to service. God chose Moses to lead the children
of Israel. You reckon the other men of the
nation of Israel said, now that's not fair. I doubt that they did,
but some of them may have. And God chose Aaron to be the
high priest of Israel. And God chose the tribe of Levi
to minister before him. Was that because they were more
holy, more godly, more reverent, more devoted? No. They were sinful
as the rest of the tribes. It just pleased God to choose
them. I don't have a problem with that. Do you? The Bible speaks of those chosen
to office. Samuel went to Bethlehem. He's
going to anoint a new king. And he sees Jesse and said, bring
your boys out here. And then Samuel said, no, Lord
didn't choose any of these. Got anybody else? Well, yeah,
I got one more, but he's out there watching the flocks. Samuel
said, we're not gonna do anything else till you bring him in. And
here comes David in. And the Lord said, there's your
man right there. That's the man I choose. God chose angels. God chose a
nation. God chose a tribe. God chose
men. God chose a city, Jerusalem. The Lord chose his apostles. These men were chosen to walk
in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord chose Saul of Tarsus
to be an apostle. I'll tell you somebody else the
Lord chose. He chose his son to be the Savior. Mine elect, God called him. He was chosen by God. Psalm 89
says, I've anointed one chosen out of the people. born in Bethlehem's
manger, but the eternal God. And this is the one by whom God
will save His people through His life and His death. God chose Him. God chose to save
sinners through a representative. After all, we fell through another
representative. He saves through Christ the Savior. the representative of God's elect. Can God save any other way except
through the Lord Jesus Christ? No! A thousand times, no! He only saves sinners through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Why, oh why, don't men preach
Christ crucified then? That's my question. I hear somebody preach and they
say a lot of good things, but they don't preach the blood of
the Lord Jesus. They don't preach his work of
satisfaction to God's justice. They tell people that sister
so-and-so or brother so-and-so is up in heaven. Tell me why
they're there. Tell me how they got there and
who got them there. That's what I want to hear. of people chosen unto salvation. And you know what Peter said?
After our Lord laid down his life and then arose again and
ascended back to heaven, but before he ascended back to heaven,
he was seen of many witnesses, Acts chapter 10 says, those who
were chosen to see him. Is that what it says? Chosen
to see him. I bet you there were a lot of
others who would have liked to have seen him, but they weren't
chosen to see him. I don't have a problem with that,
Larry. That's God's business. I'll tell you this, whatever
God does, that's right. That's right. And as it says here, God chose
a people unto salvation. There can be no doubt the word
of God teaches election. And I'll tell you this, this
election of some people unto salvation, it took place before
the foundation of the world. Ephesians chapter one says that. The Bible says nothing about
God chose a people unto salvation because he foresaw that they
would believe. Well, that would render a choice
on God's part to be needless. That's one of the stupidest arguments
I ever heard. What is the foreknowledge of
God? It's God's foreordination of
a beloved people unto salvation. This election took place in eternity. And I'm sorry to confess it,
and I feel bad about preaching this, but I used to preach that
God voted for you and the devil voted against you, and now you
cast the deciding vote. I'm sorry I lied to people. I
didn't know any better. I didn't do it on purpose, but
I'm thankful for this. The stuff that I said that wasn't
true, That didn't affect the purpose of God one iota. It didn't. The choice was made before the
world began, and I'll tell you this, the choice was made in
Christ. We were chosen in him under salvation. Christ be my first elect, and
in him we were chosen under salvation. This was a choice made in grace.
You can read Romans 11. It says that, Romans chapter
9, illustrated by the choice of Jacob and not the choice of
Esau. God chose Jacob under salvation
because God loved him. Love was first. Love was first. He didn't choose Esau under salvation. He hated him. Well, that's pretty
hard, preacher. Don't take it up with me. Take
it up with God. That's what God said. Jacob have
I loved, Esau have I hated. You see, the whole purpose of
salvation has reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no
salvation outside of him. Go through this book. I challenge
you to. And you will discover that everything
God has ever done, is doing, or will ever do for sinners is
in Christ, through Christ, for Christ, and by Christ. That's
what you'll discover. It's all for His glory. This is a choice of God's grace. I've had people say, well, that's
a hard doctrine. I don't think it's hard. Preacher one time, I knew he
got up and he said, I want to talk to you today about the most
hated doctrine in the Bible. Boy, that's some way to start
a message, isn't it? It's not hated by everybody.
God's people love it. Maybe it'd be good For us, if
the Lord brought us down like he did Nebuchadnezzar, just eat
grass like a wild ox. And then return our mental faculties
to us, and say of the God of heaven and earth, he doeth his
will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what
doest thou? Who in their right mind would
ever argue with what God purposed to do? And I'll tell you this. Election
unto salvation will always be successful. Always. Turn to John chapter six. Let
me see if I can wrap this thing up. Look at John chapter six. There are some people that our
Lord was preaching to. He's telling them that he's the
bread of life, come down from heaven. He said, I'm the true
bread. That's what he said. And then he says this to them,
verse 36. But I say, I said unto you that ye also have, you've
seen me and you believe not. But then he says, all that the
Father giveth me in electing grace, now they shall come to
me, you won't come. But there are some people who
will come and they're still coming. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out, for I came down from heaven not to do mine
own independent will, but the will of him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which
he hath given me I should lose nothing." Here's the whole group
of the elect of God. He said, of this group of elect
people that God has given me, I'll lose not a one of them,
but I'll raise them up again at the last day. Everybody he chose gonna wind
up in glory. And I'll tell you this, there's
gonna be plenty of room in heaven for the people of God. Plenty
of seats, plenty of thrones for us to sit on. But there's not
going to be any empty thrones. Because everybody God purposed
to be there by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, they will be there to the praise of the glory of His
grace. And I'm not ashamed of the doctrine
of God's electing grace. Are you? Can't do that. If it wasn't for God's electing
grace, I wouldn't have any interest in the gospel. I wouldn't believe. And you wouldn't either. If it's
left up to you, if it's left up to me, we're perishing our
sins. There's no question about that.
So then you come down to this. Well then, who made the difference? The Lord made the difference.
Turn to 63 in your song books. Take the name of Jesus with you. He's the Savior. He didn't try
to save you, He did save you. Number 63, take the name of Jesus
with you. We're going to stand and sing
all stanzas and then