Turn with me in your Bibles today
to 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians. I'll begin reading in chapter
5 at verse 1. But of the times and the seasons,
brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves
know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief
in the night. And when they shall say, Peace
and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail
upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in
darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. You are all the children of light
and the children of the day. We are not of the night nor of
darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as
do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep,
sleep in the night. and they that be drunken are
drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day,
be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an
helmet the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us
to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who
died for us, that whether we wake or sleep we should live
together with Him. Wherefore comfort yourselves
together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. The Bible is written for God's people. It's written for His believing
people. If you turn back to the first
chapter of I Thessalonians, we find that this epistle or
letter, which is what an epistle is, is the same as all the Bible. If you look down in verse 1,
it says, Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus unto the church of
the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father, and in the Lord
Jesus Christ. These things are written to the
church. Turn back over to the book of
Romans and look in Romans chapter 1. And if you look down in verse
7, Paul says to all that be in Rome beloved of God, called to
be saints." These things were written as
Paul was moved by the Spirit of God to write them to the saints. Turn over to I Corinthians. I Corinthians. Chapter 1, and
verse 2, he says, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to
them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, call to be saints, with
all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ
our Lord, both theirs and ours, to the Lord's people. You turn over to Ephesians chapter
1. Ephesians chapter 1, he says
in Ephesians chapter 1, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to
the faithful in Christ Jesus." You are going to find this through
all the epistles, and they are reflective of the Bible as a
whole. It is written to God's people,
to those who believe God. And it is written for their information,
because it has that good news, those glad tidings that inform
God's people of their salvation in Christ. It is written for
their instruction in righteousness. It is written for their encouragement
and for their warning and for their comfort. Look back over
in I Thessalonians 4 and verse 13. This is a phrase that Paul
uses every now and again. I Thessalonians 4, 13, he says,
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren." You see,
the faith of God's elect is not what some people call blind faith. It is intelligent faith. He says, "...I would not have
you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,
that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." He's talking
about their dead friends and relatives, not all of them, but
those who are asleep in Christ. And then if you look down in
verse 18 of chapter 4, he says this, "...wherefore comfort one
another, with these words. That's where our comfort is.
It's not in a pat on the back or some of these foolish clichés
and sayings that people offer up, but they are in the words
of God. And as He gives these things
here in 1 Thessalonians, He is led by the Spirit of God to set
forth two things, two things in light of Christ's sure and
soon return, in light of that great judgment of the wicked
at that hour, And in light of all the sobering things that
the Spirit of God directs Paul to tell us, things concerning
the day of the Lord, there is an hour coming that is described
in many ways the consummation of all things the day of the
Lord. Look down in chapter 5 at verse
2. Paul says, because they believe
God, he says, for yourselves know perfectly that the day of
the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. That is what is
called also the day of God's wrath. In Hebrews chapter 9 and verse
27, he says this, For it is appointed unto man once to die, and after
this the judgment. You know and I know that man
does not make that appointment but God Himself. And every person, whether they
admit it in their life or not, will prove that very thing to
be a fact. There will be a judgment. And there will be the death of
all men as God has appointed Him." In Revelation, numbers of times
we have the descriptions of that hour. He says in chapter 6, For
the great day of His wrath is come, and who shall be able to
stand." I know men make their boast against what they'll do,
and they'll say stupid things like this, I won't let God put
me in hell. Well, you say, how could a person
ever make a statement like this? They make it. because they have
been told over and over again that God cannot save them unless
they let Him. And so it would be a proper conclusion,
humanly speaking, that if God cannot save me against my will,
then He cannot damn me against my will. But that day is coming. Again he says, And I heard a
great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go
your ways, and pour out the vows of the wrath of God upon the
earth. But not only does he say these
things, as I said, in the midst of all he's saying about that
day and about our sure deaths and about the judgment of God
and all these things, he says two things in the midst of it. And the first is a reason for
us to have assurance. and comfort and security. Look back down here in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5 at verse 9 where he says, For God hath not
appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now, the word appointed in that
verse means to place. On the one hand, it means to
place by someone those who are passive in that which is done. They have no control over what
is done. They are placed or put in a position,
if you will, or as one word is given in the original as a definition,
they are ordained or set forth. They are appointed." They are
ordained or set forth. And Paul says to believers here,
he says, God has not appointed us to wrath. Isn't that what he said? Did
I read that wrong? Is that not the statement that
we find in that verse of Scripture? For God hath not appointed us
to wrath. But that's a two-sided coin.
Because the other side of that coin, the obvious other side
of it, is that He has appointed some to wrath. You can sugarcoat God all you
want to, and he'll be no more palatable to the natural man
in any way, and especially as he is in the way he shows himself
to be in the Scripture. He has appointed them to wrath
because of their sin, and done so justly. And He has not appointed
us to wrath because in Christ we have no sin justly. Everything He does, He does as
a just God. There will never be anybody able
to look at God and say to God, You did not treat me fairly,
or justly. He will deal with all justly. And one thing that we ought always
to notice, and that all people one day will find out, Paul begins
that statement with those two words, for God. This is because of God. And it is God who works all things
after the counsel of His own will. Can anybody in any way
ever frustrate the purpose of God? I mean, if we just stop and take
a reasonable thought about What God says about who He is, can
anybody ever hinder or frustrate or alter the purpose of God,
especially what He calls His purpose of grace? If there has ever lived on this
earth a single man, a fallen son of Adam, who it could be
said of him that he probably exercised absolute sovereignty
in the earth more than any other person, it may have been Nebuchadnezzar
who was the king of Babylon. And he stood out on his balcony
one day, and he overlooked just what his own eye could see, probably
for miles, of the things that he had done. And he said, Behold
great Babylon, which I have made by my hands, and for my own glory. And when he did that, God shut
his mouth. And He caused him to lose for
a time his very mind so that he roamed the earth around that
area like a stark raving madman, like a wild beast and creature. He didn't cut his nails. His
hair was grown long and all these things until the day that God
Almighty brought him down to confess something. And he says, then in that hour,
he said, and then God gave me a right mind. And this is what he confessed.
He said, God is over all, and He exercises a sovereign dominion, and all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing. You want to know what you are
in yourself, what I am in myself, especially? Nothing. Weighed
in the balances and found wanting. Described by God as like the
dust in the balances. But he says of this God that
he just found out about now, he says, And he does according
to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth, and none can say his hand, or say unto him, What doest
thou? Nobody. And men can, in their pitiful
existence, stand on earth and shake their fingers and their
fists in the face of God and claim everything about Him that
is wrong. But these that are described
here as the objects of His wrath, He will deal with them. He has
appointed them to meet His wrath. because of sin. Turn over to Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9, down in verse
22, and listen to what the apostle has to say when he has just said
that God is like the potter who has power over the clay, and
he is the one who makes of the clay what He will. Verse 22, what if God, willing
to show His wrath? I don't think there's a lot of
folks who have ever read that verse. Because if there's one
thing they don't think that it's possible with God to do, they
don't think that He's willing to show His wrath. But if He's
holy, And if he's just and he must punish sin, how could he
not show his wrath? All right? What if God, willing
to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with
much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? and that he might make known
the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had
aforeprepared unto glory." Vessels of wrath and vessels
of mercy. Same God. Peter says of Christ, that he
is to so many that stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, even to
them which stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto
also they were appointed." That's just what it says. Jude. He says, for there are
certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained
to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our
God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord
Jesus Christ. Ordained. appointed. Listen to this verse in John
3 and verse 36. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not on the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God. abideth on him." There are some folks that are
appointed, and justly so, to meet the wrath of God. Romans 1, for the wrath of God
is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. And again, unto
them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey
unrighteousness, to them indignation and wrath." Against sin, against their ungodliness,
against their disobedience. against their rejection of Christ,
against everything that is against God. Paul never denied that. He never
painted a rosy picture of man outside of Christ. He says, God hath not appointed
us to wrath. You know, and the amazing thing
here is that unlike so many, Paul does not fight against God
and His sovereign right to do with his own what he will. No. He rejoices in God's sovereign
grace to him and to all his elect people. He said, God hath not appointed
us to wrath. In other words, the only reason
– now you think about this – the only reason that he gives For
us or any to have hope is in God who makes us to differ. That's it. If you ever find any comfort,
if you ever experience any assurance in your heart and mind, if you
ever have any peace concerning the wrath of God to come, it
has to start right there with the one reason that anybody can
have us. It's in what God does. That's why you don't have hope
now if you don't have it, or peace now, or comfort now, or
assurance now, because it's always men by nature look at something,
somewhere, at some time that they do or feel. Paul doesn't ever give a definition
here. with regard to something that
men are to do if they're to have this hope or this peace. He said,
here's the only reason that we are not facing the wrath of God.
He has not appointed us to wrath. The only difference is in God
who shows mercy. The only difference is in God,
who is gracious, to whom He'll be gracious. And the cause of
our hope and our assurance and our security and our comfort
is in Him. It's in something that He has
done, and therefore we cannot boast. He says, who makes you to differ? You say you're not facing hell,
but headed to heaven. You say you're not in your sins,
but you've been saved from your sins. You say that you have hope
of eternal life in Christ. Well, who makes you to differ?
And what do you have that you did not receive? And if you received
it, why would you boast in it? You see, when you trace back
every stream of mercy and grace, you're going to find that it
flows all the way down from and goes all the way back up to the
very throne of God. It's not because of something He saw
you do. It's not because you've not sinned,
you have. You see, there is nothing in
us or about us or ever that's done by us that's the reason
for us. Paul has told us and other of
the apostles and Christ Himself that there is none good, none
righteous, no, not one, but rather every one of us in ourselves
are deserving. of the wrath of God." Do you really believe that? That
in yourself, you and I, we deserve to go to hell? that we deserve
to be cast into outer darkness where there's nothing but weeping
and wailing and gnashing of teeth? Do we really believe that if
left to ourselves, if it had not been for God Himself and
what He did, that's exactly what we'd face? Paul said that. This is the only reason. For
God hath not appointed us to wrath. Oh, he says when he writes
to the Ephesians concerning them and all believers, and their
relationship to this world and to Adam and to the devil, he
said, among whom also we all had our conversation in times
past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath even as
others. You see, God's people have never
been the children of wrath. But they are, in themselves,
by nature, the children of wrath. But they've always been the children
of God, the children of grace. Why? Because He appointed them. Oh, they have afflictions, and
they have persecutions, and they have trials, and they have tribulations,
and all these things. But he says that no man should
be moved by these afflictions, for yourselves know that we are
appointed thereunto. We're going to have troubles.
We're going to have trials. We're going to be persecuted
for His name's sake. We're going to have tribulations
in our lives. We're going to have our ups and
downs. We're going to have our failures because of our sins." But he said, remember something,
we were appointed to these also. And these things are the things
that He works together, all together, for good to them that love God,
to them that are the called according to His purpose. And if you notice
here what else He says, not only has He not appointed us to wrath,
but also to obtain salvation. You see, that has to be, if He's
appointed us not to wrath, He had to have also appointed us
to obtain salvation. I'm talking about salvation of
the soul. And I'm talking about salvation
from sin, the penalty of sin, and the power of sin, and one
day even the presence of sin. Even, he says, we were ordained
to eternal life. Here's the picture. You can just
imagine yourself on a big ship. headed down a big river to a
big waterfall, such as Niagara Falls or somewhere, and all this
ship, the rudders jammed, and everybody on this ship is going
down that river at a fast pace, and they're all, in that ship,
are going to reach a point when they go over the edge into the
abyss. And all of a sudden, somebody
comes over with a helicopter, and there's a man dangling out
of that helicopter on a lifeline, and he reaches down as that helicopter
goes by, and he swoops this one from that ship, and he comes
back, and he swoops another one from that ship, and he swoops
another one from that ship, and he rescues them. He saves them. Nobody says, Why didn't He save
everybody? No, they praise Him for saving
the ones He did. And that's our whole human race headed to the wrath of God. And
He says He's not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation. And you know what I like about
that? He said, He's not appointed us to wrath. He doesn't say,
but to have an opportunity to be saved. No, He says to obtain salvation. Obtain salvation. In writing to the Romans, Paul
says, What, then, Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh
for?" Why? He says, because they sought
it not by faith. They thought they were going
to please God by their works and by who they were. He said,
they've not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election
hath obtained it. Who's that? Those that are chosen
of God. The election hath obtained it,
and the rest were blinded." You see, God's people are being
saved in every sense of the word. Here's a whole world, he says,
that are perishing. But we're being saved. Some in your family. some of
your dear friends, maybe. All these people around, the
great masses of humanity all around us, you know, they're
just running headlong into destruction and eternal separation from God. And as they're perishing, God's
people are being saved. You think He deserves glory for
it? You think He deserves your life in its full commitment to
Him for it? You think He deserves us obeying
what He tells us to believe and obeying what He tells us to do? I mean, if you're not being saved, do what you will. But if God has distinguished you out and
brought you to know the truth of His grace in Christ Jesus,
if He's brought you to know that while you deserved all these
other things, such as His very wrath, and yet He has not appointed
you to wrath, but to obtain salvation. God has saved us from wrath. That is, all His true people,
which is all who He brings to look to and to trust in Jesus
Christ and Him crucified, plus nothing. And the verse of Scripture may
be the most abused of any in the Bible. which is found in
2 Peter 3 and verse 9, where men take part of the verse and
they say, well, you know, God's not willing that any should perish. You know what the rest of that
verse says? Peter, just like Paul, writing to those who believe,
he says, God is longsuffering to usward. That's exactly what Paul's saying.
He has not appointed us to wrath. He says, God who is longsuffering
to usward, not willing that any, any who, any of this usward should
perish, but that every one of them shall come to repentance. That's why he's carrying this
all along. That's why he hasn't already brought that judgment.
That's why He hadn't already destroyed this world by fire,
which He's going to do. Because He's long-suffering to
us. Those Peter calls the elect of
God. These that he brings to believe
on Christ. God has appointed us. God has
chosen us in Christ Jesus. God has predestinated us to be
conformed to His Son. How do we know that? Because
He says it in this book. And He has enabled us to believe
what He says. Turn over to 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians, the second chapter,
And here he's been talking about those, he says, who will be damned
because they receive not the love of the truth. As a matter of fact, you can
go back and read chapter 2 and you'll find, he says, they'll
be deceived by the wonderful workings of the devil and they
will be sent by God strong delusion. What? You reject the truth of God, and if left to yourself, strong
delusion follows, that they should believe a lie rather than the
truth. And I listen to all these folks
and their testimonies and their preaching and their sincerity
and their zeal, and they say just exactly the opposite of
what this book says. They say God loves everybody
and Christ died for everybody, and the Spirit of God is trying
to save everybody? Is that what we read? No. Sounds like strong delusion to
me. So much so, our Lord says in
Matthew 7, they'll stand before me in that day, in this day of
the Lord, in this day of judgment, and they'll say, being so secure
in themselves, Oh, Lord, Lord, we preached in your name. We
cast out devils in your name. We did many wonderful works in
your name. But He'll say unto them in that
hour, He said, Depart from Me, you that work iniquity. I never knew you. I don't want to hear that. I
don't want to hear that, especially thinking, being so sure of myself
that I'm on my way to heaven because of something that I've
done or not done, and not simply because of God's mercy to me. Alright, look down at verse 13.
2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 13. We are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation." My friend, you and I in this
life will never find out altogether what that word means. Salvation. You had to be saved from something
this week. You had to be saved from the
devil this week. You had to be saved from yourself
this week. As a matter of fact, the very
fact that you're here this morning, I'm here, is the clearest evidence
that God is still saving us if we're just to hear the gospel. He quit saving me. Number one, it would be a denial
of what Christ has already done for, but if He quit saving me,
I'll not have His salvation. He has saved me every minute.
Saved me from myself. Saved me from my utter sinfulness. He said, brethren, I thank God
for you. Because He has, from the beginning,
chosen you, appointed you to salvation. He says, through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. What will be the evidence
that God has chosen His people to salvation? That He chose them
and appointed them to salvation to obtain it? It's because He'll
bring them by His Spirit to believe the truth. I know this, I never believed
the truth until God bowed my heart to it. I would not believe
the truth had it not been for His Spirit, because for all of
my life until that hour, I didn't believe the truth. Whereunto He called you. Now, I give out a – in a sense,
I guess you might say, I give out a gospel call every time
I preach. But if my voice is the only one
you hear, you'll be none the better for it. But if He calls
you, if He loves you so much, if He's loved you with
this everlasting love, He's loved you in Christ, and He's not appointed
you to wrath, but He's appointed you to salvation. You can't help but hear Him. I tell you, I wasn't looking
for Him when He called me. Saul of Tarsus wasn't looking
for Him when He called. But He called Him. Effectually, mildly, irresistibly. Paul says, I was before a blasphemer
and a persecutor and injurious, but I obtained mercy. What happens when you obtain
mercy? Well, first of all, mercy has already obtained you. When
you obtain salvation, salvation has already obtained you. When they cast him into prison,
Paul wrote this letter, 2 Timothy. He said, I endure all things
for the elect's sake. that they may also obtain the
salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. What are you doing down there
in prison, Paul? God sent me down here. There's some folks down here
in this prison that he's not appointed under wrath, but he's
appointed them to obtain salvation. And I'm sent there to preach
the good news to them. He's going to call them. bring
them to himself. Peter, he says that God's people
are a people which in time past were not a people as far as the
world is concerned, but now are the people of God which had not
obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. One here. One there. One in a family, maybe. Two in
a family. One in this part of the world.
One in that part of the world. People He has not appointed to
wrath, but to obtain salvation. Alright, look back at our text
in verse 9. obtain salvation in a very broad
way. But what does it say? For God
hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our
Lord Jesus Christ. You don't want to hear about
Christ? You don't need Christ. You don't want to hear about
salvation. You don't want to hear about the Savior. There's
no salvation without the Savior. He has appointed us to salvation
by our Lord Jesus Christ. That's what He's done for us.
You say, well, I'm really not interested. Well, that means
you're one of them. That's what He's done for us.
I'm not just talking about people in this building. You know what
I'm talking about. I'm talking about the people of His grace. Pointed us to salvation by our
Lord Jesus Christ, not by His example or simply by His teaching
or His charity or anything like that, but by His death. I don't
think I'm stretching this. Look at what it says. For God
hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our
Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us." Do you ever get tired of hearing
about the death of Christ? You are already tired of hearing
about salvation. I was telling Curtis, we were talking
one night this week, everywhere this book. There ain't but one
way for a holy and a just God to save sinners like us. And that's by the death of a
sinless, perfect, God-appointed sacrifice. If he'd come in this world and
lived a perfect life, lived without sin, and then ascended back up
into heaven, we wouldn't be saved. If He'd come into this world
in any way, in any part, have been defiled, or sinned, or anything
like that, and not been that perfect Lamb without blemish
and without spot, and yet died, we wouldn't be saved. He had to be the perfect Lamb
slain. Maybe one way to save a sinner.
And that's by that one sacrifice for sins forever. As a matter of fact, his death
is a particular death. Somebody said, well, we believe
Christ died for everybody. Well, you believe what you want
to, it don't change anything. He said Christ died for us. If you're not in this bunch right
here, He didn't die for you. He's not going to leave glory,
the perfect Son of God, to do the will of the Father, and in
some way, by some God-hating rebel rejecting Him and not deciding
for Him, leave their salvation in His glory up to them. He said,
I lay down my life for the sheep. Father, I finished the work you
gave me to do. And everyone that he appoints
to obtain salvation by Jesus Christ, they're going to be saved. Absolutely. You see, it says,
who died for us. That means his death was a substitutionary
death. He died in my place, your place. And if he came into this world
and died in my place before God's justice, paid my debt before
God's justice, satisfied the matter of my sins before God's
justice, I'm saved. I'm saved. He died for us. He gave himself
a ransom for us. He bore our sins in his own body
on the tree. He saved us through his death,
which is the death of the cross. Now, I want you to turn to Romans
5. You never have momentary fearful thoughts. I mean, you
know, conscience cannot of itself forgive us,
cannot cause us no peace. So we're forever doing things,
saying things, and failing. And we know that we do the things,
the very things that God says that the children of wrath are
going to meet His wrath for doing. But I want you to listen to the
Apostle in Romans 5 here, beginning in verse 8. He says, But God commendeth His
love toward us. in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. And you don't know anything about
the love of God apart from the death of His Son. He loved us,
gave Himself for us. But now listen to this next verse.
Much more then, being or having been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath
through him." Wrath is coming. But God's people are saved from
wrath through him because Christ has already borne that wrath
himself in their place. we shall be saved from wrath
through him." Paul says in the first chapter,
we wait for his Son from heaven whom he raised from the dead,
even Jesus who delivered us from the wrath to come. Are you safe? If you're in Christ, you're safe. And outside of Christ, you ain't
got a chance. You're headed for the wrath of
God. And I'm not talking about this phony, yes, I believe in
Jesus stuff. I'm talking about a resting of
our whole being on Jesus Christ, who He is and what He did, plus
nothing. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there is none other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved." That's what Peter said.
But there's two sides of that. The first side is kind of obvious.
There is no other person and work under heaven whereby we
can be saved but by him. But everyone who's in him, we
must be saved. We must be saved. If God chose
me and appointed me not to wrath but to obtain salvation in His
Son, if Christ in obedience to that will came into this world
and died for me, and the Spirit has pledged and come and revealed
Himself to me, that's the great witness I must be saved. That's who should be saved. Peter said they preached. Luke
records in Acts that Peter and the apostles, they went from
house to house preaching the gospel, and the Lord added to
the church daily such as should be saved. Everyone that God loved, everyone
that Christ died for, everyone that the Spirit of God brings
to faith in Christ, they must be saved. They will be saved. Christ said, other sheep have
I that are not of this foal, them also I must bring. Then if you'll notice, he says,
whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with
him. Wake or sleep. The day of the
Lord's coming. He's coming and returning as
a thief in the night. The day of His wrath is coming.
But He's not appointed us to wrath. And if we're dead, as
some already have died, and that's what He's talking about here,
if we are dead when He comes, it's going to be all right. If
we're alive when He comes, it's going to be all right. We're
going to live together with Him. Or if we're alive and we're laying
there on our beds fast asleep, When He comes, it's going to
be okay if we're wide awake working somewhere in the daytime. It's
okay. We're going to live together
with Him. Why? Because of what He's done. Lay your head down. If you trust
in Christ, I mean, if He's your only hope, you lay down your
head tonight and you rest. If He comes tonight, just be
good news. We'll say, even so, come quickly,
Lord Jesus. But then the second thing is
in this he also gives us reason. This is the real motivation to
live in this world for his glory. You know I don't stand up here
and say you ought not, I don't correct you when you say things
you ought not to say. You know you ought not say. Bitterness
and cursing shouldn't go out of the same fountain, he said.
You know that, well, let me just put it like this. He said, if
any man loved the world, The things of the world. The love of the Father is not
in Him. What do you love? You love to have fun. You love
to do this and you love to do that and the other. That's the
world. That's all it is. It's going to pass. You love to hear the gospel. I've got a feeling that's going
to go on for eternity. You love to be with the people
of Christ. Is it your desire to live in
this world in obedience to what He says concerning your family,
your friends, and all these things? Here's the motivation for it. He says in this chapter, he said,
we're the children of light. We're not like those in darkness.
We know these things are happening. We know these things are going
to happen. And by grace, we know that God has not appointed us
to wrath. We're children of light. He said, if you're children of
light, walk as children of light. In your conversation, in your
daily activities, in your priorities. Is there any difference in you
and those that face the day of wrath? Turn over to 2 Peter. chapter 3. That's where I read
to us 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 9. But look down at verse He is
saying the same thing that Paul said, but the day of the Lord
will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein
shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved, seeing we know that, What manner of persons
ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?" Now, my friend,
I Thessalonians 5 and verse 9 is as clear a statement of the free
grace of God as I know of. But the grace of God can never
be used to excuse us of our own sin, our own personal wickedness,
all these things that we ought not to do. He says, looking for
and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens
being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat. Nevertheless we, according to
his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that
ye look for such things, be diligent that ye be found of him, in peace
without spot and blameless. My friend, if the fact that God
in His free grace has appointed you and me, who
deserve nothing but His wrath, if He has appointed us not to
wrath, but to obtain salvation through the death of His Son. That doesn't constrain us. That doesn't motivate us to a life that's honoring to
Him. We know nothing about grace. When we open our mouths on this
earth, it ought to be to praise Him
and thank Him. It ought not to be to murmur
or complain or all this other stuff. Our whole conversation,
it ought not to be filled with the things of this world. I mean,
you can go in the workplace tomorrow morning and hear the same stuff. You can go there and hear the
filthy jokes. You can go there and hear the
criticisms and the complaints of everything that's going on.
You can go there. Is there any difference in us? Not of ourselves. But if God has not appointed
us to rant. But He's appointed us to obtain
salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord by His death, and so
secured it so that whether we wake or whether we sleep, we're
going to live with Him. That doesn't motivate us to follow
Him. I don't know what will. You go home this afternoon and
you take your Bible and you read Ephesians 5. Ephesians 1 starts out with this
same clear, free grace and mercy in Christ. Keep on reading and read chapter
5. That not only what He commands
us to do, what He commands us not to do, and how He commands
us to be, if we've been appointed to salvation. God help us. He's the only one that can. Our Father, this day we give
you thanks and praise for that salvation that is in the Lord
Jesus Christ, who did not simply desire our salvation,
but who humbled himself, took on human flesh, made in every
way like we are, sin excluded, that He might die, that awful
death of the cross, suffer that shame that we were due, endure
that separation from God that we deserved, pour out His blood
for such wretches as we are. Help us, Lord, to know this assurance
of grace, and help us to know the obedience of grace, that
in all things you might be glorified, as you save a peculiar people
who are to be zealous of good works. For we pray and thank you and
ask you in Christ's name, Amen.