Turn with me to the second letter
of Paul to the Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. I'm going to quickly read through
this chapter so as I make these comments tonight, these verses
will be fresh on your mind. Now we beseech you, brethren,
by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together
unto him, that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled
neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as that
that day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any
means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling
away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition,
who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God,
or that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple
of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not that
when I was with you I told you these things? And now you know
what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For
the mystery of iniquity doth already work, only he who now
letteth will let until he be taken out of the way. And then
shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with
the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness
of his coming. Even him whose coming is after
the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying and
with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because
they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be
saved. And for this cause God shall
send them strong delusions, that they should believe a lie, that
they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but have
pleasure in unrighteousness. But we are bound to give thanks
always 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 the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast
and hold the traditions which you've been taught, whether by
word or by our epistle. Now, our Lord Jesus Christ himself
and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given
us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort
your hearts and establish you in every good work and work. I've been looking at these verses
of scripture and I refer to this chapter quite a bit when I preach
because it's so clear in its illustrations. And today I was
talking with a young man down in Harrodsburg, one of the fellows
I work with, and he wanted to know what all I did. It was kind
of show and tell about the time I took off. So I was going over
these things He found out that I'd been down to Arkansas to
preach. And he said, I didn't know you
were a preacher. And I'd hoped to keep it that way. Anyway, he said, what flavor are you? And I said, I suppose I'm of
the flavor of the Baptist. Oh, he said, free will? I said,
no. Southern Baptist? No. Then you're a hard shell. I said,
no. Well, what are you? And I said, I suppose to keep
from standing here for the next three or four hours, I suppose
I could say I'm a Calvinist. Well, he said, I don't know what
that is. That's what this chapter is all about right here. Most of the people outside these
little assemblies, like here in Danville, up there in Ashland,
down there in Arkansas, down in Louisiana, Texas, scattered
throughout the United States, scattered throughout the world,
some a little bigger than others, but all little in comparison
with those congregations that we see out here in the world. Most of the people I meet, people I work with, people I
do business with, most of my relatives, and all of my neighbors,
nearly everyone I know believes that any man anywhere any time
and under any condition can be saved by a simple act of the
will. That's what they believe. One
of these days, preacher, I'm going to get ready, and when
I do, I'll get saved. And I hear some of them talking
at work and what they call witnessing And I can remember the time when
I got saved. That's how they start out their
conversations. Most of the people I know believe
that man has a free will, a free will to choose his eternal destiny. Most everyone I know believe
that accepting Jesus as your personal Savior constitutes true
faith, true salvation. They pray the sinner's prayer,
repeat after me, and they say the words, and they repeat the
words, and will you accept Jesus as your personal Savior? I do.
You're saved. after which one fellow told me,
then God gives you the new birth. Most everyone I know believes
that the death of Christ is a universal offering that secures nothing
but makes salvation possible for all men. Most everybody I
know believes that it is the will of God that no man perish
in his sins. And most of what I hear preached
on TV and over the radio is consistent with those ideas. They preach that God has to,
I couldn't tell you the times in my life that I've heard the
preacher step out from behind the pulpit at the end of the
message and said, God has done all he can do. It's all up to
you. But there's nothing in the Word
of God, nothing I've read from cover to cover, and I've studied
this book for years and years, and there's nothing between these
two covers to support those notions. No foundation, no basis, just
what seems to be so. Well, tonight I want us to look
at the first 14 verses of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 on this subject obtaining
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the other day we went to
visit my son who's stationed up in Washington, D.C. And if
any of you's ever been there you know that the traffic is
a real phenomenal. And it wasn't too bad going in. I got there a little late in
the evening and it was I got kind of busy on the way in, but
you know, we got off and when we got into downtown, it wasn't
bad at all. We went right on, drove right
up to my son's apartment. But on the way back out, I had
this little computer printout and I really like those better
than a map because when you're on these big eight lane wide
highways and everybody going 75 miles an hour, you don't have
a long time to cross all the way over to this side or all
the way back over to this side to get on or off. And this thing
will tell you what the road's gonna do before you get to it.
So she was reading these directions, and I was just, and we was doing
pretty good. I mean, it was bumper to bumper,
and I told her, I said, you might just wanna close your eyes in
between, you know? But anyway, we were going out
of town, and I was watching the highways and watching the little
signs and things, and all of a sudden, we were on what they
call the 395, the beltway going out. And all of a sudden, the
number on the sign changed to 270. And I just panicked. I mean, just for a second, I
just thought, oh, no, I've missed my turn. I'm going to have to
try to turn around in the inbound traffic. That was morning rush
hour. And that inbound traffic was
at a dead standstill for 35 miles going out of Washington, DC.
And then I realized that what had happened was I didn't get
on the wrong road. Another road came in and merged
together with this road. And they just put up a sign signifying
this other road that merged. That's what 2 Thessalonians chapter
2 is all about. Now evidently the church at Thessalonica
somehow had been confused and alarmed because somebody had
told them that the coming of the Lord was going to be immediate. It was going to be today. It was going to be tomorrow,
and they were upset because these people heard the gospel in power. Look back here in 1 Thessalonians.
Let me show you something back here. Most of you are probably
familiar with this scripture, In verse 4 of 1 Thessalonians,
chapter 1, he said, Knowing, brethren beloved, your election
of God. There was no doubt in this apostle's
mind that these people had a true salvation and true saving faith,
had a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. They knew God. He said,
I know your election of God, for our gospel came not unto
you in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in
much assurance. But somebody had come along and
told them, and them with a knowledge of who God is, and who Christ
is, and had convinced them, had alarmed them, that the coming
of the Lord was going to be immediate. And they were upset. They were
alarmed. And so Paul writes to him, and
he begins to talk to him, and this is what religion does. You
see, religion has no understanding. They had no perception. They
had no knowledge, especially of the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Else they wouldn't sing songs
like, Me and Jesus Got a Good Thing Going. Or talk about the
man upstairs. Or just say, well, God told me,
God told you. He said, if I was hungry, I wouldn't
tell you. I'm God. This generation has
a familiarity with their God because they had no understanding,
no perception of His glory. He's just a concept. He's a gray-haired
old granddaddy and Jesus, his son, kind of comes to us and
comes to him and back and forth. Now you think I'm telling you
a tale, but you listen to the way they talk. He said, keep your foot when
you enter into the house of the Lord. You better watch what you
say and watch what you do. You better take care with your
actions, because he said, you're here on the earth. He said, I'm
in the heavens. I'm God. Let your words be few. And to get results, they come
up with some of the most off-the-wall things. There's no basis for
it. They don't really need a basis. The Scripture tells me that no
man has ever seen God. No man. God never spoke to a
man audibly. Nobody knows me, just Him and
Him to whom the Lord will reveal Him. And yet they talk like They make
things up. You know, the Lord told me to
build this statue, Rex Humbard said, a 400 foot high or whatever
it was, statue. The Lord told me to go out here
and buy a $7 million vacation home on the beach and all this
type of stuff. And they make things up. to stir
up the people because they have an end in view that they want
to fulfill, whether it's numbers or money or whatever it is, excitement,
zeal, whatever it is that spurs them on, whatever their motive
is, they come up with these off-the-wall things. And this is what was
taking place in this church. Now maybe that man was convinced
of it. He might have got back there in the wheels of Ezekiel
or in the all the prophecies of Daniel, and I used to read
a man, I believe his name was H.A. Ironsides. He was published
by the Southern Baptists. He was their big old-time writer,
you know, and I started reading his books, and he had a book
this thick on the Antichrist. And I'd read that thing, and
I'd read his references, and I thought, what in the, how did
he get that out of that? And I'd read these, well, that's
what was going on here. They just come in and started
talking about the Lord's coming back. He's coming back tomorrow
morning at 1030 or whatever it was. But whoever it was, was
kind of persuasive. And some of them are. Some of
them are brilliant in their speaking and brilliant in their education
and their ability to speak. And they just capture that crowd.
And you watch them on TV and that crowd just hanging on every
word they say. And he's not saying anything. I think that's what was going
on. And Paul said, let's back up
a little bit. And he said, let me tell you
something. He wrote them in this letter
to assure them by the word of God that his coming was a ways
off, a ways off in the future. And he says there in verse one,
we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ and by our gathering together unto him, by your hope in those
things, that you be not soon shaken in mind or troubled, neither
by the Spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that
the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you. That's what was going on. They're
being deceived. That's what goes on in religion.
They deceive men. These men I talk to at work,
they're deceived. Why do you believe? Well, because
that's what it teaches. Where does it say that? Well,
I don't know. But our preacher, he has extensive schooling in
the Greek. I take particular pleasure over
there in the Corinthians where Paul talks about the foolishness
of men and identifies the whole thing under the heading of Greeks. Greeks, the Greeks seek after
wisdom. Don't let anybody deceive you
by any means for that day shall not come except there come a
falling away first Now watch this, because this is a confusing
chapter. But it's simple if you just,
if you can erase out of your head all that history of nonsense
that men have talked about, it's a very revealing chapter.
And he said, except there come a falling away first, verse 3,
and that man of sin be revealed. the son of perdition. You see, this falling away had
nothing to do with them. Paul said he knew their election
of God. The elect of God don't fall away.
Now that's the truth. They don't fall away. It had
nothing to do with true believers of any age. Believers are not
those who fall away. These all died in faith. Job said, the righteous shall
hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger
and stronger. Now, he may not always hold his
tongue, he may not always hold his temper,
and he may not always hold his tempo, but he'll hold his way. This falling away has to do with
a people who would fill up the earth. They would literally fill
up the earth with professions of faith. In the days of Paul,
there wasn't a whole lot of people out there who had established
false religion. There was the legalistic Jews,
the Judaizers, who had practiced this for who knows how many hundreds
of years. But as far as going out there,
and there'd be a Nazarene church on this corner, and a Baptist
church on this corner, and a Catholic church on this corner, and a
Methodist church on this, that wasn't here yet. It wasn't there yet. But that's
what he's talking about. There's going to come a falling
away. It had nothing to do with them. This falling away is talking
about a religion that professes Christ, but it's falling away. They're falling away in doctrine,
they're falling away in spirit, and they're falling away in attitude
and conduct. And what's going on is this.
Here's why God permits it to go on. This is the purpose in
it. That that man of sin be revealed. The son of perdition. Well, preacher,
you're talking about the Antichrist. Yep, that's who I'm talking about.
The Antichrist. You're talking about that wicked
woman. Yes, sir. That's what I'm talking about.
This passage here is talking about the son of perdition. Absolutely
correct. But who is he? Or what is he? This falling away has to do with
ungodly men, unbelievers, people, he says in verse 10. that perish,
or who are perishing, people who received not the love of
the truth, that they might be saved. And what this Antichrist
is, is declared in verse 11. It's those to whom God shall
send strong delusion, that they all might believe a lie, and
that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but
had pleasure in unrighteousness. The son of perdition is the old
man of sin. It's that old nature of Adam. And like as the son of God was
revealed in his true character, his character of righteousness
and holiness and justice, even so that man of sin, he's going
to be brought out into the light and exposed for what he is. And
where does he do this? Religion. The fallen nature of Adam dwells
in every man and every woman on this earth will be revealed
in its true character. And what is that character? Verse
4, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called
God or that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the
temple of God, showing himself that he is God. You can't violate
the will of man. Why? because he thinks he's God. You can't bind up his will, why
not? Because he thinks he's God. He
sits in the temple of God saying that I am God. I set the destiny. I make the choices. I exercise
the will and then everything else has to fall into its place. Sounds like God to me. that man of sin be revealed.
He must be brought into the light, be manifest in his true character,
and then be judged by him alone who has the authority to judge
and the power to judge. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
2. I can show you better. Both of
these chapters, Ephesians chapter 2 and 2 Thessalonians chapter
2, they kind of run in parallel a little bit. But here I can
show you those two roads I was talking about. He says in Ephesians chapter
2 verse 1, and you have be quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sins. Now brethren, let this be established
up front. Before you go any further into
this chapter, let this be established. Man is dead, D-E-A-D, dead in
trespasses and sins. He's not sick. He's not on his
last leg. He's not going down, you know,
and got the third finger up. He's dead. He's dead. One of the best pictures
of the sinner's condition in the New Testament is Lazarus
in the grave. Beautiful picture of man's condition. And our Lord said, they come
and told him that he was sick. And then somebody said that he
died, and our Lord said, well, he's asleep. And they said, well,
if he's sleeping, he's OK. Now, let me tell you something.
It's one thing for the Lord of glory, who can speak in creation
being, and who can call that man out of the tomb to say he's
asleep. He can say, my elect who are
right now dead in trespasses and sin, are just asleep. But
it's another thing for me and you. And so he told them plainly,
he's dead. Boy, he'd hit bottom end. He's
dead. What's he gonna do? Well, we
follow him and say, take the stone away. Don't do that. Don't do that. How come? You roll that stone back, he's
been in there four days. The smell's gonna be nauseating.
It is. It is. Dead. Without any ability. He's not seeking. He's not praying. He's not understanding. He's
not walking. He's not looking. He has no ability. He's dead. The only thing he
can do is stink. That's all he can do. He can
stink. You had the Quicken who were
dead. Now watch this. Ephesians chapter
2 verse 2, wherein in time past, before I called you out of that
tomb, before I gave you life and understanding, before I created in you a new
heart, wherein in times past you walked according to the course
of this world, According to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in
the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh, and
were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But first,
you begin this walk on the course of this world. That's where you
start. You come forth from the womb,
speaking life. We start out on that road. It's
the course of this world. Up here on the sign it says world,
and you're going down the highway. It's the way of greed. It's the
way of lust. It's the way of desire and covetousness. It's the way of pleasure and
fame and renown and reputation. It is to get all you can get
before somebody else gets it. That's the world. That's the
highway. It's to always desire what you cannot have and always
hope for what's just out of your reach. This world. It's the greener grass on the
other side. Plenty of pasture over here,
but man, look at that grass. The course of this world is a
fine family, a great job, financial independence. It's to have the
house of your dreams, the car you always wanted, a bigger TV,
I just wish I had a big master bedroom. I just wish I had a
house on the lake. It's a retirement with ease.
It's perfect health. That's the course of this world.
And this is the course of this world. Alcohol, drugs, adultery,
fornication, robbery, murder, extortion, and so on. Now listen
to me. We're traveling down this road,
the course of this world, and something happens. We get a little ache or a pain,
and we go in there, and, Doc, I just, I've got this pain, you
know, it's way down deep. And he comes out with his head
down, and he said, I'm afraid you have cancer. Well, I better start thinking about
eternity. And so you go down to the church
and they're waiting on you like a vulture. Probably already met you at the
hospital. Talk you into a little profession
of faith and you go on your way. Or maybe a broken marriage. Or maybe it's a broken home.
Or maybe you got fired from your job. Or whatever it is, something
comes along. Something comes along in the
providence of God it comes along. And it causes you to go down
to that church and you sit there because this is the place you've
been told since you were just a little boy that you needed
to be. You need to go down there. to get together with them. You
need to join this church. You need to turn your life around.
You need to straighten things up. You need to turn over a new
leaf. And so you do. And all of a sudden
you're on another road. But it's the same road. It's the same road. We're traveling
down the Broadway with the lights and the glory and the pleasure
and all those things and all of a sudden All of a sudden,
we're on a different road. Got a different sign. It's got a different title. And
so you feel sure. I've turned things around. Now I'm on this road. You're
still on the same road. It's just another road just merged
in. That's what it is. You're still going the same direction.
Maybe you went out and bought some pictures of Jesus and hung
them up on your wall. Bought that cute little necklace,
you know, with that little silver cross that you always wanted
and you got that on and went out and bought you some pictures
and hung them up around the house and you're still on the same
rope. Still on the same rope. That's
what's being prophesied here in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2,
the second rope. There's a great falling away
in that man of sin, that man to whom the spirit of this world
knows how to please. He knows human nature better
than anybody but God and he plays us like a cheap fiddle. He plays you and you don't even
know you're being played. You're just as sincere and just
as confident. I meet guys down there every
day. They're just as confident that they're walking with God
as anybody in this church. He knows the tune that strikes
the chord of the fallen heart. And He works through these men
that we call soul winners. It's worldly religion. It's free
will works religion. It's a self-righteous, law-keeping,
hard-working, hospital-visiting, orphanage-supporting religion.
That's what it is. Fallen away from the Christ of
Scripture and fallen away from the salvation of mercy, ignorant
altogether of the free grace of God, fallen away from the
faith of God's elect, fallen away from imputed righteousness
and substitutionary atonement. fallen away from the preaching
of the gospel and true worship and true prayer and true repentance. And that man of sin has drawn
out into the light. He's exposed in all his true
wants and desires, exposed in all his true emotions and motives,
exposed in all of his hostility toward God and his love of self
and love of sin. And he won't have He will not
have the gospel of God's free grace. He won't have it. And God sends him the spirit
of this world and makes him satisfied. Satisfied. He's satisfied. Some
of them are on that road of this world. He's satisfied with his
job, and he's satisfied with his home, satisfied in his success
and satisfied in his retirement and his family and his children
and all those things. He doesn't have room for God. And those who went down the other
road when it merged in, they got over here and was looking
at them signs. He causes him to be satisfied.
Satisfied in that old profession of faith he made 35 years ago.
Has no desire to be there except he knows if he's not there then
he's lost his assurance. No reason he's there. If there
wasn't hell, he wouldn't be there at all. And not only did God send him
strong delusion, but he says in verse 12 that they all might
be damned. That they all might be damned
who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But Paul said, we're bound to
give thanks to God. And I'm going to tell you something.
When God saves a man, that preacher who preached to him and that
man to whom he preached both thank God. They thank God. Paul said, I'm bound. Bound by
what? Bound by the gift of His grace.
Bound by eternal love. Bound by the love of the Father
that drew Him. By the providence of Christ that
led Him. I'm bound, he said, always to
God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. Because God hath
from the beginning Before the road ever started, before the
course of this world was ever laid out or the other road merged
in, God had from the beginning chosen you. But that's not what he said.
He said he chose you to salvation. That's what he said. Salvation. How come we ain't swallowed up
with this deceit? How come we ain't falling away?
There's a great falling away. You'd have to be isolated on
an island somewhere to not know that. I've already forgotten the name
of the little town that, I didn't think I'd ever forget it, down
there in Western Kentucky. I had to turn in that town. They
had a little post office about, I guess, be about half of this
auditorium was a little post office for that town. There was
four churches in that town. Population, 150 maybe. How come we ain't swallowed up
with it? I was in religion, how come I
wasn't satisfied with it? Fella came, I cried and bawled
and pleaded and knelt and did everything they told me to do.
The guy came back when it was all over and he said, uh, everything
all right? I said, uh-uh. No, it ain't. No. No, it ain't all right. How come we haven't been given
over to a strong delusion? Thank God. Thank God. Thank God we're not falling away.
Thank God we learned the truth. He said, blessed are your ears. And I'm talking to myself. I
wonder sometimes if I really know what that means. Blessed
are your eyes, Bob. They see. They see. Why? Because God has from the
beginning chosen you to salvation. Not the possibility of it. Salvation
is not something from the perspective of God that's uncertain. The Lord didn't choose to make
salvation something and then began to do it and then rested
all of his hope in that someday, somehow, someplace, somebody
might be saved. What kind of God do you got? He chose a people
unto salvation. They were set apart for it in
covenant union before the world began. God purposed to save a
particular people. He purposed to do it. He engaged
all His perfections to accomplish it. He appointed His Son as mediator
for the surety of that covenant, to make it sure. He made provisions
for us. come to die on his deathbed,
and he didn't talk about that old profession of faith he made,
he couldn't find anything in his life to give him assurance
at the grave. I know as well as I know my name.
Brethren, when I get in trouble, I don't look back on that profession
of faith and look back on my life and say, well, now, I studied
hard. Mm-mm. Well, I went to church every
time the door was open. I won't give you no peace. I'll tell you what'll get you
assurance when you're in trouble. God. His faithfulness. David come to die and he said,
although my be not so with my house, yet hath thou made with
me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and sure. He said, this is all my salvation
right here. I lay it all right here, and
that's what faith's all about. God brings you to Christ, and
he brings you there in such a way that you set everything at his
feet. Your life and your job and your
home and your family and your wife and all your expectations,
especially your children, and you lay them down at his feet.
They're at his feet anyway. But he makes you to be willing. That's where you put them. Oh, and then listen to this. He said, we're bound to give
thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. Beloved of the Lord. Loved without
limit. Loved without persuasion. Love
without any possibility of that love ever ceasing. Who's going
to separate you from the love of Christ? Tribulation. Read
Romans 8. Things present, things to come,
life, death. Not any other creature is going
to separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord. Be loved of the Lord. Love freely
by His grace. Loved in spite of what we were
and what we are, loved freely by His grace. How indescribably
wonderful to be given by the Spirit of God that sweet assurance
of love. I tell you, all the things that
I ever did in my life, I was sitting over there on Tod's Road
one night and Henry got up and preached on the prodigal son.
Know how my heart pleaded to God for a word, a word of peace. I knew what I was. As a rebel,
he exposed it. That's what God does. He exposes
what you are. And he preached on that prodigal
son. Oh, I could see myself with that boy. nibbling in the mud
on the husk with the hogs. I could see it. I could see it
as clear as if I was down there on my knees. But something happened in that
young man's heart, and he said, I'm going to go back home. It's
better there. The servants got it better there
than I got it out here. I'll just go back there. Back
there, there's words of kindness. Back there, there's Care and
concern. I don't ever remember even the
servants going out with the hogs. I'll just go back there. And the father looked. He'd been looking. How come he
looked? Because he knew that boy was
coming. That's right. If he didn't know he was coming,
how come he had a cap put on? How come he had a ring waiting
for him? Huh? God has from the beginning chosen
you unto salvation. Why? Because you're beloved. And when the time came, the father
ran out. Put his arms around that boy
and just smothered him in kisses. He had a nice little speech prepared.
Never got to say a word. Go get the calf and kill it.
Go get the ring. Go get the robe. Beloved of the Lord. Freely by
his grace. Now listen to me. It's an indescribable
experience when the Lord confirms His covenant in you and He makes
you to know something of sovereign love. Listen to this. This is in 1
John chapter 4. He said, Let's love one another, for love is of God. And everyone
who knows the meaning of truth, everyone who's come to the knowledge
of the doctrines of grace, everyone that loves us, Everyone that loveth is born
of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not, he don't
know God, for God is love. Now watch this, 2 Thessalonians
2, I'm trying to hurry. God has from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. These two things always happen
in conjunction with one another. Always. You're not given life
and then 14 years later come to a knowledge of the truth.
And when people start telling you that, well, I can remember,
you know, they always happen in conjunction with one another.
Always. Two things are always present
in the salvation of a sinner. And it's through the means determined
of God to be used. That's what he's talking about
here. God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through. Ain't going to happen any other
way. Through. You mean I can't work it up?
That's exactly what I'm saying. Oh, you're going to try. Yeah,
you're gonna try. You may even make a profession.
You may sit right here on this bench for 25 years. I sat in
one for 10 and heard the gospel preached every time. But I'm telling you, when he
sends the Spirit of God along with that gospel, That's it. Sanctification of
the Spirit and belief in the truth. Listen to this in Ephesians
1 chapter 11 it says in whom? That is in Christ. We have obtained
an inheritance. Obtained an inheritance. Yep.
Back yonder in eternity. God made for you an inheritance.
Gave it to his son. And Paul said, we've obtained
it being predestinated. That's a scary word, isn't it?
According to the purpose of him who worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. Unconditional election, sovereign
predestination, that we should be to the praise of his glory
who first trusted in Christ. in whom ye also trusted after
ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in
whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise." And that's how it comes, in just that word. The sanctification of the Spirit
that sets us apart for divine use and makes us meet, he said,
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life. And this
sanctification of the Spirit, it's a new birth, it's a new
creation, it's a new mind, a new heart, a new man. And this sanctification
that I'm talking about, totally different from what this world
talks about. Totally different. You're going
this way and all of a sudden you're going this way. It's a complete turnaround. Totally
opposite. I told that fella today or I
was going to tell him, I didn't tell him, but I'm just going
to tell him whatever it is you believe, I believe the direct
opposite. You'd be right on the button. If you believe man chooses
God, I believe the opposite. And you can pretty much just
go down the line, everything they believe, I believe just
the opposite. It's a new birth, a new creation.
It's not some unknown power in you ruling over and reforming
the old man. It's a new man, totally new man. The old man's still there. He's
still there, but he's been exposed. He's been exposed. It's Christ
in you by hope of glory. It's a new life, new feelings,
new emotions, new affections, new desires. And it's this life,
this life of Christ, This new man that can hear, that can believe. It's this new creation in him
that gives him the ability to reason and understand. All of
a sudden, he can understand. I could never understand the
scriptures. I'm talking about from the time
I was six years old. I sat right there on the front
queue next to my daddy and heard that man preach. And when I was
a teenager, I didn't understand one thing that man ever said.
And I tried to read the Bible they'd encourage us to read and
I'd read and read over here That fella told me today. He said
you'd like our preacher. He never gets out of the four
Gospels He's now once in a great while he'll go to the book of
Acts, but then he comes right back I Said I bet he never gets
out of John chapter 3 He knew exactly what I say How shall they call on Him in
whom they have not heard? How shall they believe in Him
of whom they have not heard? How shall they hear without a
preacher? You can't call on an unrevealed God. You can't hear
without a preacher. And He can't preach. How in the
world is somebody like myself in Danville, Kentucky, with limited
capabilities and limited thought and limited knowledge, how in
the world Am I gonna come in contact with the elect of God?
You see what he's sayin' there in Romans 10? Here's a revival
goin' on down in Jerusalem, and God takes Philip. And he says, go out there in
the wilderness. In the wilderness? Out there in the wilderness.
Hmm. Ain't much out there, Lord. Think
of where I sent you. This fella, he done been down
that road of religion. He done been down the road of
this world. He's riding back reading the scriptures and God
crosses his path. How'd Phillip get out there?
He was sent. I'm gonna tell you something.
I had respect for preachers. There was a day when I respected
them. I had a sense of reverence for them. I could appreciate
men like Henry Mahan and and their study, he's devoted his
life, he's devoted his family, he's sacrificed to do those things,
and he goes out and he just literally gives his health and everything
he's got into the ministry of Christ the same way our pastor
does here. I could appreciate that. I can
appreciate their study and their sacrifice and their faithfulness
and all them things, but one day God sent me a preacher. And he spoke to me. Oh, there
was a lot of folks there that night. There was probably 150
people over at Todd's that night. Wasn't none of them weeping.
God spoke to me. And I tell you, I understood
the next thing this verse said. How beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace. sanctification of the spirit
and belief of the truth. Verse 14, 2 Thessalonians 2,
whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now I'm going to tell you something,
a Jesus that you can just walk down the aisle chewing your bubble
gum and smiling and kind of embarrassed because you're down there or
Jesus that some preacher has to coach you with 29 verses of
Just As I Am and tell you a sad story about a dog and all that
kind of... There's no glory in it! But when you begin to understand
what this great falling away and the deceit of the heart and
the deceit of the God of this world and all that's going on
in it When you begin to understand something about your falling
condition and what sin's done to you and the hostility of the
mind toward God, it don't want to read the book. It don't want
to receive doctrine. It don't want to agree to anything.
It just wants to argue. Fight. Hostility toward God. When you begin to understand
some of them things, then you begin to see something of the
glory of Christ. You begin to remember that pit
from which you were dug. You think that young man that
came back and the father fell on his neck, you think he ever
forgot to hug him? I bet you he could tell you how
the mud smelled. He remembered. He said, I called
you by our gospel to obtain the glory. And that's what's going
to happen when the gospel comes in power. You're going to see
his glory. You're going to see that it's
not so much what you do with Him, that's what you thought
it was all about. It's what He's going to do with
you. He's not in your hand, you're in His. This gospel calls you, this sanctification
of the Spirit calls you to obtain the glory, to see it, to see
it. And when it comes in power, and
when it comes in the Holy Ghost, and when it comes in much assurance,
we're filled with a sense of His glory. And the visions of that poor
defeated reformer, they fade in the light of that glory. The
hymn writer said, the things of earth grow strangely dim.
Isn't that something? Man, I can remember when We first got married just having
a couch. That was something, boy. If I
could just get a couch, you know, if I could just buy a TV, if
I could just, isn't it something? The things of this world, how
strange it is, he said, they just grow dim. Why? In the light of his glory and
grace. God be pleased. give us an understanding
of what this chapter is teaching. Show us that pit, that awful
pit, and the deception and the complexity of the religion of
this world, and how utterly impossible it is for a man to find his way
through that maze and seek the Lord Jesus Christ. And to show
his glory, he allows it to be, and right out of the midst He
chooses this one, and He chooses that one, and He creates love
in the heart, and He turns that man around, and He makes him
to see His glory. Thank God.