1 Thessalonians 5, verse 9. For God has not destined us for
wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might
live in Him. Therefore, encourage one another
and build one another up just as you are doing. Now, over the last few weeks,
as I remind us each Lord's Day as we gather, we've seen a variety
of topics in this text. We've seen the topic of the second
coming, which is the context of even this today. Because at
the second coming comes the judgment, which is another topic that has
been on the lips of Paul hopefully in the hearts of us as we gather
together each week. We've seen the ambiguous and,
oh, sort of vague teaching on what we know as the rapture.
It's been alluded to. We've looked at the idea that
we are children of the light. We are those who walk in the
light of Christ. We reveal the work of God through
Jesus Christ. We've understood that grace is
something that God gives freely as He sees fit, that it is by
grace alone that you are saved, through faith, not of your own
doing. We've understood completely that
if we are indeed in the light, therefore we would walk in the
light, and that when we walk in darkness, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Because we don't
put our faith in our walking, we put our faith in the righteousness
of Christ. We've also learned that those
who reject the walking of the light have indeed rejected the
gospel of Jesus Christ, and in doing so have sealed their judgment
and have nothing to look forward to but fear in the day of the
Lord, where we as those who are the children of God do not fear
the coming of Christ in any way. This is what Paul wanted these
Christians to understand. He wanted them to be at peace.
He wanted them to continue to do the things they were doing,
to show brotherly affection, to share the gospel, to live
and strive for righteousness, to encourage one another with
the news of the second coming of Christ and of the resurrection
and of what the state of the believer is in death. Another
topic that has been touched on in this text. And as he started
in chapter 5 and he says, now concerning the times and seasons,
brothers, you have no need for anyone to write to you. For you
yourselves, what does he say, are fully aware that the day
of the Lord will come, how? Like a thief in the night. So
in contrast to how we as believers understand and see things and
are aware of things, unbelievers will say there's what? Peace
and security. And it will come upon them, what
will? Judgment. Who is that? Jesus. That the
Lord Jesus Christ will come upon them like a thief in the night,
busting on them while they slumber, thinking they're secure with
their alarms set, and their windows barred, and their gun by the
bed, and their dogs on the front porch, and the security cameras
blaring. They will not escape. And when the sirens go off, and
the dark begins to bark, and the police arrive, and the alarm
monitoring does its job, it is too late. For judgment comes
in a twinkling of an eye. Those who are dead in Christ
are actually alive in Christ. Those who are dead who reject
the gospel of Christ are still alive, waiting for the judgment
of Christ. Though their body may be dead,
we do not die, friends. Our existence does not die. Our
consciousness does not stop. We are not in comas. We are not
in, what do they call that, cryogenic frozen states at death. We are
fully aware of that which is awaiting us. And as Christians,
we are fully aware of that which is with us, that which was from
the beginning, that which we have seen. with our eyes, touched
with our hands, concerning what? The Word of Life that we proclaim
to you." That's 1 John 1. Beloved, we have nothing to fear.
And so the question then comes, how is this so? Well, it's not
that I haven't taught it, it's not that Paul hasn't taught it,
but he reminds these Christians here. As he goes on through this
early part of this last chapter, You're not in darkness, verse
4. You're not in darkness. You're not in darkness. You're
not in darkness. Therefore, this day will not
surprise you like a thief. You will not be scared. You will
not be caught off guard. You are aware. You are children
of the light, children of the day. You are the children of
promise. You are those for whom Christ has died. You are the
righteousness of God. You are the light and the darkness.
You are the salt of the earth. You are like a city sitting on
a hill. What did Jesus mean about that?
We've driven hundreds of thousands of miles in our day. We can rack
up miles on a car quick. Not as much as we used to, but
when we lived away and, you know, all of our vacation time, whatever
that is, we came home to visit family. And we can rack up miles. I mean, one good trip home in
the summer and we can put 5,500 miles in three weeks on our vehicle.
It's easy, and that's when we get here and not go anywhere.
And I'll never forget the first time we drove cross-country.
We decided to come down the lowest point, the southern interstate,
I-10. Biggest mistake of my life. Never did I understand the horrors
of what the pioneers went through when they decided in those wagon
One of the goat skin covered wagons, you know, and a mess
pot and a fellow with one tooth that drove around and cooked
for him. You've seen Bonanza. And I mean, you know, never understood what they went
through. Till I did it. In a car with
air conditioning, Wi-Fi hotspot. We burned that car up twice on
the way home. We had to stop in Dallas for
them to fix the electrical system. We ruined that thing. We loaded
it down. It was on the stuff on the top,
stuff in the back, you know, seven people in the car, six
people in the car at that time. Luggage, I think it was two or
three Xboxes in there running. I mean, we just burned that thing
alive. We're like, we got to stop. There's a bathroom break
here and we don't have to go, you know, and you get on the
road. Next rest stop, 236 miles. Next petroleum stop, 184 miles. And you look down and you got
73 miles to empty. I made a big mistake. So when
you're there and it's 3 a.m. because you're a weirdo and you
like to go 3,000 miles in 31 hours, I mean, I can do it without
stopping. You know, love it. You get on
that 80 mile an hour freeway in Texas and you're thinking,
I'm never going to go anywhere. You understand perspective when
it comes to the horizon, how everything just sort of... just
like that? When you're tired, it sort of
does like that. Sort of does like that. And you don't know,
there's no sign. There's a sign once every like 40 miles. Speed
limit 80. Who cares how fast you go? You're
the only thing there. What's going to stop you? Cops
aren't dumb enough to run out there. The reason it says 80
is because they don't really care. They just go, get out of
here. You're insane to be driving down this way. And I-10, if you
don't know, stretches the furthest width of the state of Texas.
So you're like, a day to get out of California. It takes you
a day to get to I-10, to get to the Grapevine Pass, which,
by the way, in the middle of the summer can have snow. So,
you know, we had snow. I'm like, what is this? So here,
we get that. It takes a day to get out of
California, a few hours to get to Texas, two days to get out
of Texas, and then a day and a half to get home. And that's
all hyperbole. The point I'm making is I never,
ever, ever really fully grasped the beauty of a city on a hill
until I made that first trip across country. So there's a
point to this. Because you're thinking, there's
no signs, there's no nothing, and you see rest stops that aren't
open. Why? Because they're between
shift change, two or three days to get the shift, because people
have to drive to wherever the heck they live, which is somewhere
else. I think they drop them off in a helicopter, like survival
or something. But there was never a greater
moment than when you started to see the glow of something
over the horizon. And you could see, you couldn't tell how far
it was, but you knew there was a city somewhere, because you
could see the glow of light. Friends, this is what Jesus was
talking about. This was the metaphor, the image
that Jesus wants us to see as the church. In our minds, when
He says, a city on a hill. We live in a day where that doesn't
make any sense. Because there's lights everywhere,
rest stops everywhere. Everywhere you go, even when
you're traveling, except those places, there's always opportunity
to stop. But when you're wondering if
you're ever going to arrive, where am I? I'm lost. I don't
know what I'm going to do. I've trusted this GPS and now
I'm seeing skeletons, human skeletons beside the road with signs that
are written in like a native tongue. I don't know how long
these guys have been there. We're the first people to go
that way in like a thousand years. I mean, I was scared. No cell service. GPS just starts
floating. It says, warning, you have left
the road. And I'm like, no, I haven't. And then we see light. As far
as you can see, darkness. Joshua tree, Joshua tree, Joshua
tree, glowing eyes, darkness. And then you see light. What
is it? I don't care, we're stopping.
If it is a mass mob, burning people who stop by, we're going
to stop. There's a place to stop. We're going to try to go to the
bathroom. We're going to try to get out and get something to drink. Get some three-hour
energy or 45-minute energy somewhere just to get us going. We've got
to stop. It's a breath of fresh air. Friends, the church ought
to be like that. The world is dark. I talk to
many people every day of the week who are scared about our
nation, who are scared about their retirement, who are scared
about the future, who are scared about the economy, who are scared
about the lack of morality, who are scared every turn. They stay
up late at night looking at YouTube and looking all over the place
on Facebook and watching news broadcasts and looking at things
that they ought not be spending their time on, fretting and wondering,
oh God, where are you God? The church should shine like
a light. How do we do that? It's not part of the text today,
but it's important to the context. We do that by living and proclaiming
the gospel of Jesus Christ. We shine as a stark contrast
to the world. We do not love the world or the
things of the world. For the things of the world,
the pride of life, the lust of the eyes, the pride of possessions,
these are not from the Father, but are of the world. And it's
passing away. We don't love it. We fight against
the love for it, but we really don't love it. We live in the
power of the Gospel. We share in the power of the
Gospel. For we too have these same fears. We too have these
same temptations that come upon us. And we're wondering, oh,
woe are we! What shall we do? We shall trust
in the Lord Jesus. Some trust in chariots. We trust
in the name of the Lord our God. Why? For He is sovereign over
it all. He has established His church
with power. He has given life to the lifeless. He has given
hope to the hopeless. He has become the Father for
the fatherless. He has created His church to display the greatness
of His glory. And so, beloved, we sit here
today, maybe small in number, but our light can shine to the
furthest reaches of the darkness of the chasms of this world,
and there is no dousing the light of the gospel of Jesus. There
is no way that the darkness shall overcome it. It will not happen. It cannot
happen. And you are children of light.
So we are not asleep, as we talked last week. You have no need of
instruction. You are aware that the Lord will
come with no report, like a thief in the night. You are not in
darkness, and you will not be surprised by such things. For
you are the children of the light, the children of the day. Therefore,
you do not sleep. We do not slumber. We are sober, we are ready, we
are alert, we are aware because we have the breastplate of faith
and love and the helmet of the hope of salvation. For, verse 9, God has not. destined us for wrath, but to
obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for
us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might live in Him. Therefore, encourage one another
and build one another up just as you are doing. Beloved, this
text right here, 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 9, is one of the most
encouraging things you will ever hear in your life. Because it
is one of the clearest, crispest, sharpest truths of the gospel
that you will ever see in such short verbiage. Paul was not
very verbose in that, and that's a good thing. And if you see
that word for there, there is a causation. There is a reality. Because of this, because God
has not destined you for wrath, all these things are true for
you. Did you hear that? That stands against the gospel
of this age, which is no gospel. It stands against man-centered
theology, a man-centered desperation of God to save people He cannot
save. It stands against this idea of freedom of the will. I think it was Tuesday night
when we were learning about the Holy Spirit. We might have had
a rant about the freedom of the will. But what is the freedom of the
will? The freedom of the will is just this. We can do what
we want to do and choose what we want to choose, but as the
Lord sees it fit, even when we choose salvation, if He does
not grant it, it is not ours. For the scripture says in several
places that God takes away the word of God from the hearts of
those who are not His. Well, I don't like that God.
Well, you don't know the God of the Bible. But see, the good
thing is, is that we have the context of all of this. We understand
that this believing that I have, this faith that you and I keep,
though in the beginning days we recognized it from the perspective
of our own flesh and our own decisions and our own actions,
we began to learn as the Word taught us that it was indeed
the beauty of God's grace. It was indeed the beauty of God's
love for us. Why have we been given such things? Why are we walkers of the day,
children of the light? Why are we saved and the rest
of the world are not? Why is it that only the church
of Jesus has eternal life? Because that is what God has
done. That is the way God saves. It is the way God creates a people
for His purpose. Someone argued yesterday, and
I'm in a private conversation with this gentleman, he argued
it publicly. What kind of God would create chocolate cake and
then throw it away because it wasn't vanilla? I thought, that's awful, awful,
awful misunderstanding. God created humanity perfect
and upright in our rebellion, in our desire, even, get this
church, in righteousness. I want you to hear what sin is.
Adam and Eve were not innocent, mute, benign objects. They were righteous,
holy, perfect, upright beings who walked with Jesus. And in their righteousness, they
rebelled. How much more are we going to
rebel in our depravity? It's my fault that I sin. God
didn't make me a sinner. I am one. God didn't create the evil of
Satan, of Lucifer. Lucifer chose. to see with all
the certainty of his mind and his eyes, just like Adam saw
with all the certainty of his senses and all the absolute perfectness
of his righteous mind, knowing full well the decree of God that
if they disobeyed Him, they would die. And he listened because
even in his righteous state, he fell because he wanted more. He wanted more than what God
was. He wanted more than what Christ
was. He wanted more than righteousness.
He wanted to be like God and had no sin in Him. Wow! It's just like baking a chocolate
cake and it coming out of a rock. It's like taking a crayon and
drawing a picture of a cat and the crayon jumps up and draws
a picture of a kite. It's like painting a picture
and putting it on your wall and at three in the morning it starts
screaming out to wake you up because it's time to talk. What
do you do with a picture like that? We'd throw that thing out. We'd
set that thing on fire and carry it out there to Texas and leave
it outside the road where there is no light. And if it was home
when we got home, we'd burn the house down. We don't blame God for our sin. Adam and Eve sinned as they were
truly righteous. Well, how do you get they're
righteous? They walked with Christ. He created them that way. They were
upright. They had intimacy with Jesus. They weren't just these ignorant
beings with no thought. So even when we come to our senses,
even when we see, yes, I believe that all that I'm hearing this
day is true with all of my mind. If God does not grant repentance
of your mind and grant repentance of your heart and grant faith
in you, you cannot see. You cannot see. You cannot believe. How then do I know if God is
offering salvation to me? Have you heard it? Are you hearing
the gospel today? Do not harden your heart against
the Word of God. For today is a day of salvation.
Not yesterday, not last week, not the day that you first became
aware, not your prayer, not your isle, not your covenant, not
your commitment, not your rededication. These aren't the days of salvation.
Today is the day of salvation. Christ is saving you this moment.
It is all of Christ. It is none of us. It is not of
us. We have done nothing but sin. But the Bible says in verse 9,
God has not destined us for wrath. But we deserve it. But God has
not destined us for wrath. Why are we not going to get the
wrath that those who slumber and those who are drunk and those
who live in darkness, why are we not getting that same thing? Why are we so special? We're
not. Except that God said we are. You see that? Paul says, there's
no reason I was found worthy to preach to God. There's no
reason. Every reason God had to do anything for me was that
I would be judged. There's a bunch of paraphrase
there. But in His mercy, in His love
for you, O Christians of Ephesus, in His love for you, O Church
of the Thessalonians, O for His love for you, Church, He's caused
you to be born again. He sent the Gospel to good soil. He sent the Word of God to you
and has planted it in you and is sufficiently able to effectually
grow it that it may have root and fruit. Why? Because, beloved, listen
to this. This could be the shortest sermon
I've ever preached. We have not been destined unto wrath. Why is that so hard to grasp? We are saved this day by grace. Because God, before the world
began, destined you not to receive His wrath. Therefore, As we hear the gospel sitting
right next to our neighbor, we believe they reject. God is at work. Many, many believe in their own
way. Many, many believe in their own
righteousness. Many, many believe in their own believing. Many,
many, many believe in their good works. Many, many believe in
their authority, their position, their status. And they make it
seem like they believe in Christ. And when then the world comes
around and chokes out those things, there is no more sacrifice for
their sins, for Christ is not enough. Hebrews 6. the sower and the seeds and the
soils. We are wearing the breastplate
of faith because we are not destined for wrath. We are wearing the
breastplate of love because we are not destined for wrath. We
are not destined for wrath. Therefore, we have on the helmet
of salvation. Friends, listen. How many times
have you been taught through the years In your Sunday school
classes, that your Lordship, that God's Christ Lordship over
your life is what affects your salvation. It's true. But guess what? It's not for
us to do. Did you hear that? We do not get our lives correct
and put Jesus on the throne of our lives. Ergo, then we're saved. When we are not destined for
wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord, Jesus Christ,
there it is. He's our Lord. And because we
are saved, there He is. We belong to Him. He is our Master. He is our King. And the burden
of Christ and the commands of Christ. We studied Owen's thoughts
on how to discern the spirit of truth and the spirit of error
Tuesday night. And one of them was, well several of them, first
is that it's never disjointed from the truth of Scripture.
And another one was that it's never a burden for the believer.
The commands of Christ are always found in the Scripture. The voice
of the Lord through the Holy Spirit is confirmed with the
written text. If it's not, it's not of God.
And secondly, thirdly, fourthly, whatever I'm on, I'm not really
counting, but we are to understand that the Spirit of God in us
that has sealed us and saved us, we don't look at the commands
of Christ and go, man, I wish I didn't have to live this way. Oh, I wish I didn't have to be
righteous. Oh, I wish I didn't have to love
my neighbor. Oh, I wish I didn't have to not steal. Doesn't that sound just stupid? Because it is. So theology that
would teach us otherwise is stupid. And that's the last time I'll
use that word today because it's a bad word in my house. It's silly. It's insane. It doesn't work with what the
Scripture teaches us. Jesus Christ is the Lord of His
people, period. And He who is the Lord brings
His people to Him. Then we come. Why? Because we
know the voice of our Shepherd. We hear it. We respond. We believe. Why? Because God has done a work
in our hearts that we might believe. Well, you mean to tell me that
my friend, my family, my neighbor, my brother, my enemy, my other
friend in the other church, because they're not believing that they're
not gods? Well, when I become God, I will
tell you that. But right now, they seem not
to be. But how does God save? Through
the hearing of the Word? Yes. Through the sending of the
Spirit? Yes. By faith? Absolutely. By grace? Oh yeah, all those good things.
These are all true. These are some of the things
that God is doing in order to establish salvation. But how
does God save? As He wishes. As He wishes. We preach the gospel,
God brings the fruit. We're the workers in the harvest,
God brings the fruit. We do this, we do that, who brings
the harvest? God brings the harvest. Friends,
people's belief is not our problem. But our job, our call, our purpose
is to be a light. A city on a hill. shining, whose
lives match the gospel we preach. Perfectly? Keep trying. If you're looking for sinless
perfection, good, you'll see it at the day of Christ. Until
then, keep on chugging, sister, brother, friend. And you don't have to say like
the little train that could, I think I can, I know I can, I know Christ
has. Christ has purposed me for life. Christ has called me to life. Christ has given me hope. Christ
has given me faith. Christ has given me love. Christ
has given me salvation. My mind is guarded. My heart
is guarded. That's the imagery that we see
there with the breastplate and the helmet. How many times then,
we talked about Sunday school three minutes ago, and I use
it as a term because all of us as children probably come up
in some type of Sunday school if we were in church where we're
taught some things. Have you ever been taught out
of Ephesians 6 that the, what's it called, the armor of God is
ours to put on? We just got to get up every day
and put it on. Some people have even taught
me through the years, you know, the way I put on the armor of
God is that I stand here and I actually, Hold the Bible to
my chest and I say, Lord, this is the breastplate of righteousness.
Hold it. Really? We don't do stuff like
that as Christians. Now, if you hug your Bible and
you're praying, that's no problem. But that's not magic. We're not witches. We don't do
silly stuff like that and think it's effectual. We don't put
our shoes at the end of the bed at a certain angle to keep the
spirits away. Where did you get that? Somebody taught me to do
that one day. Walking down the streets of Argley Park one day.
I don't even know why. Oh, we live down there. We're
going to that little store, whatever, market. And some woman comes
out and she said, just out of the blue, hey, the Spirit's after
you. I'm like, really? Oh my goodness,
this is not good. Yes, Spirit's after you. I see
them. They're all over you. They're around you. Now, if I
had been a little more tuned, I would have thought, you're
absolutely right. The Bible says there are spirits around me,
and spirits after me. The spirit of light, the spirit
of dark, they're after. It's at work. She said, what
you can do is take your shoes and shake them like this and
put them at an angle at the end of your bed and they won't get
you. And what I do that night? For a couple of days, I thought,
this is stupid. That's not putting on the armor
of God. That's voodoo. We don't have to believe in that
kind of stuff. We have to believe in the One who created all things,
who is the Lord over all things, who is the God over all things,
who absolutely, certainly, without any failing whatsoever, secured
our salvation before the world began. For Christ suffered that
we might be free from the wrath of God. There's soundbites, and you hear
me say this about five times a year, but there's always a
soundbite that gets me in trouble, and here's one of them. Christ
is not a possible Savior. He's a certain Savior. God has not destined us for wrath.
And because we are destined for life, we have the light of the
gospel. We are not asleep and in blindness.
Because we are destined to life, we have no fear of the judgment
of God. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who
are in Christ Jesus. That includes the present time.
Though consequences on this earth may come, the judgment of God
will not come for us. Friends, there is no escape.
If I commit a crime, and the courts don't show me mercy, I
can go to prison. If I do something foolish and
hurt somebody accidentally, I can go to prison. The consequences
of this world do not subside, but the judgment of God will
never come upon us as the church. That's why when someone says,
well, 9-11 was the judgment of God. No, it wasn't. Well, this
president is going to be the judgment of God. No, it's not.
It's the grace of God all day long, up one side, down the other.
It doesn't matter if everything turns to tyranny and we're at
civil war with people on the other side of the street from
us. It is not the judgment of God. It's the consequences of
the natural world. It is the response of depravity
with the world in which we live. And there is no condemnation
for the church, even though as the church our heads will be
taken from our bodies, our property will be seized, our children
will be sold, and everything in between throughout all of
the centuries, even to this day that is happening to the martyrs
as we speak. We are not condemned by God,
beloved. We are not destined for wrath. Therefore, we have faith and
love that guards our hearts. We have a hope of salvation that
guards our minds, where we're continually loving Christ and
pushing out the affection of the world. We're continually
hoping in Christ and not hoping in our own righteousness, not
hoping in our own wealth, not hoping in our own faith, but
we're hoping in the work of Christ. These prove that we are not destined
for wrath like those who are in darkness. You hear me? God has destined us to obtain
salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. So we're not destined
for wrath, but we are destined. Hear that. to obtain salvation
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians 2 says this, Therefore,
my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my
presence, much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling. Let's stop there for a second. I used to hate it when someone
brought that text up to me. And I remember being in college
in music school, and having someone say that. And of course, I didn't
have my Bible with me that day, and even if I had, I can't remember,
but I never really looked at the rest of the sentence. But if we stop that mid-breath,
it says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling as you
obey the Lord while I'm gone. Oh my gosh, that scared me to
death. Why? Because I can't obey the Lord. Completely. I try. I had a psychic tell me one day
in California, show me a try. Ask me that. He said, I'm having
a conference this evening, and I was with a student who was
interning with us during the summer from Virginia. He said,
you guys look like intellectuals. Oh, well, matter of fact, we
are. He's pretty good. Look like you might do some work
with the ministry that we're carrying Bibles. I mean, he was
brilliant. I'm having a show tonight, I
do hypnotism, and then I actually do predictions, and I'm able
to do... And the guy with me, his name's Josh, he said, well,
we'll try. And I'm thinking, uh-oh, because he stopped, and
he paused, and he closed his eyes, and he says, show me that.
Show me a try. He said, do one right now. Perform
it in front of me. Matter of fact, explain what
it looks like. He says, either you will or you won't. No matter how hard we try, a
try is not doing. A trying to be holy is not holiness. Trying to be obedient is not
obedience. The first time I read A.W. Pink, I threw it in the
garbage because he closed out a particular text in a passage
talking about obedience and personal holiness with the moment. If there be any hesitation, if
there be any pause, if there be any delay, if there be any... delay in your obedience, you're
on your way to hell, exclamation point, end of passage." And I
went, what the world is this? I throwed it right down the trash
can. I mean, heretic. Sent out an email, don't send
me this stuff anymore. Three days later, dig it out of the trash. Let me read
this again. I'll read this again. And A.W. Pink was saying something
there that we often miss. He did not say, if there not
be perfection in your obedience, you're on your way to hell. He
said, if there be delay. Do we begrudge the commands of
Christ? Or do we delight in them? Are they difficult? Yes. Are
they burdensome? No. And when we don't do them, what
are we doing? Are we really losing the battle over sin? No, it's
already been won in Christ. To say that sin overtook me and
temptation overtook me is to say that Christ is not sufficient. What is it then? I rebelled against
my Lord. I disobeyed Him. It's a purposeful
thing. Don't think that sin is not purposeful,
beloved. For the Christian, sin is perfect.
It may be short. Temptation, decision, action,
thought. Sin is forever before us. But
it is rebellion. We're not going to walk. We cannot
try to be righteous. We can strive to walk in righteousness. But even all the striving that
we do will never be righteous. Why? Because Christ has already
made us righteous. You hear that? We call it imputation. You have already have on the
breastplate of what? Love and faith. You already have
on the helmet of the hope of salvation. Therefore, you are
at war, you are fighting the good fight, and you ought to
be working out your salvation with fear and trembling as you
strive to obey the Lord Jesus. Oh, wow! But that's not what
it says, how we strive to obey with fear and trembling. What
does it say there? What does it say in that text
in Philippians? Not only is it in my presence,
but much more in my absence. Work out your own salvation with fear
and with trembling for, listen, for, for it is God who works
in you both, beautiful stuff, both to will and to work, for
His good pleasure. That's the end of that phrase.
So we work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. Why
do we fear? We understand what could have
been. Why do we tremble? Because when we look at the majesty
of our God and the glory, what does Paul say? Don't fear man. Fear Him who can cast both body
and soul into hell. Isn't that a conflict with there's
no condemnation? No, it's the balance. We know what could have been,
beloved. And we know if it was not for God's grace, if it was
not for God's favor upon us, we would have reason to fear.
But if we did not have God's grace, we would be blind to the
purpose of fear. We wouldn't even have it. We
would say there's peace and security, and the judgment of God would
come upon us like a thief in the night. But we're not those
people. We know that Christ is coming. We know that judgment is coming
for the wicked, for the lost, for the reprobate, for the apostate.
We know that God is going to fulfill all of His wrath and
justice and holiness and love against the darkness. It will
not escape. But we, beloved, are not in the
dark. We've been given salvation because we have been destined
for salvation. We work our salvation out. In
other words, we're figuring things out. We're seeing how God works.
We're trusting in the Lord. We're fighting the good fight
of faith. We're sinning, repenting, forbearing, forgiving. We're
loving and hating and frustrating and then having faith. We're
doubting. We're screaming. We're hopeless, but always having
hope. We're faithless, but He is faithful,
for He cannot deny Himself. Friends, this is the struggle.
This is the war. This is the battle Christ has
already won. It's already His. He is victorious. How? How is it that we do it? We trust in God who works in
us. Paul has already said, He who began a good work in you
is faithful to see it to completion. at the day of the Lord. That's
a paraphrase. So what's our hope? The work
of God. Christ alone. Faith in Christ
alone. Christ. Period. Jesus. The Christ. The Lord. The Savior. The King. The Lamb. Is our only
hope. And we worship Him. Why? What does Paul say in Ephesians
chapter 1? Blessed be the God and the Father of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who has given us all spiritual blessings. A little
bit later in chapter 2, verse 8, For by grace you have been
saved through faith. This is not of your own doing.
It is the work of God. It is the gift of God. It is
the mercy of God. It is the love of God. Not a
result of works, so that no one may boast. How are we covered
in righteousness? Because Christ effectually did
it for us. For we are His workmanship."
What does that mean? God worked in us. He willed in
us. He willed for His good pleasure.
He works in us to do good works, to live as
an example of His work. But when I sin, what happens?
We live as an example of His work. We're forgiven for that
sin has been cast upon Christ as His. And we are no longer
judged for it. Why? Because we've been destined
for life, not wrath. I don't understand. Well, let
me give imputation this way. What's that word? You've said
it twice today. Imputation is a giving of something that doesn't
belong to us and saying that it's ours. There's an elementary
school definition. So if you go to buy a house and
you have no money, no job, no credit, and no nothing, and I'm
able to somehow find someone else who has all of that, and
they're able to take and somehow finagle to put your name on their
credit score, and you get everything based on what they've done, that's
imputation of their creditworthiness to you. But if it's exchanged,
there's an exchange. In turn, that fellow, is going
to try to take something out of the ATM and it's going to
suck him inside of it, shake his pockets dry and stick him
back out because he took the bad. Well, in the sense of the
imputation of Christ, Christ took every sin as His own for
all who believe. Listen. If we are to be saved,
by the grace of God, and God to be true to His name and to
His justice, and His wrath to be satisfied, propitiated. Therefore,
something that was not evil must have had to take on the guilt
of that which was evil. Jesus Christ took every sin that
I have committed or ever will commit, and not just upon Him,
but took credit for it as if He were the one who did it. All those who will ever believe
and have ever believed, Jesus took the guilt of their sin. That's one half of imputation. The other half is this, and then
all of the radiance of the glory of His righteousness then was
credited to us. You know, a sin that we often
forget that Jesus died for? Not that one. Oh, now everybody's honking.
One sin that Jesus died for? The sin of self. The sin of self-righteousness. The sin of self-work. That's disturbing. That's it. Children, don't bother me.
That horn was something there. When we come to the Lord in our
own minds, we come to the idea that we have somehow honored
the Lord in our righteousness and therefore worthy of salvation. Sort of like Nicodemus who thought,
because I am of the right people, because I do love the right God,
because I read the right text, because I serve the right way,
because I obey the right things, therefore I am in the kingdom,
Jesus died for that type of sin. So that Jesus took the sin of
our, or the guilt of our sin on Himself, even the guilt of
the sin of self-righteousness. Which, if Jesus had lived that
out, would say, when the devil tempted Him, He's like, you know
what? You're right. I am God. I am going to make that stone
to bread. Good job, Satan. It's about time somebody saw
me for who I am. It's about time somebody saw
me for my power. It's about time I commanded the
angels that I created to keep me from scratching my foot on
the bottom of that rock. It's about time I got the dominion
that's due me. I have been waiting thirty years
to grow up, to rule this world. I need to do it. That's the temptation
of Jesus we see. Jesus never sinned. We sin that
way every day. Jesus says, if Jesus were to
say, He does, I took this on Me. I did not commit any of these
sins, but I took them on as if they were mine. I became guilty
of this sin, of all these sins, for all of eternity, and I suffered
the wrath of God the Father accordingly, so that He could say, you are
free, beloved. You are free, beloved. You are
free, beloved. Do you hear that? Maybe not. I pray that you can. And then in turn, all the righteousness
of Christ was given to us. He satisfied the wrath of God.
He gave us His righteousness. We are the righteousness of God
because Christ has given His righteousness to us. Therefore, we are not destined
for wrath, but to attain life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Why would Jesus do this? Because, let's just use a few
phrases, I came to seek and save the lost. I came for the sick.
The sheep know My voice and they follow Me. Here's one. The Good
Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep. So when I said earlier that Jesus
is a certain Savior, He's a certain Shepherd, He did not die for
anyone that will be lost. What? It's not about mathematics. It's
about either God is sovereign to save, Christ is able to commit
to that which He said He was going to do. If Christ is not
an absolute certain Savior for all those who will believe, then
Christ is a liar. None of those that the Father
gives to me will be able to be snacks from my hand. You believe
that? No one can come to Me except
the Father bring them and give them to Me. All who come to Me, I will never
cast away. I am the Way, the Truth and the
Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Thieves and liars. They come
over the walls, but only those who come through the sheep gate
are mine. Why do they come through the
sheep gate? Because they hear the voice of the shepherd and
they follow it. The good shepherd laid down his
life for the sheep. I pray not only for these, but
for all who will come into the fold, that we would not lose
one. Those are all the words of Jesus.
Every one. Jesus Christ, look here, verse
9-10, verse 10, who died for us so that whether we are awake
or asleep we might live in Him. Now the relationship of death
and life in the metaphor of waking and sleeping goes back to that
meaning. Righteousness and damnation,
not salvation and reprobation, but death and life in the body. So whether we're alive in the
body or whether we're dead in the body, we are with Christ.
We are living with Him. If we are alive, we're with Christ. If we're dead in the body, we
are with Christ. See, Paul says it here. Paul argues with himself
on that very thing in the letter to the Philippians. What's better
for me, listen, what's better for me is that I go to be with
Christ, for it's the longing of my soul, it's everything that
I've desired in every aspect of my life as a Christian, as
a follower, as a disciple, as a sheep. But it is far better
for you that I remain. To live as Christ, to die is
far better. That's what the text says. To
die is to gain. It's far better that I might
gain Christ face to face, but for your sake I stay, because
I'm still with Christ, just not fully. We're alive. Christ's death gave
life. Christ's death and resurrection
gave life and light, and now we are those who have been created
by God because He destined us to life. God sealed our salvation
through His judgment of Christ for our sin. As it is written,
I have made you the Father of many nations in the presence
of the God in whom He believed, who gives life to the dead and
calls into existence the things that do not exist. Romans 4,
17. God has called us into existence
through the person of Jesus Christ. God has brought us to life by
decreeing before there was us. God loved us. Listen to that. One thing we need to understand
about the never changingness of God, we call that immutability,
is that God's love for you never began, beloved. If God hates
the wicked and you were once wicked, God loved you in your
wicked state that He might give you life through Jesus Christ. Don't like that? And what kind
of love do you want? There's no greater love than
that. That God would step out of heaven to be like the creation,
to suffer at the hands of men, to live holy and righteously,
to die, and to be judged for the sins
that were not His, so that we could be alive. so that we could
have life. What more love do you want? What
other kind of love is there? According to Scripture, there
is no other kind of love. That is love. God is love. And He
showed His love for us in this, that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us. God's love for us, beloved, preceded
us. God loved you before you were. Isn't this sort of like deep
theology? No, this is basic Gospel 101. It's basic, read through the
text and you see it, black and white. Why does it matter? Because your worship will change
when you realize the love the Father has for you. He's worthy of worship had He
condemned every one of us to hell. But oh, what a worship. To the praise of His glorious
grace. As we sing in a minute, maybe
it will change the way you sing. To the saints who are in Ephesus
and are faithful in Christ Jesus. Blessed be the God and the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians chapter 1. I'm just
going to read these real quick. who has blessed us in Christ
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even
as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined
us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the
purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which
He has blessed us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of our sins, according to the riches
of His grace, which He lavished upon us in all wisdom and all
insight, making known to us the mystery of His will, according
to His purpose. which He set forth in Christ
as a plan for the fullness of time in order to unite all things
in Him, things in heaven, and things on earth. In Him we have
obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to
the purpose of Him, who works all things according to the counsel
of His will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might
be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also, when you heard
the word of truth, the gospel of salvation, and believed in
Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee
of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise
of His glory. Therefore, beloved, encourage
one another. Build one another up, just as
you were doing. What's that mean? Friends, what does it mean to
encourage someone? To give them hope? To give them
power, to give them guidance, to give them strength. There is no other encouragement
except that which is in Christ Jesus. There is no greater power
and hope and strength and love and affection and absolute glory
than to say, look what God has done on your behalf. You have
not been destined for wrath, but to obtain salvation through
the Lord Jesus Christ. You are not an object of destruction. You are not a vessel of judgment. You are a vessel of mercy, beloved. And Christ has served you on
the cross of Calvary. He has paid for your sins. He
has raised from the dead. He's given you victory over death.
He's given you victory over judgment. He's given you victory over sin.
And you are free, free indeed. The Son makes us free. There's
encouragement. Just as we're doing, we ought
to encourage each other. Well, on the same note, that
encouragement builds each other. That is from where the armor
of God comes. When we feel like our armor is
gone, it isn't. But sometimes we feel maybe it's
a little thin. Maybe I've slid it to the side.
You haven't. It's not thin. It's just how we feel. The certainty
of God's faithfulness has never waned. The establishment of His
covenants has never faltered. The beauty of His love has never
shaken. He loves you. He's certain to
save you. He's sealed with the Holy Spirit
of God. Despite what we feel, despite the experiences of this
life, despite the false gospels that continually be pervaded
throughout our world and in our ears and before our eyes, and
despite the faithlessness of each other, the ignorance of
each other, and the faithlessness of wicked men and women who continue
to teach things otherwise, God is faithful and we are His in
Christ. And nothing, nothing, nothing
can separate us from that love. So be encouraged. There's no
other word that's as mighty as that. Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Trust in Him. See Him. Savor Him. Love Him. He is the
Savior. Let's pray. Our Father, we are humbled by this and we rejoice
in this. Father, continually work in us
the Gospel as we trust in You. Continually
work in us Your power as we believe on Christ fully. Thank You, Father,
that You have promised to seal us and save us, that we will
not fall away, though we may take short trips and it seems
impossible. Lord, we who belong to You will
be brought back to faith. And I pray that for all of us
this day, that though none of us have deserted you, you certainly
have not deserted us. Though we may feel as though
you are far away, you have not moved at all, but we have moved
our gaze. Would you please lift our heads?
Would you turn our eyes upon the cross of Christ, that we
look and believe and know and see and savor the moment of salvation
when Christ paid for our sins on that cross some 2,000 years
ago. Lord, we praise You for Your
marvelous love, for Your miraculous grace, for Your merciful favor,
for Your power, for Your decree, for Your glory. As You've given grace upon grace
upon grace upon grace, Lord, we worship You. And we pray that
as we finalize this particular text today, that it would not
be easily forgotten. Hold it deep into our minds,
that it would shock us, that it would shake us to the core.
That we would be fashionably overwhelmed. That we would be at peace with
the gospel. that we would encourage each
other as long as it is called today. And we pray these things
in the name of Christ.