back in 2 Thessalonians chapter
2, against the backdrop of the verses 13 through 17, they are
set in stark contrast, drastic we could say, I don't think that
would be too strong a word, contrast against the apostasy that Paul
speaks of in verses 1 through 12. But then he comes to verse 13, after declaring the deception
of the world by apostasy, a turning away from truth, turning to lies,
anything but the truth. I imagine when the reader of
this letter that Paul wrote to this church at Thessalonica,
his second letter to them, When the reader came to this part
of it, verse 13, there must have been, I dare say there very well
could have been, a shout of thankfulness, joyful thankfulness on the behalf
of those who read it, or heard it read, rather, verse 13. And this is the reason why. But,
but, we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren. Beloved of the Lord. Loved with
an everlasting love. Love that had no beginning. No beginning. No starting place. Love that shall likewise never
end. Beloved of God. Because God had
from the beginning chosen you. You. of all people, God chose
you to salvation. The complete, glorious, eternal
salvation that's in Christ Jesus. Through these means, sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth, not without means, God
that ordained the end, ordained the means to that end. Paul goes
on and tells us of that in verse 14, whereunto he called you by
our gospel. How shall they hear without a
preacher? To the obtaining of the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ. But now, again verse 13, but
God, but his marvelous grace. Here you have another example.
of what Paul stated in Romans 5. He said, where sin abounded
in verse 20, but where sin abounded, grace doth much more abound. as we just now sang. That's what
that verse states. Grace that is greater than all
of our sin. Sin abounded, indeed it did,
but when grace comes, grace doth much more abound. That reminds
me, what we read here in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, and what Paul wrote
in Romans 5, reminds me of what happened in Noah's time. Let
me read it to you in Genesis chapter 6. Verse 5 of that chapter,
this was Noah's day, Noah's generation. It sounds very much like the
one we live in now. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Can anybody deny that that doesn't
sound much like our day? And he repented, the Lord, verse
6, that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at
his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have
created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and
the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air, for it repenteth
me that I have made them. It doesn't stop there. It doesn't
stop there, just as Paul didn't stop in his epistle. But Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah found grace in the
eyes of the Lord. That is to say, God was gracious
to Noah. God bestowed grace upon Noah
or he would have never had it. Grace comes from God. He's the
God of all grace. Grace can't be had from a preacher,
a priest, a church, anything man can do. Grace is a gift of
God. And Noah had it because God gave
it to him. Neither would these that Paul
wrote to, the believers at Thessalonica. They had grace because God gave
them grace. Except for this, but God. And neither would we. Neither
would we. No sinner, no sinner since the
fall of our father Adam that ever experiences God's grace
ever has a reason to boast. It's only grace and there's no
denying, there's no denying that grace does make us to differ. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15,
it's true, he carried this burden with him until he went home to
be with his Lord. He often spoke in his writings,
in his testimony before other people about the fact that he
persecuted the Church of God, that he wasted it. And in 1 Corinthians
15 he said for that reason, It's not proper, I'm not fit to be
an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. I persecuted
it. But then he went on to say this,
speaking of God's grace bestowed upon him, he said, but by the
grace of God, I am what I am. I'm not what I used to be. We
don't deny that when Jesus Christ died upon the cross, he accomplished
something. We don't deny that His death
was effectual. He then and there, by Himself,
obtained eternal redemption for us. We dare not deny that. That
would be to deny the grace that's in Christ Jesus. We dare not
deny what we plainly read in Scripture, that God Almighty,
before the world began, chose a people, a multitude of people,
to salvation and gave them to His Son, whom became surety for. On the same hand, we dare not
deny that the experience of grace in time, those that God calls
out of darkness likewise, like election, like redemption, also
is effectual. And that's what Paul says. He
says, it's true, I once was a persecutor, I once wasted Christ's church,
but now, by the grace of God, I'm a changed man. I'm a new
creation in Christ Jesus. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. Only grace can do that. Only
grace can give a man or a woman a new heart. Only grace can give
them a new nature. Only by the grace of God can
they be born again into the image of Christ. In our handbook on
page 219, it speaks of that amazing grace. Top Lady wrote three of
the verses, three of the five there. Philip Doddridge wrote
the other two. But two of those that Top Lady
wrote says, "'Twas grace that wrote my name in God's eternal
book." Yes, it was. "'Twas grace that gave me to
the Lamb who all my sorrows took. "'Twas grace that taught my heart
to pray and made my eyes overflow. "'Tis grace that's kept me to
this day and will not let me go." This grace that's kept me
to this day and will not let me go. In verse 16 here in 2
Thessalonians chapter 2, Paul speaks of two great blessings. Two great blessings. Everlasting
consolation and a good hope. Everlasting consolation and a
good hope. And he rests both of those blessings
on the same foundation. What gives a sinner an everlasting
consolation before God? What gives a sinner a good hope
before the Lord God? Grace. Consolation and a good
hope through grace. Nothing else can. Everlasting
consolation. Don't you like that? Not short
term. Not short-lived, but everlasting. A consolation that reaches back
to God the Father, who had loved us, as Paul says in verse 16. It reaches all the way back to
Him. God the Father, but Paul doesn't
stop there, does he? And our Lord Jesus Christ as
well. Don't you like that? Now, our
Lord. Ours? Ours? The Lord Jesus Christ? He's mine. He's mine. Christ, all of His merit, all
of His value, all of His completeness is mine. All that He is, is mine. Absolutely. That's the teaching
of Scripture. And Paul says, He's ours. Our
Lord Jesus Christ, but that's not all. And God, even our Father,
Christ and God the Father are both ours. We belong to them
and they belong to us. Turn if you will to John chapter
17, a verse here in our Lord's high priestly prayer. An amazing
verse of scripture. Previously, in his prayer, he
mentioned the glory which he had with the Father before the
world began. But then in verse 22, look what
he says. Isn't this amazing? He said,
and the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them. John 17, verse 22. The glory
which thou, God the Father, gavest me, I have given them, that they
may be one, even as we are one. Look at the support, the reason
of a believing sinner having a strong consolation and it must
be. It has to be. There can be no
other way except this God's grace at the bottom. Search out the
bottom at the very foundation and you find this God's grace. What else could it be? What else
could it be? What else can give a sinner such
strong consolation, such comfort before the Holy God but this? Nothing else can do it. Religion
tries, but they really don't have it. They may pretend to
have it, but they don't. A sinner that has a real consolation,
a real comfort in his heart and soul before the Lord God is the
product, not of his own doing, Not his own works, oh no, that
would be a false hope. But it's the product of God's
grace. Turn if you will to Hebrews chapter
6. Paul tells us again here the
reason for it. This strong consolation for a
believing sinner. Hebrews chapter 6. The two immutable
things that Paul makes mention of in verse 18 of Hebrews 6,
those two immutable things are God's decree and his oath. Those are two immutable, unchanging
things. Beginning at verse 17, Paul writes,
wherein God, willing more abundantly, willing more abundantly to show
unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel,
confirmed it by an oath. that by two immutable things,
in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong
consolation, who had fled for refuge and lay hold upon the
hope set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul. both sure and steadfast, and
which entereth into that within the veil." And then he tells
us what he's speaking of, who he's speaking of, I should say.
Whether the forerunner is for us entered Even Jesus made a
high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. That's our anchor. Our consolation,
our assurance before God is not found in us, but in Christ. This anchor, the Lord Jesus Christ,
will weather every storm. Those who are fastened to this
anchor shall never be washed away. Or we may be tossed about. I shouldn't say we may, we will
be tossed about. The storms will assail us like
it does all mankind. But we'll never be destroyed. Never be destroyed. You know
why? You know why? It has nothing
to do with us. Our strength is altogether weakness. Oh no, it's because we're anchored
to Christ Jesus, the solid rock of our foundation, and upon that
solid rock, the gates of hell shall never prevail against. Turn back, if you will, to Luke
chapter 2. Let's look at one more that speaks
of this strong consolation that believers have through the Lord
Jesus Christ. A very familiar passage in Luke
chapter 2. There's an old man living in
Jerusalem named Simeon. And God's revealed to that man,
that believing man, that he won't die until he sees the Lord's
Christ, or he sees the Messiah. In verse 25 of Luke 2 we read,
and behold there was a man in Jerusalem, there is always a
remnant, always a remnant according to the election of grace. There
is right now, there is today. How do you know that? How can
I be so sure of that? Because that's the only reason
the world still exists. God still has an elect. He's
still calling out the Bride of Christ. And this world will stand,
it'll be preserved until the Great Shepherd calls out His
last sheep that the Father gave Him, that He redeemed, that He
intercedes for. calls that last one to himself
then time shall be no more. He'll be done with this world
and he'll lay it aside. A remnant according to the election
of grace, Simeon was one of those. And behold there was a man in
Jerusalem whose name was Simeon and the same man was just and
devout waiting for the consolation of Israel. The consolation of
Israel. That's the Messiah, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And the Holy Ghost was upon him.
And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should
not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Oh, again
I think of Paul's words, we are bound to give thanks. Aren't
you thankful? Aren't you thankful that God
was pleased to preserve you in your days of rebellion and darkness,
that he didn't allow you to see death until you, like Simeon,
had seen the Lord's Christ. Aren't you thankful that he preserved
and kept those who should be heirs of salvation? Verse 27,
and he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents
brought in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of
the law, then took he him up in his arms and blessed God. Well, of course they did. And
said, Lord, now let us thou, thy servant, depart in peace. Depart in peace, because he's
seen the Prince of Peace. According to thy word, for mine
eyes have seen thy salvation. Every believer, brother Loyal,
can say the same thing. My eyes have seen Thy salvation. By faith I've seen the Christ. By faith I've embraced Him. Therefore, for that reason alone,
I'm ready to die. I can leave this world in peace. Why? I have a strong consolation. Strong reason, a sure and steadfast
anchor for my soul, that I'll stand before God Almighty, accepted
and to be loved. Let me die in peace. Only Christ
can give a man that, can he not? And then back in 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2, here's the second thing that the Apostle mentions.
Not only do we have a strong consolation, but he says we have a good hope.
A good hope. Not just a hope. Just about everybody
you know and everybody I know has a hope. Ask them. Ask them. I hope to go to heaven when I
die because I've been a pretty good person. I've been a good
father, a good husband, a good provider. I've been a good neighbor. I've paid my bills. I've just
tried to live a good moral life. That's my hope. Tell them that
before God is filthy, rise and watch them bristle. Watch them
bristle. Just about everybody has the
hope. I've had people tell me I have a hope because I believe
God is too good to send a man to hell. That's their hope. That's
their hope. Oh no, Paul speaks of not that. Not that. He speaks of a good
hope. A good hope. What is that? What's a good hope? A hope of
acceptance before God Almighty. Think about that. Think about
that. If God Almighty should do what
He does to you and I and say, tonight, tonight, Louis Kinks,
tonight, you won't see another sunrise. God Almighty is going
to call you into His presence tonight. What's your hope? What's a good hope? before God
Almighty to be accepted by Him. What could do that? What could
give any sinner a good hope? But grace. That's what it's founded
on. Just like the consolation is
because of grace, the good hope before God is because of this
same unmerited grace. That's what the word means, doesn't
it? The most common definition of grace. And it's accurate.
Unmerited favor of God. Unmerited. It doesn't come any
other way. It's not given because of any
foreseen merit in us, or it's not withheld because of any undeserved
in us. Neither one. But it's given freely,
without any cause in us. Now, I'll tell you what, that's
good news. That's good news. Because you're
listening to a man that has in himself no merit, No hope in
himself whatsoever, but the hope that God gives me in Jesus Christ
is a good hope. That hope that comes to us as
a matter of not of works, but of grace. Free, sovereign, reigning
grace. That's good news. The older I
get, the more I realize my utter need of grace. When God first
saved me, I ignorantly thought that as I grew, as time went
by, that I would get beyond certain things, outgrow certain things,
you know, that I would reach another plateau. Man was I wrong. Was I wrong? No. The older I
get, the more I realize not less of a need of grace, but more
of a need of grace. I read in a bulletin here just
in the last day or so, a brief but a very good article by our
dear brother Scott Richardson, who's now in glory. But he said
this, or rather he wrote this, my resume I am a sinner saved
by the grace of God, trusting only in the Lord Jesus Christ. My standing in Christ, my objective
that I may know Him, my hope to be like Him. That's good,
isn't it? Only grace can reconcile me to
God. Nothing else can. Nothing else
can. Only grace can pardon my transgressions
and forgive my sin and justify me and declare me righteous before
God. Only the grace of God in Christ
can do those miraculous, blessed things. Grace gives the sinner
a good hope of all that. Nothing else can. Otherwise,
it's no more grace. Oh, what a comfort it is to know
that it's not by works of righteousness which we have done. Aren't you
glad that that's not so? Well, you'd go home tonight if
you had any sense. The only people that rest comfortably
that's trusting their own righteousness are people who don't know any
better. They're deceived. Oh, but for someone that does,
that has some clue, just some inkling as to who God is and
what they are, And if all they had to trust upon is their own
works of rightness, while they would lay down and toss and turn
all night, they could never have peace. They could never have
peace. Oh, but to know that God, God Himself, made Christ to be
sin for us, He who knew no sin, that we might be made the very
righteousness of God in Him. Oh, you can wrap yourself up
in that. Can't you? Can't you? Or you can lie down. You can lie down with the sweet
realization. Not a fable. Not a fairy tale. No, not a delusion. The sweet
realization. The reality that we're His. And we're His forever. And nothing. Oh, I like that. And I like what
Paul said. He challenged anything, anyone,
in time or time to come to separate them from the love of God in
Christ Jesus. And Paul said, it can't be done.
It can't be done. I'm persuaded that it can't be
done. What was Paul looking to? The
Lord Jesus Christ himself and the love of God, the everlasting
love of God the Father for his own. Nothing else can give the
believer such a hope as that except grace. We can rest right
there, can't we? If by grace I'm saved and not
by works, I can rest. A false hope built upon shifting
sand, the shifting sand of free will and self-righteousness,
the result of that is, as our Lord taught in Matthew 7, that
great will be the fall of that house. when the storm comes,
those who have built upon their own works. But those resting
on Christ, those trusting Him for everything, find it upon
this rock, as He Himself said, hear Him, Upon this rock, he
said, I'll build my church. Church. All believers. All believers. Every saved sinner, that's his
church. Upon this rock, I'll build my church. And the gates
of hell shall not. Shall not. The gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. If by the grace of God I am what
I am, I can truly rest easy. Can I not? My hope is built on
nothing less. This is what makes it a good
hope. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. What a comfortable, secure foundation. The rest are eternal, immortal
souls on. Grace gives a good hope of these
things. Turn, if you will, to Luke chapter
10. Luke chapter 10. Look what we
read here. Our Lord speaks to 70 disciples
other than those 12 that he had sent out to preach and to teach
and to heal and cast out devils and they come back just rejoicing. And our Lord in verse 20 of Luke
10 says, notwithstanding in this rejoice not Now, if you're a
believer, if you've experienced the sweet grace of God, the redemption,
forgiveness of sins in Christ, these words are to you. Take
them as your own. Christ speaks to you, notwithstanding
in this rejoice, not that the spirits are subject unto you,
but rather, rather, our Lord gives us a greater reason to
rejoice, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Your names are written in heaven.
The Lamb of God says we have a heavenly reservation made for
us by the hand of God himself that can't be erased. A heavenly
reservation. And then in Philippians chapter
1, he speaks of a divine preparation. A prepared place, yes, heaven. Our Lord said, I go to prepare
a place for you. But for a prepared people. He
says, he that's begun a good work in you will perform it till
the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that good news? Isn't that
strong consolation and good hope? My granddaughter called me the
other day, Laura. And she said, Papa, I've got
some good news, and I've got some bad news. I said, what is
it? She said, well, had to get a
tooth pulled. And they numbed it, and it took
a while, and that dentist pulled, and it hurt. And it was just
hard. I said, oh, honey, I'm sorry.
Did you cry? She said, well, yes, I cried a little bit. That's
bad news, she said. I said, what's the good news?
She said, the tooth fairy will be coming tonight. Oh, the good news, the good news
of the salvation of a sinner by the grace of God is all good
news. It's all good news. There's no
bad news about it. He that begun the good work in
us, if he should stop, oh, that's bad news. But he doesn't stop. He'll complete it, he'll continue
it until the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the grace
of God to his people. It's all good news. And our Lord
spoke of a certain destination, didn't he? In John 14, before
he left his disciples, Before he went to the garden, identifying
himself as that one they came looking for, I am he. Before that, he told them, I
go to prepare a place for you, for you, my soul, something more
for us. All He does, He does for us.
I prepare a place for you. Turn, if you will, to Ephesians
chapter 5. Let's look at this one as well.
It speaks here of a glorious presentation. Now, God the Father
presented the bride to Christ before the world began. I wasn't
there when that took place. Oh, but concerning what we read
here in Ephesians 5, oh, by His grace, I will be there. Verse 25 of Ephesians 5, Husbands,
love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave
Himself for it, not part of Himself, or some of Himself, but all of
Himself for it. that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word, and what shall be
the outcome of that glorious work of grace? What will it produce? Verse 27 tells us, that he might
present it, that is his church, his wife, his bride, that he
might present it to himself a glorious church, not having a spot, or
a wrinkle, or any such thing, no evidence of sin whatsoever,
but that it should be holy and without blemish." Oh, what a
glorious presentation! And the fulfillment, the fulfillment
of none of those things, that heavenly reservation, that preparation,
that destination, or this glorious presentation by our blessed Redeemer,
none of it depends upon me for its fulfillment. Not one of them. And aren't you glad that that's
so? None of it, none of it depends upon me for its success one iota. How does that make you feel?
Pharisees hear that and say, oh my, that destroys my foundation. Because my foundation is built
on, as that one confessed with his own mouth that our Lord spoke
of in his parable, his whole foundation is built upon himself,
what he did, I. I thank you. I'm not like other
men. I give and I pray and I do all
these things. But there stands the public and
he doesn't have anything to brag about. He's a beggar. He's a
beggar. He's not a bragger. He's a beggar. And you remember what our Lord
said. He's going home in the sight of God justified, not guilty. Oh yes. That's the foundation
that only the grace of God can give that gives a good hope and
strong consolation rest upon the foundation of God's unchanging
grace. The child of God rejoices in
the fact that his salvation is all of grace, all of it, always,
all the time. From that time, when God reached
down his hand, reached down and picked us up out of the depths. That's where we were. We were
in the depths. The depths of sin, darkness,
and depravity. And God helped us to never forget
that's where we would still be had He not come and reached down
His mighty hand for us. From the depths of sin to the
time we entered glory, We rejoice to know that grace, all the works
shall crown, and we're going to know it better then than we
can ever know now, but grace all the works shall crown through
everlasting days. It lays in heaven the topmost
stone and it well deserves the praise. I want to read a few
verses in closing from Micah the prophet Micah chapter 7 as we read these verses together
Micah chapter 7 verses 18 through 20 the closing up the chapter Micah seems to stand in astonishment
before the Lord God and what so astonishes the prophet Micah
What's he standing in such awe and wonder of? God's creation? Well, that is indeed a wonder,
a marvel, when I consider the heavens, the work of thy hands.
But that's not what he speaks of. He's speaking of God's mercy
and grace. And Micah said, there's not a
wonder to compare to that. Nothing compares to that. Verse 18, he says, Who is a God
likened to thee that partnereth iniquity? Who is a God likened to thee
that partnereth iniquity? Oh my! That comes to sinners
and says, Thy sins which are many are all forgiven thee, Go
in peace. Go in peace. Who is a God like
that? That partners iniquity and passes
by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage. He retaineth
not his anger forever because he delighteth in mercy. He delighteth in mercy. We're
all evidence of that, aren't we? He will turn again. He will
have compassion upon us. He will subdue our iniquities.
He will subdue our iniquities, and thou wilt cast all their
sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to
Jacob and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our
fathers from the days of old. Augustus, top lady, he made an
entry in his diary on New Year's Eve. 1767. But he wrote this. Upon review
of the past year, I desire to confess that my unfruitfulness
has been exceeding great. I don't have to wait to the last
of the year to confess that. My unfruitfulness has been exceeding
great and my sins have been still greater. And God's mercies have
been greater than both. God's mercies have been greater
than both. Now the Lord Jesus Christ Himself
and God, even our Father, which have loved us and have given
us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort
your hearts. That's my prayer. That's my prayer. That God will comfort your hearts
and establish you in every good word and work for his glory. Amen. God bless you.