With me a second Thessalonians
chapter two. Second Thessalonians chapter
two. I was working on an entirely
different message. For this morning. When I was looking up references
and. Bible references to go along
with that message. I came across this passage and
I couldn't get it out of my mind. No matter how hard I tried, I
couldn't get away from it. I sat there and looked at it
for a long time and finally I decided, well, maybe this is where I'm
supposed to be after all. Read with me 2 Thessalonians
2, verses 7 through 14. The mystery of iniquity doth
already work. Only he who now letteth will
let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that
wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit
of 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 with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for
this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should
believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believed
not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 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 spirit and belief of the truth,
whereunto he called you by our gospel." to the obtaining of
the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. What would you say is the best
and most descriptive title you could give to a saved person? What would you say is the best,
most descriptive title of one whom the Lord saves in the Bible? Would you say child of God? Would
you say a son of God? Would you say Christian? These
are titles given to God's people. Son of Abraham. There's one title
which includes all of these and many more. One title. Turn with
me to 1 John chapter 5. Keep your place there in 2 Thessalonians.
We'll be looking at that verse by verse in a moment. But there's
one word that can be used to describe a truly saved person,
and the antithesis or the opposite word of that describes an unsaved
person. Look at 1 John 5, verse 1. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. Look at verse 10. He that believeth
on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth
not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the
record God gave of his Son. Look at verse thirteen. These
things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the
Son of God, that you may know you have eternal life, and that
you may believe on the name of the Son of God. Did you catch
it? Believer is the best title you
can give, the scriptures give, to a truly saved person. The best title, the best description
of a child of God, a son of God, or a Christian, a disciple, is
that of believer. And the opposite of that, one
to describe that person who is not a child of God would be unbeliever. Now Hebrews 11 lists many people,
Noah, Abraham, Sarah, on and on the list goes, Enoch and so
forth. It lists many of God's people
and describes them by saying this. It ends up describing every
one of those people by saying this. died in faith. In other words, these all died
believing God. All right, let me ask you this question
now. What must we believe in order to be rightly called a believer? What must a person believe in
order to be called a believer? Turn with me over to the book
of James, chapter 2. Someone may say, well, you have
to believe in God. No, that won't do it. Well, you
have to believe the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
No, that's not it. You have to believe you're a
sinner. No, that's not it. You do have to believe all of
these things, but that's not it. Look at James chapter 2.
Now, what we believe is important, but true belief determines what
you believe. True faith determines what you
believe. Read with me verse 19 in James
2. He says, You believe there's
one God? You do well. There is only one God. I'll add there, there's very
few people really who believe in one God, capital G, sovereign,
reigning, ruling, controller, creator. But he says here in
verse 19, you believe that there's one God, thou doest well, but
the devils believe that, and they tremble, and Satan sure
isn't saved, is he? The demons aren't. Now look at verse 23. This describes
it He says the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham
believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and
he was called the friend of God. He didn't say Abraham believed
that there was one God, does he? He didn't say Abraham believed
in a God, did he? He said, Abraham believed God. You say you're splitting hairs. No, I'm not. I'm just reading
you what the scripture says here. See how important one little
word, the absence or the addition of it can be? Abraham believed
God. In other words, Abraham was called
a child of God, a child of faith, because everything God said,
he believed it. He believed God. Yes, he believed
in God, that there was one God, but the essence of his saving
faith was that everything God said promises of God, he stood
firm on. He believed them. He believed
God. He believed God. He didn't believe
men, he believed God. Simple faith. Now listen to me.
We talked about this last night. Simple faith, simple, implicit
trust in God is what he requires of us. God requires of us, not
that we understand everything, but that we believe it. Without faith, Hebrews 11, 6
says this, without faith it is impossible to please God. For
he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is the
rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Without faith, without
this true belief in God, what he says, who he is. It is impossible
to please God. Because God's sure not going
to prove himself to anybody. That's what I'm talking about.
God says something, the believer says, I believe it. And then
God proves it to him. Not vice versa. God doesn't have
to prove himself to anybody, does he? Huh? Now, true belief,
listen. True belief, true faith. Another
word for belief is faith. True faith is childlike. Christ said, "'Except you be
converted and become as little children, you'll not enter the
kingdom of heaven.'" Truth belief is childlike. As a child simply
believes its parents without understanding, without proof,
the child believes its daddy. Why? Because he's his daddy.
Daddy knows best. I don't fully understand it.
I'm not capable of comprehending what I'm just a little child.
He is my father. He's so much older and wiser
than I am, but because he said it, I believe it. You've heard
that saying before, haven't you? God said it, that settles it. No, it says this, this is what
they say today. God said it, I believe it, that
settles it. Well, something wrong with that.
See, God said it and that settles it, whether I believe it or not.
But my salvation does depend on whether or not I believe it. Now the scripture says God has
hid these things you know there are very few times that it talks
about the Lord rejoicing in spirit. One of those times was when the
scribes and the Pharisees were walked away scratching their
head at what he had said and the publicans and harlots and
sinners and fisher boy fishermen and so forth and common work
common people. heard him gladly, and they sat
around and said, Tell us more. And Christ, when those Pharisees,
those doctors and lawyers walked away, and scribes and biblical
experts, it says in Scripture, at that time he rejoiced in spirit
and said out loud, I thank thee, Father, that thou hast hid these
things from the wise and the prudent and revealed them unto
babes. Even so, Father, it seemed good
in thy sight. He had these things from the
wise, the scoffers, the gainsayers. This is what I was saying last
night, Deborah. God will not prove himself to anybody who
says, I don't believe that. Prove it. He won't do it. Does
he have to? I'll give you a poor illustration,
but say I've used this before. Say the
heavyweight champion of the world, I don't know who he is, it changes
every week. The heavyweight boxing champion of the world, there's
some little squirt down there in Podunk Holler who says, I
don't believe he's so tough. Some little six-year-old boy,
you know, I don't believe he's so tough, whoever the heavyweight
champion is. Tell him he'll have to prove
it. I think I can whip him. You think the heavyweight champion
of the world is going to bother to leave where he's at and go
down and prove himself to that little punk? He'll laugh. When he hears about
that, he'll just laugh on him. Does God Almighty have to stop
what he's doing and prove himself to men? No. And he won't do it. He won't
do it. The goodness of God is what causes
a man, and I'm getting ahead of myself. But God gives us faith. God gives us faith. And He will
not answer the gainsaying. Gainsaying in the Scriptures
means backtalkers, arguers. God won't answer an arguer. He
won't do it. He'll answer a believer. He won't
answer a gainsayer. Unbelieving. Well, who then can
believe, you say? Who can be saved? All men have
not faith, the Scriptures say. Everybody born unbelieving and
skeptical aren't they. Aren't they. I was I was the
worst skeptic in the world some of you were maybe somebody sitting
in here right now very skeptical of everything I'm saying very
judgmental of the plainest passages that I'm reading from God's Word
very very I don't believe that. Well Ephesians 2 8 says. By grace are you saved. through
faith through believing. And then what does it say that
even that is not of yourself. It's a gift of God. In other
words, a man just doesn't say one day, well, I'm going to decide
to It's what you're saying today, that you must make your decision
for Jesus. You can't. Ephesians 2 verse
1 says we're dead in trespasses and sin. When Jesus Christ walked
to the tomb of Lazarus, who was dead, and four days he was stinking,
did Jesus Christ ask Lazarus, would you like to make your decision
to come forth? Did he say, Lazarus, would you accept me as your personal
life giver? Huh? How did Lazarus come out
of that tomb? He was dead. How did he come
out? The Lord of life had to call
him out. Had to call him out. Lazarus! Come forth. And if it hadn't been particular,
if he hadn't have called Lazarus' name, everybody would have came
out of those graves. You see, this salvation is electing.
It's particular. And it's effectual. Whoever he
calls comes out. But we're dead in trespasses
and sin, Ephesians 2 verse 1 says. And it goes on to say, But he
hath quickened us together with Christ, called us sinners to
come out of that grave. We wouldn't have come out otherwise.
By grace are you saved. Lazarus was singing grace when
he came out of that tomb, wasn't he? Oh, and thank God he came
by my tomb. Thank God he called me, wasn't
he? And that's what all of God's
people who are called by God are singing about. His grace!
A lot of people singing about grace. God's people sing amazing
grace. I'll turn back to the text in
II Thessalonians 2. So faith is the gift of God.
All men have not faith. Nobody's born with faith. It's
the gift of God. And it's the gift of God upon
all those whom he has chosen to believe. Now get this straight. Let's get this right now. Our
world is so confused about this. Acts 13, 48 says this. Acts 13, 48 says, As many as
were ordained to eternal life, believe. Ephesians 2, 8 says,
By grace you are saved through faith, and that is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. The foreknowledge
of God, the predestination of God, the election of God is before
the world began of some people unto salvation. He did not look
down with a huge telescope, as they say. Get him a great big,
a thousand-power telescope and look down and see who was going
to believe. This is what men say election day. God looked
down and said, well, there's Sammy Parks. Well, look at it.
I sure hope he accepts me as his personal savior. I sure hope
he believes. There's a message that's coming.
Oh, let's cross our fingers. Let's hope he accepts me as his
personal Savior. Maybe he will. It looks like
he's moving. He's getting up out of his seat. There he goes.
He's committing. He's dedicating. I'll choose
that boy. I'll elect him. Isn't that absolutely absurd?
You laugh at it. You scoff at it. This is what
men are saying about God Almighty's election, that the Scripture
plainly says, before the foundation of the world. In other words,
God's getting credit for something he didn't do. What did he need
to elect you for, Samuel? You're the one that made the
decision. What's his decision need to do? You made your decision. You should get the glory. You
need to be patted on the back. And consequently, that's what
people are doing, everybody who makes their little decision,
pat him on the back. We're so glad he accepted Jesus. Not God's
people. Not unto us. Not unto us be the
glory, but unto you. Not according to our works, but
according to your mercy you've saved us. He called us. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believe, Acts 13, 48. Not as many as believe were ordained.
No, no, no, no, no, no. As many as were ordained to eternal
life believe. Somebody says, I don't believe
that. Well, that's what God said. And
that's what I'm trying to say in the course of this message.
God's people believe. You want to know whether or not
you're a child of God? Do you believe Acts 13, 48? Then you're a believer. Does
that sound simple? Dan, that's what comprehends,
that's what concludes a person to be a child of God. They believe.
Believe God. I don't understand. the counsel of God, the will,
the purpose, the salvation of God, the things of God. Can somebody
search and find out God under perfection? No. The sovereignty
of God, my responsibility, all that goes into the salvation,
I don't understand it fully. I don't even pretend to. It's
like a vast ocean of knowledge, and we have just stuck our toe
into the ocean of water. can pretend to fully understand,
but all I'm saying is a child of God believes it. Believes
it. Whether he understands it or
not. Is that clear? Now 2 Thessalonians 2, back in
our text, you see it all started, now this is going to be very
interesting to you. Not only will it be very instructive
But this is going to be very interesting, too. I hope the
Lord will give you eyes to see this. It all started back in
the garden. It all started back in the garden.
Mankind was plunged into sin and death by this one thing called
unbelief. It all started with unbelief,
didn't it? What was the first sin? Grabbing
the apple? No. That was after the fact. That was the results of that
open rebellion. That open act or committal of
sin was after the real sin set in. What was the first sin? Unbelief. Unbelief. Eve, and how did it
start? Eve questioned God's word. Right. God Satan came to even said that
half of God half God said does it say somewhere in God's word
he's a Bible scholar Satan's a Bible scholar even quoted.
Start and. He said half God said that you
should not eat of that tree And Eve, she could quote a little
bit, she said, yes, he had said, she misquoted it, yes, he had
said, God has said you should not eat of the tree of the garden,
nor touch it. God didn't say that. She added
to it. But anyway, she said, God said
we should not eat of the tree of the knowledge of the good
and evil, nor touch it, unless we eat thereof, we shall surely
die. Satan said, no, no. No, you won't
die. I know it says that. I know God
says that, but that's not what he meant. Right? Is that what happened? And Eve, not Adam, Eve said, well, maybe you're right.
Maybe it does mean something. I know he said it. He said I'll
die, but what's your interpretation of that passage, Satan? And he
gave her the modern interpretation from the revised version of the
revised, revised version of the 1892 version, which was a perversion. And she believed it. There was
no harm. And all hell broke loose, simply
because she did not believe the very simple, very plain, very
clear word of God Almighty. You say that Rick, you're going
to die if you eat that fruit. And the same one is at work today.
And he's working the same way. Same way. Working in the hearts
and minds of men and women just like Adam and Eve. Putting a
question mark on God's Word. And a death mark. You know God
put a mark on Cain. A death mark. on all who believe
and question and refuse God. And he says here in verse seven,
this mystery of iniquity doth already work. Mystery of iniquity
or sin, death, judgment. And he who, only he who letteth,
verse seven, only he who letteth who now letteth will let. That
is, God is the one. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning. He worketh all things out of
the counsel of his own will. Proverbs 16 says he created all
things for himself, even the wicked for the day of evil. Only
God who allows or directs or however you want to say it, who
controls all things, who allowed this to happen, who directed
this, who let this happen, only God decides when this is all
going to end. It's all going to end sometime.
You say, now listen to me. The entrance of sin into this
world, the continuance of sin in this world, if God is God,
why didn't he, if he is absolute sovereign ruler and controller
of all things, why didn't he stop sin from messing up his
creation? He could have. Couldn't he? Well, he ain't God if he couldn't.
Satan's God. That means Satan's just as powerful
as he is. If there's anything God can't do, he ain't God. You
better find somebody. If there's something God can't
do, you better find somebody who can do everything. The scripture
says, with God, all things are possible. Not only possible,
but they're sure. Whatever he's purposed, he said,
I purposed it, I'll do it. He said, none shall let it. None
shall stay my hand. Or say, you can't do that. Yes,
I can, God. Well the entrance of sin God
could have stopped it but he didn't. I don't fully understand
this but I know it's true. The continuance of sin to allow
it to go on. Sometimes I wonder why doesn't
God stop this mess? Why does God allow this to go
on? It seemed good in his sight. He's got a reason. And the putting
away of it he decided how to do that. I mean every step of
it. saving of a people all according
to his eternal power and for his glory. We don't question
any of that. We just believe it. Just believe
it. Say, I don't understand this,
Lord, but I believe it. I believe it. I believe you're
God. I believe everything you say. Now, verse eight, only he
who lets will now let until this wicked one be taken out of the
way. And verse eight says, and then shall that wicked be revealed,
a wicked one, capital whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit
of his mouth." Now, the Lord said in Romans
9, he said he raised up Pharaoh to show forth his glory, didn't
he? And somehow or another, he allowed
Satan's rise and Adam's fall, all of this, and the ruin of
many people to show forth his glory. I know it's difficult to understand,
but that's just so, isn't it? That's just so. Like I said,
he wouldn't be God if he didn't. To show forth his glory. Somehow
or another, God's going to get more glory this way in his saving
power. And God's Word will consume all
the gainsayers and the backbiter. The spirit of his mouth, it said.
And someday, by his very presence, he will destroy with the brightness
of his coming. And just as it was said in the
beginning that God created, there was a world without form and
void and darkness and evil and so forth in Isaiah 45, 7. The
only way I can describe these things is that God being light,
the only way he could create darkness is to remove himself,
right? You have a light bulb in a dark
room. The whole place is enlightened.
How do you create darkness? You take the light out. You turn
off the light. And Isaiah 45, 7 talks about God creating good
and creating evil, not sin, but allowing all these things to
take place that do take place by his absence, by removing his
hand and letting men and women do what they will. Now, listen to me. You've got
to follow me very carefully now. This is going to be extremely
instructive here. God gave Satan a little leeway
with Job. Do you remember the story over
in Job? God gave Satan a little leeway, didn't he? Satan is not
free to do what he wills. If you want to find that out,
look at Job chapter 1 and verse 2. Satan had to report to God
Almighty. Read it sometime. Read it. Satan said this, I can't touch
Job, you've got a hedge around him. He said, well, you take
your hand off of him and I'll have at him. Didn't he? That
was it. All right, God gave Satan a little
leeway with Job to show forth his saving power, his love and
his mercy and his grace. Satan has been granted a little
season, a little time. on this earth a short while it's
not very long. Not very long at all. But he's been granted
a short while with all the sons of God, just like Job. He's been
granted a little while to harass, to trouble, to try God's people. And you know Satan has his sons.
God has his son, Satan has his son. One of those sons is called
the son of perdition, is he not? Son of perdition. Son of Satan.
Christ looked at Pharisees one time and said, You're of your
father, the devil. In other words, you're not sons of God. God's
not your father. God is not the universal father
of all men, because he said to some men, You're of your father,
the devil. Right? I'm just quoting Scripture here. Now, the son of perdition, the
Antichrist, the spirit of Antichrist, which already works, John said. The spirit of Antichrist is already
at work. It works in all of Satan's son. Chiefly, his work is in the church. You know, Satan doesn't have
to attack necessarily men and women in the honky-tonks and
the bars and down in the gutters of New York City and Los Angeles
and all that. That's not where his chief work
is being done. All he has to do is leave men alone, just leave
them alone. And they'll go astray, because
that's within them. Just leave them alone. Satan's
chief work and his grand design of work is in the synagogue.
He knows where the power of God is. It's the gospel. And that's
where he's doing his chief work, in the minds and the hearts and
the thinking of men and women, much like you and myself. And
he does his work there. All right, now look at Verse 9 here, it says, Him whose
coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs
and lying wonders. Do you remember how that the
gods of the Egyptians, the Egyptian sorcerers, the Egyptian sorcerers
mimicked Moses's, the Lord's miracles? Do you remember that?
Janice and Jambres. his sorcerers, and he brought
them in, and they duplicated that feat. Miracle. I can't explain that. The Scripture
says it happened. Well, this Antichrist, or spirit of Antichrist,
his power, he shows his power through signs and lying wonders. And these are the things that
Satan's children and followers, they're called unbelievers, are
taken up with. Satan's followers, they're called
unbelievers, are taken up with these signs and lying wonders.
Christ said an evil and adulterous generation seeks after what?
The Word of God? Christ? Seeks after salvation? Seeks to know the things of God?
Is that what it said? No, an evil and adulterous generation
seeks after a what? A sign. A sign. All taken up with power. Power, power, signs and lying
wonders, all taken up with these things. Huh? Does this ring a
bell? Is this not what's going on today?
Power. Do you remember Simon Magus over
in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 8? Do you remember Simon Magus
when he made his decision for Jesus? He was baptized, he joined
the church, and then one day he saw the apostles laying on
of hands and the Holy Spirit came. Do you remember what happened?
You remember what Simon said? Simon said, I wonder if that's
where we get that little game from, Simon says, but Simon said,
give me that power. I want the power. I want to talk
in tongues. That's power. I want that. Signs and I want to heal. I want
to blow on people and they'll fall down. Give me this power!"
What did the apostle say to him? Your heart's not right. You're seeking the wrong thing.
You're no believer. You're no child of God. And the
evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, power, and
wonder, miracles and signs and wonders, power, tongues, with
all these things is an unbelieving world taken up with, aren't they?
But the man after God's own heart, who might that be? Who does the
Scriptures call a man after God's own heart? David. David said,
Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things in thy
word. David said, I can't believe my
eyes. It might be my prescription. When I see something happen,
no. I can't believe that. I can't
believe my ears. Right? Can't even believe your feelings.
Oh, I've had good feelings. A man can take a pill or drink
several bottles of something, he'll have a good feeling. Is
that the power of God? No. Martin Luther said, Feelings
come, feelings go. Feelings are deceiving. Your
hope better be in the Word of God. There's nothing else worth
believing. And David said this, turn away
mine eyes from beholding vanity. Didn't Christ say that which
is seen is temporal, that which is unseen is eternal? Don't believe
your eyes, it's vanity. David said, turn away mine eyes
from beholding vanity, and quicken thou me in the way. Establish
your word that never changes. That's how you'll be able to
discern the truth from the false, right here. Right now, all of
you who have read that with me and have seen it very clearly
have seen that all of this wonders and signs and all that is a bunch
of, it's not of God. You see that from 2 Thessalonians
2. If God will establish his word in your heart, you'll see
that Satan His work is Satan's in healing business. Satan's in healing business.
And he'll do it in the name of Jesus. And I'll add this. You can sure
spot these fellas. They say give Jesus a hand, but
in reality, they're the ones getting the hand, aren't they?
Huh? Come on now. Give Jesus a big hand. Why are
you standing there, bud? Won't you get out of the way?
Well, you're standing up there full, smiling. Everybody's patting
you on the back and praising you for what you just did. Now,
they're giving you a big hand. You're getting the glory to yourself. You see, you can't believe your
eyes, you can't believe your ears, you can't believe your
feelings, but God's Word never changes. You can believe God's
Word. It's been around a long time. It was around a long time
before you got here, and it'll be a long time, around a long
time after we leave this place. and long time after all of its
opponents and so forth. And verse ten says this, Satan
with all powers and signs and lying wonders, with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness of them that perish, because why? Now this
is significant. Because they received not the
love of the truth. They receive not the love of
the truth, and so therefore they are filled with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness. Verse 11, this is a strong verse,
isn't it? Verse 11 says, And for this cause,
because they receive not the love of the truth, but rather
love of unrighteousness, God shall send them strong delusion. Are you reading the same verse
I'm reading? God shall send them strong delusion that they should
believe a lie. In other words, God said, OK,
you're not going to believe my word? You're not going to take
my word for it? You're going to believe Satan
instead of me? All right, I'm going to send all kinds of things
for you to believe. All kinds of things that are
contrary to my word. Isn't that right? All right, now listen to this.
Turn with me to Genesis chapter 4. Genesis chapter 4. He said over there, he said,
they are damned who believe not the truth. but had pleasure in
unrighteousness." Genesis chapter 4. This is extremely interesting
and appropriate passage. Genesis chapter 4. He says that
some people, back there in our text, some people have pleasure
in unrighteousness. What is unrighteousness? What
is unrighteousness? It's that which is not righteousness. It's no righteousness, right?
There's no righteousness in it. It's unrighteousness, all right?
It's unholy. It's unlike God, it's ungodly,
it's unrighteous, OK? Man loves and has pleasure in
unrighteousness. Man has pleasure in that which
is no righteousness. Man chiefly has pleasure in that
his own righteousness. Self-righteousness, right? Which is no righteousness. God said all your righteousness,
Isaiah 64, 6, are filthy rags. Right? God said there is none
righteous, no not one. But man has pleasure in his own
righteousness, doesn't it? His own goodness, which he doesn't
have. It's unrighteousness. Man is
a lover of self, a lover of pleasure more than God. And just as Adam
and Eve in the garden wanted to be God, they wanted to be
God. I read the other day where a
pagan philosopher, a philosopher, out here in the world said this.
Here's the basic problem in all mankind. Listen to this. He said
the basic underlying problem with all people is that they
want to be totally in control of their lives. They want to
be God. That's exactly right. That's
where it started. It started in the garden that
way. God's God and Adam and Eve said we would rather be God and
in charge here and not answer to anybody. And all sin has this
at its root, this love of self-righteousness, self-glorification. I want to
be God. I don't like God's way. That's
too strict. I'll make up my own. Right? Now, here in Genesis 4, look
at verses 1 through 6 with me. Adam knew Eve, his wife, and
she conceived, and Bear came. And she said, I've gotten a man
from the Lord. And she again bare his brother
Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller
of the ground. And in process of time, it came to pass that
Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering of the
Lord. Cain was a farmer. Brother Scott said he was a turnip
farmer. You know why? Can't get any blood out of the
turnip. You see, God alone except the blood, Cain brought turnips,
and the best he could grow, you know, good works, his good works.
He was a tiller of the ground. There's nothing wrong with being
a tiller of the ground, but it was certainly wrong what he brought
to the Lord. Verse 4, And Abel, he also brought
of the first things of she, of the flock, his flock, and of
the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto
Abel and to his offerings. But under Cain and his offering,
he had not respect. What was wrong? God was, and
Cain was very mad, very rough in his countenance. What was
wrong? What was wrong with Cain's offering? Wasn't it the best?
Did he bring bruised fruit? Did he bring rotten bananas?
I was a table messed up. Oh, no, I bet he had that thing
fixed up. Nice tablecloth, you know, pretty
flowers, pretty swans in his garden. The nicest, biggest watermelons
and bananas and apples and all that. That wasn't it. No, that's
pretty stuff, you know. Best he could offer. But that's
not what God required. God said, I don't want the best
you can do. It shall be perfect to be accepted.
And the best you can do is not good enough, he said. You bring
back to me, you bring the blood of a lamb. Without the shedding
of blood, there's no remission of sin. It's the blood that makes
atonement for the soul. God told both these boys in the
very beginning, it's not what you're going to do that's going
to make you accept it before me. The best deed you can do
has got a bad motive with it. It's got a sinful heart and a
motive with it. You're going to have to bring blood. That's
typical of the innocent dying for the guilty. That's typical
of Christ, who is to come someday and shed his blood, the righteous
one, the Lamb of God, the spotless Lamb of God, coming to shed his
blood to pay for your guilt. And you know, where did those
sheep come from? Did Abel grow them? No, God grew them. God
provided them. And God shall provide himself,
the Lamb, for the orphan. He said, bring blood. Well, Cain
got mad, didn't he? Cain got mad. Well, look at verse
7. Here's what the Lord said. If you do well, won't you be
accepted? Huh? If thou doest well, won't
you be accepted? Huh? Sure you will. But if you
do not well, sand lies at the door. All right, now listen to
me. I bet you've never considered
this in light of this passage here. If thou doest well, won't
you be accepted? Shall thou not be accepted?"
Yes. Yes, you will. Cain and Abel represent all religion. Both of them claimed to worship
God. They were both coming to God. They both attempted to worship
God in their way. They were both instructed by
God in the right way to come, blood. Cain heard it just like
Abel did, blood, the right way. Only one way, God said, you bring
the blood of the Lamb. Abel believed God, didn't he? And he brought the lamb, and
it was counted unto him for righteousness. Cain said, that old bloody religion,
I don't like that. I'll bring something purchased.
I'll bring the best I've got. I'll dress up in a robe, and
I'll come, and I'll make the altar look good, and I'll bring
my best work, and surely God will accept that. Cain liked
his way better, didn't he? Not God's way, my way. My way. He liked his own way,
his own right way. Right what? Righteousness. Self-righteousness. And God said, get it out of here. Rejected. It said he rejected,
he accepted Cable's person and his offering. You see, as a man
thinketh in his heart, so is it. As a man thinketh in his
heart, so is it, and so bringeth he. Comes by the blood of Christ. He said, if you do well, if you
do righteousness, if you do good works, you did none good but
God. So that means all good works have to come from him, doesn't
it? And this is the work of God. What is the work of God? I got
all the way around to this one statement. He says, if you do
well, if you do good, if you do right, won't you be accepted?
There's none good but God. That means every good work, every
perfect gift, every perfect sacrifice, every righteousness comes from
God, doesn't it? Well, if you do well, if you
do good, this is the work of God. Then you want to do the
works of God to be accepted? Huh? What is it? This is the
work of God that you what? Do the best you can? Keep the
Ten Commandments? You can't do it. It's imperfect. Believe. Believe. Believe God's righteousness.
God said, I'm sending my son down here because you're dead
in trespasses and sin, because I'm holy and you must be holy
too, and you can't be holy no matter how hard you try. I'm
going to send my son down there. He's going to be holy as a man. He's going to live a holy life,
and I'm going to say, accepted, approved. There's a man I approve
of. Everything he did, said, thought, everything, perfect,
holy. God even couldn't contain himself.
Oh, well pleased, well pleased with my son. And he says about everybody else,
rejected, rejected, rejected. The best you do is not good enough.
He said about Christ, that's good enough. I'll accept that. I'm going to take all of their
inequities, where they come up short, their sins, their rebellion,
and heap them on him. Put them all on him and take
his righteousness, that life he gave, and give it to them.
And then I'm going to see that sin and that iniquity and that
rebellion and their self-righteousness on him, and I'm going to kill
it. soul that sinneth must surely die." And God killed him, shed
his blood. And it says that when he shed
his blood, he by his own blood put away sin forever. He took
blood. Wherever Christ went, he took
the blood and put it on the mercy seat and took our sins and cast
them away from us where God can't see them. And it's an utmost
blasphemy against the Holy God for somebody to say that's not
good enough. Huh? And it's the utmost blasphemy
to not believe that, that that's the only way I'm going to get
to God. Believe me, if there was another
way for God Almighty to purge sin, He wouldn't have bloodied
His Son up. wicked and evil and the most
abominable and most damnable thing God Almighty can see, and
behold, in a person is unbelief, to say, That's not good enough. Here, I'll bring my worst. I'll
bring my Sunday school pens. I'll bring my religion. I'll
bring my baptism. I'll bring my decision. I accept
Jesus. I let him in. God says, You're
going to hell for that. What you're saying is the blood's
not good enough. You've tried underfoot the blood
of God and said, that's not good. Look at here. Look at what I've
done for Jesus. Look what the Lord God of Jesus
Christ has done for such a sinner as me. Not under his feet, raising
him up, praising him to high heaven for what he's done for
me, but know what I've done for him. That's unbelief. And God on damn it. God damn
it. The hell. And I'm full of that and you
are in our wicked generation that seeks after signs and everything
is all taken up with what they're doing for Jesus. Everybody is
full of it and God hates it. He says they're filthy rags.
There's only one beautiful, precious robe that God said, sweet-smelling
Savior, and that's the one Christ worked out when he's on that
life that he worked out from the cradle to the grave. God, oh, there's a man the way
a man ought to be. And God said, I approve of this
man. Not that one, not that one, this one. And God says, and now
I'll approve of you. I'll accept you if you're in
him. You'd better get under him. You'd
better cling to his apron string, for lack of a better word. You'd
better cling to his robe of righteousness. You'd better get under the blood
mighty fast. You're naked. Your fig leaves
won't do, he said. God's got to slay an innocent
animal and cover us with it so his all-seeing eye can't see
the sin and perversion and nakedness. Right? anything less than total
submission to and belief in the person and the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ for all of our salvation is unbelief. And the Scripture says here,
if you don't do well, sin lies at the door. You'll be open to
everything that comes along. You thought about that? That's
what I'm You'll be open to everything. In other words, if that's not
enough, stand if Christ is not all, and you'll look elsewhere,
won't you? If you don't believe Christ is all, and if he doesn't
take up all of your thoughts and all of your glory and all
of your honor and your praise and your worship and your time
and your energy and your efforts into coming to know and worship
and love him, you'll look somewhere else. And God will show you,
he'll give you what you will. Remember that, what we read in
Psalm 106, he said, they lusted to lust, so God gave them their
desire, but they had leanness in the soul. Sin lies at the door. That's
what he said there in verse 7. Under thee, look at verse 7 in
Genesis 4, under thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule
over him. Now back to the text, and I'll
quit. OK? 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. I
had to get to this. Had to. People have pleasure
in unrighteousness. They don't believe the truth.
They don't love it. The truth. I just told you the
truth. Oh, people. God is my witness. I just told you the truth. Or rather, I told you about who
is the true one, the just one, the only one God will accept. He will not accept me. And I
am the preacher. He won't accept me. And he won't
accept the priest and the pope and the rabbi and this and that
and the other. He'll only accept one person,
Christ, and only those who come unto God by him. There's one
mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. One advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous. One who can plead our case. way
to God, one door, one truth, one life, Jesus Christ. Now, verse 13, that just makes
me bound to give thanks to God for you, brethren and sisters,
you beloved of the Lord, because God I'm not thanking you for
coming to worship God this morning. We're not going to recognize
anybody but Him. Churches, so-called churches
today are full of recognition for people. Why are we so glad
to have so-and-so here today? Why? What are you bragging on Him for?
That's the way it ought to be, worshiping God. What are we going
to thank Him for coming to worship God for? Let's thank God for
bringing Him here. Thank God to the higher heavens
that he gave the man the desire and the will and the ability
to come here and worship him. And all men aren't looking for
God. They're out there doing what they want to do. And the
fact that Joe Parks comes in here this morning to worship
God, we're not thanking Joe. I'm bound to thank God, Joe,
for you. Because God, and while you're
here, God has from the beginning chosen you. Before the Council
Hall and the Council Halls of Eternity, before the world began,
God said in March, what is today? See, I don't know, but He knows
whatever today, in March twenty-something, 1993, Joe Parks will be sitting
in row three, row one, two, four, C, A, listening to the gospel. And he'll hear it, and he'll
rejoice in it. Is that not right? He wouldn't be God if that were
not the case. If Joe is just running around
here doing as he pleases, Joe is just as much God as God is.
All right? But God Almighty hath from the
beginning chosen you to salvation through, and this is the means
he uses, sanctification of the Holy Spirit, set apart by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit, God, the Holy Spirit He culls them out. I've used this term before, haven't
I? Like a cowboy culling out a calf to brand him. Any cowboys
in here? Your boots don't make you a cowboy.
I wear them every now and then. And a hat, too. I ain't no cowboy. But a cowboy, you know, he gets
on his horse, and he gets in the herd there. Now, he's got
his eye on one calf that needs to be branded. One calf. And he's his horse. That's God's
goodness and mercy, isn't it? It talks about surely goodness,
Psalm 23, surely goodness and mercy. God's horses are faithful
watchdogs, and by the hand of the Holy Spirit, he's culling
after, he's looking for a sheep. And he gets his eyes on one,
he's going to brand him. He's going to brand him mine. He's
going to brand him with a big C, Christ. He's looking for it. There he is, Henry Soward. He's
mine. I've loved him for the foundation of the world. He's
going to come. I'm going to get on rope with
him. I'm going to draw him in the cords of love, the scripture
says, by the word of God. That's his rope. Any possibility
Henry's going to get away? Oh, no. See, the Holy Spirit
gets everyone. Everyone he sets his eyes on.
Every one he sits to sanctify. That's what the word sanctify
means. Set apart. Set them out. Separate them from
each other. He's going to separate you, save you from this untoward
generation, Henry. You were seeking signs and wonders
and power and all taken up with a false gospel and this and that
and the other one day, weren't you? But God said, I'm going
to sanctify him. I'm going to separate him. Pull
him out of that herd. I'm going to save him. And this
is how I'm going to do it, too. There's another main belief of
the truth. Henry's going to believe that. He's going to believe. There was a day, Henry, there
was a day, you be honest with everybody here, there was a day
when everything I've said this morning, you hated it, didn't
you? Argued against it. A man even uttered the word election
and you'd get mad, wouldn't you? And you said a long time ago,
you said, I'll never believe that. Thank God. He said, yes
you will. And you'll believe everything
I say. That's what's going to make you a child of God. You're
going to be a believer. Not an unbeliever, not a gainsayer,
a believer. You're going to believe everything I say. You're going
to give me all the glory for everything. And when you get
to heaven someday, you're just going to be singing my praises
for doing all this for you. Not leaving you to your own religious
self-righteous self. Right? Oh, you see that? We're bound to thank God and
only God. And he did this in the belief
of the truth. He called you by our gospel. What I've been preaching
this morning is the cause, the lasso of God Almighty, and it's
all in the hands of the Holy Spirit. I can't make you... I've
preached an hour now, almost. Talking just as fast as my little
tongue will take me. I can't convince anybody of anything,
but the Holy Spirit can. He can take one word, call. and call you out believe you
can take it one word but are you a believer. And you're a child of God believe
and it's not just believe in facts not believe in facts at
all it's love of the truth back in verse ten he said they love
the truth. And I describe describe what
would make Henry not just believe the facts but love it. Henry
realizes, don't you Henry? And I realize, but by the grace
of God, I'd be the old rebel I started out as being. Hell
bound, just as sure as hell, as sure for hell as if I was
already there. Not heaven, but God, who's rich
in mercy, for He's a great lover with He loved us, His people,
quickened us together with Christ. By grace He is saved. I sanctified
you by the Holy Spirit to the belief of the truth, called you
by our gospel, this gospel I'm preaching this morning. Have
you heard it? Do you believe it? If you have
and if you do, you give all the glory to God and thank him for
all of your salvation. Okay, stand with me and I'll
dismiss this.