Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to the second epistle of Paul
the Apostle to the Thessalonians. And we'll read from our text
in chapter 2, verses 13 and 14. Chapter 2, verses 13 and 14. But 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 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. to Thessalonians chapter 2 verse
13 and 14. The Apostle Paul having written
to the Thessalonians his first epistle from Corinth, which was
to address their fears that their loved ones that had passed away,
that they had perished, And he said before them in the fourth
chapter of how that the Lord would come again and would bring
those that were asleep with him, those that slept in Jesus, and
how that the Lord would descend from heaven with a shout, and
those of us alive and remain, we would be caught up with them
in the air. Now the Thessalonians had taken
from his first epistle that the day of the Lord was nigh at hand,
and so some of them were not working, they were just waiting
for the coming of the Lord. It's interesting to note here
in the inspired word of God, a word from the Apostle Paul
in a letter, it can be not only as a comfort, but misused or
misapplied, not understood, and he needs to send another letter
to correct how they were interpreting the first one. And we can have
that as well. We could receive something through
the ministry of the Word, maybe through reading the Word of God,
and we take this line of thought or this way that we believe that
the Scriptures are teaching us, But that is not what is being
taught, and we need to have it counted by other scriptures and
other parts of the world. So the apostle then sends another
letter, this is from also Corinth, and this time he's addressing
this. He says that we are not to think
that the day of the Lord is very nigh at hand. We think of the
beginning of this chapter, He says in verse 2 that he be not
soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit nor by word
nor by letter as from us. He's referring to his first letter
in the things that he said as that the day of Christ is at
hand. So he has to tell them very clearly
that it is not. Let no man deceive you by any
means. For that day shall not come,
except their comer falling away first, that the man of sin be
revealed, the son of perdition. Now, the various thoughts on
these passages here, some of the commentators, they feel it's
not an individual, but it is Rome. And of course, you find
many of the Puritans and those that lived
in the time when Rome was so strong, and it still is, of course,
that they interpreted many of these things as Rome. But I believe the truth is we
do not know, and we need to be very careful as to saying, well,
this is referring to applying to this or that. We just need
to compare the scriptures with what is happening at the present
time. But what is the important thing
about this passage is whoever and whatever it is that is being
made manifest is opposite to God, is a deceiver, leaves away
from God, and those that are deceived by him are described
in it as those that do not receive the, in verse 10, they have not
received the love of the truth that they might be saved. So
if we are to escape being deceived, If we are not to be amongst those
led away with the error of the wicked, then our prayer should
be, Lord, that we might receive the love of the truth, and that
through that we might be saved. And we have a further illustration
just before our text, those that God gives them a strong delusion
that they might believe a lie, that they all might be damned
who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
They were living ungodly, unrighteous lives. And so the message is
just as much to us as the Thessalonians. The Lord is not imminently coming,
but like them, we are to wait and to look for his appearing.
No man knowing what day or hour the Lord should come. But we
also need to be found as those that are walking in the truth
and love the truth. And then we do not need to fear
whatever is coming. The Lord's coming, or the wicked
one, or Satan as an angel of light, is a blessing to receive
and know the truth. Well, our text then begins with
a but. but we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you." So he goes from those warnings and
those that shall not be saved, those that shall be deceived,
he comes back to them who he had been speaking of in the first
chapter, those who had been called and those who had been blessed,
and he gives thanks for them. We are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord." What a beautiful
thing. The apostle here is seeing brethren,
he's seeing those that he knows are the Lord's people, and he
gives thanks for them. You wonder how often in our prayers
we think of the brethren and we give thanks for them. Give
thanks for those who minister the word, those who are the elders,
those who are the deacons, those who we meet with, we speak with,
we see the mark of God's people. When was the last time in our
prayers we gave thanks to God for them? And especially, this
is apostle, this is a minister, this is a word to us as ministers. Do we give thanks for those that
hear? and are blessed under the word
that we preach, because that is what the apostle is doing. He is giving thanks to God for
them. Well, I want to, this evening,
look at the cause of thanksgiving as our first point. He says, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation. And then in our second point,
how the apostle could see that they were chosen. How did he
know that? And we have that in the context
here, and we may gather from the first chapter as well. And
then thirdly, what this, or what their calling was untrue. which is in the 14th verse, run
to record you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ. That was the aim, that was the
end, that was what it was unto. So then firstly, I want to look
at the cause of thanksgiving to God for these Thessalonians. because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. Now it's not usual that we would
begin with election, we would begin with the choice of God,
we usually emphasize the calling, but the apostle here has, and
we look at this in the second point, he's seen their calling,
he is able to look beyond that calling and to what was in eternity
past. And in one way, our text, it
looks back to, in eternity past, it looks back to the election
and choice of the people of God and looks forward to their glorification
and to the glory of God to be shown in them. But he has discerned
of what is upon these people goes much further beyond today,
or their life, or what even he could see. But it had a much
greater foundation to it. Those of us that may know perhaps
of building work, if we were to see a building, certainly
in some types of ground, we might see the top of the building,
but we might then realize that below in the foundations, there
is much, much more. Some of our brethren up in Swayvesey,
the house that they built had to have concrete columns that
were some, I think, 15 meters deep underneath their house to
get onto solid ground before they could lay the foundation.
of the house. Very, very different than we
might think of this chapel, that I think the foundations are just
some heavy lumps of timber laid along, just resting on the ground.
And yet it has stood for some 300 years. But very different
in foundations. But we may look at something,
and we just see the building. If we know what has gone on before
it, then that is the cause of Thanksgiving. Maybe it is a,
we can look even, not to the foundation, but say a piece of
land or a building that has been built, and you realize that there's
been so much gone before, when the first temple was built. There's
a realizing here was the blessing for David, Here was these promises
that were made to him. Solomon should build the temple,
the temple is built. But he's not just given thanks
for the temple, he's given thanks for God fulfilling his word and
bringing to pass what he said. He would raise up Solomon and
the temple would be built. And those who were spiritual,
they would give thanks looking even beyond that because the
temple is setting forth our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. So
they would praise concerning that. And so often, there's a
lot more under the surface that might be given thanks for. We
might have a young person and they graduate from university
and they get a degree. And there's lots that have got
degrees. But for that person, The family and those that know
them are really giving thanks and giving praise. And you say,
well, they've all got degrees. Yes, that's it. But if you knew
that person, if you knew the accident that had, if you knew
the injuries that they had, if you knew what they've come through
to get to this stage, then you'd realize how much more we are
giving thanks. And so you can discern in something
like that is not just looking at what is there, for it's understanding
what has gone before. And of course, the Thessalonians
here, not only had he viewed and he gives thanks for their
being chosen, they're chosen in Christ. And it is inseparable
that he must suffer, bleed and die for them, because the Lord
said, Thine they were and thou gavest them me. The Lord took
them as their surety. He would stand in their place.
He would suffer, bleed, and die for them. He loved them, and
so He came and He died for them. And where that election is discerned,
everything is bound up with that. The eternal, everlasting love
of God. All of the promises, yea and
amen in Christ. all of the types and the shadows
that pointed to Christ, all of his coming, the Lord always had
in mind his people, always had in mind those that he'd been
given to redeem, those that he came to save, those that would
be with him forever in glory. And so when the apostle sees
these, and he sees that God hath from the beginning, from the
foundation of the world, chosen in Christ from the foundation
of the world, chosen you to salvation, chosen to be saved, saved from
hell and saved to heaven. Saved from our sins, his name
shall be called Jesus, for he shall save us from our sins.
It is the salvation of God that encompasses all that a sinner
needs, for his debt to be paid at Calvary, for a robe of righteousness
to be given him to fit him for heaven, a complete deliverance,
not half, full salvation of the Lord. We are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. Noticing
this, they are beloved of the Lord. The Lord has loved them.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his
life for his friends. It is the everlasting love of
God that brought the Lord to this world, to suffer, bleed,
and die. Having loved his own, he loved
them unto the end. It is love then that calls them,
and this is what the apostle had seen their calling. And so
he goes right back to where their salvation began, where the Lord
first took their cause in hand, the very root of it. And that
is a good thing for us, a good strengthening thing to do, because
if we go back there, and then Satan comes in and tries to undermine
halfway along the work of God, you can say, how can he do that?
because God has already done it before. This is a work that
goes from the foreknowledge of God, to the predestinating of
God, to the calling of God, and then looks forward to the glorification
of his people. The doctrine of election should
not be abused, or the foreknowledge of God abused to make people
fatalistic. or say, what will happen will
happen. If I'm chosen, I'm chosen. If
I'm not, I'm not. If I'm one of the Lords, then
I'll be saved. If I'm not, then I'll be damned.
There's nothing I can do about it. That should never be the
case. The Lord has commissioned us
to preach the gospel in all the world. And we do not know, the
Apostle Paul did not know, who the elect was at all, who God's
chosen were. He knew it by the effects of
the preaching, and those things we'll look in our second point. But when he does know it, then
he doesn't just give thanks for what he actually sees. He gives
thanks for what what he sees means. What is at the root of
it? And how great, how mighty that
is. I want to just try and convey
the difference of looking at just something that is now, and
then looking at all that goes before it, and how much more
there is to give thanks. And if we don't do that, then
we're only giving thanks for a small thing, as it were. We're
not really appraising what has been done, what has been accomplished. And so, May we note this, this
cause of thanksgiving, whenever we see and recognize and know
the Lord's people, that we do the same. We give thanks to God
for them. And the reason, God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation. What a different way of looking,
looking at the Lord's people, looking at the brethren, God
has chosen you to salvation. That's the foundation. That's
where all the blessings come from. The everlasting love of
God. I want to look then, secondly,
at how the apostle could see they were chosen. There's two main points to bring
from this. The first is that they were called
under his preaching. In verse 14 we read where unto
he called you by our gospel. He called you by our gospel. The Lord had commissioned his servants to go into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature. Tarry at Jerusalem
until ye be endued with power on high. We know from the account
of Jonah why Jonah ran away. He says why he ran away. If God
was going to send a preacher, he was going to give them repentance. He joined the two together. The
Lord doesn't, you might say, waste his servants. He doesn't
send them somewhere and there's none of God's people there. Where
he sends a servant and keeps them there, it is that the Lord
has a people still in that place. And that is a great encouragement
for us. Now we know, then if that is
the truth, then There will be those signs following the preaching
of the Word. Not every one of the Lord's servants
is called to be a planter, some water. Some of those that baptise,
the Apostle Paul says, God sent me not to baptise, but to preach
the Gospel. So each have a different work
to do, but they may expect the Lord's blessing. upon the word
and to see it and to recognize it. When the Apostle Peter was
preaching at Pentecost, he knew he recognized the coming of the
Holy Spirit. He also was witness, not only
of the miraculous speaking in different languages and interpreting
them, but as he preached that they were pricked in their hearts.
we sung in our middle hymn, that with men they are not willing
to have the truth told, the sight is too killing for pride to behold. And yet they were charmed with
the crucifixion and murder of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who
was delivered by the determinate counsel and full knowledge of
God, he have taken and by wicked hands crucified and slain. And they were pricked in their
hearts. It seems hardly a word to describe what they must have
felt as they realized what they had done. And yet the apostle, he saw that.
And when they said, what must we do? Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and be baptized, thou shalt be saved. And he'd witnessed
that. Ten years later, he was called
to preach to the Gentiles. And again he preached, simply
setting forth the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
he saw again the Holy Spirit effect in the miracle of the
speaking of languages, but also how that they believed the word
that was preached. We read of the difference when
They were preaching at one time, we are told, that some believed
the word preached and some believed not. And then in another occasion,
as many as were ordained unto eternal life, believed. And again,
the apostle is looking as he's preaching, and he sees those
that believe and some didn't believe, and he said, those that
are believing, they were ordained unto eternal life. That is why
they believed. They were chosen in Christ. That
is why the Word is effectual with them, because it's not sent
by man, it's sent by the Holy Spirit, who is the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is the executor of His own will. The Kingdom of
God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that
are His. And because He knows them, that
Word will effectually find them be blessed. You think of Philip. The Holy Spirit told him to go
out into the desert. There he met the eunuch in the
chariot, and God had already given him his text because the
eunuch was already reading in Isaiah 53. The eunuch already
had that desire, whom speaketh the prophet this of himself,
some other man? Philip, he preached unto him
Jesus, he that was led as a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep
before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. The setting forth of a crucified
Saviour. And the Lord blessed that word.
The eunuch desired to be baptised, and the confession that was required
of him Dost thou believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? I believe
that Jesus is the Son of God. And that was his confession. And Philip knew he'd been the
preacher. He'd been sent to that man. He
didn't only rely upon that man's confession. He could see the
providences that had brought them together. He could see his
text being given. He could see all that had happened
to make that bring together of a preacher to a hearer, and that
word being blessed. And so the apostle could see
this. He could notice this, that in
some cases, and certainly when he'd first come to the Thessalonians,
when the gospel was first preached to them, some believed, when
read it in Acts, But others, they rose up against, they persecuted. The Jews hated the apostle and
they had to flee from them for a season. It's referenced in
these epistles how that they were persecuted in chapter, in
verse four, in chapter one, so that we ourselves glory in you,
in the churches of God, for your patience and faith in all your
persecutions and tribulations that you endure. So the apostle
had seen that the fruit of their his preaching had brought them
to believe and be persecuted for it and still believe and
still hold on the way. And so this is not just a man
saying, well, it's because it was my ministry that was used.
But God does use his servants to discern that The word that
they preach in some cases to some is not effectual, but others
it is. And when they see that difference,
like the apostle here, he says clearly, whereunto he called
you by our gospel. And here is, of course, the evidence
of election, calling, the new birth, quickened into divine
life. He says, when writing to the
Philippians, give diligence to make your calling and election
sure. Calling first shows forth election. And the calling is part of that
beautiful chain in Romans 8. Whom he did foreknow, them he
also did predestinate. Whom he did predestinate, them
he also called, and whom he called. then he also justified, and whom
he justified, then he also glorified. And it's a beautiful chain, and
the center link, as it were, is the calling. And we look back
and we look forward from that point. And so this is what the
apostle was looking to, and seeing what had happened. Sinners had
been called. My sheep, they hear my voice,
and they follow me. Samuel did not yet know the Lord,
but the Lord met with him, Samuel, Samuel. He called him, and he
brought to know his voice and to follow after him. The Lord's
people, they come from not knowing the Lord to knowing him, from
not hearing his voice to hearing his voice, from being dead in
trespasses and sins to be quickened into divine life. And so he can
say of these Thessalonians that they were called, he called you,
not I called you, he called you, God called you by our gospel. Many saying our gospel, it is
the gospel that was preached by them. The gospel of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ. how that Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners, that men were dead in sins. They had
incurred eternal wrath and the justice of God upon them. But
God provided a surety that when they had nothing to pay, those
chosen people, he said, I will pay. I will pay their debt. I will redeem them. I will set
them free. And so like the children of Israel
in Egypt, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Nine great
signs in Egypt, and they were still in bondage, still not set
free. As soon as the blood was shed,
then they were set free. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. And so is the gospel of our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ, the substitutionary offering, the
Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world, that he is through
his death and through his resurrection, he is preached the forgiveness
of sins, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
should have eternal life. So that is the first thing. As he had preached the gospel,
that he had set forth the Lord Jesus Christ and lifted him up,
there were those that believed on him. and that they were called
by him. The second main point is that
they were sanctified. That is set apart in verse 13. We read, from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. And so sanctified in this context
is not an outward thing, although the outward will accompany it,
a change of life, of purity, holiness, but it is a setting
apart, a setting apart from the world. The Lord has chosen his
people out of the world, come ye out from among them, touch
not the unclean thing and I will receive you. And it is a setting
apart, primarily in the heart. It is a work of the heart. It's
a spring of a complete change and renewing of that whole being,
a new creature in Christ Jesus. All things are passed away, all
things are become new. As much as the Apostle is looking
to election as to the spring and the foundation of every blessing,
He is now looking at a heart work that is the spring of every
fruit and every work that shall be seen in that person's life. He's not just looking at outward
deeds which may be imitated by those not the Lord's, but looking
at how they are performed from the heart. And so there's three
things that flow from this as well. It is by the Spirit, sanctification
of the Spirit. Now where the Spirit's work is,
it's a holy work. As he which hath called you is
holy, be ye holy in all manner of conversation. That is what
marks it out. We think of those that were spoken
of before in verse 12, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
In other words, they were not holy, they were living ungodly
and unholy lives, but that work of calling of the Spirit is,
as the Spirit is, a holy calling, and it separates from everything
that is unholy in this world, and it brings holiness as a stamp
in the heart. Work by the Holy Spirit of God. God's work that is disowned. The second thing is that it is
a belief of the truth, through sanctification of the spirit
and belief of the truth. You might say, what is the truth? That is what Pilate asked, what
is truth? He was being told one thing by
the Jews, the Lord was setting forth another, He asked, what
is truth? The Lord Jesus Christ had testified
in John 14, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh
unto the Father but by me. And we can define truth, really,
as that which is a reality viewed by God himself. And the only
way we know that is in the word of God. If we were to look out
to sea, and you see two ships that seem to be sailing towards
each other, and you hold your breath, and you think they're
going to hit, and then you keep looking, and then you see they
pass, and one goes away, and another goes away, and you think,
well, why didn't they hit? Because from my view, it looked
like they were going straight into each other. But if we were
to look from the air down, then we'd see they're probably two
miles apart. They weren't going to hit. So
our perspective, where we're viewing, does make a big difference. And if we're viewing things from
the world's point of view, if we're viewing things from an
atheistic point of view, viewing things that there is no God and
everything happens by random and by chance, we're going to
view things very differently. But if we view it that the truth
is in Jesus and that the word of God is the word of truth,
the scriptures of truth, and we believe that, then we are
believing the truth, that which is set forth as viewed by God,
how God sees it, how God declares it to be, and especially when
that comes to ourselves, as we sung in that middle hymn. It
is the Word of God that describes how man is fallen, how the heart
is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, and how
that we've all gone our own way, how that all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. We are full of wounds and bruises
and putrefying sorbs. We're all as an unclean thing.
And the Word of God sets forth the truth of what we are. It's
like a mirror that we look into and it describes us, but it also
sets forth the Lord, and it sets forth his salvation as well. And we need that faith, we need
a belief in the truth, and to receive the Word of God. Our
Lord said to those that believed, He said, if ye continue in my
word, ye shall be my disciples indeed. Ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free. The word of truth, the
word of God. Men today, most solemnly, they
do not want to hear the word of God. They do not want the
Bible. They do not want to hear what
God says of them. And we are all the same. And
by nature, we do not want to come to the light, which is the
truth. We don't want to hear what it
says. But those that are chosen, and
those that are called, they are brought to believe in the truth,
to believe in the Word of God, and believe in the truths that
are set forth in it, and to trust that, and to hold fast to that. But it goes even more from that.
And I bring this from the negative of those that perish, because
we're told of them in verse 10, that they received not the love
of the truth, that they might be saved. So it's another step,
it's not just receiving the truth, it's receiving the love of the
truth. To actually love the truth of
God. That it is in the truth of God
that we see hope for ourselves as sinners. That we see God is
justified and yet he can have mercy upon sinners. We marvel
at his plan of salvation. We marvel at the gift of his
beloved son, of his sacrifice on Calvary. And we love those
things. That is not natural. That is
not what the natural man does. And those are precious times.
You may be reading through the Word of God, and you read a text,
you may have read it many times before, but you see a light on
it, you see a truth in that that you hadn't seen before, and your
heart leaps, like the two on the way to Emmaus, their heart
burned within them, while the Lord opened to them the Scriptures.
As text after text, as passage after passage was opened, and
no doubt, Isaiah 53 was one of them. And those appearances of
our Lord, and especially his sufferings in the sacrifices
as setting forth his sufferings and death. And he's brought then
to receive the truth in the love of it. If we love something,
if we love a person, if we love something, it affects all that
we do towards that person. All we do towards even that thing,
if we don't love something, we can easily let it go. We can
easily part with it. And we think of that beautiful
chapter when Paul writes to the Corinthians on the greatest blessing,
the blessing of charity or practical love, real love. And that love
that does not change. Faith will give way to sight. Hope gives rise way to full realization
of that hope, but love will remain eternally. And the truth will
remain eternally. It doesn't pass away. It doesn't
change. And so the Apostle had seen this
in these Thessalonians, He'd seen that they were called unto
his preaching, that they were set apart, that the Holy Spirit
had done a work in their hearts. This wasn't just an intellectual
in their mind, but their whole lives had changed, the whole
spring of what they did were changed. They believed the truths
and they also loved the truths of God. And we think of other
marks that he gives us. He, in the first chapter of the
second epistle, he says, we are bound to thank God always for
your brethren. Verse three, as it is made, because
that your faith groweth exceedingly and the charity or love of every
one of you all toward each other aboundeth. And then he speaks of their patience
and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations. He's viewing
these things and he sees from them a people that have been
loved with an everlasting love, chosen by God. And he sees cause
to give thanks all the way to God for them. There's one last point in the
third point in verse 14. What their calling was unto,
the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here below, the Lord says, this
people have I formed for myself, they shall show forth my praise. Each one that is called, is a
trophy of grace, is a monument of grace, is a miracle of grace. Each one is the fruits and effects
of Christ's eternal choice, his death, his sufferings, and the
whole work of calling. And here is this sinner, and
they are the pinnacle of it here below. Wherever you would see
the glory of God here below, we can see it in creation, we
see his glory, but we read that the Lord delighteth in the habitable
parts of his earth. He delights in his people. That
is where his joy and his glory is. That is his inheritance and
no greater Glory can be seen than a sinner called by grace
here below. No greater blessing or evidence
of the eternal love and favour of God is that God has snatched
a brand from the burning, that he has placed a person amongst
his children, that he has made them to be placed in the church
of God and amongst his dear people. And here below, that is their
glory. That is what they show for the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in their lives. Despised by the
world, rejected by the world, and maybe as they feel their
own sinnership, like the Apostle Paul who says, I'm not worthy
to be an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. And each of
the people of God, they feel their own sin and unworthiness,
but as the apostle, knowing what the Lord is doing in his people,
he looks on others, he sees the work, and he sees this, the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that of course then translates
to the glory above, obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. That is, to be brought to heaven,
and there to be part of that eternal throne, and there to
be part of those of which the Lord says, Behold I and the children
whom thou hast given me. These are the same people that
I chose. These are the same people that
I died for on Calvary. These are the same people that
I called. These are now with me eternally.
And there's not one left behind. There's not one missed out. All
of them have had a part in every part of that chain. And this
is to the honor and glory of God. Where would His glory be
if there could be said, yes, but there's one. There's one
that you chose. There's one that you died for,
but you forgot to call them. they weren't called, they're
not here. Where would the glory of God
be? But there's none left out. That kingdom of God does stand
sure, having the seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his, and
every one is precious. If it is said that precious in
the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints, The Lord
is putting such a blessing on his saints, on his people. These
are my people, and here they are, they're parting from this
life, where they show my glory by the grace that I've given
them. And now I'm taking them to be with me, and they shall
see my glory that thou hast given me. Thou lovest me from the foundation
of the world, and that glory they shall see. in heaven. What a prospect, a blessing it
is. There can be no greater blessing
and glory than being a sinner saved by grace and to be called
by God here because of how much is bound up with that. And it
is to the praise and glory of God and a cause of thanksgiving
when we see the Lord's people called like this. May the Lord
number us amongst them, may be our prayer and desire to be found
amongst them, and that we might value the blessings and evidence
of calling ourselves, despising not the day of small things.
It is not to our honour and glory, it is to God's honour and glory
and to his praise that we give him the praise and give him the
purchase of his own precious blood. You are not your own,
you are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your
body and in your spirit which are his.