Always a joy to be with you. It's been some time, but not
too long, but it's good to be back with you. I've been blessed
this morning. Brother Lindsey Redd, Psalms
103, that brought back memories. That's the first sermon I ever
tried to preach right there. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, to
forget not His benefits. That was a long time ago. That
was in the early 70s, about 72. And I say amen to the Sunday school
lesson, amen to the singing a while ago. It's just a blessing to
be here. Turn with me in your Bibles to
over in 2 Thessalonians. I want to sort of pick out a
phrase, but look at a passage here. May the Lord just bless
the reading of this word and bless the remarks this morning. My wife texts me this morning
and says, how are you feeling? I'm praying for you today. And
I appreciated that. And I give her a call back after
that. Here in 2 Thessalonians, in chapter
number 2, in verse number 13, I want to speak to you about
brother beloved of the Lord. Beloved. You know, the Lord said, this is
my beloved son, didn't He? And here Paul writes to the people
of God, and he says to them, brethren, beloved. And now the
term is to the sisters and the brethren, as we look at it, the
sisters beloved or brethren beloved. And first of all, he says in
this verse, we are bound to give thanks always to God for you. And he uses this phrase again
in verse number three of the first chapter. And if you turn
back to 1 Thessalonians, it's used again. He says, we're bound
to thank God always for you. Now, this is important, as I
see it, when the apostle looks at the children of God, he thanks
God, doesn't he? He always thanks God for God's
children. He thanks God for what he's done
in their lives. It's God that is saved. It's
God that has made new creatures in Christ. It's God. And when
He sees a child of God, He thinks Him. And if you are a child of
God, we should thank Him, shouldn't we? And so He gives thanks in
the right place. And as I see you this morning,
I thank the Lord for what He's done in your hearts, in your
lives. Brother, Beloved of the Lord. And he goes on, and there's a
background to this text, and you can see that it was Pearlish
Times, and it's that way now, and as the Bible was written,
and that day, as Paul writes, it's Pearlish Times, and I'm
sure that you recognize and know today that it's Pearlish Times. It's evil times. It's a day of
strong delusion. It's a day of that of persecution
and tribulation. Now we've talked about and looked
at history. Go back in history and we see
the persecution of Christians and it sort of subsided for some
time, but it's always been here, but we see it springing up again,
don't we? And notice what he writes here
in verse 10, 11, and 12. And with all deceitfulness of
unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive
not the love of the truth, you better love God's truth. It goes on and it says that they
might be saved, for this cause God shall send a strong delusion. Now I've heard people say, well,
this is down the road, this is years to come. I don't believe
that. I believe it's now. Now, he sent
a strong delusion. It goes on, and it says that
they should believe a lie, that they might be damned who believe
not the truth, and had pleasure in unrighteousness. So it was
a day that a lie was believed. And that's certainly a day that
we live in. A lie is believed. It's a day that they had pleasure
in unrighteousness. And that's certainly our day,
isn't it? Men have pleasure in unrighteousness. But Paul writes
and he says it's different with you. Notice how he changes this
thing in verse number 13 here. But we are bound to give thanks
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God has
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 glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. He writes and says to you, see
how different it is, you are beloved of the Lord. God's chosen you to salvation. He's set you apart by His Spirit. You believe the truth. You love
the truth. You've been called by the gospel
to the obtaining of glory. Now, as we pointed out, this
is earliest times. But God has a people. Today, He has a people. He has
those that are His. There are those that still follow
the Lamb. They're those that look to the
Lamb. They're those that believe the truth. They're still beloved
of the Lord and they find joy and peace in Him. God's children
have trials and tribulation and troubles. They still have the
old Adam, and he's to be contended with. There's that Adam nature
of sin, but in Christ Jesus, The Bible says we're without
spot or wrinkle. We have a vital union with Christ
as a vine and the branches. And it tells us here they're
blessed. I preached last week on blessed are they. And here's
her standing in grace and they're called brethren, beloved of the
Lord. What a special word. And I just... I hope this morning that as we
look at this scripture, that this just stands out, Beloved. Brethren, Beloved. Sisters, Beloved
of the Lord. How did it speak and what a title. As I hear the Lord, God say from
heaven, this is my Beloved Son. Paul says here. It also says
we're accepted in the Beloved. Here's the Beloved accepted in
the Beloved. And we know in that of the natural sense, that of
brothers, they have the same parents and there's to be a unity
and the kinship and brothers in Christ, they partake of the
new nature, they've been begotten, there's the new birth, they have
divine life, they've been bestowed upon them, they're born from
above, and that's important today. that our birth comes from above.
Most people teach they're born themselves, don't they? But we're born from above. God
births us. The Holy Spirit births us into
His family. And it's from the same source.
We're members of the mystical body of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We're connected together. The Bible tells us all of these
things, how that we're connected. You know, brothers, they have
a common experience in the flesh. They have the same parents. They
live in the same house. They partake of the same food,
the same table, have the same privileges. And brothers in the
Lord Jesus Christ, they have common experiences also. We've been emptied. Empty-handed we came. Isn't it? Isn't that how we came to Christ?
Empty-handed. We've been brought to Him. We've
been led to Christ Jesus. We believe upon Him and trust
in Him and rely upon Him. And our salvation's in Him as
the atonement sacrifice. We walk as pilgrims in this world. And that's just what we are,
just pilgrims. We're just passing through. This morning, we'd recognize
that fact, aren't we? We're just passing through this
world. There's a time allotted. I've often thought about why
are we here at this particular moment? And again, it's God's
providence, isn't it, that we're here at this particular moment?
I don't know why you weren't born a thousand years before,
a thousand years later, but you're here at this particular time.
And it's all God's providence. And we look to Him. We're pilgrims. We eat at the
same table. Christ is our food, isn't He?
He's the bread of life. We feed upon Him. We're led by
the same Spirit. And He always leads us according
to the Word. Now, that's important. A lot of people
say, well, the Holy Spirit led me. It's a fact. He always leads.
It better be according to the Word, isn't it? He leads one. That's how He leads them, according
to the Word of God. And we're led by Him. There's
love. Love for one another and the
family of God. And we say, Our Father. I stopped and I thought about
just saying, Our Father. What a blessing that is. That
we can come together this morning and we can say, Our Father. Having
God as our Father. The One that created this universe
that has all power in heaven and in earth. The one that is love, the one
that is mercy, the one that is grace. And to say He's our Father,
and to know that we're in His heart, to know that we're in
His purpose, and to know that we're in His love. Beloved, here's His children,
and they share in this love. I love to talk about God's love
because it doesn't vary. It doesn't change. It's altogether
different from that of man's. It's an everlasting love. It's
from the beginning. And He didn't just love you when
you turned to Him. That wasn't the beginning of
His love. You see, His love at Calvary's cross You see, the
Lord died, but that wasn't the beginning of His love. And you
see this redemption, but that wasn't the beginning of it. The
Scripture says He was a Lamb slain before the foundation of
the world. As He came and laid down His
life, then we see the merits is His. He loved from eternity
that of His people. I have loved you with an everlasting
love. and loving kindness I have drawn
you unto Myself." He saves you from sin's curse. The guilt and power of sin saves you from it. It also states
that sin shall not have dominion over you now. And what He has
done is priceless. is exclusive. Have you ever thought
about just how priceless this blessing is of salvation? The salvation of grace. It goes
on, it says, He's chosen you to salvation. What a prominent
doctrine in the Scripture. And yet this dislike has passed
by. One Sunday morning, I was having
to turn television on, I guess it was on a Sunday morning, but
I just remembered the occasion, and one of the prominent preachers
was preaching, and he was reading the Ephesians, the first chapter.
And I just thought to myself, now how is he going to handle
that first chapter there, some of these verses there about chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world? Well, how he handled
it, he just read them and went right on. He was going to say something
about a lot of verses, but when he got to that, he just read
it and went right on. And yet people get angry at this,
but again, it's a prominent doctrine of the Scripture. It goes all
the way through the Scripture. If you love your Bible, you receive
it. If you love God's Word, you receive it. And this is something
God's done, and it's nothing that's outside of Himself. He's
done this. He chose you because He chose
you. That's all I can say about it. He loves you because He loves
you. Nothing in the creature is not
something that's foreseen in you or some merit in you, because
we're all guilty sinners before God. Justice says to us, And I'll tell you this, if we're
left to ourselves, I know what it is. We're doomed and damned
if we're left to ourselves. And it's not a foresight of faith.
That's the popular teaching today, but if you take the Scripture
and you read it, God gives faith. Doesn't it? Isn't it a precious
gift from God? And I've preached a couple times
in some different churches in the last six months, and I don't
know what the occasion was, but I've talked about faith and the
preciousness of faith, and it's a precious gift of God. And people
just look at me like, what is he saying? But that's the Scripture. You say, by faith through grace,
it's the gift of God, isn't it? And he says, you've obtained,
not attained, but obtained, Peter does, obtained, like precious
faith. And that's God's gift. What a gift that He gives. And it goes on and tells us from
the beginning, He's chosen. Notice where it says He's chosen
you. It's a personal thing. And he goes on, he says, through
the sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Now
you can't leave this out, can you? It all joins together, doesn't
it? It has to all be put together.
Those that he chooses, it's through the sanctification of the Spirit,
the center part of the Spirit, and belief of the truth. There's
two religions in this world. And one is built upon that of
election, and the other is built upon free will. And as far as
I am concerned, you can just lump all free will-ism together. One submits to the Scripture,
the other denies the Scripture. But what does election do? It
shuts us up to Christ, to Him only. On the other hand, When you ignore this, you're
resting on something, you're looking to something else other
than Christ. People are told to rest in their
profession. I tell you today, you better
rest in Christ. You better be Christ. And how
often people, they lean upon anything but Christ Jesus and
besides Him. See, all of this is taken away
when we look at election. We are saved as sinners, for
Christ is murdered through faith, irrespectable of works, although
the Scripture says that this conversion, this saving experience,
produces out of works, doesn't it? It tells you to be zealous
of good works. We're shut up to Christ in faith.
And it's humbling. Do you ever stop to think, why is
God so gracious to me? Why has He dealt with me so graciously? Why has He come to me in His
mercy? Why did He touch my life? Was I not going my own way? Was
I not satisfied to go my way? Didn't He have to stop you? Didn't
He have to bring conviction? And it's humbling. We thank Him. We look to Him. We praise Him. On the other hand, free willism
makes men self-righteous, proud. It's all about self. They become
Pharisees. They've made themselves differ. They've made themselves differ. The Bible tells us that he's
the one that made us different. They look down at others and
they say, well, they're not very strict like I am. They're less religious. Very good, very good this morning
lesson, Brother Lindsey, on religion. And they say, well, that's what
Pharisees did. I'm not like this other man.
But again, it's humbling that we are nothing but sinners of
a fallen race. And God alone has made us different. It's God that has been merciful
to us as sinners. And we must consent to this doctrine. that the Scripture would speak
to us. Say, God, you're right, I'm wrong. It's always better
to side with God, side with Him. Then he goes on and says, belief
of the truth. God saves with the means of the
gospel by the Holy Spirit. Those that are born again receive
Christ, don't they? Isn't that what the Scripture
says over in the book of John? As many as received Him, what
happened? They were born. That's how one knows that they're
born, by receiving the Lord Jesus Christ, don't you? If you've
received Him, you've been born. If you're born again, you receive
Him. And there's this precious gift of faith. Faith comes by
hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. It says here, the Gospel is called
you by our Gospel. By it, the very eternal purposes
of God is fulfilled. You heard the Gospel several
times. Most likely you did, but one
day you're like I am. One day you heard, didn't you? It came and it was preached,
but one day you really heard. I like the verse over in Ephesians
chapter 1 and verse 13. It says, in whom you also trusted
after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. You trusted when you heard the
word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. That's how it
came to you one day. It was of your salvation, my salvation. It got further than just the
ears, the outward. It got to the heart. You know,
the Bible says the Lord opened Lydia's heart She was there at
the meeting, and the Bible says the Lord opened her heart, and
I'm convinced that's the way the Lord works. He opens hearts. There's the effectual calling,
and this proves our election. Peter wrote and says, make your
calling and election sure. And he put calling there for
election, didn't he? Make your calling and election
sure. And you and me, calling comes first, doesn't it? It comes
first. And that's the gracious evidence
of God's eternal love. And the results, it tells us
here, of obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
beloved, these brethren beloved, they're going to share in Christ's
glory. Now I assume you're on the 18th
chapter of the book of John that you went through the 17th chapter.
Am I right? Am I not right? He went through
the 17th chapter of John of the Lord's Prayer. You remember the
verse, those that thou hast given me be with me where I am to share
in my glory. So these beloved ones, they should
be the happiest people on earth. There's an eternal God, and He
loves you. He set His heart upon you, and
He's proved His love. What's calvary? The cross, when Christ died,
doesn't that prove the very love of God? It's Christ's love, God's love.
And this ought to bring delight this morning. Beloved of the
eternal God. Other things should take back
seat. As you grow older, a lot of things
you think was important So important is not as important as they used
to be. It's not that way. And a lot of things are just,
go ahead and take back seat. This will take the front seat
right here. The eternal love of God. And here's the eternal
God, our Father. Well, you don't want to offend
the one that loves you with an everlasting love. You're not going to live, you're
not going to live as the world lives? This world ignores God? The psalmist
said they say they know God, and that's not really the atheist
point there, they're just saying, know God for me, I'm going to
live my life like I want to live it. When you are the beloved of the
Lord, Your brother's beloved and sister's beloved. You go
serve Him. You want to praise Him. You look
to Him. You worship Him. Because you're
His peculiar people. Now the word peculiar has changed. It's different in the King James
and how we use it today. The word in the King James means
God's surrounded you. You're His. It's like He's surrounded you. You're
His people. The Bible says you're not your
own. Now that's a great blessing.
You young people that are saved when you just come to that conclusion
that you're not your own. You've been bought. for the price. You're His peculiar people surrounded. Brethren, beloved, sisters, beloved,
we'd be zealous of good works. The Bible tells us to set our
affections on things above. We live in the world, but our home is heavenly. This is just temporary. And I guess the older you get,
the more you realize that it is temporary. But that heavenly
is for eternity. For eternity. We tell of His grace, tell of
His love. We use opportunities to bring
Him glory. We love Him. who greatly loved
us. I would this morning as we look
at this text, brethren, beloved of the Lord, that you grasp it,
that you hold on to it, and I'm sure that it'll help and comfort
you as you go through this world. We need help. We need comfort. as we go through this world.
And this is something that will help you. Brethren, beloved,
there are struggles in this life. We fight the fight of faith. We have an out of nature. There's
a lot of ups and downs. But Paul wrote this and he said,
we are more than conquerors. Through Him that loved us. That fits it. I don't know what
it is. Your situation might be different
from my situation. But He says we're more than conquerors. Through Him that loved us. Beloved. The word means dearly
loved. And that's how the Lord said
from heaven of His Only begotten Son, this is my beloved Son. And here Paul uses that word
beloved. Another point I'd like to make,
if you're the beloved of the Lord, don't worry about how the
world treats you. Don't worry about that. This
is the highest honor of all. The highest honor that you could
have, as Paul would write, and he says, dearly beloved, use
it this morning for that of joy. I've thought about God's love,
and I've always appreciated my wife's love, my family's love,
a church member's love and all of that, but where would you
be if it weren't for God's love? Where would you be if it weren't
for His love? Use this title for joy in our
hearts. Beloved of the Lord. Dearly loved
of the Lord. Use it to praise Him. Aren't you glad he didn't pass
you by? Aren't you glad one day he spoke
to your heart? Aren't you glad one day you heard
a calling that says, come sinner, come unto me! Come unto me! Aren't you glad one day he says, live? Live? Use it to praise Him. Use it in service to Him. To serve Him. I belong to Him. He gave Christ. He gave Him for
me. He hung upon Calvary's cross. Christ dying in my stead. Use it to serve Him while we
live in this world. Use it to worship Him. What are we going to do for eternity? Praise and worship, isn't it?
I've heard these people talk about All the watermelons up
there are this big and the grapes are like grapefruits. I don't
know what they're talking about. The Bible says that we're going
to be with Christ. He's what heaven is. And we're going to worship Him.
Worship the Lamb that was slain. Worship Him. Isn't it good to
start with praise and worship here as we go along? It is. So here's some thoughts. Take
them. Brethren, beloved. Beloved of
the Lord. Dearly loved. I have this order. Just help
us in our lives. Comfort us. And give us that of peace. and
joy as we go along. But Lord bless this passage of scripture to
your heart. We're bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because of what
he's done for us. Thank you. May the Lord bless
you. Let's look to Him in prayer.
Our Father, thank You for Your Word. Thank You for these people. Thank You for the work that You've
done in their lives. We are thankful for the desire
that You've put in them to be here this morning. And Lord,
for bringing us all together in Your providence today. And
may, Lord, we just stop and ponder these words Brethren, Beloved
of the Lord, what a great honor it is. Lord, may we just set our things
aside and see how that they are not important, but see how great
this is and the importance of it. Bless these people who are
here today. Bless this church. We pray in
Christ's name. For His sake, we give Him the
glory. Amen.