I seldom begin a message by addressing
any individual, but I just got off the phone a few moments before
we began speaking with a dear brother, Jay Holzhauser, who
lives in the Raleigh area and who will listen to this message
on the Free Grace Radio. He's been diagnosed with a condition
very hard for anyone to face. And I can't imagine all the ways
and the directions his mind and emotions are being pulled in
these days. And others of you here facing
things that I can't imagine where you're at. The beautiful thing is, for Jay, I know that his heart
is anchored. in Christ. Mind is one thing,
emotions is another thing, but his heart is anchored in Christ. And Jay knows even in this, he
can afford to trust God. Fools have to curse God at a
time like this. Believers are brought to trust
him. knowing that He can't do wrong. So to Jay and to all the rest
of us, I trust the Lord will use the message today to strengthen
us and help us as we pass through this world of sin and sorrow.
I've entitled this message, Cherished and Chosen. In spite of men's ignorance religious
preferences, and bottom line, hatred of God in His sovereignty, I know of no truth so comforting
to God's children than this. He hath done for us
what we need. He never said, you do it. You
make me proud. You make me smile. No, he said,
it is finished. I've done it. I've done it. Notice the first word we read
in verse 13 is the conjunction, but. a joining word, it means
now the other side of the story. We spoke last week on the earlier
part of this chapter, anti-Christ, which means against Christ. Satan, in all his efforts to
destroy and oppose God on every hand, and Adam's fallen race
in general given to deception, loving unrighteousness and not
loving the truth, and given by God a strong delusion
that they might believe a lie and be damned justly. The only exception to this universally is God's cherishing and choosing
from eternity and elect people for His namesake whom He calls
His people, His children, His elect. Chosen to salvation. So we have in the first part
of the chapter Satan opposing God And then sinners fitted for judgment,
which all God has to do to leave any sinner fitted for judgment
is to just leave us alone. Leave us alone. All it would
take and all it would have taken for you to go to hell is for
God to leave you alone. You wouldn't have had it any
other way. But then we come this morning
to the beautiful part of the chapter. Saints certain for salvation. Sin has put us all in the first
part of this chapter. But, that's the big word, but
God. It's saying what Satan and sin
have done is not all there is. God has done something. And that's what we praise Him
for this morning. But, on the other hand, nevertheless,
here's the rest of the story. Now this first part of verse
13, but we are bound to give thanks always to God for you." It's one of five times Paul thanks
God for these believers at Thessalonica. In the first epistle preceding
this one, chapter 1 and verse 2, he says, we give thanks to
God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers. Secondly, in 1 Thessalonians
2 and verse 13, for this cause also, thank we God without ceasing. And then still in the first letter,
chapter three in verse nine, for what thanks can we render
to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for
your sakes before our God. And then in this second epistle,
the verse we're at chapter two and verse 13, but we are bound
to give thanks all the way to God for you. And then another
time, uh, I missed it. Chapter one and verse three,
we are bound to thank God always. for you, brethren." It's as if Paul has this emphasis
on his mind and heart. Thank God for you. Now, while
true believers are continually challenged with doubts and discouragement
and even depression, Paul sees our rescue from sin and Satan
as a miracle of God worthy of thanking Him for. Thanking Him
for it continually and repeatedly. Let me just throw this in for
the benefit of some of you. All of us really. Those who boast
of never doubting have nothing to doubt. God's children have a warfare
in our spirit continually. There are those who boast of
never being discouraged. And I wonder if their boasting
is in their deceived mind. to have excelled in pleasing
God in everything by their own commitment and conduct. May I
say, a quickened soul has no such foolish idea. And those who deny that true
believers can get depressed obviously have not a clue concerning what
sin has done to us all. It's a very serious matter. And apart from God's sovereign
grace, man, the crowning act of God's
creation, has gone from most honorable of all the creation
to the most despicable and filthy of all the creation. And while proud-hearted religion
rushes on to its doom, I see this morning and wish I could
more clearly see what a miracle of grace it is that any one of
us is saved. Let me repeat that. Oh, to have
our eyes opened, to be able to see clearly what a miracle of
grace it is that God would come to the likes of you and I. So Paul says, we are bound to
give thanks always to God for you. Why? The next statement
tells us. Beloved, or brethren, Beloved
of the Lord. Brethren, beloved of the Lord.
The Lord said in Jeremiah 31.3, Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love. Blessed good news. Good news. He's saying in spite of what
Satan has done to you, In spite of what sin has done
in you and with you, it changes not my love which I set on you
from eternity and to eternity. Here's what God's done. Satan
got here too late. We look at our lives and think
about all the damage that sin has done and hopefully God will
step in somewhere along the way. Oh no, God was in before any
of it. Satan came too late. Because
before any of that, Paul says, God hath from the beginning. Don't miss that. God hath from
the beginning. Some try to explain that away,
saying that it means from the beginning of your hearing and deciding to accept Christ.
Upon that basis, God chose you. Oh, no. From the beginning must
be interpreted in the light of Ephesians 1 and 4, according
as He God the Father hath chosen us who believe in Him, in Christ,
before the foundation of the world. God knew exactly where He was
headed before He ever hung the stars. Acts 15 and 18, and I quote this
to you pretty often. Known unto God are all His works
from the beginning of the world. He hadn't decided on anything
since you've been here. That's how important you are. So what is it God did from the
beginning? from the beginning chosen you to salvation. And the you here, Paul is writing
initially to the Thessalonian believers, but written by divine
inspiration, part of God's holy word, it's all believers. Paul is not saying to all Adam's
race, God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. That's
what some preach. And if that were true, then God's
an extreme failure. Because so many have perished
in their sins and so many are perishing yet in their sin. The proud hearted. Free will
ism. So prevalent today. Says God
chose us. on the basis of looking down
through the pages of time and seeing that we'd choose Him.
Therefore, He chose us. And what that does? That makes
us the author of our salvation, not Him. But that freewillism really hangs
itself. If God looked ahead and saw deftly
what you do, your will is not free to change that. It has to occur. It was fixed
back yonder somewhere by someone, but it wasn't you. You were back
there to do it. It's in accordance with Ephesians
1.9, having made known unto us the mystery of His will according
to His good pleasure wherein He hath purposed in Himself. In the mind and purpose of God.
It was all there. God's the only one who was back
there to purpose anything. It's in accordance with Romans
8, 29. I'm giving you lots of scriptures now. For whom He did
foreknow. Not what, but whom He did foreknow. He also did predestinate. That is, predetermine the destination. And what is it? To be conformed
to the image of His Son. It's all in accordance with 1
Thessalonians 5, 9. For God hath not appointed us
to wrath. Paul is writing to believers.
That's who the us is. God hath not appointed us to
wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. It's
all in accordance with James 1, 18. Of His own will begat
He us. We're saved this morning because
He wanted to save us. If you're one of God's children,
you're thrilled to death about that. He purposed so long before we ever wanted
Him to do it. It's all in accordance with Ephesians
1.11, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will." You say, this is strange stuff.
No, this is the Bible. This is the teaching of God's
Word. This is all about Him getting your attention. Not Him being impressed with
something you did. God forbid, if he could be impressed
with something you did, it sure wouldn't be much to him. He's impressed with what he did
in his son. Now this morning, you can go
somewhere, you can go most anywhere, matter of fact, and sit and be
told Sunday after Sunday how to go about twisting God's arm
and getting him to save you. This Bible says he does so because
he wants to. Or else you'll perish. You can't talk him into it. And Paul doesn't say here, we thank you because you chose
God. How special you are. No, he says
we thank God because He chose you. It's all in accordance with 2
Timothy 1.9. You can't argue with God's Word.
I'm just reading it. He has saved us and called us
within holy calling. Not according to our words, but
according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. I repeat, the devil got
here too late. We got here too late to make a decision, as you'll
be encouraged to do a lot of places. Our Father Adam made the decision
for us. And by nature, we're all like
Him, preferring to run from God, not to Him. Some of you this morning are
still running from God instead of to Him. You don't even have a clue really
why you're even here today. I hope the Lord's got something
better in mind than you do. But the Lord has you here. You
better think about that. He has you here. The Bible is full of this, full
of this. And you're better off to believe
this, God's Word, than listen to so many that try
to explain it away. Election. Chosen. God's people. Don't accuse God
of being unfair. If He stopped it fair, we'd all
go to hell. That would be fair. That's what Paul is saying here. I thank God He went beyond fair. And He chose you in His Son from
eternity to be His child. To not perish in your sins. to not be damned like those in
the first part of this chapter. And then you and I came along
and every last one of us have perfectly proved that we deserve
to be damned. But God purposed something else. We live in the so-called Bible
belt. for those of you that didn't know it. You hardly ever hear
that term anymore. And the reason, I guess, is because
we live in the so-called Bible belt that don't believe the Bible. They claim to be fundamental,
Bible-believing, and at the same time, begging
you to give God a chance. God don't need a chance. He's
decreed His will and He's working His will. That's what all these
verses I've given you are saying. Ephesians 1.11, He's working
all things according to the counsel of His own will. Who tells God what to do? Nobody. Isaiah the prophet. Isaiah 46,
9 and 10. I am God and there is none else. None else. Religion says, oh yes, there's
you. It's all up to you. God can only
do what you let Him do. Here's what He said. For I am
God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning. He's not making up his mind about
anything along the way. Declaring the end from the beginning,
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying,
My counsel shall stand, And I will do all my pleasure. That is God Almighty saying to
Burger King and all the rest of us, I'll have it my way. They say, have it your way. God
says, I'll have it my way. I can't find that God is struggling
anywhere with anyone. Never has, never will. Now, what did God do to secure
and make absolutely certain that these whom He had chosen would
be saved? Well, He tells us in this verse,
first, through sanctification of the
Spirit. That means set apart. Set apart. It is God who took you, and you,
and you, and you, and you. It is He that kept you from living and dying just like
a whole bunch of heathens you grew up with. He set you apart. When did He do this? When you
decided you would be a nice person? Oh no, He couldn't wait that
long. From eternity. Set apart. Chosen in Christ. Sanctification. It's the work of the Spirit of
God. Paul is not thanking you and
I for anything. He's thanking God for these miracles
of grace. I know a lot of folks want to
make this sanctification business your work. In other words, you quit cussing
out loud and you quit this and you quit that and you become
more and more religious and finally, you get yourself sanctified. Paul says here, it's the work
of the Spirit of God through sanctification of the Spirit. He said in 1 Thessalonians 4,
3 that our sanctification is God's will. Then he said we're
to know how to possess our vessel in sanctification and honor. Not to do it for yourself, but
to have a keen consciousness of what God has done in sending His Spirit to live in
us. Not sanctify yourselves, but
behave ourselves in sanctification, which the Spirit of God has accomplished. 1 Peter 1.2, elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification
of the Spirit. There it is, it's His work. 1
Corinthians 1.30, but of Him, that is of God, are ye in Christ
Jesus, who is made unto us for things, 1 Corinthians 1.30 Wisdom Righteousness
Who wants a wisdom of your own making? Righteousness Who wants a righteousness
of your own making? Sanctification What fool wants
a sanctification of your own making? And Redemption Who wants a redemption
of your own making? Christ has made all this to us. We are sanctified, set apart
in Christ. When? When we chose Him? No,
when He chose us. Paul says here, He chose us to salvation. God's election itself, His choosing,
is not salvation, but it is unto salvation. It's His purpose. It's His decree.
It's His determination. It shall be done. It's done through first, sanctification
of the Spirit. And then in the end of verse
13, belief of the truth. What truth? Not the truth of what most preachers
say you must do, but the truth of what God has
done in Jesus Christ. One great preacher said, the
Gospel message, the good news is not do, do, do. It's done,
done, done. He sent His Son. His beloved
Son, sinless, righteous, to be made sin for us, to shed His blood and die for someone. And if you can't believe it,
it's not for you. But if you can believe it, it's
God's gift to you. And for you. How did God see to it that you
believed? And yet multitudes as intelligent
as you are don't believe. How did this happen? Here's the
answer. Again, it's God's doing. Philippians
129 it is given unto you to believe. You don't believe by effort. Too many things we want to believe
and we say, I just can't make myself believe that about him
or her. Believing is not by effort. And that's what Paul said, it
is given you to believe. We can't even do that for ourselves. Or you can listen to this crowd
that says, oh, it's simple. It's simple. All you've got to
do is believe. All you've got to do is believe. You can jump over the moon. Does
that mean you can do it? No. It's given. It's a gift. No wonder Paul said in 2 Corinthians
5, verse 18, and all things are of God. He's the only one that's done
anything right. "...who hath reconciled us unto
Himself by Jesus Christ." Paul is really saying there's
nothing to pat yourself on the back about. Your religious effort is not
necessary. And your self-esteem is not the
issue. We all think plenty enough of
ourselves. Paul says, what I think of you is beautiful,
but it's because of what he's done for you, not what you've
done for him. And this morning, to you that
know and love the Lord, I thank God for you. You're beautiful. But I thank Him not for what
you've made yourself. That's ugly. But I thank Him for you because
of what He's done, what He's made you. So in the context of
this chapter, while the unbelieving world is perishing in sin and
deception and self-made religion, God is saving his people. Bless
his holy name.