Second Thessalonians 2.13, 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. Now, we were taught in verse
10 of this chapter that those who perish and are not saved,
are not saved and do perish because they received not the love of
the truth. Look at it with me. With all
deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. Because,
because, that's a key word now. There's a reason why they perished.
And it's because they received not the love of the truth that
they might be saved. They weren't saved because no
truth. Now here in verse 13, those who
are saved are saved also with a because. 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 that same truth,
the same truth. So we have truth in both verses
and we have a cause in both verses. This is the simple teaching of
the whole Bible, the whole Bible. Sinners are such by nature that
a love of God's truth must be given to them if they're gonna
have it. That's our condition before God
by nature. We despise the truth. We despise
God's law. We despise God's grace. We despise
God. We despise his son. The natural,
the carnal mind is enmity against God. God's truth must be given
a love for it. That's key now. There are those
who know the truth in their heads. Satan himself knows the truth
in his head, but he don't love it. He don't love the Christ
that's revealed in God's truth. God's truth must be given to
them and they must receive it from God. Notice they received
it. They didn't accept it. They received
it. It's a gift, a gift of God's
grace. Without this love of the truth,
there is no salvation. Nothing could be plainer. The
carnal mind, as I said, is the carnal mind is the thief on the
cross, mocking the savior, railing on him, ridiculing him, taunting
him, hating him. The carnal mind is that thief,
but that same thief saying a little while later on
that same cross of the same person, Lord, remember me when thou comest
into thy kingdom. What that is is what our text
says, it is the sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. Because God had from the beginning
chosen that thief, he came to believe the truth concerning
the one on the cross next to him. He said, Lord, remember
me, remember me. When you come into your kingdom,
He was being mocked as a king. It ran over his head. This is
Jesus, the king of the Jews, in a mocking and deriding way,
clearly implying this is no king. We beat him, we spit on him,
we pulled his hair out, we thrashed his back with a cat of nine tails. We pressed a crown of thorn on
his head and beat him in the face till he didn't look like
a man anymore. that he saw the king in his glory. He was able to see the truth
of who there was there on that cross and what he was doing,
what he was doing and where he was fixing to be. Lord, remember
me when thou comest into thy kingdom. The Holy Spirit had
something to do with that. Just a little while before, we're
told in the scripture, he was mocking just like the other thief.
He was railing, he was ridiculing, he was scoffing. But the Lord revealed the truth
to him, the truth of who he was railing on and what he was doing
there on that cross. Because God hath from the beginning
chosen him. That's how you come to a knowledge
of the truth. That's why the Holy Spirit comes
where you are and gives life. The truth of who Christ is and
what he did on Calvary and our need of him. That thief knew
those three things. What else do you need to know? He knew
who it was. We'll talk about that word Lord
in a minute. That wasn't, I don't think people,
I don't think it means what people think it means when they say
Lord. You know, Jesus is Lord, bumper stickers. I don't think
it means what they think it means. Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. Who it is, what he was doing
there, and I need him. I need him. That happens when
God from the beginning chooses that sinner and saves them by
his Holy Spirit, consecrating their hearts. That's what sanctification
of the spirit is here. Consecrate their hearts in Christ
and causing them to see who he is and what he did. And the necessity
of my soul is a person, that person. The thief, didn't see
a defeated martyr on the cross. He saw the Savior. He saw the
Redeemer. He saw the King. But not until
faith was given him by the one who had from the beginning chosen
him. That's so clear in our text.
The difference. What a difference. That thief,
when he was first nailed there, and after he had hung there for
a while and beheld the Son of God, face to face. The carnal mind is Saul of Tarsus. As he just stepped onto the road
to Damascus, he stepped on that road with a purpose. He stepped
onto that road despising the son of God and going about to
oppose him in every way that he possibly could. People who
hate God can't get to God, so they hate on his people. They hate everything about him.
They hate his work and his ministry in this world. They hate his
truth. They oppose everything in every way that they possibly
can, the Son of God, that was Saul. He knew the truth. He knew
the truth. This thing wasn't done in a corner.
He just didn't love the truth until he did. God introduced himself in person. And there was a new Saul. There was a difference made.
And our text says the difference is a choice, a gift, and a saving,
a saving through a love of the truth, through the work of the
Holy Spirit and a love of the truth. You're not gonna love
the truth till the Holy Spirit does something. in your heart. It's called giving you a new
one in the scriptures. Giving you a new nature, a new
life, a new man. So as I said, this thing wasn't
done. He didn't love the truth until the truth came face to
face with him. And remember what God said to
Paul. Turn with me to Acts 22. Let's remember what the Lord
said to him. Acts 22, six. Is that really our text? Is that
the teaching of our text? Well, let's look at it. Acts
22, six. What made the difference? What's
the difference between Saul of Tarsus and Paul the apostle? Chapter 22, verse six of Acts. And it came to pass, this is
Paul speaking, "'As I made my journey and was come nigh unto
Damascus, "'about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven "'a great
light round about me. "'And I fell unto the ground
and heard a voice saying unto me, "'Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? "'And I answered, who art thou,
Lord? "'And he said unto me, I am Jesus
of Nazareth, "'whom thou persecutest. And they that were with me saw
indeed the light and were afraid, but they heard not the voice
of him that spake to me. And I said, what shall I do,
Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise
and go into Damascus, and there it shall be told thee of all
things which are appointed for thee to do." This is not a contingency
plan. This is, and it came to pass.
This is when it pleased God, He revealed His Son in me. That's
what this is. And when I could not see for
the glory of that light, Being led by the hand of them that
were with me, I came into Damascus, and one Ananias, a devout man,
according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews
which dwelt there, came unto me and stood and said unto me,
Brother Saul, receive thy sight. In the same hour I looked up
upon him, and he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee. Could that be the difference
between Saul and Paul? Could that be the same difference
that we see in our text? Of those who are lost and perish
because they receive not the love of the truth, but here's
somebody now who knows who he was dealing with. He knows the
truth of who he was persecuting. He knows who he is now. And he said, the God of our fathers
hath chosen thee that thou shouldest know his will. One of these days now, if you're
ever gonna see God, you're gonna shut up about your will and you're
gonna find out what God's will is. What God's will is. And see that just one. You're gonna see God's son. You're
not gonna see him as the enemy anymore. You're gonna lay down
arms and you're gonna say, Well, who did the thief see?
When he said, we're getting what we deserve, but he hasn't done
anything wrong. He saw that just one, didn't
he? The same one Saul saw. That just one. And should us
hear the voice of his mouth, when he speaks directly to your
heart and reveals to you who he is, and that his will and
his choice that you're gonna have to deal with, and you're
gonna be glad of it. For thou shalt be his witness
unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. What did he see? Christ. What did he hear? Christ. And what did he witness of? We
preach Christ. and Him crucified. In verses
10 and 13 of our text, as we've looked at together already, it's
the truth which salvation hinges on. You see that? The truth. That's the one common word other
than what we've seen here. The cause, the cause of it. But
just as important and vital even is how that truth, Christ, that
truth, the truth is obtained or withheld, how it's revealed
or hidden, how it's received or not received. In verse 10,
God just simply didn't give it to him. You see that? You remember Matthew 13, 10 through
16? When the disciples asked the Lord, why do you speak in
parables? He said, to you, it is given
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them,
it is not given. That's why they received not
the love of the truth here in our text, because it was not
given to them. It wasn't given to them. They didn't deserve
it. They didn't deserve it. They
didn't want it anyway. They can't complain about God
not giving them the truth. They hated it anyway. They didn't
want it. In verse 13, those who are saved
believe the truth. What was the cause in verse 10?
God just didn't give it to them. He didn't give it to them. That's
what has to happen. He's got to give. Remember when Paul wrote,
teach, teach the scriptures, teach the gospel, because per
adventure, God might give repentance to the acknowledging of the truth,
the truth. It's the truth, isn't it? That
it hinges on. And in verse 10, the reason the
truth was not received, because God didn't give it. They didn't
receive it. And in verse 13, the reason that
those who believe the truth believed it is because God chose them. You look what's attached to that
word because in verse 13, it's not complicated. People just
don't like it. They don't like God being God,
but he's God nonetheless. two kinds of people Those who reject the truth Because they didn't receive it
from the Lord they reject it And those whom God chooses And causes to believe Those who
hate God's truth and those who love the truth of Christ and
believe it the difference between those two kinds of people is
the grace of God. The electing, free, sovereign,
distinguishing grace of God. That's why we sing amazing grace. And that's why we don't sing,
I have decided to follow Jesus. Because salvation is by grace.
By grace are you saved. We sing amazing grace, not because
it has a catchy tune, but because God chose us in saving grace
and we owe him eternal gratitude. Do you see that in our text?
We're bound to give thanks to God for this. That means, literally
means we owe it to him. We owe it to him. How much I
owe of love divine. How much I owe since Christ is
mine. 10,000 years may come and go,
and I cannot tell how much I owe. We're bound to give thanks. Listen to me now for a moment,
carefully. We do not preach election, predestination,
and free grace to prove 99.9% of all so-called Christians wrong.
That's not why we do it. We do not preach, I know more
than you. We preach, look who Christ is. We preach, look what
he accomplished. Look what he did on Calvary.
Look at the difference that he makes. Because the only way you
can be saved is to fall in love with God's truth, his son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, the sovereign Christ. You're gonna have to
fall in love with him and no man can. If you do fall in love
with him, you're gonna have to stand back and give glory to
him and say, look what he did for me. Look what he did for
me. You can be saved only by means
of God stopping you from going about to establish your own righteousness
and putting you on your knees, submitting to the righteousness
of God which is Christ Jesus alone. That's why we preach who
we do and what he did on Calvary. That's why. It's not to shock
people. It's not to impress people with
some kind of scholarly biblical knowledge. We don't have any
of that. We just have, by God's grace,
the simple, clear, truth of Christ, who he is, what
he accomplished, the death that he accomplished. On the Mount
of Transfiguration, they stood around and they talked about
the death that Christ accomplished. As long as you worship a false
god who you can accept, If you worship a little G God
that you can accept, because you can't accept God, you can't
accept the God of heaven and earth. He's not up for that. That's not his position, that's
not your position. As long as you worship a false
God who you can accept and who accepts your decisions, your
will, your works, As long as you do that, you're
gonna be more lost every day that you live. More and more
lost. This is why we preach Christ
as he is. That's the reason. These are
written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
son of God, not the pathetic loser that religion preaches. And we preach for the same reason
God wrote his word. We preach it because By His grace,
sinners will believe on Christ, the Son of God. The word Lord there, we're gonna
talk about that more tonight from Romans 9, but that word
Lord there means one who owns a person or thing and who has
over that person or thing the power of deciding. That sounds
like I made it up, doesn't it? That's the exact definition in
Strong's Concordance. That's why the scripture says
no man can call Jesus Lord except by the Holy Spirit. You're not
gonna bow to him. You're not gonna own that he's
the one that decides. You're not gonna confess him.
You're not gonna say I'm in his hand and he's not in mine. You're
not gonna say it's up to him and it's not up to me. You're
not gonna say with your heart, Lord, if you will, you could
save me. Unless the Holy Spirit, without
the sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth. You see what I say? I don't think
Lord means what they think it means. We preach Christ as he is for
that simple reason. that you might believe on the
Son of God, and that believing you might have life through His
name. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I come not into the world to
condemn the world, but that the world through me might be saved.
You know, I know a lot of Bible scholarly type of people that
know true doctrine. They seem to come to condemn,
that's all they do. Condemn everybody that doesn't
know what they know. You're a heretic because you believe they called
John Owen a heretic and Arthur Pink's a heretic and Spurgeon's
a heretic. Okay, appreciate your opinion. The Son of God didn't come down
here to condemn. He came down that sinners might
be saved. And that's why we preach. Not
to condemn, not to prove wrong, not to puff up our knowledge
puffeth up, but love. If God sends you a pastor after
his own heart, the truth with love will build you up in the
faith. God forbid that that be us, that
we whip people over the head with our doctrine, that we use
scriptures like arrows. to prove people wrong and to
expose false religion. You know how you expose something
that's false? You know how you dispel darkness? You turn on
the light. Let your light so shine among
men that people may see your good works and glorify your father. If you get glory out of it, it
wasn't a good work, even though you called it that. It only is
if Christ is exalted by it. That's why we preach Him the
way we do. The only way we can. The simplicity, the all-inclusiveness
that's in Christ. The difference is Him. Our Savior delights to show mercy,
but our Savior doesn't try. He doesn't do His best. He chooses. He decides, He saves,
He gives faith. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should both. He is the author of faith and
He's the finisher of faith. Come to that Savior and be ye
saved, all the ends of the earth. Why? Because He's God. Isn't that what he said? Come
unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I
am God and there's none beside me. That's the gospel call, who
he is. He's the sovereign Christ. He said, as the father quickeneth
whom he will, so he has given authority to the son to give
life to whomsoever he will. Well, let's close by giving the
thanks that we owe for a minute, shall we? We owe it to God to
thank him for his saving grace. That's what Paul said. Thank
God he didn't leave us to decide. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad? Thank God that nothing is up
to me. I thank God for that. It wasn't up to Saul, was it?
he would have died with a curse for God on his lips if God had
left him alone. Those that you love, is there
anybody that you love that you'd give anything if God would save
them? Would you want their salvation
to be up to you or up to them? When you pray for them, let me
ask you an honest question. When you pray for those that
you love, do you pray, God, give them a chance? Give them a shot? Or do you pray, Lord, have mercy
on their souls? Do you pray to the one who has
mercy on whom he will? Say, Lord, if you will, you can
raise them up. You can cast out the demon in
their heart and give them a new heart. Thank God that he chose the weak,
the foolish, the base, the vilest of all riches, and had mercy
on us in his son. Thank God for that, we owe Him
that, don't we? And we can't even pay that. Our very thanksgiving has to
be sanctified by the blood. The only one that ever thanked
Him, that only ever thanked God really, was the one who said,
I thank thee, God. I thank thee, Father, that thou
hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed
them unto babies. For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the
weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty and
base things of the world, and things which are despised hath
God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things
that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are you in Christ
Jesus, who has made unto us wisdom, righteousness and sanctification
and redemption, that we owe it to him, don't we? That
according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. Amen, let's pray.