Let's open our Bibles again to
2 Thessalonians chapter 2. The title of the message this
morning is Joy in the Lord. Someone had, since the Apostle
Paul had left Thessalonica, some false prophet had come and told
these Thessalonian believers that Christ was coming very,
very soon, any day. They even claimed that the Apostle
Paul was preaching that in other places. They brought forged letters
from Paul to deceive the people into thinking this is what Paul
was telling people. And the folks were very troubled
by this. And they became so taken up.
I think this is the biggest reason why they were so troubled. They
became so taken up with preaching and talking about when the Lord
will return that they quit being taken up with Christ. John said
in his prayer that the Lord would enable us to become obsessed
with Christ. Well, they were no longer obsessed
with Christ, but they are obsessed with when he'd come. And this
troubled them because they were not talking about him. They're
talking about things about him, about his return and other things.
But they weren't they weren't preaching Christ. They weren't
preaching the one who will return in victory and glory to receive
his people to himself. And that left them troubled because
their focus was not on the Savior. And you see how suddenly that
happened, how suddenly someone came in and robbed them of their
joy in Christ. And that could happen to us with
any issue. It doesn't just have to be His return. It could be
any issue. We could become so taken up with
a particular issue that we preach that issue instead of preaching
Christ. See the difference? We could
preach an issue about Christ, but not preach Him and rob God's
people of their joy in Christ. Now, in our day, absolutely,
we looked at the first part of this chapter earlier. There's
apostasy to fight. There's error that must be revealed. But brethren, the only issue
is Christ, the whole Christ. The only issue is the whole counsel
of God. What's the whole counsel of God?
Salvation in Christ alone, by God's grace, through faith in
Christ. So when we preach, we must preach the whole Christ. That's why we primarily go verse
by verse through God's word. If you go verse by verse, you'll
deal with every issue because God's word deals with every issue.
And when we preach the gospel, we've got to be doctrinally sound.
Nobody's going to be saved. Nobody's going to be blessed
through error. We must be doctrinally sound. But let's not get so caught
up in being so doctrinally straight and and saying everything just
exactly right, that we don't preach the gospel in joy, joy
in Christ. And let's do the same thing when
we hear the gospel preached. Now, I hope you recognize error
when you hear it, so you would avoid it. But don't listen to
the gospel listening for error. Don't listen to the preacher
preach and thinking, is he saying everything just right? Maybe
he didn't say that just right. I promise you, you listen to
me preach for 40 minutes, I'm not going to say something just
right. And I'm going to be all down the mouth about it, and
Jan's going to talk me off the ledge, you know, going home.
We're not going to say everything just right. I promise you we
won't. One time I wish I could preach
just in the power of the Spirit, and not with this flesh, but
this ton of flesh is all I got. Listening to the gospel. Is he
going to say something wrong? That's going to rob you of your
joy in Christ. I saw this man made a comment
on a message on sermon audio of one of our dearest preacher
brethren. Wonderful message. And this man
made the comment, you know, there's a comment section down there
on the bottom. He said, that's a good message. I couldn't find
any error in it. Well, I'm glad you couldn't find
any error in it. I bet you he didn't have any
joy in it either. He listening for error. You see the difference?
And I want us to look at this text this morning and see nine
reasons. I first told Mike I had seven.
Mike, I found two more. Nine reasons for us to joy in
the Lord. I want to be able to preach the
gospel to you this morning in joy. And I want you to be able
to leave here in joy, utter joy in the Lord Jesus Christ. Number
one, we have joy in the Lord because God loves a sinful people.
Verse 13, 2 Thessalonians 2. But we're bound. We have to give
thanks all the way to God for you, brethren, beloved of the
Lord. God loves a people. And God's
love is meaningful. God's love means something. God
does not love all men. If God loved all men, that would
make his love meaningless, wouldn't it? God does not love all men.
And no sinner is interested in a God that loves everybody but
sends them to hell anyway. At least you ought not be interested
in a God like that. God's love is an effectual love.
And when we say God's love is effectual, this is what we mean.
God has saved everybody he loves. If God loves you, if God loves
anybody yet to be born, he's gonna save them. God saves everybody
that he loves. God loves his people so much,
he sent his son through hell for their sin, so that they'll
never suffer for their sin. Look back at John chapter three.
You could quote this, Let's read it. Let's look at this and read
this marvelous verse like you've never read it before. John 3, verse 16. For God so
loved the world. He loved his people in the world
with such a great love. He so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life. Eternal life given in love
like that is reason for joy. God sacrificed his son because
he loved a people and would save them from their sin. That's reason
for joy. God's love is meaningful. His
love is not for all men and his love is not an offer to men.
For them to decide whether they will accept or reject his love.
God's love is a powerful, irresistible love. If God loves you, He has
made His Son utterly irresistible to you. You just can't resist
Him. God told Jeremiah, Jeremiah,
I've loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, because I've
always loved you with loving kindness, have I drawn you to
myself? And when He drew us in love,
when He drew us to Christ, we came to Him, didn't we? And we
came to Him joy because he's irresistible. And God's people
love him in return. Now, it's God's love that makes
us love him, doesn't it? We love him because he first
loved us. And I've read people, these psychologists and things,
they have studies, they say people who are in love are happier people.
I believe them. Well, God's people are in love.
They're in love with Christ. And that gives us joy in the
heart. There's joy because God loves a sinful people. Let's
never get over that. Let's never quit preaching that.
Second, there's joy in the Lord because of God's election of
a people. 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. Now, election means to choose.
God chose some out of Adam's fallen race to save. And that
gives me such joy. There'd be no salvation without
it. There'd be no salvation without God's election of a people because
all men are born dead in Adam. We're dead. We don't have the
ability to choose God, do we? We don't have the ability to
do anything. We're dead. We're dead in sin. We've got
a nature that loves sin. We've got a nature that just
thirsts after sin. So we never would have chosen
God unless he chose us first. And God did choose a people out
of Adam's fallen race. He chose them in great love.
He chose to save them through the sacrifice of his son. There's
great joy in God's election of a people. Election gives God's
people great joy because that election of a people makes salvation
sure and certain. Salvation does not begin with
me choosing God. Salvation doesn't begin with
me deciding to let Jesus be my personal Savior. No, sir. Salvation began with God choosing
me. Well, is God going to be able to do what He purposed?
In eternity past, God chose a people. He purposed to save them. Is
He going to do it? Yes, He will. How can you be
so sure? Because God's sovereign. He always
accomplishes His will. Then that makes salvation sure
and certain and gives us joy. Election gives us joy because
election is eternal. God chose a people before he
created anything. When only the Father, the Son,
the Holy Spirit, when only God existed, God chose a people. So the reason for God choosing
me has to be found in him, not in me, right? I didn't do anything
to get God to choose me, and I can't do anything to make God
un-choose me either. Election's eternal. God never
changes. If He chose a people in eternity
past, He's not gonna un-choose them now. That makes our salvation
sure and certain and brings joy to the heart of a sinner saved
by grace. Then election gives us joy because
election's personal. God didn't choose nations. God
chose a people and He chose them individually, one at a time. Now you can't honestly read God's
Word without seeing the truth of election. That's just a truth
that's undeniable if you're honest and read God's Word. I'll tell you what overwhelms
me with joy is God would choose somebody as sinful as me. God
chose people as personal. That brings joy to my heart.
Look at 2 Samuel 23. gives God's people joy at all
times. We joy in God's electing love,
even in the worst of times here in the flesh. As David lay on
his deathbed, you know where he found his joy? In God's election. 2 Samuel 23, verse 5. Although my house be not so with
God, yet hath he made with me, there it is personal, an everlasting
There it is eternal. God hath made with me an everlasting
covenant. It's ordered in all things and
it's sure. For this is all my salvation
and all my desire. Although he make it not to grow.
Election gives us joy at all times. Now election. Election is not salvation. Election
is unto salvation. Paul says here, God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation. I told you this last week, we
looked at election. Election is not God choosing
some men to hell and some men to heaven. All God's got to do
to send you to hell is leave you alone. If God leaves you
alone, you'll find your way to hell right quick. That's perfectly
understandable. But if God chose to save you,
He's going to have to do something very great for you. He's going
to have to intervene. God chose a people, but now He's
going to have to save them. He's going to have to put their
sin away through the sacrifice of His only begotten Son. God's
saving a people by sacrificing His Son for them. Boy, that brings
joy to my heart. God means business if He's going
to sacrifice His Son. And that makes salvation sure,
doesn't it? Salvation that was purposed through the election
of the father. Salvation that was purchased
through the redemption of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Salvation that's applied by God to Holy Spirit brings joy to
my heart. It all began with God's election
of a people. Thirdly, we joy because God sanctifies
his people in Christ. Verse 13, he's chosen you to
salvation through sanctification of the spirit. Now, sanctification
means two things. First of all, it means to set
something that's common, to set it apart for holy use. Well,
that's exactly what God did when he elected a people in it. He
chose a sinful people. He chose a common, ordinary people,
same as everyone else in Adam's race. He chose those people,
lost, dead in sin. He chose them to be his people. He chose them for his holy use.
He set common, sinful, ordinary men and women apart to be His.
Now does belonging to God bring joy to your heart? It does if
you belong to Him. If you belong to God, He chose
you to make you His. That brings joy to your heart.
You're not your own. You're bought with a price. That
brings joy to your heart. And second, sanctification means
to make holy. And that's what happened when
Christ died for his people. He made his people holy. When
Christ died, he justified his people. And at the same time,
he sanctified his people. Justification and sanctification
happened at the same place. They happened at Calvary. When
Christ died, he justified his people. He made them just by
taking their sin away. And when he died, he sanctified
his people. He made them holy. The writer
to the Hebrews says, for by one offering he hath perfected forever
them that are sanctified. He made holy forever them that
are sanctified in his death. But here Paul says we're sanctified
by the Spirit. Now the word's not contradicting
itself here. You can't separate the Son and
the Spirit because they're one. The Holy Spirit gives life in
the new birth to everyone that Christ died for. So when we say
we're made holy, we're sanctified, we're not saying that the flesh
is suddenly made more holy or, you know, God saves you and you
slowly become more progressively holy, progressive sanctification.
There's no such thing as progressive sanctification. When you're born
again, you're holy, completely holy, and you can never be anything
but holy. The flesh, it's unchanged. It's going to stay as rotten
as ever. But when a sinner's born again, we're given a new
holy nature, sanctified in Christ. And that nature can never become
unholy. Now that's good doctrine. That's
the doctrine of the scripture. But let's preach that and believe
it as a reason for great joy. God's made his people holy. And
he always accepts holiness. I find great joy in knowing I've
been made holy in Christ, accepted into beloved. Fourthly, we find
joy because God has given us the gift of faith in Christ.
Paul says at the end of verse 13, chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. Now
there can be no salvation without believing Christ who is the truth.
Paul said in Ephesians 2 verse 8, for by grace are you saved,
through what? And that, not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. If you believe Christ, it's because
God's given you the gift of faith. You know, Scripture never tells
us that we have to know we're one of God's love. Never tells
us that. Scripture never tells us that
in order to be saved, you've got to know a certain amount
of doctrine, a certain amount of truth. Scripture never tells
us that. What does Scripture say you've
got to do to be saved? Believe. Look at John chapter 6. I'll
show you a couple of scriptures of this. John chapter 6. There
can be no salvation without faith in Christ, believing Him. John chapter 6, verse 47. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. Whoever believes
on Christ has everlasting life. I look over Acts chapter 16 and
we'll see an illustration of exactly what our Lord was saying
there. The story of the Philippian jailer. Let's begin reading in verse
30, Acts chapter 16. And the jailer, he brought them
out and said, sirs, What must I do to be saved? And they said,
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. In thy
house, anybody else in thy house, anybody else you know who believes
on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved. Now it doesn't record
this, but you wouldn't be surprised if the jailer said, Alright,
who is he? I can't believe on somebody I
don't know. Who is he? How can I know who he is? How
can I know? Is there anything about him that
is trustworthy? Is there anything about him that
would make me believe on him? Who is he? How can I know? Paul said in the book of Romans,
you're gonna know who he is by hearing a preacher tell you who
Christ is. And that's exactly what Paul and Silas did here,
verse 32. And they spake unto him the word
of the Lord and to all that were in his house. And he took them
the same hour of the night and washed their stripes and was
baptized. He in all his straight way. Why
were they baptized? Because they believed the Christ
that they heard preached. He was given the gift of faith.
He had eternal life. All right, that's the jailer.
There's the illustration. The Lord said whoever believes
has eternal life. There's an illustration of it
in the Philippian jailer. But I tell you what I'm real
interested in is how can I be saved? How can I believe Well,
I tell you, you'll believe. I know exactly when you believe
Christ, when God gives you the gift of faith in Christ. And
you'll find great joy in that gift, to receive such a wonderful
gift as the gift of faith in Christ. And that's the experience
of so many believers I've talked to all over the place. And it
definitely is my experience. I tried for years to believe. I mean, I tried. Just make myself believe. And
I couldn't do it. I believed in my head these things
I heard were true. I tried to believe in my heart. Oh, how I tried. I could not
do it. Couldn't do it. Thankfully, God
in His mercy and grace kept me coming to hear the gospel. And
one day it dawned on me, I believe. I believe Christ. I don't know when, but I know
I believe. I don't know when it happened,
but I know I believe. And I know how it happened, through
hearing Him preached. That's what happens to everybody
God saves. Sooner or later, He gives them
the gift of faith. And they find joy in receiving
such a wonderful gift. The gift of faith. ought to make
a people a happy people. I don't have to come up with
faith on my own. That was proven to me over the
course of time. I can't do it. I couldn't find
any joy in a message that told me I have to come up with faith
on my own. But I'm telling you what, there's
joy in receiving the gift of the Father, the gift of faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Fifthly, we joy because God calls
his people by his gospel. Verse 14, whereunto he called
you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, what joy we have in knowing
that the salvation of God's elect is not left to chance. God calls
his people by the gospel. God has a sheep. He's called,
he elected them, he chose them. The Son came and died for them,
but they don't know it. They're lost. They're so lost.
Well, how are they ever going to come to know the Savior? Well,
God's going to send to them one of His preachers, preaching the
message of Christ. And He's going to send them to
hear. He's going to cause them to come someplace and sit down
and hear. And God's going to give them
a heart of faith. And they're going to believe. They're called
to Christ through the preaching of the gospel. Now there is no
salvation apart from hearing the gospel. You know, people
say, well, if God elected you, you'll wake up in glory whether
you ever know it or not. No, you won't either. All of
God's elect, they're going to hear the gospel. One way or another,
they're going to hear it. They're going to read it. But
one way or another, they're going to hear the gospel and they're
going to believe. God's going to see to it. And that gives
me such peace. That gives me peace in preaching
the gospel. Because if God's the one calling
you, you're not just going to hear with fleshly ears. I can
reach your fleshly ears, but that's as far as I can reach.
And if I had to talk you into doing something, if the fate of your eternal soul
rested on me doing something, convincing you to do something,
I wouldn't preach. I mean, I just would not preach.
I'd leave it to somebody else, it would be too much. But knowing
God's gonna call out His people through the preaching of the
gospel gives me peace. Because if God's calling you, you'll
hear. Not just with these ears, but
in the heart. And you'll believe, and your heart will burst with
joy. Because you've believed the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's a blessing that God's
given us here. God's given us a place where
the gospel's preached. He's kept the gospel preached
in this town for I don't know how many years now. And that's
God's goodness to his people. This gospel is not preached everywhere,
but it's preached in this day. And we can be so thankful. Let's
never fall into this trap of being just right proud that we've
got the gospel and somebody else doesn't. No, that is not the
way to preach. And that's not the way to hear
the gospel either. gift that God's given us, the
gospels preached here, does not make a believer look down on
somebody else than that. It makes us rejoice. God's given
us the opportunity to hear the gospel preached. Having the gospel
preached here, even though it's not preached somewhere else,
does not make us look down at others. No, it makes us pray
for them. How are you called? Hmm? How did you receive faith in
Christ? It was through the preaching of the gospel. God gives his
people a heart that cares about other people. We care about the
lost. How's God going to call somebody else? The same way he
called you. It's through the preaching of
the gospel. And while that's a great burden that we all how
we pray. I begin my day in the study every
day, every single day, giving thanks. I begin giving thanks
for God's mercy. I begin giving thanks for grace
in Christ, for righteousness through the obedience of Christ,
for cleansing through the blood of Christ. And then I pray, oh,
Lord, would you be pleased to call out your sheep? Would you
save somebody else? Would you? Well, if he's going
to do it, it's the preaching of the gospel. That's how he
calls out his people. That gives us great joy. Six,
we joy because we've obtained glory in the Lord Jesus Christ. He says there at the end of verse
14 to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now
that word obtaining, it means exactly what you think it means.
It means to possess or acquire something that's been purchased.
Well, the glory that Paul is talking about here is the glory
of redemption. the glory of redemption that
Christ purchased. We didn't purchase it. Christ
purchased it with his blood. But God's people possess it.
We possess that thing that's been purchased because Christ
gives it to his people. All the glory belongs to Christ,
but it's ours through union with Christ. Whatever belongs to the
head belongs to the body. God's people are his body. So
whatever belongs to him, the glory that belongs to him belongs
to his people. This is glory that we have obtained. It's the honor and the dignity
of life in Christ that's in God's people right now. There's no
honor and dignity in the life of Adam. The fleshly life of
Adam we received always ends in dishonor. But this glory that
Paul is talking about here is the honor and dignity of the
life of Christ that we have right now. And specifically Paul's
talking about when that glory is perfected in his people in
eternity. At the resurrection, we who believe
are going to be raised in glory. Oh, we're going to be sown in
dishonor, but we're going to be raised. These bodies are going
to be raised in honor, in bodies made just like the body of our
Lord Jesus Christ. And then we're going to meet
him in the air, taken to glory. taken to heaven where we will
share in and bask in His glory forever. What brings your heart
more joy than that? To look forward to that. I said
this last week, heaven's not floating around on a cloud playing
a harp and drinking a cold drink. It's not an eternal vacation.
Our joy in heaven is to be with Christ face to face forever. What can possibly bring you more
joy than that? Seventh, we joy in the Lord because
the Lord will enable his people to stand fast in Christ. Verse 15. Therefore, brethren,
stand fast. You hold the traditions which
you've been taught, whether by word or our epistle. Now, Paul,
we looked at these verses in a Bible class earlier, has been
talking about apostasy, that we'll be rampant in the world
before Christ returns. Apostasy is to turn away from
or to abandon the truth that you once claimed to believe.
Now, if you turn away from it, it's because you only claimed
to believe it. It was just an empty profession. But it's to
turn away, it's to deny what you at one time used to claim
to believe. Well, every believer, is scared
to death of apostasy. Just scared to death. Because
we know this. If the Lord leaves me alone,
I will leave him. I know that. If the Lord leaves
me to my own way, I'll go away from him. So this scares a believer
to death. Well, how do I know that I won't
leave him? How do I know I won't be apostate?
Because he's promised he'll never leave his people. He will never
leave us nor forsake us. So we won't leave him. Now you
all, almost all of you have been taught the gospel for years and
years and years. All your life or nearly as long
as you can remember, however it is, you've been taught the
word. Line upon line, precept upon
precept. And you claim to believe it.
You do. I think every person here would
claim to at least have the head knowledge that all these things
are true. Most of you claim to believe them in your heart. And
it sure looks like you do. But how do I know I'll stand
fast in the truth? Paul tells us you stand fast
in this truth. You stand fast in what you've
been taught. How do I know I'll stand fast in this truth? Well,
first of all, you know you'll stand fast in it, and you won't
depart from Christ because He won't let you. When Paul tells
us here, now stand fast, he's not telling us to establish ourselves
in Christ. No, for the believer, Christ
has established you in Him. That's His work. See there at
the end of verse 17, He says, comfort your hearts and establish
you in every good word and work. Who establishes you in every
good word and work? Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
and God our Father. He's the one that will establish
His people so that you will not leave Him. It's His work to establish
His people in Christ and His work won't fail. So you won't
leave Him and that gives the believer such joy to know He
won't let me leave Him. Second, we know God's elect will
not be apostate. Because God will not allow His
people to be deceived and go off following error. Look back
at Mark chapter 13. God will not allow His people
to be deceived and continue following error. Mark 13 verse 22. Well, look, verse 21. And then
if any man shall say to you, lo, here's Christ, or lo, he's
there, believe him not. For false Christs and false prophets
shall rise and they'll show signs and wonders to seduce, if it
were possible, even the elect. But take ye heed, behold, I foretold
you all these things. I've warned you, I've told you,
and I'll keep you free. Because if it were possible,
they deceived the very elect, But he just says if it were possible.
It's not possible. It's not possible for God's elect
to continue following error. Sooner or later they'll recognize
it and they'll quit following. Thirdly, God's elect we know
will not become apostate. Look at John chapter 10. Because
they won't follow a false shepherd. Christ the good shepherd will
not let them do that. Won't let them follow a false
shepherd. John 10 verse 4, And when he put forth his own
sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for
they know his voice. And a stranger will they not
follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of
strangers. They won't follow the voice.
And what he's talking about there, the voice is a voice that's preaching
something other than Christ alone. He won't do it. God will establish
His people and keep them faithful to Christ because He will always
be faithful to His people. He that's begun a good work in
you will perform it. He'll perfect it. He's not going
to begin the work and then let you go. No. He's begun a good
work in you. He's going to finish it. Look
back a page here at 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. We know God's people
will not become apostate. They won't leave because the
Lord will preserve His people. First Thessalonians 5 verse 23. And the very God of peace sanctify
you wholly. And I pray God your whole spirit
and soul and body be preserved blameless and to the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ. How do you know that will happen?
Faithful is he that calleth you who will also do it. He's faithful
to protect and preserve his people. Establish them in Christ so they
won't leave him. And that gives us joy and confidence. Eighth, we joy because God has
given his people a good hope through grace. Verse 16. Our Lord Jesus Christ himself
and God, even our father, which has loved us and has given us
everlasting consolation and a good hope through grace. That word
hope means expectation or confidence. And a believer has every right
to Confidently expect to receive salvation, to receive this preservation,
this being established in Christ and to receive ultimate glorification.
You have every right to expect that because of the grace of
our God. And if we had to get ourselves
there by our own works, by our own decision, if we had to get
ourselves there, you have God saves a man and says, all right,
I've saved you. Put away your sin. And then He
puts us down to Skeet Addle all the way to glory. You've got
to get there on your own, by your own faithfulness, by your own
strength. Not one person to make it. We have a bad hope. But if
our hope is in God's grace, we've got a good hope. Because God's
grace can never fail. Because He can never fail. We
have a good hope in the grace of God to put away our sin. God's grace Put away the sin
of His people. And even though we are sinners,
don't let that take away your hope. God saves sinners. By His grace, He saves sinners.
Yes, we're sinners. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. Yes, sin has dominion over us. We cannot get away from it. It
doesn't have dominion over us. We can't get away from it. But
what does Scripture say? for sin shall not have dominion
over you. If you're not under the law,
you're under grace. And we get so worried about our
present day. I reckon as people get older,
every generation has always said, oh, it's so much worse than it
was when I was young. Maybe it is, or maybe we just
see things when we're older. We didn't see when we were young.
I don't know. But we worry about this world. I'll join in the
chorus. It does seem to be worse to me
than it was when I was a boy. Religion is so much worse. Apostasy
seems to reign. The spirit of Antichrist. Now
brethren, don't be shaken now. All's not lost. Even at this
present time also. Just like there's always been.
Even at this present time also, there's a remnant. According
to the election of grace. We have a good hope through grace. And this is something our sin
bothers us and we worry, well, can I sin so much, so greatly? Can I fail so often? Can I have
such weak faith that God is going to eventually run out of grace
for me? Look at James chapter four. Let's
see the answer to that. Can my sin be so great I fail
so often, and my faith is so weak, that God will eventually
run out of grace for me. Scripture tells us no. James
4 verse 6. But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth
the proud, but he giveth grace to the humble. God keeps giving
more grace to the humble. And he'll never run out because
God's grace is infinite. And God has been so gracious
to his people. Doesn't God's grace bring you
such joy? And he will always give more
grace out of his never ending supply of grace. And we find
such joy in that, in his grace. Then lastly, we joy because God
will comfort the hearts of his people. Verse 16 in our text. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself
and God even our Father, which hath loved us and given us everlasting
consolation and a good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and
establish you in every good word and work. Now this journey here
below will often scare us half to death. We're going to need
comfort. It's going to be filled with dangers, toils and snares. We will be filled with sorrow
and tears and pain. We're going to need comfort.
And we find joy in this. Our God has promised comfort
for his people. He comforts his people by his
presence. I looked up these words comfort
and consolation. The word comfort means to comfort
by calling near. And consolation means to comfort
by entreating. Here's how God's children are
comforted. Because God calls us to come near to Christ, to
come to Christ. That's our comfort. God's children
are comforted when the Holy Spirit appeals to us. Come to Christ. That's where our comfort is.
Now, why do you refuse to come? All salvation is in Christ. All
the forgiveness of your sins in Christ. All righteousness
is in Christ. Everything you need is in Christ.
Why won't you come? The Spirit says come. Come to
Him. That's where our comfort is.
Now you come to Christ and this is going to bring joy to your
heart. You come to Him. You know what He's promised?
Christ Himself. You know what He promised? He
promised He'll never cast you out. You come to Him needing
mercy and grace. He'll accept you. He'll never
cast you out. That's the joy of acceptance.
Your trials of this life have you just worn out so that you
cannot go on. You just, I can't take another
step. You ever feel that way? You draw
near to the side of the Savior. That's where you're going to
draw comfort from His presence. That's the joy of His presence. Will the flesh still hurt? Yes,
it will. Will your heart be comforted? Yes, it will. In His presence.
Do you worry about the future? That's a weakness of this flesh,
isn't it? The bar of trouble. My grandmother used to always
say, don't bar trouble. Worrying about what's going to
happen, you know, just bar in trouble. We've got enough trouble
today. Do you worry about the future? You draw near to the
Savior. Just get nearer and nearer and
nearer to Him. So all you can see is Him, and
you'll be comforted. Everything in this life looks
a whole lot less frightening when we're looking at Christ.
The nearer you are to Him, the less the things in this life
are going to frighten you. That's the joy of His sovereignty. What's going to happen tomorrow?
I have no idea. But God's just as sovereign tomorrow
as He was today, as He was in 1950, as He was It's time of
creation. That's the joy of God's sovereignty. God's sovereignty, not just doctrine
that we preach, because you men got to know this what differentiates
us from the free willers. No, God's sovereignty is joy
to God's people. The joy of his sovereignty. Like
these brothers and sisters in Thessalonica, do you worry about
the end of the world? All the scary events people tell
you going to happen when the end of the world, do you worry
about the judgment? You just draw near to the Savior. And
you be reminded of this. He's already suffered condemnation
for his people. So you never will. You draw near
to Christ. All the events surrounding the
end of this world will not be frightening, but rather be comforting
if we remember this. It's not what is going to happen
when he comes. It's who's going to appear. And
when he does, we're going to be like him. Now that's enough,
isn't it? Isn't that enough to give you
joy? It's not who, or it's not when, it's not what will happen,
it's who's coming. He's coming. Now that brings
joy to our hearts. Let's bow in prayer. Our Father, we thank you for
this precious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel that
shows us the truth of who you are and who we are. It gives
us such joy, salvation, forgiveness of sins in our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, cause us always to. To
seek to hear this gospel, to worship you, to find joy, the
joy of worship, the joy of praise, the joy of hearing the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ. to hear of Him who thrills our
heart. Father, we pray you bless your
word as it's been preached. Bless it to your glory and bless
it to the comfort and the edification, the joy of the hearts of your
people. Let us take this message with us. Let us take Christ in
our heart with us. As we go back out into the world,
we go back out to the difficulties of of the trials and the walk
of this life, as we go back out to the job tomorrow, the difficulty
of making a living, making ends meet in this world, cause us
to take this joy of our Lord Jesus Christ with us, so that
we're not so taken up with the things of this life, but looking
to Him. Father, cause us to live in faith,
looking to Christ, expecting His return, Until he does return,
give us the faith and the grace to continually serve our Lord,
serve his people, looking for him, looking for his return.
Oh, what a day that'll be. What a day that will be. But
until then, we thank you for the joy of your gospel, the joy
of hearing one more time of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
It's in his precious name we give thanks and ask these blessings.