Turn to 2 Thessalonians chapter
2, and just reading from verse 13. But we are bound to give thanks
all way to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through 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. Therefore, brethren, stand fast
and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether
by word or our epistle. And there I want to stop today.
We're going to take only a few verses because there's so much
in the way of free grace and sovereign truth in these verses
that it would be wrong to pass over them too quickly if it wasn't
essential to do so. And as it isn't essential, we're
just going to pause on these few verses today. Paul's using
this second letter to comfort as well as instruct the Lord's
people at Thessalonica. And he's well aware that they
are living during a period of trouble and persecution. There was violence being enacted
against the believers at Thessalonica. Probably, although not entirely,
exclusively I imagine, probably from Jews and Judaizers and possibly
also from other heathen and idolatrous religions as well. The devil's
not choosy when it comes to who he will employ to trouble the
Lord's people. So the Apostle is aware of the
challenges that this little congregation are encountering and he has explained
how judgment and vengeance will come from the Lord upon the persecutors
of the church and the saints at Thessalonica and indeed all
who do not know God and who do not obey the gospel. However, the apostle wishes to
stress to the saints that although they had this idea that the Lord's
return in judgement and the Lord's return to avenge their troubles
and their persecutions was an imminent thing, that actually
it wasn't as imminent as the Thessalonians had perhaps mistakenly
believed. And the Apostle has been very
clear in this second chapter, particularly of 2 Thessalonians,
to stress to the saints that the Lord's return in judgment
is not imminent. There's a number of things that
must take place first, such as the rise of that man of sin,
a time of falling away from the true faith, a widespread acceptance
and adoption of religious lies, as a result of strong delusions
sent by God as punishment for rejecting the gospel. It's just
an interesting little point there. You know, we wonder sometimes,
don't we, how is it that there are so many sects? How is it
that there are so many false religions? Such crazy ideas. When you look at scripture and
it seems so clear to us, how is it that there's so many wacky
religious groups out there who seem to be able to draw on vast
resources and great numbers of people? And Paul's giving us
the answer that this is the result of strong delusions sent by God
as a judgement for rejecting the Gospel. And we remarked last
week how many faithful men have understood these prophecies that
the apostle has been writing here, concerning the spirit of
Antichrist, John speaks about that as well, to be characteristic
of the Roman Catholic Church, which arose over the centuries
with its wicked works and its false doctrines, although we
would add to that, no doubt, not exclusively. Wherever there
is false doctrine, wherever there is Antichrist, then we see these
things being fulfilled. But I think that Paul was probably
sensitive to the fact that the Thessalonian believers may well
have been a bit discouraged by what Paul was saying here. in
their moment of trouble, in their persecution, they were hoping
that the Lord would come quickly. And here is Paul saying that
actually there's worse still to come. That there's even more
wickedness, more deception, more trouble to come still and a falling
away before the Lord comes back. That the man of sin, that man
of sin hasn't yet fully been revealed and that's all still
to happen. And the Thessalonians may well
have been thinking, is it not bad enough that there's still
got to be worse to come? So the apostle is returning in
these verses before us today to reassure the Thessalonians,
that he and his fellow apostles, his fellow preachers, have seen
the evidence of true faith and the true gospel in the lives
of these believers. Paul has seen evidence of grace
in their lives and he rejoices to see them believing the truth
as it was preached to them when Paul was with them and in their
hearing and as it has been received by his written word, no doubt
the first epistle. And so he tells these Thessalonians
that he has confidence in their state, their blessed condition,
even although they may be feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the troubles,
the trials, and the expectations of more still to come that the
apostle has been alluding to. And what Paul does here in these
verses 13, 14 and 15 that we've read together today is he shows
that there are a number of characteristics that he has discerned in the
lives of these Thessalonians for their encouragement. And
I've just taken them one by one from these verses, and I'm just
going to gently touch upon them as we skip through them, as it
were. And I'm going to suggest that there's seven little headings
that we can take from this. And the first one is that the
Lord's love was with these Thessalonians. Let me just remark, first of
all, a little aside. I have said to you on numerous
occasions that the only justification that we
have for thanking God for a man or a woman's salvation is if
The Lord is the originator and initiating cause of that salvation. And Paul says here explicitly,
we are bound to give thanks always to God for you. I always want
to pause when I read that because If it wasn't that God was the
originator of salvation, otherwise we ought to be praising and celebrating
the good choices of individuals and ultimately a believer's free
will. as being the cause of their salvation. But of course, the apostles never
did that. Why did they not do that? Why
is it that Paul says repeatedly that he is bound, bound he says,
I'm bound to give thanks always to God for these believers. Because he knows that salvation
is of the Lord. He knows that Jesus Christ alone
is the author and finisher of faith. He knows that Christ is
the beginning and end of all covenant blessings for his church
and people. And there can be no praise due,
no thanks given to men and women in the matter of personal salvation. We're bound to give thanks always
to God. for the faith that men and women
have. So let's just think about these
explanations as to why the Thessalonians have no reason to fear their
extended trials or to be discouraged with regard to the possibility
of the coming delusions and deceptions and destruction that is spoken
of by the apostle in the earlier part of the chapter. The first
thing he says is this, he says these Thessalonians are beloved
of the Lord. And this is evidence of particular
love and particular grace because it is the Thessalonians that
are loved. Might they be overtaken by the
strong delusions? Might they succumb to that man
of sin's deceptions? Might they finally be caught
up in the destruction of the wicked one? No, Paul says no,
because unlike these enemies of God, they are beloved of God. And that makes all the difference
in the world. And let me just say that so none
of us are in any doubt, God's love is an everlasting love. The love of God does not change. He does not love one day and
hate another day. If we are beloved of the Lord,
it is because we have always been beloved of the Lord and
we always shall be. So the Apostle Paul was confident
that these believers in Thessalonica were loved, beloved of the Lord. And he goes on to say that not
only are they loved of the Lord, but they're chosen to salvation. Could they be destroyed with
the Antichrist when he is destroyed? No, because unlike him, they
have been chosen to salvation. They are the elect of God. And
election means something. This verse, 13, is in the Bible. It's in the Bible. This verse
means something. It says, Paul says, God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation. God has chosen,
not man. And also it was from the beginning. It isn't contingent or dependent
on anything. in the man, in the creature.
It was from the beginning. And it's election to salvation. God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation. Nothing less. They're chosen
to everlasting life. and it is God's free gift of
salvation according to his grace and his mercy and his sovereign
good pleasure. So Paul says you're loved of
the Lord, you've been chosen by the Lord. He says you've received
sanctification of the Spirit. God's love and God's choice to
save these people had prompted this spiritual work, this work
by the Holy Spirit in the lives of these people. The sanctification
carries several meanings in scripture, but here it's referring to that
internal working of God the Holy Spirit to quicken and regenerate
God's beloved people and God's chosen people. in accordance
with the divine will. And so the Holy Spirit accomplishes
in the experience of the Lord's elect that salvation which God
has promised to effect in them. So we can well understand why
the Apostle says that he's bound to thank God for it. Men and
women can't give themselves the new birth. They must be born
from above. As the Lord told Nicodemus, except
a man be born of water, that is by grace, and of the spirit,
he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the
flesh is flesh. That which is born of the spirit
is spirit. So here is the Holy Spirit sanctifying
these people by implanting this lively work within them. The next thing the Apostle says
is that they have been brought to faith in Christ. It's a wonderful
catalogue that he's setting out here. They have believed the
truth. And that is a feature of all
those who are loved of God, chosen to salvation and quickened by
the Holy Spirit. They come to believe the truth. When the gospel is preached,
when they hear the message of truth, they believe it. And Paul
is simply repeating here in this verse. It's interesting because
this is 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. It's almost an exact quote
of 1 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. So there's an interesting little
comparison. But in that verse he says, for
this cause also thank we God. You see there he's thanking the
Lord again in the first epistle, without ceasing. Because when
ye received the word of God, which ye heard of us, ye received
it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of
God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. And sometimes believers do have
doubts, and sometimes we lack assurance, and sometimes we're
concerned about our own personal salvation. But while we all from time to
time have doubts about ourselves, and our sinful flesh, and our
weaknesses, and our unworthiness before God, we don't doubt the
Lord. We doubt ourselves, but we believe
the Gospel. We have this belief of the truth. And he goes on to say, this is
the believer's gospel call. We are called by God's gospel
and Christ's gospel, because it carries both names. And Paul says, our gospel. And it's the gospel of God, the
gospel of Christ that Paul and his fellow preachers have declared.
And that's what calls men and women to faith in Christ. It's what calls them to experience
the forgiveness of sin, liberty from guilt, and peace with God. It's what teaches them the source
of the righteousness that they have, not in their own works,
but in Christ and all that he has accomplished. And this shows
that there was a reaction and a response to the apostles preaching
in the lives of the Thessalonians. They had a desire after the truth. They had an appetite for the
gospel. They had a hunger and a thirst
for righteousness. And that when that gospel was
preached to them, they discovered that it satisfied their desires. Because the Lord had placed that
desire within them. The sixth point that the Apostle
alludes to here is that these Thessalonians were marked out,
set apart in the Apostle's mind as possessors of divine blessings
and present glory. They were called to faith and
to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
this is surely an encouragement to a people under persecution.
This is surely an encouragement to a people who have been told
by the Apostle that there's still worse to come, there's still
challenges to be faced. Don't expect the Lord to be returning
imminently. There's still more to be encountered
and experienced. But the apostles telling them,
here's the pastor's heart at work, that they are called to
obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. The psalmist speaks of God giving
grace now and glory hereafter. And it's true that we're looking
forward eagerly to the glory that lies ahead, but it's also
true that there's a present glory in being numbered amongst those
who are blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. And
our present glory will lead into that everlasting glory. And that's my seventh and last
point. When that man of sin and all
who follow him are consumed with the spirit of Christ's mouth,
when they're destroyed with the brightness of his coming, we
shall enter into our promised rest and the experience of everlasting
glory. This is the glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ that we shall be dressed and adorned with when
we rise in the resurrection and are changed into Christ's likeness.
What a morning that will be. One of these days the Lord Jesus
Christ is going to come for us. Perhaps it will be in our death,
perhaps it will be in person. Either way, we shall see him
and we shall be like him. These blessings belonged to the
Thessalonians and they belonged to all believers in Christ and
therefore the Apostle encourages them to stand fast against all
the doubts that rise in our flesh, all the trials that beset our
pilgrim way, all the persecutions that afflict our soul. These
traditions that he speaks of are not simply stories but they're
the truth of the gospel, written, the written word of God, the
spoken word of God for the building up of the saints and the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Apostle Paul gave them
to the Thessalonians and in so doing he gave these blessings
to us as well. May they be a reassurance to
us as they were no doubt to those to whom the Apostle first wrote.
Amen.