Alright, let's turn in our Bibles
back to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Now
last week I preached on this subject, Christ and Antichrist. This morning I want us to go
back through these verses and the title of the message is this,
The Issue Between Christ and Antichrist. The Issue. between
Christ and Antichrist. There's an issue and this is
the important thing. Now people today are trying to
figure things out about the millennium and about different things, about
politics, about world events and all of that. They're trying
to figure out who Antichrist is. Well, I'm gonna deal with
some of that as we go through these verses. I wanna go back
and read from verse one and I'm gonna go through this quickly
because I preached on these first verses. a couple of times. But what I want you to understand
is it's not that important that you look for a particular person
called Antichrist or anything like that, but that you understand,
that we understand what the real prime issue that exists between
Christ The true gospel, salvation by His grace and His true church,
that issue, and that which is anti-Christ, the false gospel,
the deception of false Christianity. And it's an issue of grace versus
works. I want to show you that, grace
versus works. But as we've studied in this
chapter, in the last days, the deception of false Christianity
which I believe is summarized in that term that John, the Apostle
John, used several times, Antichrist, that will dominate the world.
And it'll dominate in two ways. First of all, the falling away
from the truth of Christ of the majority while retaining the
name Christian. In other words, people will call
themselves Christian, but they will not believe the truth of
Christ and Him crucified and risen again, the truth of the
gospel, which is the revelation of the righteousness of God and
salvation by grace. And that's what the Bible describes
as heresies. Heresies will infiltrate the
known visible church. You know what heresy means, don't
you? It means division. It means schism. The Bible says
in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 19, there must be also heresies among
you. Now, for what purpose? Why must
there be heresies among us? It says in 1 Corinthians 11,
19, that they which are approved That is, those who are truly
saved by grace, justified before God in Christ, washed in His
blood, clothed in His righteousness, regenerated, born again by the
Spirit, true believers now, that they who are approved of God,
it says, may be made manifest among you. These divisions and
heresies that come about actually manifest. They make known who
are the true people of God. And the reason is, is because
by the grace of God, those stay fixed on Christ and the grace
of God in him. And then secondly, it says, the
man of sin, now that's the term, the man of sin, antichrist will
be revealed. Look at verse one. Now we beseech
you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, the fact
of his second coming. And by our gathering together
unto Him, when He comes, He's going to gather the church together
unto Himself to be glorified together. That's the assurance
of grace. And remember, His first coming
is the ground, His first coming to satisfy law and justice, put
away sin, bring in everlasting righteousness. That's the ground
and assurance of His second coming. He says, verse 2, that you be
not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit nor
by word nor by letter as from us as that the day of Christ
is at hand, like it's going to come in our day tomorrow or whenever. We don't know when He's coming.
He is coming. It may be soon, may be in our
lifetime. We just don't know. That's not the issue now between
Christ and Antichrist. Not when He's coming. We know
He is. When He comes, what is the issue?
That we be found in Him, Paul wrote in Philippians 3, not having
mine own righteousness, which is of the law, by my works and
by my efforts, with or without the help of God. Now, I want
you to understand that. Salvation is not by what God
enables you or me to do. That's one of the great deceptions
of Antichrist. Salvation is not based on a righteousness
that God enables me or you to produce or to work out. Salvation
is totally based upon what God has done for His people in and
through the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, the issue here is not
when He's coming. He is coming, and we're to live
in expectation of that. And we want to be found in Him,
not having our own righteousness which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, His faithfulness to obey
the law, to die for the sins of His sheep, and establish righteousness. and we may be found in him. And
he says in verse 3, let no man deceive you by any means, however
it is, for that day shall not come except there come a falling
away first, that's the great apostasy, that's that, those
heresies creeping in and now what is commonly known as Christianity,
the Christian church is Christian in name only, gotten away from
the foundation of the faith, the doctrine of the apostles,
And he says, that'll come first, and then that man of sin be revealed. Revealed to who? Not to the world. The world's going to be deceived.
That's why I had Brother Ron read Jeremiah 17 there. The heart
is deceitful. That's the natural heart. The
mind, the affections, the will, it's deceived by the darkness
of sin and self-righteousness and self-love. And the only way
we're going to be undeceived is by the grace of God through
Christ. That's why God says, I try the
heart, I try the reins. And so this man of sin, this
is Antichrist. This is what the book of Revelation
calls the beast, the Antichrist. He's called the son of perdition
here. And listen, that man of sin means
man of lawlessness, literally. That means what he preaches is
going to be something that is not just. He may talk about the
love of God, but not a love of God that's consistent with God's
justice. He may talk about God's mercy,
but not mercy that's consistent with God's law. He may talk about
God's grace, but not God's grace that's consistent with His righteousness. You see, the Bible says in Romans
5, 21, grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord. So you might, you'll hear a lot
of religious talk from this man of sin. He's called the son of
perdition. Incidentally, that's the same
term that the Lord used to describe Judas in John 17. The son of
perdition. That is destruction. That's what
that is. Now, a lot of people are intent
on labeling, finding one man who will arise in a charismatic
way on the political scene and label that man as Antichrist.
First of all, Let me say this again. Antichrist will not be
revealed to the world, he'll be revealed to God's people.
That's what this scripture says. The world will not know him.
The world's deceived. And the only reason we're not
deceived along with the world is because of the sovereign grace
and mercy of God. Do you know that? If you're not
deceived, if I'm not deceived, it's God's grace. We didn't earn
it, we didn't deserve it. It's not of our own wills. It's
not of our own goodness or volition. It's totally of God's grace.
But a lot of people are looking for one man who is charismatic,
who will rise up on the political scene. Well, let me tell you
something. He's not a religious... He's not a political figure.
He's a religious figure. And I'll show you that in just
a moment. But he won't be revealed to the world. The world's deceived.
But he will be revealed to God's people, God's elect, Christ's
sheep. And a lot of people argue, is
he one man or is he a succession of men? Well, I don't believe
he's one man, but now we can argue back and forth about that,
but that's not going to get us anywhere. What matters in this is what
is the issue between Christ, the true Christ, the Savior and
Lord of His people, who's coming back to gather His people unto
Himself, What's the issue between him and Antichrist? What's the
issue? Whether the Antichrist is one
man or a succession of men or a spirit, which I believe that
Antichrist is a spirit of error and compromise through many men.
John said there were many Antichrists in his day in 1 John chapter
2. We read that last week. They'd gone out into the world,
many Antichrists. I believe there are many Antichrists
today. False preachers. wolves in sheep's
clothing. Some who come so close that if
it were possible, Christ said in Mark 13 and Matthew 24, that
they could deceive the very elect. Coming close. Paul had to contend
with Antichrist, that spirit of Antichrist. He had to contend
with it at Galatia, had to contend with it at Colossae, at Corinth,
and even at Jerusalem. That spirit of Antichrist. But
now look at verse 4 now. He's a religious figure. Verse
4 says, "...this man of sin will be revealed, the son of perdition,
who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God,
or that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple
of God, showing himself that he is God." Displaying himself
that way. What does he do? He opposes God.
It says here, "...who opposeth and exalteth himself above all
that is called God." Several ways of looking at that phrase.
First of all, some translate it this way, and it's okay, but
you know, a lot of times when we translate from the original
language, it's kind of difficult. And so, we want to be careful.
We want to be careful that we don't translate it in such a
way that will compromise or destroy or deny or oppose the truth of
all of Scripture. Some do, but not this way. It
says, "...who opposeth and exalteth himself above all of the so-called
gods." In other words, this is a spirit that claims to be speaking
in the name of the one true and living God, as opposed to all
so-called gods. But another way to look at it
is this. He opposes and exalts Himself above all that identifies
and distinguishes the true and living God. Now, God reveals
Himself in the Word, His nature, His character, His attributes.
And we see in the Scripture from Genesis to Revelation that the
highest revelation of God Himself, is in and by the Lord Jesus Christ,
the person of Christ as God-man, and the finished work of Christ
on the cross, as Daniel chapter 9 and verse 24 describes it. He finished the transgression,
made an end of sin, brought in everlasting righteousness, sealed
up the vision and the prophecy, and was exalted on high. In Christ
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. and you're
complete in Him. If you want to know God, savingly,
in an eternal way, where are you going to go? You go to Christ. Nowhere. You don't go... Listen,
don't look up into the... The stars are beautiful at night.
God put them there. And they declare the glory of
God. Something of His wisdom, His power, and His goodness.
All of that. But you're not going to find
salvation in looking at the constellations. I don't care what they say. You're
not going to find salvation looking at the beauty of the earth in
the spring. You're not going to find salvation
there. The heavens declare the glory, but it takes the word
of the Lord, the gospel of God's grace in Jesus Christ, who is
the Lord our righteousness, wherein the righteousness of God is revealed
to know the true and living God. Now that's what Antichrist opposes. That's what he exalts himself
above. That's how he stands in opposition
to that which identifies and distinguishes the true and living
God from all false gods. A just God and a Savior. God is a God of love. But His
love provided what His justice demands and requires in Christ.
God is a God of mercy, but it's not mercy without law. It's not
mercy without justice. God's mercy... Think about the
mercy seat. The Shekinah glory of God where
blood had to be shed on that mercy seat, sprinkled on that
mercy seat. What's blood mean? That means
death. The soul that sinneth must surely die. Without the
shedding of blood, without death, there is no forgiveness or remission
of sins. Whose death? The death of the
Son of God incarnate. Without Christ, there is no righteousness
for us to stand before God. We don't have one and can't work
out one, with or without the help of God. Now listen to me,
it's totally what Christ did in His obedience unto, that's
what Antichrist opposes. And it says here, he as God sitteth
in the temple of God showing himself that he is God. What
he's saying here is, it's a facade, it's a deception. He says he
speaks for God. He says His Word is from God. He has the authority and the
power of God, and He doesn't. Now look at verse 5. He says
here, Remember you not that when I was with you, yet with you
I told you these things? These are not new things. Paul
told them. And he says in verse 6, And now
you know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
Now, Paul is saying here is in this spirit of error and compromise
and this deception of false Christianity, this anti-Christ, this anti-Christian
spirit, There's something holding it back in his day. There's something
that... It's there, he says in verse
7. He said, now this doesn't mean it's not working today,
he says. He says, for the mystery of iniquity doth already work.
It's already working in his day. John said that in 1 John 2, remember. He said, there are many antichrists
gone out today. But it's not being let out in
full. There's something holding it
back. Well, that's the Spirit of God holding it back. And so
he says there's something holding it back for a later time. There's
a later time when this anti-Christian spirit is going to burst out
onto the scene. God's going to remove that restraint
of the spirit and allow it to burst out on the scene and it's
going to deceive the whole world. That's what he's saying. But
now that doesn't mean it wasn't working in their day. Look at
verse 7. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work. Remember we
talked about that last week. The mystery of iniquity. This
is an iniquity. This is a sin that men by nature
do not know and understand and see until God reveals it in the
preaching of the gospel. In other words, until God brings
us under the preaching of the gospel of His grace in Christ,
and shows us how God can be just and justify the ungodly through
the merits of the obedience and death of Christ alone, who is
God and man in one person, until God brings us under that message,
this is why it's necessary that we be under the preaching of
the gospel. Remember over in John 17 when he said there, I
try the heart? Let me read that to you just
quickly, John 17. Now he says, remember in verse
9, he said, the heart is deceitful above all things. Desperately
wicked, who can know it? Man by nature can't even know
his own heart. One old writer said it this way,
I can't remember who it was. Think about salvation. Man, by
nature, is deceived about salvation. One old writer said this, he
said, we all think we're saved before we're saved until we're
saved. Did you get that? We all think
we're saved before we're saved until we're saved. And why is
that? It's because of this, the heart. The natural heart of man, which
is his mind, his affections and will, will testify to him that
he's saved based upon wrong grounds, for wrong reasons. Well, I was
baptized when I was 12. I know I'm... That's a deceitful
heart. Oh well, I've done my best in
life. I've tried to be a good person.
I've tried to be a good father, a good husband, a good worker.
Well, now listen, there's nothing wrong with those things in and
of themselves. That's what you ought to do.
But that will not save you. And if your heart is telling
you you're saved because of that, that's a deceptive heart. You're
deceived. That's antichrist. Do you know
that? It's the spirit of antichrist.
Because that denies the righteousness of Christ. That denies the blood
of Christ. He said, I'm the way, I'm the
truth, I'm the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. You can't stand before God based upon your baptism.
You can't stand before God based upon your profession. You can't
stand before God based upon your church membership. The only thing
you can stand before God based upon and be accepted eternally
is the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Period. If your hope's built on anything
else, no matter how noble it is, No matter how good it seems,
that's a deceptive heart. That's antichrist. You see what
I'm saying? Somebody says, well, I know I'm
saved because I had a dream back in 1972 and it was real. You ever heard that? It's real.
You're not going to tell me it wasn't real. That's antichrist. I have a lot of dreams and I'm
not going to tell you about all of them. There's only one thing we need
for salvation, and that's Christ and His righteousness alone.
You say, well, don't we need to be born again? Yes, but that
comes from the life of Christ. Without Christ, you won't be
born again. That's right. So look here now, he says in
verse 9 of Jeremiah 17, The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately wicked. Who can know it? But now look
at verse 10. He says, I, the Lord, search
the heart. You see, the only way I'm going
to know my heart and not be deceived is for the Lord to search it.
You can't search my heart. I can't search yours. But the
Lord searches the heart. He said, I try the reins. I test
the reins. The reins is what turns you,
what drives you, what motivates you. I test the reins. The only way for me to know what
really motivates me and drives me is for the Lord to test it.
even to give every man according to his ways." Whatever my ways
are, they're either the ways of death in salvation by works
or some form of that, or they're the ways of grace in Christ.
And according to the fruit of his doings. It's either fruit
unto death or it's fruit unto God. And so how... Now, where does God search the
heart and try the reins? I'll tell you exactly where.
Right here, right now. It's what He's doing. It's what He's doing
to me. It's what He's doing to you.
He's testing the heart. He's searching the heart with
His Word. He's not doing it for information. He's not looking at Bill Pence
and saying, I'm trying to figure out what you really believe today. No,
the Lord knows your heart. He knows my heart. He knows every
heart in here this morning. That thought that just zipped
across your mind, the Lord knows I don't. You look like you're
listening to me. But the Lord knows it, doesn't
He? He knows the reality. So that's why we have to be under
the preaching of the gospel. We have to be in the Word. See? The faith cometh by hearing and
hearing by the Word of God. That's why we need this. All
right. Now, go back to 2 Thessalonians 2. So this mystery of iniquity
is a sin that men and women by nature don't know. We looked
at that over in John chapter 3. You remember I read that last
week where he talked about the light. He says this is the condemnation,
John 3, 19. That light has come into the
world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds
were evil. What he's talking about there
is the deception of self-righteous legalistic religion that comes
in the name of Christ. Sinners saying, I believe in
Christ, I love Christ, I follow Christ, I'm a disciple of Christ,
but in some way, at some stage, to some degree, they're working
their way into God's favor, into God's blessings. It works. That's the problem. That's the
issue between Christ and antichrist. Now look back here at verse 7.
Verse, for the mystery of iniquity doth already work, In other words,
that spirit of Antichrist is already active. Only he who now
leadeth will lead until he be taken out of the way. In other
words, the Holy Spirit who's holding that back, holding it
in check for a time, he's going to be taken out of the way. And
I believe what this is describing is what Revelation 20, we won't
go there this morning, but Revelation 20 describes this, and what he's
talking about is Satan loosed upon the world for a time, for
a short time. It is a short time. But what
he's talking about is how the whole world will be deceived. And he says in verse 8, "...and
then that wicked shall be revealed..." "...shall that wicked be revealed..."
That wicked, that man of sin. Again, not to the world, but
to God's people. "...whom the Lord shall consume
with the spirit of His mouth." That's His Word. In other words,
our only defense against Antichrist and against Satan... You remember
Satan in Revelation is called the Great Dragon. The Antichrist
is called the Beast. He's the minion of Satan, alright?
Satan is the deception. You see, that's what he does.
And so what he's saying is the only defense that we as God's
people will have against Satan and against the beast, Antichrist,
is what? The Word of God. That's the only thing we have.
He'll consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy
with the brightness of his coming. In other words, when he comes
in his brightness, in his glory, that's when it's all going to
be destroyed. That's when Satan and Antichrist, all of that will
be totally destroyed. And look at verse 9. He says,
"...even him whose coming is after the working of Satan..."
There's the great dragon. You remember in Revelation 12
how we as the people of God who are justified in Christ, how
we're to turn back the accusations of Satan. through the blood of
the Lamb, Revelation 12, pleading His righteousness alone. I'm
a sinner saved by the grace of God. I have no hope but the blood
of the Lamb for forgiveness. I have no justification before
God but the righteousness of Christ freely imputed and received
by God-given faith. That's it. That'll turn back
Satan. That's the righteousness that
Isaiah was speaking of in Isaiah 51 that'll go on forever and
ever and ever. No righteousness of man, whatever
standard you use, will ever last. But this is the righteousness
of God. And he said, even him who's coming is after the working
of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, deceptive
wonders. In other words, these are things
that will appear wonderful and beautiful to men. But it's a
deception. And look at verse 10, he says,
"...and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness." There's
a deceptive unrighteousness. Now he's not talking about what
man by nature recognizes as being unrighteous here. Now man by
nature will get into all kinds of unrighteousness that he knows
is unrighteousness. But he recognizes it. But here
he's talking about religious deception, lying wonders. Religious
deception now, and he says it's going to be deceptive to those
who perish. Look at it, verse 10. With all
deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. Now, who
are those that perish? Well, 1 Corinthians chapter 1
tells us exactly who they are. In 1 Corinthians, let me just
read this to you. Now, listen to verse 18 of 1 Corinthians
1. Brother Joe is going to read this for us tonight in our Scripture
reading. Let me read verse 17 of 1 Corinthians
1. Now, remember what he says here,
verse 10. This is all deceivableness of
unrighteousness in them that perish. Okay? In other words,
the only ones who are going to be deceived by this unrighteousness,
this religious deception, is those who perish. Well, now,
who's perishing? Look at 1 Corinthians 1, 17.
Paul writes, for Christ sent me not to baptize, Now, we are
to baptize. That's an ordinance. But you
know what this shows you right here? It shows that the issue
between Christ and Antichrist is not baptism. That's not the
issue between Christ and Antichrist. Now, there are a lot of people,
because of their false, deceptive religious perceptions, either
don't baptize or baptize in a wrong way or baptize babies or whatever.
That's not scriptural. But you see, the real heart of
their problem is not the fact that they do that. The real heart
of their problem is they believe salvation somehow, someway, by
works. That's the root, all right? So
Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Well,
what is the gospel? It's the gospel of God's grace,
how God saves sinners by grace through Christ. Paul wrote in
Romans 1, 16, saying, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth,
to the Jew first and the Greek also, for therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. From faith to faith, as it is
written, the just shall live by faith. What is the righteousness
of God? Romans 10, 4, for Christ is the end, the fulfillment of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. That's
exactly what he's talking about. So he said, God sent me to preach
the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ
should be made of none effect. What he's talking about there
is we're not to finagle around the gospel with words that men
can easily receive. You say, in other words, it's
not, we're to make it simple now, don't misunderstand me.
But if men by nature hate the gospel, I'm not to water it down
and hone it down and whittle away the truth in order to get
them to like it or to love it. That's what he's talking about.
So he says in verse 18, For the preaching of the cross is to
them that perish foolishness. Now who's going to be deceived
by this deceptive unrighteousness? those who perish. Who's perishing? Those to whom the preaching of
the cross is foolishness. Now, what is the preaching of
the cross? It's not, listen, it's the preaching of the blood
of Christ which works out and fulfills and brings forth righteousness
for His people to stand before God, imputed to them as Christ
was imputed with our sin. He was made sin. that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. In other words, it's
the preaching of this message of God's grace. Salvation is
not something I've earned or deserve. It is totally by God's
grace based upon what Christ accomplished at Calvary in His
obedience unto death signified by His resurrection. Now, if
that's foolishness, let me tell you who it's foolishness to.
It's foolishness to any sinner who believes and makes salvation. to be dependent on, or conditioned
upon, or determined by the will, the works, or the worth of men. That's anti-Christ. So it's foolishness, but unto
us which are saved, it's the power of God. That's the power
of God unto salvation, to a saved sinner. Go back to 2 Thessalonians
2. So verse 10, with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish, and listen to this now,
because they receive not the love of the truth that they might
be saved. What truth? You're not just talking
about any truth there. Pilate asked that question to
the Lord. He said, what is truth? He was really expressing a generally
held philosophy of the day. You know, what is truth? What's
truth for you may be truth for you, but what's truth for me
may not be truth for you. Truth, truth, truth. Well, Christ
settled that issue. I quoted it before. He said,
I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. No man cometh
unto the Father but by me. He's not just talking about any
truth here. For example, it's true that God created this world. That's true. But there's a lot
of people who believe that who are not saved, who don't believe
the gospel. What truth is it they don't love?
Alright, now listen. They do not love the truth. that
would lead a sinner to Christ alone for salvation, for righteousness,
for life and glory, and bring that sinner to repentance of
dead works and idolatry. They don't love that light that
exposes me for what I am, a sinner, who if God were to judge me based
upon my best efforts to serve Him, I would be damned forever. That I have no righteousness
by which to stand before God. I don't have it by nature and
can't work it out by the best I do. That light, that truth
that shows me that God is holy and must punish sin. He must
be just when He justifies. That truth that leads a sinner
to Christ alone for all salvation. All of it. Nothing excluded. and puts man in the dust where
he belongs and leaves him with no hope and no refuge but in
Christ, crucified and risen again, Christ's blood and righteousness
alone." That truth. That specific truth. The Pharisees
didn't love that truth. They turned a deaf ear to it
because of their false religious refuge. You mean to tell me that
it means nothing to God that I'm a physical descendant of
Abraham? That's got to count for something, doesn't it? You
mean it means nothing to God that I'm a circumcised Jew? You
mean it means nothing to God that I keep the Law of Moses?
Which they didn't. You mean it means nothing to
God that I'm a Baptist or American or from Kentucky or Ohio or West
Virginia? That means nothing to God? You
mean it means nothing to God that I work hard and try to take
care of my family and attend services anytime I get an opportunity? Let me tell you something. When
it comes to the ground of your salvation, or my salvation, when
it comes to how a sinner is made righteous before a holy God and
entitled to heaven, Those things mean nothing. Less than nothing. If you want to see a great illustration
of that, read Philippians chapter 3. How many of those things that
Paul lists? I'm a Hebrew of Hebrews, circumcised
the eighth day, of the tribe of Benjamin, as touching the
law of Pharisee, a blameless, all of those things. But he said,
in light of how God can save sinners, how God is just to save
me and keep me and make me righteous in and by His beloved Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, I count all things but dumb that I may win
Christ. and be found in him." That's
the truth that men by nature will not love. But I want to
tell you something. If God has shown you and me who
we really are and what we really deserve based upon our best efforts
to keep the law, We'll love nothing else but that truth when it comes
to salvation. That'll be our life right there. And when anybody stands up and
preaches salvation by works at some stage, to some degree in
any way, or righteousness by what you do or what God enables
you to do, it'll be revealed to you, hey, that's antichrist.
That's what he's saying. Look at verse 11. He says, and
for this cause, the cause that they won't receive the love of
the truth, God shall send them strong delusion that they should
believe a lie. Can you imagine that? That's
God's justice. That's what that is. You say,
well, that doesn't sound fair. My friend, it's nothing but fair
and just. God always does what's right.
You say, well, I can't figure that out, how all that works
out. Well, they didn't ask you to do that, and you're not commanded
to do that, and it wouldn't do you any good to try. It's just
simply this. No one is going to be saved.
No sinner is going to be saved but those who are saved by the
grace of God, which they don't deserve. Isn't that right? No
one who is going to be damned except those who deserve to be
damned under the judgment of God. God's judgments are always
according to truth. What he's simply saying here
is that those who continue of their own wills to stand in opposition
to the truth of God's grace in Christ that there'll come a time
when God, under His judgment, will give them over to a reprobate
mind. That's what he's talking about.
Romans chapter 1 says the same thing. That's a sad thing. That's a tragedy. That's why we need to be under
the preaching of the truth. And he says in verse 12, that
they all might be damned who believe not the truth. Man's
going to be held accountable for this. You say, well, he said,
but had pleasure in unrighteousness. They took satisfaction in that
unrighteousness that opposed God and opposed His grace. You
say, well, where does that leave me? I tell you, listen to me.
That leaves you with no hope. That leaves me with no hope but
God's grace in Christ. That's where it leaves us. And
we've got no place else to go. No place else to turn. But look
at verse 13, he says, But we're bound to give thanks always to
God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation. That's God's sovereign,
unconditional, electing grace in Christ. The only reason that
we're not deceived is because of God's grace in election in
Christ. And listen, he says, chosen you
to salvation by what means? You see, it's not that God chose
and then that's it. It's through or by means of sanctification
of the Spirit. Now, that word sanctification
means setting apart. In other words, we were set apart
by the Holy Spirit, and then it says, "...and belief of the
truth." Verse 14, "...whereunto he called you by our gospel."
That's how he does it, that's how he calls his elect. It's
how He calls His chosen ones. What happens? The Holy Spirit
brings them under the preaching of the gospel. And by power,
He gives them life, spiritual life, regeneration. That's what
the new birth. And brings them to faith in Christ
and repentance of idolatry and dead works. To the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know the first thing
God does when He's going to save a person? He brings them under
the preaching of the gospel, which is the gospel of Christ,
the gospel of His grace, the word of life. That's what He
does. He sets them apart under the
preaching of the gospel and brings them to belief of Christ, belief
of the truth, repentance by the gospel. Verse 15, he says, Therefore,
brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you've been
taught, whether by word or our epistle, talking about these
truths, these gospel doctrines, and now our Lord Jesus Christ
Himself and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath
given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,
you see, through grace. That's looking to Christ, resting
to Him. Comfort your hearts and establish
you in every good word and work. You see, that's the issue between
Christ and Antichrist. It's either salvation by works
or it's all of grace through Jesus Christ, our Lord. That's
the issue. Now, there's a lot of other side
issues we could talk about. We don't have time to do all
that, but that's the main thing. That's the simplicity of the
gospel.