Now let's go back to the passage
that Brother Robert just read in 2 Thessalonians 2. Now my
focus in this message is really going to be on the last part
of this passage. The title of the message is Sanctification,
Faith, and Glory. Sanctification, Faith, and Glory. What I've been doing in the past
few messages, and I'm going to continue to do in more messages, I'm taking scriptural passages
that really deal with the issue of sanctification so that we
can hopefully, by the Spirit of God and by His grace, learn
as disciples of Christ that we can can learn more about this
issue of sanctification. He mentions it in verse 13, if
you'll look at it, 2 Thessalonians 2, 13, we're bound to give thanks
all the way to God for you brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. And that speaks
in another place, we can term it sanctification by God the
Father, meaning that he set His people apart in sovereign electing
grace before the foundation of the world. God chose you from
the beginning. And there are other scriptures
that deal with that in more detail, but that's a sanctification. The word sanctify meaning to
set apart. And then another place it speaks
of sanctification by God the Son incarnate, the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's God setting his people
apart in redemptive grace. We were redeemed by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. God chose us. Christ redeemed
us. You know, somebody said one time
that every message had to have three R's. Ruined by the fall. Redeemed by the blood. And that's
the sanctification by the Son. And then the third R would be
regenerated by the spirit. That's the new birth. And that's
what he mentions here. Through, verse 13, sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. That's when a sinner is set apart by God the Holy
Spirit in regenerating grace. The spirit gives life, imparts
life from Christ. the ground of salvation, the
righteousness of Christ imputed, the fruit of salvation, life
given by the Spirit in regenerating grace, the new birth, and set
apart. You were set apart before, if
you're saved by the grace of God, you were set apart before
the foundation of the Lord. That's what the scripture teaches.
I know there's so many people that don't like to hear that,
but I'll tell you what, it's a glorious, comforting, God-honoring
truth from the scriptures. God before the foundation of
the world set his people apart for himself in election. And then sent the son of God
to die for our sins, Christ having our sins imputed, charged, accounted
to him. And he drank damnation dry, as
they say. He satisfied the justice of God
and brought forth an everlasting righteousness of infinite value,
whereby God could be both a just God and a savior. Sanctification
by the Son. And then in time, God, by his
power and grace, providentially brings us under the preaching
of the gospel. That's what he says here in verse
14. Whereunto he called you, this is the holy calling, This
is the invincible, irresistible calling of the Holy Spirit, where
under the preaching of the Gospel, He makes it the dynamite of God,
the power of God unto salvation, and where He imparts life, He
gives us ears to hear, eyes to see. That's sanctification of
the Spirit. But let me give you just a little bit of the context,
and I thought about this when I was studying for this message.
I said, well, you know, I really hadn't, I didn't intend to go
into detail verse by verse through the whole chapter, but I know
this is some, this chapter is one that brings a lot of curiosity,
a lot of questions, because it is speaking of the end times.
It's talking about the time leading up to the second coming of Christ.
I'll be referring to this chapter some as we continue our study
of Revelation in our Bible study. But listen to what's happening
here. Apparently in the church at Thessalonica, where Paul had
been and preached and taught these people, somehow because
of false letters and false teachers who were writing these false
letters, and I say false letters because number one, it seemed
like that these letters were forgeries. It'd be like me writing
a letter to you and claiming the letter was written by the
Apostle Paul or the Apostle Peter. Now you'd say, well, how would
men do that? Well, the things that are done
in the name of false religion would absolutely make you sick,
wouldn't they? That's what they would do, they
would write a letter to the church, like the church at Thessalonica,
and they would forge it in the sense of saying, now this is
from the Apostle Peter, or this is from the Apostle Paul, or
this is from the Apostle John, trying to give it some authority. One of the things, one of the
issues that these false teachers writing these false letters brought
up was the second coming of Christ. And they got the people stirred
up, troubled, thinking that He's coming in our day, He's coming,
we're not going to last. Alright? Now, does that sound
familiar to you? In our day? I mean, people all
the time say, well, this is the last generation. People trying
to figure out the time of his coming. There was a fellow out
in California, he's dead now, and I think he came up with three
different dates, and he'd come up with one date and it didn't
happen, so he'd say, oh, I forgot to check this Greek word, and
then he'd come up with a second, oh, I left out this, and then
he'd come up with a third date. I think the last date he had
was May 23rd, 2011. And he was wrong, obviously. But that's the kind of thinking
and what happened was the people got stirred up in trouble. Now
listen to me, we as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we
are to live in anticipation and expectation of his coming. Aren't
we? We're to live our, when is Christ
coming again? I don't know. I believe it's
soon, but I don't know. I don't know the exact date,
and I'm not even to delve into that. But I'll tell you what,
I'm to live my life as if he's coming before the service is
over. That's right. I'm to live my life as if he's
coming now. But I'm not to be troubled and
upset and worried Anxious look at verse 1 now. We beseech you
brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in other words
Paul's established that as a fact Christ is coming again, and I'm
begging you by that fact by that reality Christ is coming again
and He says and by our gathering together unto him. We're gathered
in Christ. We're a church of the Lord Jesus
Christ and And so that you be not soon shaken in mind, troubled,
neither by spirit, that is in your heart, in your mind, your
conscience. That's what he's talking about.
Don't be troubled. Nor by word, what somebody tells you. He says,
nor as by letter as from us. If somebody writes you a letter
saying it's from Paul, John or whoever, don't be troubled and
stirred up and shaken and worried about this thing. You say, well,
I worry about other people. Well, I understand that. People
who don't have any interest in the gospel, who don't have any
interest in seeking the Lord, it's troubling, isn't it? It's
sad, really. I think that's probably the best
word to say. It's just sad. But all we can
do is witness and identify with, witness the gospel and identify
with the people of God. If the Lord gives us an open
door to speak to people, we'll do it. But we're not to go in
like a bull in a china shop and try to make our own way. But
he says, as that the day of Christ is at hand. And he says in verse
three, let no man deceive you by any means. That's a deception. Do you know the Bible says, there's
a lot of old sayings that people attribute to the Bible that are
not there. I'll give you some of them. Cleanliness is next
to godliness. That's not in the Bible. Well,
does that mean we shouldn't take a bath? No, let's take baths,
all right? But that's not in the Bible.
That's not a biblical saying. God helps those who help themselves. That's not in the Bible. Now
when it comes to our life here on earth, we ought to do our
best, but when it comes to salvation, if God helps those who help themselves,
then we're all doomed. Salvation's by grace, through
Christ. And God is our help in spite
of us as far as salvation goes. So those things aren't in the
Bible. But let me tell you one that's in the Bible. You've heard
this one. If a man don't work, he don't
eat. That's in the Bible. It's in the letters to the Thessalonicans.
And you know what it was about? These people who thought that
the Lord was coming back in their day, they were quitting their
jobs and going off living in a cave somewhere and waiting
on him. And they wouldn't work. And you know what happened? They
got hungry. And so they started appealing
to the church for help. And Paul said, no, you don't
work, you don't eat. Don't use the second coming of
Christ as an excuse to go off and quit your job. See, that
kind of thinking, that's a deception. And that's what he's saying,
verse 3, let no man deceive you by any means. And then he says,
for that day shall not come, the day of his second coming
shall not come except there come a falling away first. Now that
word falling away is apostasy. Falling away. Well, falling away
from what? from the truth, falling away
from the gospel. He's talking about a widespread
apostasy that would reach all over the world. I believe that
it's in line with the loosing of Satan that's spoken of in
the book of Revelation. I'm not going to go into all
that today. But what he's talking about is that as the church began
in the book of Acts, the New Testament church, based upon
the truth, the gospel of God's grace in Christ, preaching the
good news of how God saves sinners by the blood and the righteousness
of Jesus Christ, that as time went on, that which would be
identified at least in the world as the church would fall away
from the truth. It's an apostasy. Started out
well, but it fell away. And then he says, and that man
of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. Now, most people identify
this as an individual and they call him the antichrist. Other
commentators say that it's not one individual, it's a group
of individuals or an office, a religious office. Some people
say it's just the spirit of Antichrist. Incidentally, you do know that
the word Antichrist is not found here, it's not found in Revelation,
it's only found twice in the Book of 1 John, or in the letters
of John, twice. But here's the point, and here's
what we need to know. If it's one individual, a group
of individuals, a spirit, here's what we need to know. It's any
message, any group, any philosophy that is against Jesus Christ. That's what antichrist means.
Anything that stands against Jesus Christ, who he is, and
what he accomplished in redeeming his people is antichrist. Who is Jesus Christ? He's Emmanuel. What does that mean? God with
us. Now any spirit, any person, any
individual, any government, any philosophy, any religion that
denies Jesus Christ as God in human flesh is antichrist. At least that spirit of antichrist.
What did Jesus Christ do for his people? He saved us from
our sin. He didn't try to save you. He
didn't make you savable. He redeemed us from our sins. That's what the scripture says.
His work on the cross is the security of the salvation of
his people. His righteousness established.
demands the complete salvation of all for whom he died. That's
what he did. He satisfied God's justice. He established everlasting
righteousness, which is imputed to all of God's people. And God
cannot charge them with sin. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God? That's what he did. Now, any
spirit, any man, any group of men, any philosophy, any religion
that denies that redemptive work of Christ denies the righteousness
of Christ. That's anti-Christ. Where is
He now? He's risen. He was raised from
the dead. He ascended unto the Father.
And He now is seated at the right hand of the Father ever living
to make intercession for us. That's why we can never be lost.
We can't be charged with sin. We're always charged with righteousness.
We who are in Him. He intercedes for us pleading
the merits of His blood on our behalf. Now any religion, man,
group of men, or any that denies that is Antichrist. And he says
in verse four, he says, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all
that is called God or that is worshipped so that he is God
sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
There's a lot of different interpretations of that. But basically any person,
any group, or any religion, that goes above the Word of God, beyond
the Word of God, and denies these truths, is trying to take the
place of God. That's what it is. So he says
in verse 5, Remember you not that when I was yet with you,
I told you these things. Paul had already talked to him
about this. And he says, And now you know what withholdeth,
verse 6, what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
This withholding thing. God is in control of this world,
folks. I did an interview up in Norcross
last week over the book, What is Salvation? And the lady that
was interviewing me, she won my opinion on different, the
various translations of the Bible. And we didn't really have time
to go into that subject in any depth. But I told her, I said,
well, in my opinion, based on the studies that I've done, the
King James Version is the closest to the original manuscripts.
I do look at the New King James Version because it's simply just,
instead of saying thou, it says you, that kind of thing. But
anyway, the King James Version is the closest to the original
manuscripts. But I told her, I said, you've
got to be careful about these translations because they'll,
You know they try to make them adaptable to the natural man,
and I said I said for example I looked at her. I said now.
I'll tell you about me. I said I do not believe in luck.
I don't believe in luck I Said I believe in Providence. I believe
God governs this world. I believe what the book of Ephesians
chapter 1 verse 11 says I that he worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will. I believe Romans 8.28, all things
work together for good to them that love God, who are the called
according to his purpose. The reason I believe that is because
God's the one who's working these things out. So I don't believe
in luck. But I said there's a modern translation
that every time you see the word blessed, it says lucky. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputed, it would say lucky is the man. Well, I don't believe
in luck. But that's a modern translation, you gotta be careful
with those things. But what I'm saying is this, this withholding
here, it's God's sovereign power of restraint. Holding things
in check, working things out according to his time and his
purpose. And in all of that, what he's
doing is he's bringing his people, his sheep into the fold. God's
holding things back. Well, you know, he's been doing
that ever since the fall of man, hadn't he? Because if he hadn't
been holding things back and he just let the world run amuck
in anarchy, this world would have been destroyed a long time
ago. But he says something's being withheld here. He says
in verse seven, look, he says, the mystery of iniquity. Now,
let me tell you about the mystery of iniquity. That is an iniquity
that man by nature does not recognize. Now, God has given every man
and woman a conscience. Now granted, there are some people
who spend their lives trying to squelch that conscience. And
the book of Romans chapter one describes them, a people of a
reprobate mind. They'd have no sense of right
and wrong, but they weren't born that way. Now, our conscience
is defiled by nature. We're born dead in trespasses
and sins. The conscience is defiled. But
we have a conscience. You remember he talks about the
Gentiles. They don't have the law of Moses, but they have a
conscience by which they accuse and excuse each other. So we
have a conscience, even though it's defiled. When the Holy Spirit
sanctifies us, sets us apart in regeneration and conversion,
what happens? That conscience is cleansed.
And what cleanses it? Anybody know? What cleanses it? The blood of Christ. Read Hebrews
chapter 10 sometimes. In other words, what that is,
the guilty conscience, the condemned conscience, the legal conscience
of natural man is cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. That's
when the Holy Spirit applies the blood to our minds, our affections,
our wills, our consciences. So we have a conscience, all
right? Man by nature knows some things
are right and some things are wrong. That's why even pagan
societies have laws that forbid murder, forbid other things,
things like that. But there is an iniquity that
man by nature does not know. It's a mystery. A mystery in
the Bible is something that man cannot know by natural intellect
or reason. This has to be taught to him
by God. This has to be revealed. The
mystery of iniquity. And he says the mystery of iniquity
doth already work. Only he who now letteth will
let until he be taken out of the way. That's the Holy Spirit
who is pervading this earth and holding things back by the power
of God. But there's a mystery of iniquity.
Now what is that iniquity that's a mystery? Turn to Matthew 7. And I'll show it to you. This
is one example of it. Matthew 7. Now, first of all,
what does the word iniquity mean? It comes from the root word equity.
What does equity mean? It means equal. Equity is something that equals
out to a certain standard, like a measure. And if something is
inequitable, in iniquity, it doesn't measure up to the standard.
That's what that means. It's like a balance or scales,
all right? And here's what it is. It's something
that man by nature, this mystery of iniquity, is something that
man by nature thinks measures up to the standard of what God
requires, but it doesn't. Look at Matthew 7 verse 21. He
says, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter
into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my
father, which is in heaven. We could summarize the will of
the father, which is in heaven for his people as believe on
the son, believe on the Lord, Jesus Christ. Look at verse 22. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? That's preaching
in the name. And in thy name have cast out
devils. And in thy name done many wonderful works. Now here's
what you got to understand about this situation. These people
are standing before God at judgment. Now, when you stand before God
at judgment, what are you going to plead before holy God as to
your right and title to His mercy, His grace, His salvation, His
presence into heaven itself? Well, here's what these fellows
plead. Well, we preached in your name. We cast out devils. We did many wonderful works.
Now here's the question at judgment. Does that measure up to what
God requires? And the answer's no. Look at
verse 23. And then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you. And of course you know that doesn't
mean that he didn't know who they were and didn't know their
hearts, didn't know their names. He knew everything about them. But that word no there is a word
that indicates an intimate father-son, savior-saved relationship. I never knew you. Look at it. Depart from me you that work
what? Iniquity. Wait a minute. I preached in
your name. You know I'm standing before
you right now preaching in his name. Is there anything wrong
with that? No. But I want to tell you something. My standing here before you,
preaching in His name, is not my righteousness before God.
Christ is. And anything else is iniquity. Anything less is iniquity. You
understand what I'm saying now? I've never cast out demons that
I know of, but if I did, Is that my righteousness before God?
No. Wonderful works. You know the people of God are
enabled by God and empowered by God to do many wonderful works.
But is that their righteousness before God? If you think it is,
I'm going to tell you something. It's iniquity. It doesn't measure
up. The only thing it measures up, you remember what Paul said
in Philippians 3? He said that I may know him and
be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of
the law, but that which is through the faith of Jesus Christ, the
righteousness of God, which is by faith. What are you going to plead at
judgment? We're going to plead Christ. That's it. Not the fact that
I pray. I thank God that I'm preaching
and I'm enabled to do so. But that's not my righteousness.
That's not what I preach. I preach that Christ is my righteousness.
You see? Anything less... Now, man by
nature doesn't know that. It's a mystery to it. Man by
nature thinks anything religious and sincere and charitable is
righteousness. Now, all of those things are
things that believers should be and should do, but not for
righteousness. They should do it because of
grace, because of love, because of gratitude. The best prayers that we ever
pray do not make us righteous before God. In fact, the prayer
of a believer is based upon another righteousness altogether. Christ,
our great high priest who passed through into the heavens. Christ
is my righteousness. Christ is my goodness. Christ
is my qualification. And you know that's sanctification
because that's what sets me apart from the world. That's what sets
you apart from the world. Go back to 2 Thessalonians 2.
So he says, the mystery of iniquity doth already work. Only he who
now letteth will let until he be taken out of the way. God's
holding things back until he removes all restraints, what
he said. Verse eight says, and then shall
that wicked or that wicked one be revealed whom the Lord shall
consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with
the brightness of his coming. Now that's the second coming
of Christ. He will consume that spirit which
will be then exposed to all the world. In other words, even those
who are found without Christ at that time will realize that
all that they held dear and were so proud of is iniquity. That they'll be removed. And
they'll realize that they don't measure up. Because the only way a sinner
can measure up in the eyes of God is to plead Christ. To believe
in Him. And then he says in verse 9,
even him who is coming is after the working of Satan with all
power and signs and deceptive lying wonders. There will be
some wonderful things in the eyes of men, some things they
can't explain. We see that today, don't we? Things in religion,
experiences, feelings, ecstatic, views and visions, all of that
people have. But let me tell you something,
here's the thing, whatever you experience, whatever you feel,
If it doesn't lead you to total dependence upon, total submission
to Jesus Christ and Him crucified and risen from the dead, His
blood, His righteousness alone, it is a deception. Am I right? Verse 10, all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish. And what's the problem? Look at it. Because they receive
not the love of the truth that they might be saved. You see,
it's all feeling, it's all experience, it's all religious activity.
But the truth? The doctrine of Christ? How many
people you know claim to be Christian that know really absolutely nothing
about the Bible? How many people you know who
claim to be Christian, when they look for a church, they're not
looking for the truth, what's preached from the pulpit. They're
looking for, well, we want places that'll keep our children busy
and active and take them on trips, and we want that'll have this
class, that class, this, that, activities. You say, well, what's the problem? It's kind of like the woman,
you know, when they asked her a question, he said, what do you believe?
She said, well, I believe what my preacher believes. They said,
what does he believe? She said, I don't know, but whatever
it is, I believe it. That kind of thing. That's an extreme example,
but I'll tell you what, it's pretty much indicative of people.
They don't read their Bibles, they don't study their Bibles. They receive not the love of
the truth. And here's God's judgment on that, verse 11, and for this
cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe
a lie. That's God's judgment, God's judicial judgment upon
those who go that far. And he says that they all might
be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But here's the security. Now
I'm gonna go into these verses more detail next week, but here's
the security. But, verse 13, we're bound to
give thanks all the way to God for you brethren, beloved of
the Lord. Why? God chose you from the beginning.
God redeemed you by the blood. And He called you by the Spirit
to the gospel of Jesus Christ and the grace of God in Jesus
Christ. All right?