Good morning. Let's open this
morning's service with hymn number 442 from your hardback hymn book,
442. Praise hymn, praise hymn. Let's all stand together. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus,
our blessed Redeemer. Sing, O earth, His wonderful
love proclaim. Hail Him, hail Him, highest archangels
in glory. Strength and honor give to His
holy name. Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard
His children. In His arms, He carries them
all day long. Praise Him, praise Him, of His
excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. For our sins He suffered and
bled and died. He our rock, our hope of eternal
salvation. ? Hail Him, hail Him, Jesus the
crucified ? Sound His praises, Jesus who bore our sorrows ?
Love unbounded, wonderful, deep, and strong ? Praise Him, praise
Him, tell of His excellent greatness Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus,
our blessed Redeemer. Heavenly portals, loud with hosannas
ring. Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever
and ever. Crown Him, crown Him, prophet
and priest and king. Christ is coming. over the world victorious, power
and glory under the Lord belong. Praise Him, praise Him, tell
of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful song. Please be seated. Good morning. Will you join me in prayer? Our merciful Heavenly Father. The hope that you've put in our
hearts this morning is that we would be able to praise you.
To tell of thy wonderful works. And to declare thy wonderful
name. Lord, we are completely dependent
upon you for that end. We ask that you would send your
Holy Spirit in power. We pray that you would open the
eyes of our understanding. We pray that you would give to
us the gift of faith. She will cause us to to see thy
dear son. Lord, to have the hope of knowing
that our sins have been put away. That we have not only acceptance,
but we have sonship. We have union with thee so that
as Christ is, so are we. Oh Lord, what, what comfort,
what joy, what peace. We ask that you'd be merciful
to us. We pray it in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen. Good morning again. I want to
welcome the Moyer family. You all know I went to Pennsylvania
a few weeks ago, and they're part of that group, and they're
down here visiting with us, and we're so thankful to have them. They know all of you all, because
they've been watching our services for a long time, but you don't
know them, so hope you'll make the effort to get to know them
more. Robert, so good to have you home, have you back. We missed
you, brother. And Robert's still weak, but
here, and we're very thankful for you. Lauren Culver's father,
Dan Culver, who pastors the church in Wheelersburg, Ohio, where
Charlie Pennington used to pastor, is in the hospital. Lauren's
at his side. He's scheduled for a quadruple
bypass on Tuesday. And I spoke to him yesterday
and seemed to be in good spirits. So I told him that we would be
praying for him, and I hope that Lord will remind us of that and
enable us to intercede for the Culver family. All right, we're
going to begin this morning in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. Those of you that have been with
us know that we went verse by verse through 1 Thessalonians
recently, and now we'll go to 2 Thessalonians. But before we do, I want us to
go back to Acts chapter 17. So if you'll mark 2 Thessalonians
and then turn with me in your Bibles to Acts 17. This is the
account that the Holy Spirit has given to us. of when the
Apostle Paul went to Thessalonica in preaching the gospel and the
establishment of the church that took place there and the reaction
of the Jews in Thessalonica and the persecution that came against
the apostles and against the church as a result of the gospel. Now later on in Acts chapter
17 Paul leaves Thessalonica under duress and travels south to Berea
and preaches the gospel in Berea and the Jews there received the
word more nobly, the scripture says, than did the Jews in Thessalonica. Remember, he says that the Bereans
were more noble in that they received the word with joy and
searched the scriptures to see whether what he preached was
true. Don't misunderstand that the
Thessalonians didn't receive the word with joy or search the
scriptures to see whether the things that Paul was preaching
was true. The believers did. This is a reference to those
unbelieving Jews. And when the unbelieving Jews
in Thessalonica found out that Paul had gone to Berea, they
followed him and they stirred up problems in Berea as a result
of the gospel. uh... and uh... that's always
the case wherever the gospels preached uh... the enemies of
the gospel are going to react in opposition to the truth and
uh... you'll see that in your own family
uh... you'll see that in the community
and uh... the lord said don't be surprised
uh... they hated the master they're
gonna hate the servants uh... this gospel message exposes men
for what they are, and reveals their hypocrisy. And so men by
nature, who the Lord doesn't save, hate the gospel. They hate it, and they'll do
whatever they can to silence the voice of the gospel. So in Acts chapter 17, now when
they had passed through Amphibolus and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica,
where was a synagogue of the Jews. Paul's practice was that
whenever he went to a new place, he always went to the synagogue
first. Why? Because those Jews had the scriptures. And he intended to show them
that that the lord jesus christ was the the the promised messiah
from the old testament scriptures there paul says in romans he
says what benefit is it to be a jew much in every way they
have oracles of god uh... they've been given that the message
of the gospel in the word of god and so he always begins there
uh... besides that the lord said uh...
that he came first for the jews and then for the gentiles and
soul The pattern was to always preach the gospel to those who
had the scriptures, and then when they rejected the gospel,
go out to the Gentiles and preach the gospel there. So that's what
he did. And when, as his manner was,
he went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them
out of the scriptures. That's what we're doing. We reason
with men out of the Scriptures. The Scriptures are our sole authority. And we just declare what God
has said. And those whom the Lord is pleased
to have mercy on, rejoice in hearing and believing what God
has said. We don't defend our position
with reason. We don't defend our position
with history or with confessions or with the position of any other
person. We defend the gospel from the
scriptures. We reason with men out of the
scriptures. And the scriptures are, the scripture
says of itself, that the Word of God is quick and powerful
and sharper than any two-edged sword, able to divide asunder
the soul from the spirit and the marrow from the bones and
expose the intents of men's hearts. That's the miracle of the Word
of God. It's powerful. And when God speaks,
God's people hear, and God's people are brought to believe
whatever God says. It's like we said last Sunday,
how much of God's word does one have to believe to be a believer?
Every word of it. Every word of it. God makes you
a believer, you just believe it all. Understand it all? No. No. practice everything that
the scripture says no but believe it yeah god makes you to be a
believer you just believe every word of it and you hang on his
word and that rest the hope of your salvation in the promises
of god made in his word Now, I know what the unbeliever says.
They say, well, you know, the Bible was written by men and
it's been changed over the centuries. We serve a God who's able to
preserve for Himself an infallible testimony. And we believe that
He's done that. and we believe that all scriptures
given by inspiration of god and is profitable to us for doctrine
and for correction for reproof for instruction in righteousness
uh... we believe that it's all god-breathed
and uh... so paul goes to those who have
the scriptures and reasons with them out of the scriptures and
uh... And that was his pattern, and
that pattern hasn't changed. We still do the same thing. What
saith the Scriptures? What does God say? And how many
times we read in the Word of God, Thus saith the Lord, We
don't have to defend it. We don't have to justify it. We just declare it. And let the
gainsayers and the unbelievers justify themselves and call into
question God all they want. We're not here to speak to them.
We're here to speak to God's people. And God's people will
believe it when the Holy Spirit gives them ears to hear. So this was his manner. This
is our manner, hasn't changed. Opening and alleging that Christ
must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead and
that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. He is the Christ, the Messiah,
the Anointed One. the one sent in the full power
of the Spirit of God to accomplish the salvation of His people.
That's what Christ means. Now the religious world will
refer to Jesus as the Christ and then they'll turn right around
and deny the very essence of what it means to be the Christ.
They'll say, well, he offers salvation, or he gives men free
will, or he's somehow swayed by the works of men. No. No, he's the Christ. No Jew that that the problem with the
Jews was not that they that they believed in free will I or they
believed in that they they didn't believe that Jesus was the Christ
that was the problem they didn't believe that he was the Christ If he's the Christ, he reigns
sovereign over the armies of heaven and over all the inhabitants
of the earth. And he hath done whatsoever he
wills, and no man can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest
thou? He's the potter, we're the clay. He reigns sovereign. People talk about making Jesus
Lord of their life. You hear people say that? Well,
I've got a declaration, I've got a truth to tell you this
morning, in case you haven't heard. He is Lord of your life,
whether you want Him to be or not. He reigns sovereign over
all men. Some of them believed and consorted
with Paul and Silas, and of the devout Greeks a great multitude,
and of the chief women not a few." So, the Lord raises up a church. He's got some elect Jews and
priests that are there in the synagogue, and they hear, and
they cannot deny the fact that yes, everything Paul's saying
about Jesus of Nazareth is consistent with the revelation that's made
of him all throughout the scriptures. And the Spirit of God gives them
faith to believe the testimony and to believe on Christ. But
the Jews, which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them
certain lewd fellows of a baser sort, and gathered a company,
and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason,
and sought to bring them out to the people. And when they
found them not, they didn't find the apostles. They drew Jason
and certain brethren into the rulers of the city, crying, These
that have turned the world upside down are come hither also." Does
this sound familiar? Is this not exactly what they
did in Jerusalem when they brought certain lewd fellows and brought
testimony against the Lord Jesus Christ, false testimony? And
then later on, when the apostles went out into the synagogue to
preach or into the temple to preach, what did they say? They brought them in before the
Sanhedrin. These men are turning the world upside down. No, they
weren't. No, they weren't. The world was
already upside down. The world is upside down. As
a result of the fall, the world is upside down. Everything in
this world is upside down. The gospel is the only thing
that turns it right side up. But men who are used to walking
around on their hands and seeing everything upside down, when
you turn it right side up, they're confused. And so, this is the
only thing that makes things right. It's the only thing that
makes things right between brethren. It's the only thing that makes
things right between sinners and a holy God. It is the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. but these are the these are the
accusations they they wanted to maintain their position of
power uh... they did not believe that jesus
was the christ and uh... and so they opposed the gospel
and stirred up uh... trouble against the apostles
and against those young believers now these are brand new believers
persecutions coming upon them quickly uh... when Jason hath
received," I'm sorry, verse 7, "...whom Jason hath received,
and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying
that there is another king, one Jesus." Again, does this not
sound familiar? Is this not exactly the accusation
that they made to Pilate when they brought those accusations
against Christ and they said, He's claiming to be king. We
have but one king, Caesar. And they had no loyalty to Caesar. Just with this, this happened
in about 50 AD, 52 AD perhaps. By 66 AD, which was 14 years
later, the Jewish-Roman War broke out. And in 70 AD, Titus came
in and destroyed Jerusalem. and the temple was destroyed. The uprising against Roman occupation
by the Jews was taking place in this day. They hated the Romans. They hated Caesar. They wanted
to do everything possible to deliver themselves from the oppression
of the Roman government. And now what are they doing?
They're accusing the apostles of the very thing that they're
guilty of. They're saying these men are seditious. These men
are trying to overthrow the government. While at the very time they were
the ones who were plotting to overthrow the Roman government. Romans chapter 2 verse 1. Turn
with me there. you find someone now before we
read this verse I can tell you how many times I've been accused
of being judgmental I am and I know that that's probably been
the case for you as well if you stood for the gospel a man say
don't judge lest you be judged I am well the scripture says
that were to make righteous judgments about the truth of the gospel
We're to believe what God has said, and believing what God
has said, we reject everything that's contrary to what God has
said. So that's making a righteous judgment about the truth. We
can't compromise that for the sake of our own salvation. For
the glory of God and for the hope of anyone else's salvation,
we refuse to compromise the gospel. And in so doing, men will say,
well, you're being judgmental. No, we're not. We're judging
the truth. We're trying the spirits to see
whether they be of God. We've been brought to believe
the gospel, and in believing the gospel, we must reject everything
that's contrary to the gospel. so that's not being judgmental
uh... being judgmental is when you
is when you make accusations about someone uh... that are either true of yourself
or you're standing up above someone uh... believing yourself to be
better than them and uh... and believers know believers
know who it is that made them to differ uh... believers know
that what they have they received by grace uh... they didn't deserve
it they didn't earn it they didn't do anything to merit god's favor
uh... believers understand that had
the lord not chosen them they never would have chosen him and
to have the lord not regenerated them and given them faith they
never would have believed they never would have believed Believers
not only believe the scriptures, but they believe themselves to
be the chief of all sinners. They believe that they have no
righteousness. They believe they can't do anything
to merit any favor whatsoever with God. They're completely
dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ to stand in their stead
and to present himself on their behalf. They know that. But what
do the unbelievers... Well, let's read this verse.
Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man... Now, in Romans chapter
1, what does the Lord do? He exposes the sins of the Gentiles. And, uh, as the Jews would have
been reading Romans chapter one, they would have said, yeah, get
them, Paul. You know? Yeah. Tell them that, you know,
that's, that's true that that's exactly how wicked they are.
And now look what the Lord says. He turns the tables on to those
self-righteous Jews who are pointing their fingers outside the church
and saying, look how wicked the world is. And so he says, Therefore
thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art, that judgest.
For wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. For
thou that judgest doeth the same things. So, you're guilty of
these things in your heart. uh... the lord saying to the
jews you remember when the lord said you've heard it said of
all that if you uh... that if you uh... take your neighbor's
wife you committed adultery but i say into you if you lost after
a woman in your heart you and and you've heard it said of all
that uh... that if you kill you're guilty
of murder but i say into you if you have anger toward your
brother without a cause you guilty of murder already in your heart
the lord's judging the heart man looks at the outward appearance
god looks at the heart and that the self-righteous look at another
man's outward appearance and they say look how bad he is and
the Lord saying you got same problem whether it's manifesting
itself in your behavior you've got it in your heart and I'm
looking at your heart I'm looking at your heart so don't stand
in judgment someone else now these Jews and that's all my
car were accusing the brethren of something that they were guilty
of They were the ones who were plotting a coup against the Roman
government. They were the ones who, who,
who, who hated the Romans and who, who despised Caesar's reign. And yet what they say, these
men have come in to disrupt our community. Um, and they, and
they are, they are promoting Jesus as King over Caesar. Now, let's bring it into practical. What accusation do your unbelieving
family members and friends make against you when you stand uncompromised
about the gospel? What accusation do they make? An accusation that they themselves
are guilty of. You think you're better than
me. in that you ever had somebody
say that what do you think you're better you think you the only
people are saying no we'll believe with only people were saved but
we do believe that there's only one way to be safe and because about refusal to
compromise on the gospel they make a personal attack accusing
us of believing ourselves to be better the furthest thing
could be of the truth In fact, the ones who are making that
accusation of us are guilty of that very thing. Why? Because they believe that their
free will merited them salvation. They believe that God made an
offer of salvation to everybody and they had the moral virtue
to make the right decision and to accept Jesus they believe
themselves to be better and those who deny free will are looking
to their behavior as the evidence of their righteousness. I'm talking
about those Reformed people who hold to progressive sanctification. They're looking to their behavior
as the evidence of their righteousness and they're pointing their finger
at us and saying, you all are antinomians. You see, they accuse
us of the very thing that they themselves are guilty of. That's
what the Jews did in Thessalonica. That's what the Lord said here
in Romans chapter 2, verse 1, and that's exactly what happens
today. You see it in politics, don't
you? I mean, it's just human nature. One party will excuse
the behavior of their leaders until the other party does exactly
the same thing. And then they blow it out and
make a big thing out of it, don't they? And it just goes back and
forth. You see men who are standing
in judgment excuse their own behavior and judge other men's
behavior. We're not judging men's behavior,
and we're not excusing our own behavior. We're making righteous
judgments about the gospel. But this pattern of self-righteousness
and this pattern of judgment against, you know, trying to
elevate oneself above another is the way of the world, isn't
it? It's just the way of the world.
The religious world and the irreligious world. Men really are hypocrites. but you see that they but when
someone says to you you think you're better than other people
I'm just ask them you you believe that you were saved because you
made a decision yeah or is that put you where's that put you
you believe the evidence of your salvation is seen in your righteousness
and in your behavior You're comparing yourself to other men. You're
believing yourself to be better and you're accusing me of thinking
that I'm better. I know I'm not better. I know that I'm the chief
of all sinners. It's a false accusation. It's
a lie. But it's an attempt to shut up the gospel. It's an attempt
to intimidate, isn't it? It's an attempt to get you to
be quiet and to let them have peace in a lie. Alright, let's go back to our
text. I wanted to bring that out because
that's the environment now that these Thessalonians are living
in. And persecution comes within
the first three weeks of the gospel coming to Thessalonica.
And these are brand new believers who are having their lives threatened
and on top of that having lies told about them. Nothing's changed. You stand up for the gospel,
men are going to lie about you. And they're going to hate you
for it. It's just that way. And if we
lived in a different culture, they would kill you for it. They
would. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, Paul
and Silvanus and Timotheus, that's Silas and Timothy, unto the church
of the Thessalonians. Now, all these epistles are addressed
to a particular local congregation. The church is a local congregation
that's the visible church and the church is also uh... the
universal church or the invisible church all of god's elect of
every generation so Those whom God has saved delight in gathering
together with other believers to hear about their Savior and
to be taught the Word of God. So this is an epistle to the
church in Apopka, to the church in Pennsylvania. wherever God's
people gather, the words that the Lord spoke to this particular
congregation are relevant to each of us. You remember what
the name church means, what the word church means? I know I've
told you this several times. I don't know if I'm pronouncing
it right in Spanish. In Spanish it's Ecclesia. In Greek it's Ecclesia. Spanish
is just a transliteration of the Greek word which means called
out ones. So that's what the word church
literally means. Those who have been called out,
effectually called by the Spirit of God to believe the gospel
and to be a part of the church. Not everybody's called. Not everybody's
called. When God calls, men answer. My sheep hear my voice, and they
follow me." When the Lord walked up to Matthew, Matthew had a
lucrative business going on, didn't he? I mean, he was a tax
collector. He was doing fine for himself. And the Lord walked
up to Matthew while he was conducting his business, follow me. And
immediately the scripture says he got up and followed Christ.
It always happens that way. When the Lord speaks, God's people
follow because they've been called, effectually called, they've been
made willing in the day of His power. this church is in god our father
and in uh... the lord jesus christ what safer
place can there be you know if you wanna if you want about protect
of valuable possession you put it in a safety deposit box which
is in the of all twitches in the back and that's about a safe
you get right you got the only key It doesn't hold a candle
to being in God the Father and being in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Nothing can get to his church. Nothing can separate us from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Nothing. Turn to me to
John chapter 10. Look at verse 26. But you believe
not, because you are not of my sheep. Why won't men believe
the gospel? Those have not been given faith
to believe. They've not been made sheep. They weren't born
sheep. They were born goats. Who has believed our report,
Isaiah 53? them to whom the arm of the Lord has been revealed.
You cannot come to me unless the Father which sent me draw
you." So the Lord says, you... Now, as I said Wednesday night,
this truth will cause some to become fatalist. They'll just
say, well, nothing I can do. I might as well just sit back
and just wait and see if God calls me. Others will hate it
because it's an indictment against their free will gospel. How does
the believer respond? How does the child of God, how
does his sheep respond? Oh Lord, speak to me. Call me. Make me willing. Give me ears
to hear. Open the eyes of my understanding.
Lord, have mercy upon me. I can't save myself. I can't
do anything. to make my salvation. You're
gonna have to do it for me. You see, this truth of inability
causes sheep to become mercy beggars. That's what it does,
doesn't it? You don't believe me. Why don't
men believe? Because you're not my sheep.
My sheep, they hear my voice and I know them. Now that's the most important
thing, isn't it? That the Lord know us. And they follow me. They believe me. They're irresistibly
drawn to Me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of My hand. My Father which gave them Me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
My Father's hand. I and My Father are one." Then the Jews took
up stones to stone Him. Why? Because the Lord claimed
equality with the Father. He said, my sheep, they're in
my hand. I'm in my Father's hand. Nobody
can pluck them out of our hand. That's the safest place in all
the universe and beyond to be, isn't it? So when the apostle
addresses the church, when God speaks to us, what does he say? You're the called out ones and
you are in God, the father, and you are in the Lord Jesus Christ. And nothing can change that.
There's your hope. There's your safety. There's
your security. You can't send yourself out of
God's hand. So you can't tell people that.
Yes, I can. It's true. It's true. Are we justifying
sin? Are we excusing sin? Oh, no. No. But our Lord's stronger than
your sin. You can't separate yourself out
of God's hand. Oh, that's my hope, isn't it?
That's my safety that He knows me. that he will never leave
me nor forsake me. If I thought that in the end
my salvation was determined by how strong I held on to him, not much safety there, is there? I've held on a lot of things
that I've had pulled out of my hand. But when God holds on to something,
you're not pulling it out of His hand. So the church is in
God the Father, and it's in the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace unto
you. Grace unto you. And peace from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We have peace with God
because of His grace. His grace. In spite of In spite of our inability,
in spite of our unwillingness, in spite of our unworthiness,
He's pleased to save sinners. It's called grace. It's all of
grace, not works. We don't mix grace and works,
do we? It's all of grace. You mix grace and works and you
ruin grace. All right, let's take a break. Okay.