My privilege to introduce our
speaker this morning. Of course, he needs no introduction
to us. We've known him a while. Stole
the heart of one of our young ladies. And we love him. Brother Cody Henson. Brother
Cody, come and preach. Good morning. If you will open
your Bibles with me to the book of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Your brethren in Kingsport send
their greetings. And we thank you for the pews.
2 Thessalonians chapter 2. I've titled this message, Six
Stubborn Statements. Now some of you may recognize
that title as Brother Henry brought this message many years ago.
And as he passed on to be with Christ a week ago, I thought
of this message because it blessed my heart. And I pray that God
will enable me to bring the same message that our dear faithful
brother brought. And just so you know, he heard
it from Ralph Barnard back in the 50s. This is a good message. I pray that God will get me out
of the way and make this a blessing to all of us. Now these six stubborn
statements declare plainly the truth of God as it is revealed
in His Word. We're going to see a lot of scripture,
so that's You'll see it's not just my word, it's God's word.
Now these statements are stubborn in the sense that they are firm,
they're unbending, and they're unchanging. You see, we live
in a very religious world and religion is always changing.
Things are always, well now this is acceptable, well now that's
not acceptable. God never changes. He changes
not. That's why we're not consumed.
And His word stays the same forever. Now look here with me in 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2 verse 11. 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. We must believe the truth. The
way Henry put it when he preached this message, he said, 40 years
or so ago, I was confronted with the truth. This is the truth. We must believe the truth. Now these statements that I'm
about to give us, they draw a clear line between the truth of God
which saves, and the lies of religion which damn." Here's
the first stubborn statement. Either God Almighty is absolutely,
totally sovereign in all things, or He's not. There's no middle
ground. It's one or the other. Turn with
me to Isaiah 45. You can actually keep your bookmark
here, we'll be in Isaiah quite a bit. Isaiah 45 verse 5. Isaiah 45 verse 5 says, I am
the Lord, and there is none else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou hast
not known me, that they may know from the rising of the sun and
from the west that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and
there is none else. I formed the light, and create
darkness. I make peace and create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. Verse 8, Drop down ye heavens
from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let
the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let
righteousness spring up together. I, the Lord, have created it. Does that sound like the sovereign
God to you? It sure does to me. You know how the Word of God
starts? These four words. In the beginning, God. Everything that there is to be
believed hinges on that, because that tells us who God is. He
stands alone. He has no rival. He was in the
beginning by Himself, and He spoke everything into existence,
including you and me, by the Word of His power. That's our
God. Look over just the page of Isaiah
46, verse 9. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God and there is none else. I am God and there
is none like me." You know, a mistake people often make in religion
is thinking that we are like God. We're not. There is none
like Him. Look at verse 10. "...declaring
the end from the beginning." Who could declare the end from
the beginning? Only God, because everything We'll see it in a
minute, but He purposed everything. It's all according to His will
and His purpose, declaring the end from the beginning and from
ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My
counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure. Now here in verse 11 we see that
God is in control of everything. Look what it says in verse 11.
Calling a ravenous bird from the east. A bird starts flying
across the country. Even that bird is in God's hand
under His control. the sparrow. It's all in God's
control. Verse 11, calling a ravenous
bird from the east, the man that executed my counsel from a far
country. You know, there's a lot of rulers
in this world, but they can't do nothing except the Lord gives
them the power to do it. Remember what he told Pilate?
Pilate said, don't you know I have the power to crucify you? Oh my, what did our Lord tell
him? He said, you can have no power except it was given you
from my Father. We have no power. None at all. God is the King
of heaven and earth. He is Lord over all. The God
of the living and of the dead. And He has a counsel. You know,
a king makes a decree. They say, this is the way it
is. God said, this is the way it is. And that's the way it
is. His counsel shall stand. He will do all His pleasure. Psalm 115 verse 3, But our God
is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever He hath
pleased. Amen? Amen. You know, often people will mention
that God's trying to save. God wants you to be saved if,
but, and. There's no buts about it. No
buts about it. Nahum 1 verse 3 says, The Lord
hath his way. The Lord hath his way. In the
whirlwind and in the storm and the clouds are just the dust
of his feet. That's who our God is. Look at
the last half of verse 11 here in Isaiah 46. It says, Yea, I
have spoken it. I will also bring it to pass.
I have purposed it. I will also do it. When God speaks, it comes to
pass. Where the word of a king is,
there's power. When God purposes to do something,
unlike us, He does it. And He does it perfectly. Whatever
it is. God is a God of purpose. And that's crucial for us to
learn. Nothing happens by chance. Nothing
happens by mistake. There's no accidents with God.
Everything God does is on purpose. Now I'm interested to know what
His purpose is. Turn with me to a familiar verse,
Romans 8 verse 28. Romans chapter 8. Romans 8, 28. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose. God is working all things together. Don't you love that? Things happen
and we just wonder, why are they happening? Well, I can assure
you of this. It's no accident. One way or
another, God's working this together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to His purpose. You know, nothing
can get in God's way. Nothing can catch Him off guard
because He's in control of all things. Even the devil himself
is God's devil. He's not an enemy. God uses him
just as He uses everything else to accomplish His purpose. What is His purpose? Look at
verse 29. For whom He did foreknow, He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
He did predestinate, them He also called. And whom He called,
them He also justified. And whom He justified, them He
also glorified. God purposed salvation. God purposed. salvation. God is sovereign in creation,
He's sovereign in providence, and He's sovereign in salvation,
or He's not sovereign at all. Our second stubborn statement
is this. Either man is born into this
world dead in sin, totally dead, totally depraved, or he's not. Turn to Ephesians chapter 2.
Ephesians 2 verse 1. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins. In order for us to be saved,
God must quicken us because we're dead. It doesn't say almost dead
or mostly dead. It says dead. What that means
is we have no life. We have no ability to give ourselves
life. Christ said you must be born
again. I can't make myself be born again any more than I was
born the first time. I can't do it. I have no will
to believe God or to come to God. I have a corrupt will. I
have a sinful will, a sinful nature. I have no goodness in
me. I know that in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. None. From the top of my head
to the bottom of my foot, nothing good in here. No soundness in
me. None. No hope. That's what we are in
and of ourselves. Hopeless. Hopeless. We can read
it here in Ephesians. Without Christ, no hope. Without
God in the world, that's what we are on our own. That's what
it is to be dead. Dead in sin. Alright? Now, why
are we all born this way? Why are we all born dead in sin?
Someone may say, well that's not fair. Well, ain't nothing
we can do about it. in Adam all died. That's what
the scriptures say. Now turn over with me to Romans
chapter 5. You want to say that's not fair,
well look at this verse. Romans 5 verse 12. Romans 5 verse 12 says, Wherefore,
as by one man, Adam, sin entered into the world, and death by
sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sin. You see, we can't blame our sin
on Adam. We can't blame our sin on Adam. All have sin. 1 John,
well I didn't write it down. Somewhere in 1 John it says,
if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the
truth is not in us. Turn with me back to Isaiah.
This time chapter 59. Not only have we sinned, our
sin has grave consequences. Here in Isaiah 59 verse 1, it
says, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot
save, neither His ear heavy that it cannot hear. Verse 2, But
your iniquities have separated between you and your God. and your sins have hid His face
from you that He will not hear. For your hands are defiled with
blood and your fingers with iniquity, your lips have spoken lies, your
tongue hath muttered perverseness." You see, our sin is a big deal
because our sins have separated us from God. That's what hell
is. Eternal separation from God.
I don't want to be separated from God. But as soon as I was
born in this world, that's how I was, separated from God. You see, God is of purer eyes
than to behold evil. He cannot look. He cannot so
much as look on iniquity. What that means is, we need someone
to bring us back to God. We need someone to redeem us
from our fallen state. We need a mediator. We need a
great high priest to make reconciliation for us. Did you see what verse 1 said?
The Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save. Does that
show us where salvation is? It's in the Lord. It's in the
Lord. It's His work. It says His ear
is not heavy that it cannot hear. Praise God. We'll get to that
in a minute. The third stubborn statement.
God is sovereign. We're born dead in sin. The third
stubborn statement is this. Either God elected a people unto
salvation, or He didn't. Either God loves all men without
exception and hopes that some will be saved, or God chose to
save a particular people and every single person whom He loves
and has love from eternity shall be saved. Which is it? Here in
Isaiah again, look at chapter 1. Isaiah 1 verse 9, Except the Lord of hosts hath
left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom,
and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. Sodom and Gomorrah,
God destroyed them. God destroyed him in his just,
holy wrath. But God chose to save a very
small remnant. Except the Lord of Hosts had
left unto us a very small remnant, God would have been right to
cast us all away just like He did then. You know that? God
doesn't owe us anything. He owes His justice to Himself. The judge of all the earth, he
must do that which is right. We've sinned against him. You
see, here is the good news of the gospel. When he could have
thrown us all away and started over, here's what he said. He
said, I will be gracious. Best news I've ever heard in
my life. To whom I will be gracious. Now we must see what he said.
I will be gracious. Not to everybody. We don't deserve
it. He doesn't owe it to us. He said, I will be gracious to
whom I will be gracious. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. You see, salvation is not in
our hands. It's not our choice. It's God's
choice. And I'm just glad He chose to
show it at all. I rejoice to know that He chose
to save anybody. He didn't have to. He did not
have to. Romans 11 verse 5 says, Even
so, then at this present time also there is a remnant according
to the election of grace. Now a lot of people get all angry
at this word election. It's one of my favorite words
and here's why. If there's no election, there's
no salvation. You know Christ is referred to
as God's elect in Isaiah 42. He said, Behold my servant whom
I uphold, mine elect. I believe it says in whom my
soul delighteth. And God chose a people in him.
The elect, the elect, the elect. Romans chapter 9, turn with me. Romans 9 verse 11. Here's how election works. Romans
9 verse 11 says, This is talking about Jacob and
Esau. For the children being not yet born, neither having
done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works but of him that calleth. It was said
unto her, The elder shall serve the younger, as it is written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. God did not elect Jacob because
of anything he saw in Jacob. You can go back and read it in
Genesis. There was nothing in him. Jacob was just like you
and me. Thou worm Jacob. Okay, that's
who he was. God chose him for this reason.
That his purpose, according to election, might stand. That salvation
might not be of works, but of him that calleth. That it might
be by grace. By grace ye are saved. God loved
Jacob and God hated Esau. I want to read you this verse
from Psalm 135 verse 4. It says, Now hear this. that we would be called his peculiar
treasure." Is that not amazing? We who were his enemies, dead
in sin, that we might be called his peculiar treasure. My soul. My soul. Turn over with me a
couple pages to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians 1, verse 3. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. According as He hath chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved."
God chose to save sinners in Christ. He chose this before
the foundation of the world, before we'd done any good or
evil. We didn't do any good before we'd done all our evil. And God chose us for this reason,
we just read it, that we might be to the praise of the glory
of His grace. that our salvation would declare,
God did this. Look at my son. Look what he
did. Look at all these people who
look just like him, conformed to his image. Trophies of grace. Trophies of His grace. Do you
see the salvations of the Lord? I'm going to keep going for a
little bit. Salvations of the Lord and salvations
only in Christ. God elected a people unto salvation. You see it on the church signs
on the way here probably. God does not love all men. He
loves His people. He loves Jacob. He loves His
peculiar treasure. Our fourth stubborn statement
is this. When the Lord Jesus Christ died,
He either paid the debt in full or He didn't. He either got the
job done or He didn't. His blood either redeems or it
doesn't. He either saved those He came
to save or He didn't. Which is it? Turn to 1 Peter
chapter 1. 1 Peter 1, you can keep a bookmark
here, we're coming back. 1 Peter 1.18 says, For as much
as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver
and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you, who by him do believe in God, that raised him
up from the dead, and gave him glory, that your faith and hope
might be in God." The death of Christ did not merely make redemption
possible. Peter said, you were redeemed.
You've been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. If
Christ died for all men, and there's men in hell, His blood
certainly is not precious. Because He didn't get the job
done. He got the job done. His blood redeemed. Scriptures
say we've been redeemed from the curse of the law because
Christ was made a curse for us. He was made poor to make us rich. He was made sin that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. And God raised Him
from the dead and gave Him glory that we might have a good hope. That our faith might stand. But
our faith has actually found a resting place because Christ
paid the price. He paid the debt in full. I wanted
to read you this, but I know we're not going to have time.
Over in Hebrews chapter 9, it says He obtained eternal redemption
for us. I'll read it to you. Hebrews
9.11. But Christ being come, and high priest of good things
to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made
with hands, that is to say, not of this building, neither by
the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, He entered
in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us." That gives me such peace. Look over next page, Hebrews
10 verse 14. For by one offering He hath perfected
forever, then better sanctified." Does that sound like a successful
Savior to you? Does that sound like a Savior
that accomplished what He came to accomplish? As our Lord bowed
His head and gave up the ghost, this is what He said, It is finished. The work that His Father gave
Him to do is finished. The price has been paid. We're
bought with a price. We're not our own. We belong
to Him. We're His. Christ died the just for the
unjust that He might bring us to God. He brought us to God. Praise His name. Not one drop
of His precious blood was shed in vain. Our fifth stubborn statement
is either God the Holy Spirit effectually calls all of His
people to faith in Christ or He doesn't. And what I mean by
that is either God's people are going to believe on Christ or
they won't. Either, well, you can believe on Christ and be
saved if you want to, but if you don't, you'll still be saved
anyway. Oh no. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life. But the wrath of God abideth
on him." We must believe on Him. We must believe on Him. But we
won't. Christ said, you will not come
to Me, but you might have life. We must believe on Him, but we
can't. He said, no man can come to Me, except... What a wonderful
word that is. except the Father which hath
sent me draw him." If we belong to Christ, the Father which hath
sent him is going to draw us. There's a time called the time
of love when Christ is going to be revealed to us and in us
and He's going to be our hope of glory until one day we awake
in His glory with Him. Faith is the gift of God. Faith is not the cause of our
salvation. It's the result. Believing on
Christ doesn't give us life. Faith is the evidence that God,
the Holy Spirit, has quickened us and given us life. Faith believes
God. Faith believes God. Faith is
the proof that we belong to God. John 6, 63, it is the spirit
that quickeneth the flesh, profiteth nothing. 2 Timothy 1.9 says,
"...who hath saved us and called us." We've got to be called.
"...He hath saved us and hath called us within holy calling."
And that holy calling is not going to fail. We must be called
and He will call us within holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Will God's people
believe on Christ? Yes, they will. Yes, you know
what? Someone might say, well, when
did you get saved? I didn't get saved. God has saved me. He's still
saving me. And I pray that in that great
day He will have saved me. You know, here's the believer's
confession. We found ourselves believing.
Best I can tell you is several years ago I found myself believing.
And I can't stop believing. Don't stop believing? God's people
can't. God's people can't. Christ said
in John chapter 5, He said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour
is coming, and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of
the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. You know why? Because God's call is an effectual
call. His grace is irresistible grace. When He said, Lazarus,
come forth, he that was dead came forth. When God revealed Christ in Paul,
He said, Immediately I conferred not flesh and blood. God will
have His people. If He purposed to save the people,
He's going to have them. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. All of them shall come to Him. Every last
one. He's not going to lose one. His sheep are going to hear His
voice. And they're going to follow Him. Psalm 65 verse 4 says, Blessed
is the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto
thee. If God did not cause us to approach
unto Him, we would never approach unto Him. And we only approach
unto Him through Christ, in Him. Now my last point, sixth stubborn
statement, is this. Either all of God's people will
persevere to the end, or they won't. If they're strong enough
in the faith, maybe they'll make it. If they do enough good works,
maybe they'll make it. If that were the case, none of
us would make it. None of us. I can't keep myself. I say God's
people can't help but believe. This old man that I'm still carrying
around, it won't believe God. It's a struggle every believer
faces. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Praise
God, He will deliver us. The day is coming. It's fast
approaching. Will God's people be saved? Yes, sir, they will. Every last one. Turn to 1 Peter
again, chapter 1. 1 Peter 1, this time verse 1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ
to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia, elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you,
and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to His abundant mercy,
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled,
and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last time." How is the child of God kept? By the power
of God. He which hath begun a good work
in you, that's God, he shall perform it unto the day of Jesus
Christ. We do not keep ourselves. Praise God. I did nothing to
save myself, and there's nothing I can do to unsave myself. That's
good news. That's good news for a sinner
in need of salvation, for a lost sinner in need of a Savior. Turn
with me. Last passage here to Jude. Jude
verse 24. I'm going to close reading these
two verses when I just want to say, in conclusion, God purposed
salvation from eternity. Salvation is His work, not ours. Salvation is for His glory, not
ours. And salvation is in the Lord
Jesus Christ and Him alone. Christ is all. Verse 25, Now unto him that is
able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only
wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power,
both now and ever. Amen. Amen. Let us pray. Our great merciful God, we thank
you for your blessed truth. Oh, how we rejoice to know that
we believe in a sovereign God who has his way. Lord, we're
so thankful that you have your way with us. That You purposed
to save us before the world began. That You chose to reveal Yourself
to dead sinners, quicken us to life and faith in Christ. That
You chose to save us for Your glory, that the Son of God might
be glorified. That we might be able to rest. That we might have no fear, no
doubt, looking to Christ. I pray that You would assure
us again. Lord, revive us again. Kindle
within us a love for Thee, a love for one another. Save us by Your
grace. Have mercy on us for Christ's
sake. Forgive us of our sin through the precious blood of Thy dear
Son. I pray for these dear brethren, Lord, that You keep them. Keep
them as You keep all Your people. Keep us in the faith. Keep us
by Your power, looking to Christ, trusting in Him for all our hope.
Thank you, Father, for this day. Thank you for salvation in Christ.
Bless us, I pray, for Christ's sake and in His name. Amen. Thank you, Brother Cody. Plain
and simple.