Thank you, Lord, for saving my
soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank you, Lord. My great salvation, so rich and
free. I want you to turn with me in
your Bibles to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter
2. We'll take a verse from here
as our text. Now, several of us I had the most unpleasant experience
the other day of sitting and listening to a
man butcher the Word of God and lie on God and lie to men and women and
fill them full of false hope. and under the pretense of preaching,
brag on himself, brag on those he has married
and buried and baptized and prayed for. And for thirty minutes or so,
he gave a silly, sentimental sermon It was all summed up in the end
by talking about his mother, praying him to the altar, and with a tear-stained face
talked about meeting his mama in heaven. Never once did the man Mention
the word sin. The word mercy. The word gospel. Blood. Now besides from being infuriated
at that man. And angry and mad those feelings
were inside of me and I know they were. in you all as well. And every other emotion. Sadness. I felt sadness for those that
were there who didn't hear the gospel. I felt sadness for those
who needed to hear the gospel. But I went away from that place
with this verse of Scripture in mind. I went away from that
place thanking God that we're not in that mess. Thanking God that you and I are
not in the middle of all that. That you and I have been blessed
by God with true gospel. We don't know what we have here. It might be a good thing. If
it were mandatory that we would go, that each of us would go
once every six months and visit one of these places just to witness
what goes on and hear what is being preached in the average
church or so-called church today. But we have been blessed above
all people by God Almighty with the true gospel that doesn't
give us false and silly sentimental hope based upon the preacher,
based upon our mothers, based upon us praying through or reciting
the sinner's prayer. But as Paul said, it's based
upon a good hope through grace, 100 percent through sovereign
electing, effectual, saving, redeeming grace, a good hope. And this is what Paul is saying
here to the Thessalonians in verse 13. Paul says we're bound,
bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren. And I can say that right along
with the Apostle Paul. that I thank God for you Centralians,
like the Thessalonians. I'm so very grateful to God for
all that He has done for me personally, but for us collectively as a
body. He's given us these facilities
and all the material goods of this world, but most importantly,
God has given us a close love and fellowship around the gospel. Truly, our fellowship is with
the Father and with His Son, not based on silly sentimentality. And I bless God for what He's
done for each of you individually by revealing the gospel to you. And it's not my desire, though,
in the course of this message tonight, to brag on each of you
as that man did. Nor extol your virtues and praise
you for this and that. Although I do highly esteem each
of you and acknowledge all that you do for me and the church,
but I have to say with the Apostle Paul, we're bound to give thanks
to God. All the thanks. You see that? We're bound to give thanks Always,
at all times, for everything, all praise and honor and glory
to where it is really due, to God be the glory, great things
He hath done, not us, He hath done, for of Him and through
Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. Do you agree with that?
Of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be
all the glory." We're bound to thank God, brethren and sisters,
always, always. Beloved, look at what he calls
us, the beloved of the Lord. Not thanking us for loving the
Lord, is he? He's thanking the Lord for loving
us. Thanking God for first loving you and those that love God,
like Paul said in Romans eight, are those who are the called
according to his purpose. So to God be all the glory and
we thank God because he first loved us. We do love him, but
not until he first loved us and set his affection on us. And
because God, he says, has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Because God, we're bound to thank
God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation. We're not thanking
men for making their decision for Jesus, but we're thanking
Jesus Christ the Lord for making a gracious decision for men. We're not thanking our mothers
for praying for us. and getting us down to the altar,
but we're thanking our great high priests for interceding
and mediating for us and taking his blood before the altar of
God. We're not thanking men for choosing
God, but thanking the holy, sovereign, just, and righteous God for mercifully
and graciously choosing wretched, vile, hell-deserving sinners.
May God be all the glory. Thanks be unto God always, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation. And we're bound to thank God.
Bound. Not only is it our duty, but
we're constrained to, we're compelled to realize that God does it all. Salvation is totally of the Lord.
Bound to thank God for all things. Because God Almighty, before
the world began, before he laid the foundations of the world,
he sovereignly, freely, discriminately chose a people to be saved from
certain destruction. The election, we call it. I don't
argue with it. I bless God for it. Because God
set His eternal, unchanging, infinitely bountiful love upon
these people. And He had to. God had to love
them sovereignly because there's nothing lovely about any of them. He had to just, of His own good,
free pleasure, decide to love a people, to set His affection
upon them. Because there was none lovely.
No, not one. But God in His loveliness. God, who is love, did set his
love upon a people. And I have good reason to believe
that many of them are sitting right here. So we're bound to
thank God for loving us. And God sovereignly decreed a
covenant, ordered in all things and sure. And that covenant,
he sent his Son His well-beloved, only begotten, holy, spotless
Son, down here to represent each and every one of these people
before His holy law, to bear the wrath and punishment of God
against that broken law, against their sins, to bleed and die
and pour out His soul unto death, because that's what they deserve.
We're bound to thank God for sending His Son to do all this.
and for raising him from the grave. Thereby approving of accepting
that sacrifice on our behalf and taking him back to heaven
and sitting him down at the right hand of God as our surety to
ensure that every one of us get there as our mediator to pray
for us as our intercessor or. To plead with God on our behalf
not my mama but my savior was bound to thank God for all of
it from beginning to end. We didn't play a part. The preacher
didn't play a part. No one played a part. So we're
bound to thank God always for his eternal, electing, covenant
mercies in Christ for our salvation. We're bound to thank God the
Father for choosing us, for purposing this so great a work. We're bound
to thank God the Son for purchasing pouring out His blood, His soul
for this. And we're bound to thank God,
the Holy Spirit, for applying this work, because He had to
do it. It's all of God. Look at it. Because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Holy Spirit, a setting apart of the Holy Spirit. It
wasn't the preacher's eloquence or the preacher's powers of persuasion. It was the power the powerful
persuasion of God's Holy Spirit that draws a people. The irresistible,
invincible, persuasive powers of the Holy Spirit of God that
brought you to believe the gospel. Not mine, not any other man,
but the Holy Spirit of God. We're bound to thank God for
doing this, for sending His Holy Spirit to set us apart from this
generation that's believing another gospel. Because it's only by
grace that we're not in the midst of that. It's only by God's discriminating
sovereign grace that we're all not out there believing in Armenian
free will. Man exalting God abasing gospel
that'll send our souls to hell. This is only by the grace of
God that we're not right in the middle of it. Some of us were.
But God rescued us from that. And called us to himself. And
it's only by the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God, that we're
not like those here in chapter 2. Look at verse 9 with me, chapter
2. Those who are under the influence
and spell of him whose coming is after the working of Satan
with all power and signs and lying wonders. And I might add,
he's got a smile on his face too. And he's got a sweet sounding
voice and a tear in his eye. But it's all deceivableness of
unrighteousness, or that is our righteousness, not Christ's. Unrighteousness in them that
perish because they receive not the love of the truth that they
might be saved. And for this cause, God shall
send them strong, sentimental, heart-touching, tear-jerking
delusions. that they should believe a lie.
But they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but
had pleasure in unrighteousness." Now, we're bound to thank God,
brethren, that we're not in the midst of that. Because God did
not leave us to ourselves, nor leave us in the hands of evil
men and seducers who are waxing worse and worse and getting farther
and farther away from the truth every day. We're bound to thank
God for not leaving us in that mess. Another gospel, another
Jesus, but God, He says, called you by His gospel. Look at it,
verse 14. Whereunto, or whereby, or who
did this? God called you by our gospel,
the true gospel, the gospel of God's sovereign grace. The gospel
of electing love the gospel of full free and final atonement
and redemption the gospel of saving keeping preserving grace
the gospel of imputed righteousness the gospel of Jesus Christ and
him crucified. There is no one. As only one. And it's this gospel that God
has called you by. And given you faith in to the
obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, a final and
certain glorification, or that is, being made like Christ, being
made holy as He is. God didn't save us for the express
purpose of meeting our loved ones in heaven, but saved us
for the express purpose of making us like Christ. And that's what
it's all about. And He's the one we're going
to be concerned about. when we get there. Thank God for his
predestinating power that calls, that woos, that changes, that
actually changes people. I don't mean, I don't mean makes
them go through the motions. I don't mean that draws out their
silly emotions, but actually changes the heart and the mind
To believe what they once hated. To love what they once hated.
And to come to Him whom they would not come to otherwise.
Bound to thank God for His Holy Spirit that conforms a people
into the image of Jesus Christ. Actually changes them. Actually
changes them. And doesn't make them draw near
to God with their lips. But draw near to God with their
hearts. A Christ-like people. And I've said before that it's
Christ-like people, people like I'm looking at tonight, that
make this world worth living. Like David said in the psalm,
he said, they that fear God will be glad when they see me. They'll
be glad. It's just good to have somebody
around of like faith that love the same Lord, because there
are not many. There are not many out there. And I thank God for
this body of believers. Verse 15. And he says, therefore,
brethren. Stand fast. Stand fast, stand
your ground. Stand on the rock, Christ Jesus. There's no other place to stand.
Stand fast. Stand on the rock, Christ Jesus.
Because Christ is that rock on which he built his church, not
Peter. But Peter's confession of Christ,
the gospel, right? Not Peter. Peter's not that rock,
but Christ is the rock. He's that rock and His work.
And don't stand there, don't find yourself on the shifting
sands of your own righteousness or works, the shifting sands
of your own feelings, because feelings come, feelings go. or
the shifting sands of your own faith, which is up one day and
down the next. But stand firm on Christ, the
unmovable rock, who never moved, the truth that never alters.
Stand grounded and settled in the truth, and be not moved away
from your only hope. And Paul says this, hold the
traditions which you've been taught. Whether by word or by
epistle, hold the traditions that you've been taught, either
by the Old Testament word or by our epistle, by the New Testament. Now, this word tradition here,
we saw that over 1 Corinthians 11. This word tradition here
means something that is handed down from generation to generation. Any of you in your families that
have family traditions of some sort, but tradition is something
that is handed down from generation to generation. I believe Paul
here is talking about the tradition, the traditional gospel, the traditional
gospel, the faith. He said in one place, the faith
once delivered to the saints and then delivered on down through
the ages, starting with Abel's blood and sacrifice. It speaks better things. Abel's
sacrifice. Christ, his blood. His sacrifice,
not Cain's, his work, starting with Abel. And in Abraham's faith,
which counted him or imputed righteousness to him, who did
Abraham believe? Christ said, Abraham saw my day. Abraham believed in Christ. And
in Moses' writings, you see, Moses wrote the law. No, Christ
said, Moses wrote of me. Moses wrote about the traditional
way to worship God, that is, through the tabernacle. and the
Ark of the Covenant, which is Christ. And then go on down to
David. David's talk about his son, not
Solomon, but David's Lord. David's Lord, Christ, the coming
Son of David. And then go on down a little
further to Paul's gospel of justification by faith without works. This
traditional gospel. And then there's Martin Luther.
And then there's John Calvin, then there's Knox, then there's
Owen, then there's Newton, then there's John Gill. The gospel. The traditional gospel. The gospel
of the Reformation. Scriptures alone. Grace alone. Christ alone. The only gospel. And Paul says, stand fast and
hold this traditional gospel. The only gospel. The gospel of
sovereign mercy and grace in Christ Jesus. Hold on to it.
and never let go of it. It's your only help. It's your
only hope in time of need. Your only hope. He says whether you've heard
it by the Old Testament or the New Testament epistle, you hold
fast. You hold fast. It'll hold fast
to you. It'll hold fast to you. It'll
hold you up. It'll hold you up. Now look at Paul's closing prayer
here. is closing hopes for the Thessalonians. And this is mine
for you. Verse 16, now, may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and
God, may Christ be, may Christ himself, very really, in person,
be a comfort and a help to you. May his person, all that he is,
and the sweetness and the blessedness of his lovely character. May he, in all of his mercy and
grace and goodness and tenderness and compassion and long-suffering,
may he help you. And God, the loving Heavenly
Father, who we're bound to thank for doing all this in the first
place, for choosing you, for calling you, for sending his
Son. And God, the Holy Spirit, who
will keep you, keep you, holding and clinging to this gospel,
unto our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God, even our Father, which
hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation, a
blessed gift, blessed assurance, an everlasting consolation, for
that is Christ who is our consolation. and a good hope, a sure hope,
a good hope through grace, through Christ who is our hope. May He
comfort your hearts as only He can. Not the preacher, not anybody,
but Christ and His gospel. Comfort your heart and establish
it Establish you in every good word. You see that? Establish
you in this good word, this good help, this good comfort. Comfort
your heart. And there's only comfort in an
everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure. That's
the only place you're going to find any comfort. In an everlasting
covenant ordered in all things in Christ. And sure, in our surety,
and although your house may not be so with God, and although your desires for
your house may not grow or be turnouts like you want them to,
yet God has made with you an everlasting covenant and ordered
in all things. And sure, and this is our comfort. This is our hope and we're bound
to thank God. Whether he saves anybody else
or not. We're bound to thank God for saving us. Right? And he's made this covenant with
you. With all people. Now he says
comfort your hearts with this. Comfort your hearts. Establish
you. Be established in this good word.
It's more than doctrine. It's your hope. This gospel is
your hope. And every good word. Be a hearer
of the word. And, he says, every good work.
Be a doer. Be a doer. Walk worthy of the
Lord unto all well-pleasing in a Christlike manner, glorifying
Him by bearing much fruit. And don't forget this. I told
one of our ladies the other day that I felt like I've been in
such a, I don't know, a slump or a rut in this thing of preaching,
but Paul says, don't forget to pray for us, verse 1 of chapter
3. Finally, brethren, pray for us,
that the Word of the Lord may have free course, may run well. Pray for us. Pray for the preaching
of the gospel, that the Word may have free course and be glorified
even as it is with you, so you can come and hear this consolation,
so you can come and hear this gospel and get the comfort that
you need, so you can come and hear the gospel that's your only
help, your only hope. Pray for us. Pray for us. Pray for this church. Pray for
one another, that God will keep us holding fast to Christ and
to this gospel that's our only hope, our only help. Brethren,
pray for it. Let's stand as I dismiss this
and pray. Heavenly Father. We are bound
to give thanks to you. For all that you are and all
that you've done. Words are. Not sufficient. And not sufficient. to thank
you for everything you've done for us. Providentially, you've been so
good to us through the years. And if you didn't do another
thing for us, we've already received much more than we're worthy of.
Your mercies have been new every morning, and we fully expect
them to be so tomorrow morning. And your grace A cup of bountiful
grace runs over. The lot has fallen unto us in
pleasant places. And Lord, we have nothing, absolutely
nothing to murmur about, complain about, but everything to be thankful
for. Lord, make us realize that. Make us thankful people with
everything in prayer, supplication and thanksgiving. Like I request
be known to God. Lord, we do thank you for all
that you are and all that you do, and Lord, we thank you for
this. Blessed work of salvation that you've. That you've begun
and and these people here, I'm quite confident. I can see it
in their lives and see it in their in their countenances.
This gospel of redeeming grace, the gospel of person, the work
of Christ. You've given a faith to these
people. You've caused them to believe
it, set them apart from this mass of corruption, this mass
of humanity that believe in a lie. And Lord, we're bound to thank
you for it. All praise, honor, and glory belongs to our great
God for everything he's done for us. And Lord, we do ask you
to keep us by this power, by this gospel, keep us clinging,
keep us cleaving to the Lord Jesus Christ, to Him and Him
alone, and dare not trust the sweetest frame or lean upon anything
or anyone else but Christ, but wholly lean on Jesus Christ,
blessed person and name. We've met together to praise
you and honor you, and we do so in the name of Christ, for
for his glory and honor.