Second Thessalonians 2. I could build up to this and save it for the end, but
I don't want to do that. I want to begin this message
by relieving your minds. The title of this message is,
But. That is a wonderful word in the
scripture. But. Everything that we just
read for our scripture reading from verse 3 to verse 12, if
we entered into what it's saying, it is terrifying news. It is sad, terrifying news. Verse 13 says, but, thank God, 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. We are
headed to verse 13. We tell the truth of the word
of God, don't we? The gospel comes with that but.
But the truth is so hard on this flesh. So I want you to know
that we're going to acknowledge, we're going to declare, we're
going to enter into everything he says leading up to it, but
we're headed to verse 13. All right? Verse 1 says, Now
we beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ
and by our gathering together unto him that you be not soon
shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit nor by word
nor by letter as from us as that the day of Christ is at hand. He said the day of Christ is
at hand. He is coming back. He is coming
back. Now remember, when He wrote this,
there was no chapter division. This was one letter. He wrote
one letter. And He just told them in chapter
1, if you look at chapter 1, verse 7, It says the Lord Jesus, the middle
of that verse, one verse seven, the Lord Jesus shall be revealed
from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance
on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ. who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory
of His power." When He comes back, those who do not know God,
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself said, this is life eternal. This is life eternal, that they
might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou
hast sent. And when He comes back, He is
going to take vengeance on them that know not God and that obey
not the gospel, have not bowed to the gospel of the only salvation
there is, the salvation that is in the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. That is going to happen when
He comes back. That's a reality. That is going
to happen. And He is coming back. But He
told them, He told God's elect, He said, don't be shaken by it. Don't be shaken by it. Back in
chapter 2, verse 1, He said, Now we beseech you brethren by
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together
unto him that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled
neither by spirit and that word means preacher. There's a reference
to the verse that says try the spirits whether they're of God. He goes on to say, nor by word,
and that means message, don't let a preacher stand up in a
pulpit and scare you into a confession because he's up there preaching
hellfire and brimstone. Verse 2, he went on to say, nor
by letter as from us, some it's reported that that letters from
the Apostle Paul were counterfeit. People were saying, Paul wrote
this and sent it to you. And that's why he would say,
you see, I've written this. He would end his letter. You
see, I've written this with my own hand. And he went on to say, as that
the day of Christ is at hand, he said, I'm telling you the
truth of these things. I'm telling you the truth. But
as the Lord said, don't be afraid. In Christ, fear not. In Christ, fear not. Now let me give us a little side
note while we're here. The day of Christ is at hand. It is at hand. The apostle wrote
that 2,000 years ago. And the Lord Jesus Christ has
still not yet come back. Is he coming soon? Is he coming soon? My ultimate answer is I don't
know. I don't know when he's coming. But what if we did know? What if we did know that he was
coming back in this century? What if we knew that he was?
What if we knew that he was coming back in our lifetime? What if we knew that he was coming
back in 70 years? What if we knew that? He was
coming back in 70 years. How would that affect our urgency
to have our children under the message of the gospel? We have
these little children. What if we knew he's coming back
in 70 years? How would that affect our urgency
to have them under the message of the truth? The only message
that he uses to save his people, call them out of darkness into
light. At this moment in time, many
of them are traveling, but at this moment we have quite a few
people in this congregation who are in their 20s, say an average
age of 25. What if we knew that Christ was
coming back in 40 years? At the very moment that That
average age turns 65. What if we knew he was coming
back at 65 years of age? And at that very moment that
he comes back, everything was going to be burned up. Houses
gone. Land gone. Banks gone. Everything gone. Gone. How would that affect our fleshly
desire to build up a retirement empire and everything that the
flesh naturally thinks is important? How would that affect us? If
we knew he coming back in four, I'm 25 and he, you know, which
I'm not, but if I was 25 and I knew he was coming back in
40 years, how would that affect? How would that affect things?
Where would we invest ourselves? What would be our highest priority
for our time and our money? Would it be the world or would
it be the ministry of his gospel? Oh, what can we do to spread
this word? Send this message far and wide.
What if we knew that he was coming back in 20 years? That's less
time than I have on my mortgage. What if we knew he was coming
back in 20 years? How much daily fervency would
that give us to press on? Press toward the mark. Paul said
press toward the mark. What if we knew he was coming
back in the morning? How would that affect our worship
right now? How would that affect us right now? Somebody will say,
Gabe, are you trying to tell us to give up on all our earthly
responsibilities? No. Nope. I'm trying to remind
us all that the day of Christ is at hand. It is at hand whether
he returns or not. I don't know. The scripture says
he's coming back quickly or we pray he comes back quickly. I
don't know when he's coming back. But whether he comes back or
not, some will physically see him. and leave all of these things,
houses gone, land gone, banks gone, everything gone. Some right here will physically
see him in all of those time frames that we just considered. The day of Christ is at hand. Moses said in Deuteronomy 32,
oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, that they
would consider their latter end. Moses also said in Psalm 90,
we spend our years as a tale that is told. He went on to say,
it is soon cut off and we fly away. So teach us to number our days
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom, which is Christ.
Teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to Christ,
the things of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord gave the parable
of the rich fool whose barns were full. And that man said,
this is what I'm going to do. All my barns are full and I have
all this stuff coming in. I'm going to tear down all those
barns and I'm going to build bigger barns so I can fill those
barns up. The Lord said, thou fool, this
night thy soul shall be required of thee. And every bit of that
will mean nothing. It'll mean nothing. We have responsibilities
in this life. But may God give us the wisdom
to know where our priorities must be. May He give us the wisdom
to know where our urgency must be on Him. It must be on Him. Because the day of Him is at
hand. It is. When Paul wrote that 2,000
years ago, he said, it is at hand. And it was. They have all
seen Him. They have all met Him. He was
at hand and on the day that He has purposed to come back, He
will be at hand. Everyone who is standing on this
earth will say He is at hand. But He's at hand right now. He's
at hand right now. And may God show us our need
of being in Christ right now. I need to be in Christ right
now. Well, considering his return, verse 3, the apostle Paul said,
2 Thessalonians 2 verse 3, let no man deceive you by any means,
for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first. falling away from the truth of
the word. Falling away from the gospel.
Falling away from salvation by grace. Salvation only through
the gift of the blood of Christ. And falling away means they professed
it. It doesn't mean that they never
knew it and never professed it. It's a falling away. They professed
it. They professed faith in the blood
of Christ. He said, the Lord is not coming
back until you see a great falling away from that truth. Look with
me at 1 Timothy chapter 4. It's just a page over in my Bible.
1 Timothy 4 verse 1 says, Now the Spirit
speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart
from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines
of devils, Speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared
with a hot iron. And then he goes on to say, forbidding
to marry and commanding to abstain from meats and things like that.
It's a disregard for His Word. That's what it is. It's a disregard
for His Word. I believe we're seeing that right
now. I believe this world has a disregard for His Word. Turn
with me over to Matthew chapter 24. Matthew 24 verse 3, it says,
And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, The disciples came
unto him privately saying, tell us when shall these things be
and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of
the world? And Jesus answered and said unto
them, take heed that no man deceive you for many shall come in my
name saying, I am Christ and shall deceive many. And you shall
hear of wars and rumors of wars, see that you be not troubled
for all these things must come to pass but the end is not yet. For nations shall rise against
nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines and
pestilences and earthquakes in divers places. All these are
the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up
to be afflicted and shall kill you, and you shall be hated of
all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended,
and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And
many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because
iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he
that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And
this gospel of the kingdom, this verse right here, this gospel
of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness
unto all nations and then shall the end come. Through the forms
of communication that we now have, the true gospel has gone
all over the world. even though it has gone all over
the world, even though it's more widely declared than it ever
has been. It goes farther and wider than
it ever has before. But it seems like it's getting
harder and harder to find it. It seems as though it's getting
harder to find men who will preach the Word. Just preach the Word. It's getting harder to find sinners
who believe God's Word. Go back to the text with me,
back to 2 Thessalonians 2. Verse 3 says, Let no man deceive
you by any means, for that day shall not come except there come
a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son
of perdition. who opposeth and exalteth himself
above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that
he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that
he is God. That man of sin, the son of perdition,
means Antichrist. It is not one man. It's all who are opposed to Christ
and His Word. Son of perdition means child
of destruction. Those who exalt themselves above
God and above what He's written in His Word. Those who worship
themselves and worship their works above God and above His
work. They sit in the temple of God
believing that they are God. that they are the ones who have
to let God. That's what they believe. They
believe they're God. They believe that God cannot save them unless
they let Him. Man-centered worship. That's
what it is. Man-centered worship. Verse 5, Remember you not that
when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now you
know what Withholdeth, you know what's holding that message of
destruction from taking over, what's holding it back. You know
what's holding it back. Verse six, now you know what
withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time for the
mystery of iniquity doth already work. Only he who now letteth
will let until he be taken out of the way. Turn with me over
to 1 John 2. 1 John 2 verse 18, it says, little
children, it is the last time. It is. And as you have heard that antichrist
shall come, even now are there many antichrists, whereby we
know that it is the last time. There are many messengers of
deception and lies against the truth of Christ. Verse 19, they
went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been
of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went
out that they might be made manifest that they were not of us. This
falling away is already happening. That's what he said 2,000 years
ago. It's already happening. Look at 1 John 4, verse 3. And every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. And
this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it
should come, and even now already is it in the world. It's already
in the world. But Paul said it's being restrained
until the last time, and God is the one restraining it. Go
with me back to our text, 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 7. For the mystery of iniquity doth
already work, only he who now letteth, and that means restrains,
only he who now restraineth will restrain. until he be taken out
of the way, and then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the
Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy
with the brightness of his coming, even him whose coming is after
the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders."
And again, that's not one man. That's the lies and the deception
of the message that is anti-Christ. Christ alone. And it comes with
powers and great. It's a powerful message. It deceives
many. It deceives many. And He's going
to give them over. All of the ministers, all the
deceivers. And sadly, all who they deceive. Verse 10 says, With all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received
not the love of the truth. This is the reason why. They did not receive the love
of the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause
God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie.
He's going to give them over to a reprobate mind. and let
them believe their strong delusions. Verse 12, that they all might
be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Every soul that God does not
give a saving knowledge of the truth to is going to be damned because they had pleasure in
unrighteousness. That's horrible. So fearful. This world loves
its lies. It loves the glory of itself
and it hates the glory of Christ. And do you know that in the flesh,
we are no different? Do you know that? That's why
it's so sad to me. But for the grace of God, we
would oppose Christ. We would oppose His Word. We
would oppose His only means of salvation. We would oppose His
blood. We would worship ourselves. We
would relish the lies. And we would be damned for all
eternity. Verse 13 says, but. Thank God for this. Thank God
for this. 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. He didn't do it because we were
better than them. We read about them. He didn't do it because
we were better than them. He didn't do it because we were
not as sinful as them. He did it because God and His
own will and purpose. He said, I'm bound to give thanks
for this. We're bound to give thanks to
God for you because God did something. We give thanks to God because
He loved us. He loved us. You know these verses
very well. Let me just read it. Romans 5
verse 5 says, Hope maketh not ashamed because
the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost
which is given to us For when we were yet without strength
in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God commended his love toward us in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He died for us. He loved us. In Christ we were
beloved of the Lord. It was not our love for Him that
secured our salvation. Not at all. We love Him. We do. We love Him. But do you know why? It's only
because He first loved us. And He chose us. Verse 13 says,
We're bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you. He chose to have mercy on us. He chose to separate us from
what we were by nature. He chose to wash us from it in
the blood of His own Son. And He did it before this sinful,
wicked, lying, deceiving, opposing world was ever created. Before the foundation of the
world, from the beginning. Known unto God are all His works
from the beginning. I love this. "'Tis not that I
did choose thee, For Lord, that could not be. This heart would still refuse
Thee. But Thou hast chosen me. Thou,
from the sin that stained me, hast cleansed and set me free. Of old, Thou hast ordained me
that I should live to Thee. T'was sovereign mercy called
me. and taught my opening mind, the
world had else enthralled me to heavenly glory blind. I was
so taken up with this world, I was so blind to the things
of God. My heart owns none before thee,
for thy rich grace I thirst, this knowing, if I love thee,
thou must have loved me first. That's glorious, isn't it? I
know this. If I love Him as He is and declares Himself to be
in everything He's done, after hearing Him say what He has to
say about me in my sinful flesh, if I still love Him, it means
He must have loved me first. That's what it means. After all
that, if He's created a love in my heart for Him, Known unto God was all of His
mercy and all of His grace from the beginning. We were children
of wrath, even as others, fulfilling the lust of our flesh, walking
according to the rule of the prince of the power of the air,
the wicked one. But God chose us to salvation, and He did it
through the sanctification of the Spirit. God sent His Spirit. quickened us. He set us apart by His Spirit
coming to us, making us alive, living in us. and giving us faith
to believe Christ. That's what the Spirit does.
When He comes to the child of God, He brings faith to believe
the Lord Jesus Christ and believe His Word. Verse 13, We are bound
to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of
the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth,
Whereunto He called you by our gospel. He sent us a true preacher. I'm so glad God sent me the truth. He does it for every child of
His. He crosses their path with the
truth. He sent us a true preacher. He
sent us the true word. He sent us the true message. And it was all about Christ the
truth. And through the message of the
truth, God spoke to our hearts and this is what he said to each
one of us. You're mine. That's what he says to everyone. You belong to me. I am and you're mine. I'm yours and you're mine. Verse
14, Whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of
the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. He revealed the glory of Christ
to us. He convinced us that Christ is
all the glory. If any man glory, we're going
to glory in him. And the most amazing part is
He shared that glory with us. That's the most amazing part.
He gave that very glory to us. The glory which the Father gave
to Him. You think about the glory that
the Father glorified Him with. The very glory that the Father
gave to Him, He gave to us. That's what He said in John 17,
that we may be one with Him. This is why Paul started by saying,
don't be troubled. Don't be troubled. Yes, the day
of Christ is at hand, but He chose us. He has sanctified us
and He's called us to Himself. And how do we know? How do I
know that He chose me? I believe He chose the people. How do I know that He chose me
and sanctified me and has called me to Himself? How do I know?
He just told us. You believe. That's how you know. You believe. He has given you
a love for the truth. Isn't that what he said? He's
coming back on all those that do because they receive not a
love of the truth. And he's put a love of the truth
in us. Thank God. Thank God for giving
us a love for Christ. Thank God. And a love for his
word. All right, let's all stand together.