as well as establish you, that
is, stabilize you. You don't want to be moving around
and need to be stabilized in every good word and work. This is the second letter that
the apostle wrote to the church at Thessalonica. In fact, he
wrote the first letter to them just about a half a year before
he wrote this one. In fact, six months after he
wrote the first letter, he wrote the second letter. And he was
led of the Spirit of God to do that because they were a very
troubled people. All of God's people have troubles
of different sorts. The trials of God come to us
according to his eternal purpose. I began the service by reading
and we sang my times are in God's hands and God in his infinite
wisdom and knowing what's best for each of us, he sends these
troublesome times to us and they arrive right on schedule. They last exactly as long as
he has purposed. And then whenever God is pleased
to do so, he may take them away, or they may linger, those difficult
situations. But one thing for certain, in
the midst of the difficulties of life, he has said, I'll never
leave you, and I'll never forsake you. Now let me tell you a couple
of the reasons that he wrote this second letter to the people
of the Church of Thessalonica. Number one, he wrote indeed to
give them consolation in their times of difficulty and trouble. This was the thing. They were
suffering great persecution. That was for the cause of Christ. Back some many months before
this, the Apostle Paul and Silas, they had been in Thessalonica
preaching the gospel. They opened and alleged, that
is, he gave understanding, Paul gave understanding of the Scriptures,
and he pressed upon the people, the Lord Jesus, that he had to
die. Jesus must needs, must needs
suffer many things and then he must die and he must be raised
again. He must needs, this was Paul's message, not only at Thessalonica,
but everywhere he went he always preached Christ must needs, he
had to die, he had to suffer. Why did he have to suffer? Why
did he have to die? Why did he have to be raised
again? Well, I can think of several reasons. Number one, because
God purposed it. The death of the Lord Jesus wasn't
an accident. It wasn't due solely to the will
of the enemies of our Savior. He died according to God's will
and purpose. This was what God ordained to
be done before He ever made the world. That's the reason we read
in the book of Revelation chapter 13 and verse 8 that Christ Jesus
was the Lamb who was slaughtered before the foundation of the
world. God had already purposed the
death of Christ Jesus. That's the reason we read in
Luke chapter 22 and verse 22, the Son of Man goeth as it was
determined. As it was determined. Who determined
that? God did. That's why we read in
Acts chapter 4 that the Jews and the Gentiles and all of the
leaders of pagan governments as well as the leaders of the
Jewish religion, they all gathered together with the Gentiles in
order to do exactly what God purposed and ordained to be done.
God ordained this before the world began. He must need suffer
many things. He must die and He must be raised
again because God ordained it. And He must need suffer and die
and be raised again because that's the only way we could be saved.
The Lord didn't have many options as to how He would save sinners.
The Lord didn't have said before Him, well, here's A and B and
C and D and E. Here are the means whereby I
could save people. And this is the one I choose,
the death of the Lord Jesus. The death of the Son of God.
That's not right. In order for us to be redeemed,
there had to be a suitable death, that is a death that suited God.
A death that satisfied God. Never forget this, before God
could do anything for us, He had to do something for Himself. He had to honor His own justice. He had to satisfy His own law. And His law said, the soul that
sinneth shall die. Man must die. God said to Adam,
in the day ye eat thereof, you'll surely die. And Adam died and
we died. Wherefore as by one man, sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned in Adam. Death, death, that is
the penalty for sin. But God gave to Christ Jesus
a people before the world began, The Savior came into the world
to save those people, to redeem those people. And in order to
redeem them, in order to buy them, in order to reconcile them
to God, in order to put away all of their guilt and all of
their transgressions, all of the iniquities of all of God's
people met upon the Son of God. And He had to die under the wrath
of God. He had to Himself drink the bitter
cup of God's damnation, of God's wrath. of God's hatred, of God's
absolute fury against sin. And our Lord Jesus drank that
cup dry. He satisfied the justice of God
in His death. That's why He had to die, because
sin demanded it, sin required it, and the justice of God said,
this is the only way sin can be put away. Don't ever, don't
ever imagine at all Any idea that God could have saved us
another way, there wasn't another way. There wasn't another way. Our Savior said, Father, if it
be Thy will, let this cup pass from me. It couldn't pass from Him. It
couldn't pass from Him. You see, God could make a world
By His Word. He spake and it was done. But He can't save that way. Because
He's a holy, just, and righteous God. And our Lord Jesus must need
suffer and He must die. He must needs die. Because in
order to save us, that's what it took. That's what it took. a bloody sacrifice. He had to
go through agony on the cross. And I'm not talking merely about
the agonies that men put on him, but the agonies of his soul.
As old Luther used to say, the soul of his sufferings was his
soul's sufferings. The Lord caused him to suffer. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him, to bruise him. He must need suffer because God
ordained it, because that's the only way justice could be satisfied. That's the only way our sins
could be put away. He must need suffer many things,
and this is what Paul went forth preaching. He's there in Thessalonica,
and if you want to read, at your leisure, don't read it now, Acts
chapter 17. After he preached that, there
were some Greeks, And they said, we like that message. We like
this message of salvation by grace. We want to hear more of
it. But there were some Jews, all
the Jewish leaders. They had synagogue, of course,
there in Thessalonica. And they got upset. There are
folks who get upset over the message of pure grace. There
are those who get upset over salvation by the substitutionary
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope that doesn't upset you.
It makes me glad. It makes me glad, but it makes
some people mad. Some people get upset over it.
And I'll tell you, the people that I really am concerned about
are those who can be just very complacent about it. They said,
well, you believe your way, I'll believe my way. This is the right
way. But anyway, the Jews, they got
upset. And they went around causing
trouble everywhere. And they went to the house of
a man whose name was Jason. His last name wasn't Smith, by
the way. It was just Jason. They went to Jason's house. And
they was looking for Paul and Silas. They said, they're not
here. They're not here. Well, they
took Jason. Took Jason. And they demanded, where are
these preachers? They have turned our city upside
down. Kind of the way Brother Barnard
did when he was here years ago. Turned this city upside down,
him and Brother Mahan. They turned this city upside
down. Oh, they were so upset. And the folks in Thessalonica,
they were really concerned about the welfare of Paul and Silas,
so they sent them out of town. And then the city endured great
persecution. That's one of the reasons these
two letters are written. These people are going through
some tough times. Every once in a while we have
some ridicule because of the gospel of grace. Somebody will
say something to us, you know, and we'll say, well, that's persecution.
Well, in a way it is. But we never experienced what
those folks experienced back then. And I tell you, they were
hurting and upset. The Lord laid upon Paul's heart
to write the first letter and then the second letter. Where are you going to find when
people begin to persecute you or speak evil about the gospel
of grace? You mean that's what you believe? I don't know anybody who believes
in predestination anymore. You mean you believe in the election
and the salvation? You mean you believe Jesus Christ
only died for His people? Well, I can't see how anybody
could believe that when you begin to endure some persecution on
account of your beliefs in these things, you'll find your comfort
in the word of God. In fact, no matter what your
trial or trouble might be, you'll find everlasting consolation
in the scriptures. And this is one of the reasons
Paul wrote this letter to give everlasting consolation to these
people in time of persecution. Here's the second reason he wrote
this epistle. He wrote to give instructions
about the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the second
advent of the Savior. He had mentioned in his first
epistle about the coming of Christ Jesus, and then there were some
people, you know there are people who like to upset the apple cart
and cause people unrest. They were upsetting people in
the church at Thessalonica, and they were saying, the Lord is
coming back, and He's coming back real soon. And their implication
was, it's gonna be bad for the people of God when He comes back.
This is something to be fearful about. And so, Paul wrote this
second letter. Because there were folks who
were trying to divide the children of God. Can you imagine somebody
trying to divide the people of God? To upset the Lord's dear
children? In fact, go back and look at
verse one of chapter one of 2 Thessalonians. Look at 2 Thessalonians chapter
one and verse seven. He said, and to you who are troubled,
rest with us. To you who are troubled, Don't
be anxious about the second advent of the Lord Jesus Christ. This
is not something to worry about. If you're one of the people of
God, if you washed in the blood of the Son of God, if you're
looking to Christ only for your salvation, If His robe of righteousness
has been imputed to you, if you don't look to any work of your
own, or any deed of your own, or any prayer of your own, or
anything like that, and you look to Christ only for all of your
salvation, you have nothing to fear regarding the second coming
of our Lord Jesus. Let's, as the people of God,
just stand on the tiptoes of faith and look for Him anxiously,
waiting for Him to come and longing for Him to come. But these, there
were some within the church that tried to disturb the rest. The people of God have a sweet
rest in Christ Jesus. Didn't the Savior say there in
Matthew chapter 11, He said, All you that are laboring or
heavy laden, I'll give you rest. I'll give you rest. Take my yoke
upon you. Learn of me. I'm meek and lowly
in heart. You'll find rest for your soul. That's what I want. I want rest
for my soul. Rest for my soul. And I don't
want anybody trying to disturb my rest. I don't want anybody
trying to upset me. And said, well, I'll tell you
when the Lord comes back, well, you've got a lot to answer for,
Jim. I'll tell you, somebody's already answered for Jim. Somebody's
already paid the debt for Jim. Somebody's already settled the
issue for Jim. That's Christ Jesus. That's why
He came into the world. He must need suffer these things.
He answered for all my guilt, for all my sinfulness, for all
my transgressions, for all my iniquities. And therefore God
Himself says that their sins and iniquities will I remember
no more. Oh, hallelujah. God will not
remember our sins against us anymore. They're gone. That's why the Lord, He expresses
it this way. They're buried in the depths
of the deepest sea. They're cast behind God's back.
They're separated from us as far as the East is from the West,
not as far as the North is from the South. You can measure that,
but as far as the East is from the West. It's immeasurably removed
from us. Our Lord Jesus paid our debt. He has brought in everlasting
righteousness, and God will never, ever hold us accountable for
any of our sins. Hallelujah. I remember when I was growing
up, I grew up in a very well Armenian atmosphere. And, you
know, the more you did for Jesus, the more stars you'd have in
your crown and that sort of thing. But if you didn't ever do anything,
oh, you'd get into heaven just by the skin of your teeth. Whatever
that, I don't even want skin on my teeth. I don't know what
that means. But anyway, but that was the
old saying anyhow, but skin in your teeth. I'm sure somebody
look it up on the internet this afternoon, find out the origin
of that. They said, but you're going to be sad. You're going
to be sad in heaven. Now, you'll get there. But you're
not going to have a big mansion. You're going to live on the poor
side of town. I can't, now as I think back
on that, it's hard for me to imagine people talking that kind
of foolishness. The Scripture says, the Lord
is my portion, saith my soul. If I've got Christ Jesus, I've
got everything. Listen, we've been blessed with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And having
Christ Jesus, we've got all God could ever give us. I've got
all He could ever give me and you've got all God could ever
give you. He's given us His all in giving us Christ. If you have
Christ Jesus, You lack for nothing. I don't know what you might have
of this world's goods now. I'll tell you what, if you have
Christ, you're immensely spiritually wealthy. But if you don't have
Christ Jesus, you're poverty stricken. You're worse than the
beggar that laid, you're worse than Lazarus that lay at the
rich man's gate. He didn't have anything of this
world's goods. But if you're without Christ
Jesus, you don't have anything of God's grace. You don't have
anything of God's mercies. These people, these saints of
God, people were trying to disturb
their rest. I've never understood why people
want to stir up the people of God. Try to put a division, put
a wedge between God's people. I don't like that. I don't like
that. And this is what folks were doing
in Thessalonica. You got a lot to be worried about.
The Lord might come back. I say, let him come back. Let
him come back. He's already answered for me.
I have nothing to be disturbed about. These people who were
disturbing the rest or endeavoring to disturb the rest of God's
people in Thessalonica, they didn't believe the gospel of
grace. They hated the Lord. and they
hated to see his people getting along with one another. So they
tried to cause trouble. Don't be a troublemaker. Don't be a troublemaker. Well,
so he wrote this letter. And even in the second chapter,
he begins to say, now listen, when the Lord comes back, there'll
be some things that will happen. There'll be a falling away, And
men are not gonna love the truth. They're not gonna believe the
truth. They won't have a love of the truth. And he says, now
the gospel's gonna keep going forth, but there'll be people
who won't love the truth and won't believe the truth. And
because they don't love the truth or believe the truth, the Lord
says, in judgment, he's gonna send them a lie. He's gonna send
them a religious lie. Now, listen to me. It's a wonderful,
wonderful honor to hear the gospel of Christ Jesus, to hear of Him
whom God sent into this world to save sinners. It's a wonderful
honor to hear about salvation by grace. It's a wonderful privilege
that God gives us to be under the sound of the preaching of
the pure gospel that doesn't require a gospel that doesn't
require anything of you, but the gospel that says it's done.
The work is already done. Woe be unto you if you don't
believe this message. And I call upon all of you with
as much enthusiasm as I can, I compel you, be reconciled to
God. Come to Christ Jesus. Whoever
you are, I don't care who you are, I don't care what you've
done. It doesn't matter. Whether you're in this congregation,
or you're watching on the internet, or you're listening to this CD,
or watching the DVD later on, whoever you are, come to Christ
Jesus in your neediness, in your emptiness, and draw from His
fullness. He is the wonderful Savior. He's full of forgiveness and
righteousness. There's a multitude of mercies
with the Lord. Come to Christ Jesus. But if you don't believe this
message, and here God's given you a Bible,
you've heard preachers, you've heard me, you've heard other
preachers from this pulpit, you've heard other preachers from other
pulpits. If you don't believe this message, I'm gonna give
you a warning right now. God may very well send you a
strong delusion and you'll just swallow it all. You'll believe
a lie. You say, would God do that? Look
back up here. Look in the scriptures with me.
2 Thessalonians chapter two. 2 Thessalonians two, look at
verse 10. He talks about anti-Christ. He's
coming, verse 10, with all deceivableness of 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 delusion, that they might believe a lie, that they all
might be damned who believe not the truth, delight or pleasure
in unrighteousness. They didn't believe the truth
and they didn't love the truth, though I'm sure in some cases
they knew the truth. Permit me to give you a story,
and you'll have to permit me because you can't stop me because
I'm behind the book. Anyway, when I was 19 years old,
I was in college, Bible college. And I had learned of sovereign
grace. I was working in a church, a
pretty large church. I was a minister of music and
took care of teaching the youth on Saturdays and that sort of
thing. Did some preaching. And then
God was teaching me about sovereign grace. So I went to the pastor.
Nice big office. And I told him, I said, I just
need to be honest with you. If I keep on teaching, I've got
to teach something that I've now learned. He said, what's
that? And I said, I've learned salvations
of the Lord. I've learned about sovereign
grace. He said, yeah, I know what you're talking about. He
said, you see those books right up there? And he had Arthur Pink's
book, The Sovereignty of God. It originally came out in three
volumes. He said, you see those books? I said, yeah. He said,
I believe every word in them. That's what he said. I believe
every word in those books. I said, but you don't preach
that. You don't preach that. He said, well, you don't understand. He said, if I preach that, I'd
get fired. I said, You're not willing to pay the
price? That pretty much ended my days
as minister of music and youth. I will tell you that. But he
said, even though he said he believed it, he didn't believe,
but he knew the truth. He knew the truth, but he didn't
believe the truth, and he didn't love the truth. You can have lots of knowledge. What was it Brother Barnard used
to say? You can be straight as a gun barrel and just as empty. He used to say that, didn't he?
Straight as a gun barrel and just as empty. It's another thing to have the
life of God in the soul. I don't want to just know some
things. And I love doctrine, but I don't
want to just know some doctrine. Now, I want to know doctrine.
Don't misunderstand me. And I've never belittled doctrine.
But I want to know Him who is the life, the life of the doctrine
of the gospel. I want to know Christ Jesus. and you hear this gospel, and
you turn a deaf ear to it, you expose yourself to the judgment
of God, even while you're in this world. And that's a fact. But thank God he has a people. who won't be deceived, they're
not going to be deluded, they have a knowledge of and a love
of the truth. And this is the reason, verse
13. But we're 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 to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord has a people. He has a people marked out from
old eternity. They belong to him. Our Lord
Jesus has bought them. He bought them with his blood.
And the spirit of God will use the preaching of the gospel Just
like what I'm doing this morning. And in God's appointed time,
he revealed the glories of Christ Jesus to the souls of these people. Thank God for the election of
grace. Thank God we have a mighty Redeemer. And that's why he says then in
verse 15, therefore brethren, stand fast. Don't give ground. Don't retreat. Don't go backwards. Stand fast. Hold the traditions
which you've been taught. Whether by word, whether through
my preaching, he says, or our epistle, or the writings of the
word of God. Stand fast. And that's what I
say to you. And that's what I say to all
of us, to me as well. Stand fast in the doctrine of
our God. Stand fast in salvation by grace. Stand fast in salvation by Jesus
Christ alone. Stand fast in the successful
redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Stand fast in unconditional
election. Stand fast in the need of the
effectual call of grace. Stand fast in the... in the necessary
work of the Spirit of God, in regeneration, in the new birth. Stand fast in the gospel. Say like another said years ago,
here I stand, I can do no other. I'm not going to move. I'm not
going to move. I was talking to a preacher not
too long ago and he said, He was speaking with a preacher.
He said, I don't know where you're going, but I'll still be here
if you decide to come back. I'll still be here. Stand your
ground. Don't change. You can't improve
on the gospel. Don't get caught up in, well,
we need to grow. We need more excitement. We need
more programs. I got an email recently that
said, what kind of different programs you have in your church.
I said, we have one program. We preach Christ crucified. That's what we do. Now, our Lord Jesus Christ himself
and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given
us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace. May
he comfort your heart. Anybody here this morning need
comfort? I do. May he comfort our heart, because
we can't comfort the heart. We can offer words of encouragement.
We can offer words of love. We can offer words of comfort.
There is only one, though, who can speak to the heart. There's
only one who can speak to the heart. And that's Him who speaks
by His mighty grace. That's the one who spoke with
His disciples. He is in a boat and He is fast
asleep. And a storm arose. And the waves were rolling over
that little boat. Thunder, thunder crashing, and
the lightning flashing, and they were scared to death. Master,
master, carest thou not that we perish? Oh, ye of little faith. And he
spoke and he said to the winds and the waves, peace, be still. And as the winds and the ocean
obey his voice, He's the only one who can speak peace to our
troubled hearts. And when He speaks peace, He
gives a good peace. It's restful. It's blissful,
even in this world of trouble and conflict. He speaks with
great power and love to His people. May He comfort your hearts and
establish you in every good word That's the word of the scripture,
and in every good work. What is that? The work of the
gospel. The work of the gospel. Don't get discouraged. I know
there are negative voices out there, but don't listen to them. Don't listen to them. Sometime, I had a person tell
me, he said, Preacher, do you see these mega churches? These
magnet churches, they're just gonna swallow us up. They're
not gonna swallow up the church of God. They're full of excitement,
they're full of all kind of programs, they're full of this, they're
full of that, but they're empty of the gospel. That makes it
vanity. That's all it is, just vanity,
emptiness, nothingness. I tell you, the only substantial
message there is, is this gospel of grace. Isn't that right? Yeah. Well, let's sing a song. What
do you say?