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. I'd like to welcome you to our
program today. I'm glad you could join us. And
if you'd like to follow along in your Bibles, I've been preaching
through a particular chapter in the New Testament. It's in
2 Thessalonians 2. I've been taking my time through
this because it is a revelation that God gave to the Apostle
Paul, to which he gave to the church, specifically this church
at Thessalonica, and then to us. his church in the New Testament,
concerning the events that will lead up to the second coming
of Christ. And these are things that will
take place just prior to his second coming. And one of the
things, and I urge you to get the other messages on this, to
study this chapter. Make it a point of self-examination,
which I emphasize on this program all the time because This is
a time when there is so much deception going on. I preached two messages a couple
weeks ago on the great deception. Here's the point that you need
to understand. People talk about how bad things
have gotten and they're going to get worse. They think these
are signs of Christ, the nearness of His second coming. Well, things
have always been bad on the earth. I don't know that I could say
this time as far as human immorality and all that is worse than others
because it's always been that way. But let me tell you this.
The greatest sign, the scripture teaches, the Lord taught this
in Matthew chapter 23 or 24 and Mark 13, Matthew 24 and Mark
13. that the greatest sign of the
nearness of His coming would be false Christianity, false
religion, especially false Christianity. In fact, he said that there would
be some preachers, false preachers, they come in sheep's clothing,
they claim to be Christians, and they'll say, here's Christ
and there's Christ. He said, but don't follow them.
And some of them, he'll say, will be so close to the truth. They'll have a lot of truth.
but they'll have enough error that would damn millions. And
he said they would be so close that if it were possible, they
could deceive the very elect, the elect of God. Now the Bible
teaches us that the elect of God, those whom God chose before
the foundation of the world and gave to Christ, they'll be saved.
Now they start out deceived, we all do, because we all fell
in Adam. We're all born dead in trespasses
and sins, and we must be delivered out of that state by God in the
new birth. We must be born again. I quote
this in probably every message. 1 Corinthians 2, 14, the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither
can he know them. They're spiritually discerned. That's why Christ
said you must be born again, or you cannot see, or you cannot
enter the kingdom of heaven. And so we need to understand
that this is a time, if we claim to be Christian, this is a time
that we really honestly need to get into the Bible and examine
ourselves whether we're in the faith. Do I really believe the
gospel? The true gospel? Or am I believing
a false gospel? Do I really know the true Christ? Is he my only hope? Or am I looking
elsewhere for salvation? Well today, I want to talk to
you about another deception here, it's in verse 10, where the apostle
talks about the deceivableness of unrighteousness. Now that's
the title of the message, the deceivableness of unrighteousness. Now last week I talked about
in verse seven the mystery of iniquity. That's an iniquity,
an imbalance, an inequality that man by nature does not recognize. In other words, he doesn't see
this, and I use Matthew 7, 21 through 23 as an example. Those
false preachers who came claiming to have preached in the name
of Christ, to cast out demons, done many wonderful works, they
were pleading those efforts as their righteousness before God,
their reason for entering heaven. But Christ called it iniquity.
It didn't equal out to the perfection of righteousness that God requires,
because that perfection of righteousness can only be found in Christ Jesus,
the merits of His obedience unto death, and it can only be given
to sinners by the grace of God, first by imputation, God imputing
our sins to Christ, charging them to Christ, Christ paying
that debt, redeeming us, and His righteousness imputed, charged
to us. And then we receive it by God-given
faith. Well, look at verse 8. Now, he
said that the Holy Spirit is working to bring God's people
under the true gospel and give them life and faith And he says,
there's coming a time when he will be taken out of the way.
All of Christ's sheep will have been brought into the fold. And
he says in verse eight, he says, and then shall that wicked be
revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his
mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.
So that's when the Lord's coming back again. When the Holy Spirit
is taken out of the way because his work is finished, the last
one of God's elect has been brought into the kingdom, the last one
of Christ's sheep, and then he's coming, and he's gonna destroy
that wicked, all that wickedness, all of that anti-Christian spirit,
all of that deception, he's going to destroy it, consume it, with
the spirit of his mouth, his word, his power, His authority
will all be exposed, and he shall destroy with the brightness of
his coming. He's coming to gather his people
unto himself, and he's coming to judge the wicked and destroy
this world. He says in verse nine, even him
whose coming is after the working of Satan, that wicked now, whose
coming is after the working of Satan, Satan the great deceiver,
Satan the great accuser, You see, that's how we're delivered
from the power of Satan. Satan's power to accuse the people
of God is gone because his accusations do not fit. When he accuses us,
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. You
see that? When Satan shoots his arrows
of accusation toward us, how do we turn him back? By the blood
of the Lamb. Christ died for my sin. I'm a
sinner, but my sins are not charged to me. They cannot condemn me. Who can condemn us? It's Christ
that died. Yea, rather He's risen again,
who is even at the right hand of the Father, ever living to
make intercession from us. So Satan's power in accusation
is gone. But also Satan's power of deception
is gone because when the Holy Spirit brings God's children,
God's elect, Christ's sheep under the preaching of the gospel and
gives them life, spiritual life in the new birth, gives them
faith and knowledge to believe, Satan's deception is over. But
Satan is still working and he'll work up until that time and he'll
deceive millions And it says here, verse nine, even him whose
coming is after the working of Satan, with all power, Satan
has a power, he's not all powerful. Don't ever get that idea. He's
not God's, Satan is not God's evil counterpart, no sir. He's not equal to God in evil,
no. God is good, Satan is evil, but
Satan is a created being, and my friend, Even God is over him,
and I'm not gonna get into that right now, but read the book
of Job, for example. But Satan has power over the
ones he deceives. Now he has no power over God's
children when they're brought to faith in Christ. So it says,
with all power, and listen, verse nine, all signs and lying wonders. In other words, there'll be things
that people see that are wonderful to them. And they will judge
these things to be of God, but it'll be a lie. You know, I hear
people talk about the sign gifts, the gift of speaking in tongues,
the gift of healing and all of that. And those gifts, the gift
of speaking in tongues was never some kind of a heavenly gibberish. The gift of tongues, languages
is what that is, was a gift that God gave to the early church
to preach the gospel in other languages or to hear the gospel
from another language. It was a communication. It wasn't
just some sign that people had that impressed people that you
didn't know what it was about. Read 1 Corinthians 14 on that
issue. But those sign gifts are over,
and the reason is is because we have the word of God, Genesis
to Revelation. My authority is not in the fact
that I can raise the dead or I can heal the sick. My authority
is 2 Thessalonians 2, Genesis chapter one, Revelation chapter
22, all the way through the Bible. And that's my authority. I don't
have any authority. It's God's authority, it's his
word. Now, but when people come along, when preachers come along
and they talk about how they can do this and they can do that,
they can heal the sick. I've heard them say they can
raise the dead, they can perform miracles and all that. I don't
argue with them about that. Here's what I ask them. What
gospel do you preach? Because if it's not the gospel,
the true gospel of God's free and sovereign grace, in the glorious
person and finished work of Christ, his blood, his righteousness,
which secures the salvation of every sinner for whom he died.
If it's not that gospel, whatever seems wonderful that they're
doing, it's a lie. I'm telling you, it's a deception. Lying wonders. And then he follows
that up with verse 10. Now look at it. And with all
deceivableness of unrighteousness, in them that perish because they
receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. The
issue in salvation is not whether or not a man can impress me by
healing a sick person or by raising a dead person. The issue in salvation
is love of the truth. What does God's word say? What
is the gospel? Romans 1.16, the gospel is the
power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the
Jew first and the Greek also. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, from the preaching of
the doctrine of Christ to the believing of it. As it is written,
the just, the justified, the forgiven, sinners saved by grace,
the righteous shall live by faith, looking to Christ. So here comes
a man and he somehow heals a sick person. Is that of God? Well, what does he preach? That might be one of Satan's
lying deceptions. And it could be one of God's
delusions. Look at verse 11. And for this
cause, that is, because they receive not the love of the truth,
God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie.
That's God's judgment on those who reject the truth. If you
reject the truth of the gospel, though you have the faith of
miracles to move mountains, you don't have love, godly love,
and it's nothing. It's just a deception. But let's
go back to this term, deceivableness of unrighteousness. Now what
that is is an unrighteousness that deceives. What is righteousness? Well, righteousness is justice. Righteousness is perfect satisfaction
to the law and to the justice of God. And the issue in salvation,
is this, all who stand before God and are accepted with Him
must have a right relationship with God. They must be righteous
in God's sight. Not in man's sight, but in God's
sight. So how is that possible? What
is it that makes a sinner righteous in God's sight? Now, I wanna
go to a parable in the book of Luke, chapter 18, to show you
an illustration of this. And it's a parable that you may
be familiar with. It's the parable of the publican and the Pharisee. And verse eight tells us, or
verse nine, really, tells us why the Lord spoke this parable.
And here's what it says. Look at verse nine of Luke 18.
He says, and he spoke this parable unto certain, certain people,
which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised
others. In other words, this was their
judgment of themselves. I'm righteous and others aren't. And so he says in this parable,
he speaks a parable. Verse 10, two men went up unto
the temple to pray. Now here's what we know about
the two men right away. They're both prayers. They pray. He says the one a Pharisee. Now
a Pharisee is a religious person. A sincere religious person who
goes above and beyond the call of duty as men see it in religious
works and efforts. He said the one a Pharisee, the
other a publican. Now a publican was a hated person.
He was a tax collector, he was a Jew, who had sold himself out
for money to Rome to collect taxes from the Jewish people
for the Roman Empire. And they most always, they all
had a reputation for skimming money off the top for themselves.
And so one was a Pharisee, a super religious, sincere moralist,
the other a publican. Now look at verse 11. The Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself, that is by himself, He says,
God, now notice the first words out of the Pharisee's mouth.
God, I thank thee that I'm not as other men are. Now he knew
he was different from other men. He was different from that publican.
But he didn't say, I'm thanking myself for that, or it's all
my own, but I thank you, God, that I'm not like other men.
And he says this, I thank God that I'm not an extortioner,
that's one who blackmails or gets money by ill-gotten gain,
unjust, unfair, adulterers, or even as this publican. Now obviously,
the Pharisee didn't know much about the real sinfulness of
man. In adultery, for example, the Lord said it's a sin not
just to commit the act of adultery, but to thank it. But this Pharisee
had not committed the act, and he says he prayed with himself.
Now that's the negative. This is why, I thank God that
I'm not. You ever said the statement,
this is one of the old pilgrims who said this, but he saw a man
being hanged for a crime, and they asked him what he thought
about it, and he said this, he said, there but for the grace
of God go I. You ever said that or anything
like that? Well, did you know you're actually saying there,
I thank God I'm not like other men are? Now, in itself, there's
nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with that. But
in this Pharisee, what was the problem? Well, let's read on.
Look at verse 12. Now, here's the positive. I thank
God that I fast twice in the week. That's more than what was
required. I give tithes of all that I possess. I thank God. So I thank God I'm
not like these other sinners, but I do these things that are
pleasing to God. Now, look at the publican's prayer. Verse 13. And the publican, standing
afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven. Now that's a position of humility.
But he smote upon his breast, saying, Be merciful to me, a
sinner. He's begging for mercy. Now in
the New Testament, there are different words for mercy and
merciful. Do you know what the word for
merciful here in Luke 18, 13 in the publican's prayer is,
the word merciful? It's a word that relates to propitiation. Be propitious. That's what he's
saying. God be propitious to me a sinner. What is propitiation? It is justice
satisfied through a dying substitute, a bloody sacrifice. And who is
the propitiation for the sins of God's people? 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
for our sins. The sin-bearing sacrifice who
brought satisfaction. You know what this public is
saying? I'm a sinner. I don't have anything, with or
without the help of God, to recommend me unto God and make me righteous.
I need Christ. I need a substitute. I need a
mercy seat. I need the blood of the lamb.
I need a righteousness I cannot produce. And that's what we need. This publican, unlike the Pharisee,
he knew that he needed the perfection of righteousness that could only
be found in Christ. The Pharisee was pleading what
he believed God enabled him to do. in order to be righteous. The publican was pleading the
righteousness of another. And then listen to how Christ
concludes this in verse 14 of Luke 18. He says, I tell you,
this man, this publican, went down to his house justified,
forgiven of all his sins, righteous in God's sight, rather than the
other, the Pharisee. For everyone that exalteth himself
shall be abased, put down. and he that humbleth himself
shall be exalted. You see what it is? Now, back
here in 2 Thessalonians to the deception of unrighteousness,
the deceivableness of unrighteousness is any notion that I can be righteous
by my works or with the help of God helping me do things. Thank God I'm not like other
men. Thank God I fast and I tithe. If that's what your righteousness
is before God, you're deceived. If your righteousness before
God, that you plead before God, is anything other than the perfection
of righteousness that can only be found in Christ by the grace
of God, Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord. If your righteousness that you
plead before God is anything other than exclusively the imputed,
charged, accounted righteousness of Christ, then you're under
the deceivableness of unrighteousness. You may say, well, Lord, I'm
doing the best I can. I pray, I give my tithes, I go
to church, don't miss a Sunday. Well, my friend, if that's what
makes you righteous, you're under a deception. The deceivableness
of unrighteousness. Now the truth tells you this
fact. Do you reject it? Do you hate
it? You know why the natural man receives not the things of
the Spirit of God? Why he cannot stomach them? It's
written in John 3, 19, when Christ said, this is the condemnation
that light is coming to the world. and men love darkness and hateth
the light because their deeds are evil. Those deeds that men
and women naturally applaud, think highly of, plead as their
righteousness before God, those are evil deeds. Because my friend,
if you think that they make you righteous, you're denying the
glory of God. If you think they make you righteous,
you're denying the work and the glory and the worthiness of Christ.
If you think they make you righteous, you're exalting yourself. You're
not humble before the Lord. You may look humble to men, but
not before God. Paul wrote in Galatians 2 and
verse 20, 21, he said, I do not frustrate the grace of God. I
don't say I'm saved by grace and then voided out by preaching
righteousness by my works or by the law. He said, I do not
frustrate the righteousness of God. If righteousness come by
the law, by my works, then Christ is dead in vain. You realize
that if you're claiming to be righteous and right with God
based upon your works, whether it's with or without the help
of God, you can be like the Pharisee and say, God, I thank you that
I'm this way. But if you think your righteousness
before God is anything that you do or God does through you, my
friend, you're saying that Christ died in vain. Because Christ
died to bring forth the only righteousness whereby God can
be just and justify, forgive, declare righteous, a sinner like
me. You say, well, I hate that truth.
I don't like that truth. Well, read it again. Verse 10
of 2 Thessalonians 2. With all deceivable to summon
righteousness in them that perish, And who does the Bible tell us
are in a state of perishing? Those who think the preaching
of the cross, the preaching of righteousness, is foolishness. God forbid that I should glory,
boast, save in the cross, the work of Christ, the blood of
Christ, the righteousness of Christ, because they receive
not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And he says
in verse 11, and for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion
that they should believe a lie. My friend, if you continue in
that unbelief, it may be that God has sent you strong delusion. You're so ensconced in that false
deception that you will believe a lie. And it says in verse 12,
here's the sad reality. Verse 12, that they all might
be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. You see that? Do you have pleasure
in unrighteousness? Now, in reading through this
chapter, it seems like there's a lot of sad notes in it, doesn't
it? A lot of negativity. But the
last part of this is actually a message of hope. And I'm gonna
deal with that when he talks about the elect of God who are
brought by God's power to a saving knowledge of Christ. and a belief
of the truth. They love the truth. That's a
gift of God. Do you know that? If you believe
the gospel, the true gospel, if you're submitted to Christ
as your only righteousness before God, that's a miracle. That's
the work of God. What can we do to work the works
of God? This is the work of God, that
you believe on him whom God hath sent. We'll talk about that next
week. Hope you'll join us. 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
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
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today and may the Lord be with you.