Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. And today I'm going to continue
preaching in the book of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. In the past few weeks
I've been preaching through this chapter concerning events leading
up to the second coming of Christ. And today I want to begin at
verse 13 for our text. And the title of the message
is Chosen to Salvation. chosen to salvation. And I will
forewarn you that what I'm going to preach today, from the Word
of God now, I'm not preaching, this is not coming, you know,
from my, it didn't originate with me. It's coming from me
as an instrument, but it did not originate with me. But it's
the Word of God. And it has to do with election,
the doctrine of election. And it's a very unpopular doctrine,
yet it's one that many people do not understand. And secondly,
that most who call themselves Christians reject or they twist
it in a way that is unbiblical. And so we're gonna talk about
that. But before I get to that, let me just recap here. The Apostle Paul, as he's inspired
by the Holy Spirit, is teaching the believers in Thessalonica
that concerning events, signs you might say, leading up to
the second coming of Christ. Many of them had been deceived
by false preachers into thinking that the Lord was coming back
in their day before they would die. and therefore they needed
to act upon that in a way that was unbiblical. And many of them,
they stopped working, they stopped meeting their responsibilities
as human beings here on earth. Some of them went and lived in
caves and places like that, waiting the coming of the Lord. And Paul
tells them, he says, no, before that happens, Before the Lord
comes, there's going to be a great falling away from the truth. And that is prevalent in our
day because there's so many people who call themselves Christian
today who don't believe the truth of Christianity. They don't believe
the gospel. You know, if you're a Christian,
you believe the doctrines of Christ. And you believe in Christ,
you follow Him, and you follow His word. And that's what a Christian
is. He's a follower of Christ. So
if Christ said it, and it's in His word, and I believe His word
is Genesis to Revelation, then that's what we're to follow.
And if we stray from that, and some, maybe just a little, but
some a lot, that's called an apostasy. There are many who
claim to be Christian, but they don't believe in and follow the
doctrine of Christ. And we've talked about the doctrine
of Christ, the doctrine of His person, who Jesus Christ is. He's God and manifest in the
flesh. He's God-man. He's very much
God in every attribute of deity, and he's very much man in every
attribute of humanity, but not sinful humanity. He's man without
sin. And the reason he had to do that
was to perform the duties that he had to perform in order to
save the people whom God gave him before the foundation of
the world. And that's the elect. and then
the doctrine of his finished work. What did he accomplish
on Calvary? And that's the key to understanding
the doctrine of Christ now. It's not what did he do historically. He died on a cross for the sins
of his people. But the doctrine of Christ tells
us not only that, that historical fact, the doctrine of Christ
tells us why he did it and what he accomplished. Many people
today means that he accomplished the possibility of salvation
conditioned on sinners if they'll do what they are required to
do. And that's not what the gospel
says. That's a falling away from the truth. The gospel says that
he accomplished the redemption of his people and they shall
be saved. His death on the cross equals
the righteousness that God requires, that we need, in order to be
justified before God. That is, forgiven of our sins
on a just ground, the blood of Christ, and declared righteous
in God's sight. His righteousness imputed to
us. And that's the righteousness
of God that's revealed in the Gospel, as per Romans 1, 16 and
17. And therefore, it's being forgiven
of our sins, being declared righteous, and that's the ground upon which
sinners can stand before God, justified, legally justified,
accepted in the beloved, in Christ. And His righteousness is the
ground of our justification, but it's also the source and
the guarantee of our regeneration, our conversion, our new birth.
Christ said you must be born again, and we're gonna talk about
that in these verses here. And there are other doctrines
too, the doctrine of God, who God is. God is a sovereign God,
he's a holy God. He is merciful, gracious, and
loving, but his mercy and grace and love must be consistent with
his truth, his justice, and his holiness. He must be both a just
God and a Savior. And God is sovereign. He's in
control of all things. God is not at our whim. He's
not a genie in a bottle. He's not a cosmic chess player. We make our move and then He
makes His counter move and all of that. God's in control. He
works all things after the counsel of His own will. That's the God
of the Bible. And He reveals Himself in His glory through
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. And so that's who God is. And
then the doctrine of man. Who am I? What am I? The Bible
teaches that I fell in Adam, ruined by the fall, and that
I'm born spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. Totally
depraved. Totally unable. And total depravity
doesn't mean that we're unreligious. or immoral in the eyes of men.
It means that we will not receive and believe and embrace the things
that glorify God in His way of salvation through Christ. If
you reject the gospel, the true gospel, wherein Christ is revealed
in the glory of His person and He's revealed in the power of
His successful finished work, if you reject that, that's the
evidence of being totally depraved. The preaching of the cross is
foolishness to them that believe not. The natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them. They're spiritually discerned.
He didn't have spiritual eyes and ears and understanding. That's
what total depravity is. And that's why we must be born
again. That's the doctrine of the new birth. And that new birth
comes not by the power of our wills, It's not that we, of our
own volition, believe in the Lord and then as a result we're
born again, no. We will not believe unless we're
born again. Christ said that, except you
be born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God, the kingdom
of heaven. Can't see it and understand it and know it and believe in
him. So all of this, the new birth, all of salvation is of
the Lord. And so the doctrine of preservation,
perseverance. How many people claim to be Christian,
but believe that they can gain their salvation by their believing
or by their working, and then lose it by sinning? Well, that's
falling away from the doctrine of Christ. And so understand
that. And Paul says here in 2 Thessalonians
2, there's going to be a great falling away. There's going to
be a great time of deception through the man of sin, the Antichrist. And that, I believe, is a spirit
that pervades in false religion that denies the doctrine of Christ.
Some people look for one man named the Antichrist, but I don't
believe the Bible teaches that. And I showed you in one message
here, you need to go back and get these messages on 2 Thessalonians. I showed you every instance where
the term Antichrist is used in the scripture to prove that. And so it's gonna be a time of
great deception. He talks about the mystery of
iniquity. That's an iniquity, an imbalance. that we do not recognize by nature. God has to show us, and that's
what he does in the new birth. The Holy Spirit convicts us of
sin because we believe not on Christ. He shows us how much
of a sinner we are. He shows us that any attempts
a sinner may have to earn salvation and its blessings by his works
is in reality iniquity because it does not measure up to the
perfection of righteousness that can only be found in the Lord
Jesus Christ. So what hope do we have? Look
to Christ, rest in Him, believe in Him. He speaks of the deceivableness
of unrighteousness, an unrighteousness that is deceptive. that fools
people. He's talking about the unrighteousness
of false religion. And he says in verse 10, listen
to this. He says, and with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish, and remember what he
said back in 1 Corinthians chapter one, I believe it's verse 18,
the preaching of the cross is foolishness unto them that perish,
or who are perishing. And so that's the issue. So 2
Thessalonians 2.10, with all deceivableness, deceptive, of
unrighteousness in them that perish, they're deceived. They're
not looking to Christ. They're not resting in Him and
His finished work for all salvation, for all forgiveness, for all
righteousness. And eternal life and it says
the problem is that now here's the problem as it pertains to
them now first of all the Bible teaches that God has not revealed
himself to them and That's God's wisdom and God's choice. It's
not doesn't that does not mean that God's unjust or mean or
unfair read Romans 9 but from our point of view on this earth
Here's the problem, look at verse 10. Because they receive not
the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Now it tells
us there that salvation is receiving the love of the truth. Now, the
Bible tells us, and I know this may confuse some people, but
it shouldn't. The Bible tells us that by nature,
if left to ourselves, We will not receive the love of the truth.
If a person has received the love of this truth, the gospel
truth now, not just any truth, but this truth, this specific
truth of Christ, crucified, risen from the dead, and what all that
means, if they've received the love of the truth, it's because
they've been born again by the Holy Spirit. God has sent the
Spirit to give them life from the dead. It's not because they're
better than others who receive not the love of the truth. It's
not because that they made the right choice and the others made
the wrong choice. It's because God has sovereignly,
in his good purpose and will, raised them from the dead spiritually.
They were born again. But you say, well, then how can
God hold us accountable? Well, he does. Again, read Romans
9. You know, how can God hold me
accountable if it's all by His will, not mine? That's God's
wisdom and God's sovereignty. God is a good God. And you're
hearing me preach right now. And you're commanded to believe
the things of God. And if you reject Him, He holds
you accountable. Look at verse 11. And for this
cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe
a lie. That's God's judgment. upon those who receive not the
love of the truth. And frankly speaking, in the
Bible, they're the non-elect. Verse 12, he says that they all
might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in
unrighteousness. But now look at verse 13. And
here's what we understand about salvation and the sovereignty
of God in line with the responsibility of man. Now look at it, verse
13. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you,
brethren, beloved of the Lord. Now he calls these believers
brethren. He doesn't call unbelievers brethren. And that's a very important doctrine
of scripture. There is a fellowship and a brotherhood
that only exists among those who have received the love of
the truth. Now we can talk about the brotherhood of man. We can
talk about how all men are brothers in the human family as we were
created. But you see, we fell in Adam.
We fell away from God. And we hired ourselves out, as
it were, to a false god, Satan, by turning against God in Adam,
and we're all born dead in trespasses and sin as unbelievers. When
God sends His Spirit to give a person spiritual life, He brings
them from the sinful human family, naturally, to the spiritual family
of God. And there is a fellowship. John
speaks of that in 1 John chapter one. There's a fellowship with
the Father and the Son through the Spirit that we have that
binds us together in a new spiritual family. And we're called brethren. Who are my brethren? Christ said
that one time in the book of Matthew. He was preaching in
a home to people and they came to him and they said, your mother,
I'm talking about Mary and your brothers, your half brothers
were outside and they want to talk to you. And Christ said
this, he said, well, who is my mother? Who are my brethren? And he's talking about his spiritual
family. He says, those who do the will of the father. And what
is the will of the father? The Bible says this is the will
of the Father, that we believe on the Son, and that we follow
Him. That's the spiritual family,
and that's what Christ was teaching there. He wasn't being mean or
unloving to His human mother, Mary, the mother of His humanity. Sometimes they'll call Mary the
mother of God. She is not the mother of God.
She is the mother of the human nature of Christ, who is God. But Mary was a sinner saved by
grace. So understand that. And so Christ
is saying, who is my family? Who are our spiritual family?
And they are those who have received the love of the truth, those
who believe. And this is what he says here, look here. He says,
verse 13, but we are bound to give thanks all the way to God
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. Who are our brethren? Those whom the Lord loves. Now,
my friend, I know people hate to hear me say this, but it's
in the Bible. God doesn't love everyone. God's
wrath abides upon people. And it's people who are not in
Christ. And that's biblical hatred. Now,
I know you hate to hear that God hates anybody, but the Bible
says that he hates all workers of iniquity, Psalm 5 and verse
5. The Bible said that he loved Jacob, but he hated Esau. Why
did he love Jacob? Jacob did not deserve or earn
God's love. He was just like Esau as a sinner. And the Bible teaches us that
Jacob was a sinner saved by grace. He was loved of God, but it was
a free, unconditional love, but it was based on a just ground.
And what was the just ground? the righteousness, the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. First John 4 10, herein is love. Not that we love God, but that
he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation, the sin
bearing sacrifice that brought satisfaction to the justice of
God. He is the propitiation for our
sins. You see that? And so God hated
Esau. In other words, God freely and
unconditionally and sovereignly gave Jacob something that Jacob
did not earn or deserve. But God gave Esau what he deserved. And that's what we all deserve
by God's hatred. But God's hatred is not a sinful
hatred. It's not an unjust hatred. It's
righteous indignation that rejects any person who on a just ground,
their sins, Because without Christ, there's no cure for sin. There's no satisfaction for sin.
But these brethren are beloved of God. Now, how do I know I'm
one of the brethren? How do I know that if God loves
me? Well, look back at 2 Thessalonians
2.13. 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. We know God chose you from the
beginning. Now that's election. Now you
know there's a lot of people who will say, well, that means
God looked down through a telescope of time and he foresaw what you
would do or what you would choose, and therefore made his choice
based upon your choice or your works. Now here's the problem
with that. Number one, it's not in the Bible.
That's man's rationalistic thinking, self-righteous thinking. Number
two, it misrepresents God. It makes him reactionary. It
makes him not the prime mover. or the originator of salvation,
but it makes him one who responds in kind. And so it misrepresents
God. And number three, it exalts man. It says that there are people
who are better than other people. And they're better because they
rise up out of the crowd of sinful humanity and they do what's right. And the Bible doesn't teach that.
The Bible teaches that all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God. The Bible teaches that there's none righteous,
no not one. There's none that doeth good. There's none that
seeketh after God, no not one. And what that's talking about
is man by nature. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. A lot of people read the Bible
with what I call the accept me mentality. There's none righteous,
no, not one, except me. You see that? No, no, that's
all. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one, oh, except me. There's none that seeketh after
God, not one, oh, no, except me. Now, there's no except me
there. That's the condition of fallen humanity, fallen in Adam,
born spiritually dead. The Bible says that God chose
some from the foundation of the world, before the foundation
of the world. Look over in Ephesians chapter one. And this is verse
three of Ephesians chapter one. He says, blessed be the God and
the 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, in Christ, before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love, having predestinated, verse five, having predestinated
for ordained us, not events, but people, us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good
pleasure of his will, not based upon your will or my will, but
according to the good pleasure of his will, And he says, to
the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us
accepted in the beloved, accepted in Christ. So there's election,
God's sovereign, unconditional, electing grace. Now, how do I
know that I'm one of the brethren? How do I know that I'm loved
of God? How do I know that I'm chosen
of God? Go back to 2 Thessalonians 2.13,
listen to it. But we are bound to give thanks always to God
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation," now here's the key, through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Now that's the new birth. Sanctification of the Spirit,
what is that? That's being set apart by God through the Holy
Spirit's powerful work that brings a sinner to belief of the truth. How do I know that I'm one of
the brethren? How do I know that I'm chosen
of God? How do I know that I'm loved
of God? I believe the truth. He's brought
me to believe the truth and the power of the Spirit. And what
specific truth is it? Look at verse 14. Whereunto he
called you by our gospel. That gospel which reveals the
glory of the person of Christ, the power of the finished work
of Christ, His blood, His righteousness, to secure the entire and complete
salvation of all whom the Lord had given Him, to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, that will continue to
keep us by the power of God unto glory. And that's the truth. Christ said it this way. Here's
another way that you can put it. John 6 37, I quote it all
the time. He said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. And he said, this is the will
of him that sent me that of all which he hath given me, I should
lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. Now here's
what I want you to know. It is not my responsibility or
your responsibility to sit around and wonder if God loves you,
if God chose you, if you're one of the brethren. Your responsibility
and my responsibility is to believe the gospel, to believe the message
of salvation by the grace of God. That's our responsibility. And if we do believe it, Our
responsibility is to give glory to God, not to ourselves. Not
to look in the mirror and say, I made the difference. No, it's
my responsibility to thank God that he chose me before the foundation
of the world. Not based upon anything I would
do or don't do. Sovereignly, graciously, mercifully. And that he sent his son to die
for my sins. to establish the only righteousness
whereby he could be a just God and a savior in my salvation,
and that he sent the Spirit to bring me under the preaching
of the gospel and to give me life and the gift of faith. Salvation by grace through faith. They say, well, Ephesians 2,
8 says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that
not of yourselves, It's the gift of God, not of works lest any
man should boast, for we are his workmanship created in Christ
Jesus unto good works which God hath foreordained that we should
walk in them. Those who are the recipients
of that grace and power, they are chosen to salvation. And it's my prayer that you will
seek the Lord. that you will follow Him, that
you will look, how do you seek the Lord? You seek Him in His
Word, seek Him in Christ. I hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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today and may the Lord be with you.