Now if you have your Bibles open
to the book of 2 Thessalonians, I'd like to read a couple of
verses here to begin this chapter. Now we beseech you brethren.
Paul is writing to those that he calls brethren. Now that means
that they are his brothers in Christ. That they're his brothers
through a living union and relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. They're
his brethren, his spiritual brethren. And he says, I beseech you, brethren,
by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We do believe his coming,
and Paul believed it. He believed his return was imminent
in his day. He believed, he looked upon the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ as something that could happen
even in his lifetime. And he says, by our gathering
together unto him, and there will be a glorious gathering
some day of all the saints in Christ Jesus at home with their
Lord, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, he writes to a specific
end, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled neither
by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, meaning as
by a forged letter. Someone forged a letter and said
that the Apostle Paul said such and such and so and so. But he
said, I don't want you to be troubled, don't want you shaken
in mind or troubled, neither by spirit nor by word nor by
letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand or that
is something that going to occur tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. Paul says there's some things
going on in the world and these things must come to pass. And as these things unfold, the
day of the Lord will become much nearer. But he says not now. Not now. Not just today or tomorrow. He says 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 is as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that
he is God. Remember ye not that when I was
yet 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. Now there are three frequent
questions that are asked. that I think that we need to
think just a little bit about at the opening this morning of
our message. Somebody has asked, do you think
that there has ever been a time when open rebellion and wickedness
has prevailed as it does today? Now that's a good question. Has
there ever been a time when things were as bad as far as open wickedness
and rebellion against God and against the truth. as it is today? Well, I would be inclined to
answer no to that question. I certainly believe this is a
very difficult and trying time, and I believe that wickedness
and sin is running rampant, and there's no question that this
nation of ours is ripening for judgment. Another question is,
do you think there has ever been a time when so little truth was
being preached in the churches as it is in this day. And I thought
about that some, and I think I would answer to that, no, I
don't know of a time, and I've been in the way of the Lord now
over 50 years, and I do not know of a time when it seemed to me
that the churches of our day are as bankrupt as they can be. And I do think that the answer
to this question would be no, because do you not think that
this is so, that this is probably as bad as it's ever been? As
far as the churches are concerned, they're bankrupt and they're
not able to deliver a message that's saving any longer, the
true Christ. is not preached. The great doctrines
of the Bible, the truth of God's absolute sovereign grace will
not be preached in the churches. The truth about the Redeemer,
the Lord Jesus Christ, is so lacking in our day. And then
there's another question, and that question is, do you not
think that this is a fulfillment of the prophecy that says that
there will come a famine in the last days, not a famine of bread
and of water, but of the Word of the Lord. as Amos 8 and 11
says, and that men will go to and fro from the north to the
east looking for a word from the Lord, and they will not be
able to find it. There will not be a word from
the Lord. So I believe that this is an indication of the fulfillment
of this promise, that we have so little truth being preached,
so much wickedness and sin in the world. We're inclined to
say, as we said, no to the first two because we believe that things
are in the condition that we described. And yes to the third,
certainly. Now, we know that religion is
so contrary to scripture today that you could go to about any
place this morning in this town and listen to what they have
to say. And if you got a clear message of the gospel, it would
be a rarity, a rarity. rather than something that you
might listen to and hear every Lord's Day. It is obnoxious to
God and to anyone that has an understanding at all of the Word
of God, what you're hearing today. And we got where we are by what
we're hearing, and we need to understand Now, Paul wrote to
the Church of the Thessalonians 2,000 years ago. This letter
is 2,000 years old. And he said to them, here in
verse 7, he said, in his day, in the day in which he wrote
this letter, that the mystery of iniquity doth already work. Back then, in the pagan world,
Paul said the mystery of iniquity was at work. Now I believe if
we're going to have an understanding that is going to keep our minds
from being shaken and our hearts being disturbed and troubled
by a spirit or by the word that we're hearing in our day and
time, we must understand something about what's going on in this
world and who is in control of what's going on. And so I'd like
to spend just a little bit of time talking to you this morning
about this mystery of iniquity. And I trust that the Lord might
give us some help and prepare our hearts that we might be able
to stand unmoved and unshaken in our souls in this day with
all that's going on around us. Now the apostles said here that
in the next verse after verse 7. Well no, let's back up. Let's talk about verse 7 a little
bit. He says, For the mystery of iniquity doth already work. Now it's working, the mystery. Now what about this mystery?
Only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of
the way. Only he who now restraineth. You might write that in the on
the side of your Bible, that word there, letteth, should be
restraineth. Only he who now restraineth will
restrain or hinder until he be taken out of the way. The mystery
of iniquity. Iniquity abounds, the love of
many. waxes cold. Sin and depravity
evident everywhere you look in this world. And Paul says this
is a mystery how that this iniquity doth already work. And as he
explains it here, the impression I get from this verse and that
Paul leaves us with here is that what takes place, he that is
doing the restraining and he that is doing the hindering It's
what he allows to take place that take place, and he restrains
or hinders the rest. Now does this teach that God
is in control of what's going on, even the mystery of iniquity?
Well to me it does. I believe that he that restraineth
is the Spirit of God. It is the Spirit of God in the
world. And that Spirit of God will be
in the world hindering the iniquity that's in the world until God
is pleased to take him aside or to take him out and remove
him from this world. And there's coming a day when
God will do that, when he will remove his spirit from the world.
But can God control sin? Is God's soul in control? Does
his sovereignty cover the iniquity that's going on over the world
today? Now then, for proof of that,
I'd like to illustrate it to you. Turn back with me in your
Bible to the book of Genesis, chapter 20. The book of Genesis,
chapter 20. And I want to illustrate this
to you so that you might be able to get the point, so that your
mind won't be shaken, so that your heart and your soul will
be stable in the midst of all that's going on in our day. Now
in this 20th chapter of Genesis, it starts out talking about Abraham,
and Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country, and
dwelt between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gaar. And Abraham
said of Sarah his wife, she is my sister. Now the story is that
as Abraham and his wife traveled through the pagan world, through
the country, that there were kings And these kings were sovereign
in their own right, and if they saw something they wanted, they'd
just take it. They'd just take it, and if anybody
got in their way, they'd just get away with them. And so Abraham
and Sarah going through the country, they developed this story that
if some king was going to take Sarah, that in order to save
Abraham's life, they would tell the story that she was his sister. And so Abraham said of Sarah,
Sarah was a beautiful woman, and she drew a lot of attention
any place she went. And so they were going through
the country, and the Bible here says in verse 2, an Abimelech,
king of Jar, sent and took Sarah. But God came to Abimelech in
a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead
man, for the woman which thou hast taken, for she is a man's
wife. Now we see God intervening here
because of His eternal purpose, which He purposed in Abraham
and Sarah. He intervenes here, and he comes
in the night in a dream to Abimelech the king, and he says, you're
going to be a dead man if you touch this woman, because this
woman, she is a man's wife. But Abimelech had not come near
her. Can you imagine? Here is Sarah
being brought into Abimelech's very powerless, and yet he had
not laid hand upon her. But Abimelech had not come near
her, and he said, Lord, will thou slay also the righteous,
will you slay a righteous nation? And said he, nodding to me, she
is my sister. In other words, am I not righteous
in this thing? Did he not say she's my sister,
rather than that she's my wife? Now, and God said unto him in
a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of
thy heart, for I also withheld thee from sinning against her,
therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. Now therefore restore
the man his wife, for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and
thou shalt live, and if thou restore her not, know that thou
shalt surely die, thou and all that are thine. Now, beloved,
what we see here is God restraining sin in Abimelech the king. Now, do you believe that the
power of God extends to such an extent as this? Does the power
of God extend this far? Well, we see the intervention
of God. Turn to Psalm chapter 76. Psalm
76, and take note here. of what this psalm says in verse
10. Psalms 76 and 10 says, Surely
the wrath of man shall praise thee. This is the psalmist speaking
to God. And he said, Surely the wrath
of man, man's sin, wickedness, and rebellion, surely man's ways,
carnal ways, fleshly ways, shall praise thee." Meaning that God
will restrain, that God will hinder men in their sinful ways,
that they commit no sin or go beyond that which will not eternally
and eventually praise the Lord, bring praise unto God. The remainder of wrath shall
thou restrain. In other words, when a man sins,
he sins right up to the point and God says that's as far as
you can go. Now when God made this world,
you know He set the bounds for the oceans and the seas and said
you come thus far and no further. And this is what we're talking
about. We're talking about God causing the wrath of man to praise
Him, and the remainder of wrath He restrains. So when you look
out here in this world, and you judge as I do that the world
is worse than it ever was in the way of rebellion and open
sin, and you judge that religion is becoming more and more corrupt
and bankrupt day after day, You will not be shaken if you understand
that God is in control of all these things. Now, beloved, that's
a mystery. That God is able to take the
things, the wicked things of men, and restrain them so that
they'll accomplish His purpose. Now, we see this in other places.
For an example, in the book of Job. In chapter 1, you remember
the story. We will not get into that to
any length. But I would like to remind you
of the fact that there was a day when Satan came with the sons
of God before the Lord into His presence. And the Lord said unto
Satan, Whence comest thou? And Satan answered the Lord and
said, From going to and from the earth. and from walking up
and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan,
Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like
him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, and one that
feareth God, and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the Lord,
and said, Dost Job fear God for nothing? Dost he fear God for
naught? Hast thou not made a hedge about
him? Hast thou not put up a fence
around him, and made his house and about his house, and about
all that he hath on every side. Thou hast blessed the work of
his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But
put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he
will curse thee to thy face." And the Lord said unto Satan,
this is a mystery, the mystery of iniquity. And the Lord said
to Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power. Can you
believe that? Can you believe that? That God
would say to Satan, All that he has is in thy power. And you do now with him, you
bring forth, you put forth only upon himself, put not forth thine
hand. So Satan went forth from the
presence of the Lord, and you remember the story. about how
that Job lost all of his possessions and he was afflicted and greatly
afflicted. And so you see how that Satan
knows his bounds because God has set up fences around his
people and said, you come this far and no further. And so he
that restraineth is the Spirit of God, the power of God. And
you know that this is also the case, and you wonder about this,
but you know in that that God restrained sin in Abimelech,
why did he not restrain Satan in the day when he stood before
David and suggested to David and moved David to count Israel,
to number Israel. And the judgment of God came
upon Israel and there were 70,000 slain. Now why was it in one
case Satan was hindered And the devil was stopped, and the sinner
was stopped in his tracks, and yet God allowed Satan in another
occasion like that. And I think that's in 1 Chronicles
20. 1 verse 1 where it says that Satan stood before David and
moved him to number Israel. Well, why didn't God stop him
there? That's the mystery of iniquity. And then we have another case
and that case is in the New Testament where the apostle Paul had had
revelations from God, and he had been greatly blessed. He
had seen things. He had been caught up into the
third heavens, and he had had these revelations and these visions,
and he had seen things that he couldn't even talk about, wasn't
lawful to talk about. And the Bible says in order to
keep him humble, God sent him a messenger of Satan to buffet
him. And Saul prayed, or Paul did,
three times, Lord remove it, Lord remove it, Lord remove it. And the Lord said, no, my grace
is sufficient for thee. Meaning this, that this messenger
of Satan is, whenever he cannot go a half inch beyond the grace
of God that was bestowed upon Paul. Paul, he could not do anything
to Paul except accomplish that which God allowed him to come
and do. He couldn't go beyond that. The
grace of God would be sufficient. Paul would go right on with his
ministry. Paul would go right on and preach the gospel to the
Gentile world. Paul could go right on and glorify
God in his life, in his weakness. But the grace of God would be
sufficient. But the messenger of Satan was right there in his
life, the rest of his life, right there in his life, and bugging
him as it were every day, and humbling his heart every day. Beloved, this is the mystery
of iniquity. You explain that if you can.
You explain why that God allows the devil a place in the world
at all. You explain that. You cannot.
There's a great mystery connected with this. And God is bringing
to pass a certain and specific purpose which will unfold in
the last days. And Paul said, these things have
to happen. before the coming of our blessed Lord. Now, so
we must remember then, who is in charge? Who is in charge? Does that not make you fear before
God? It truly does. But at the same
time, it also comforts our souls and our hearts when we know that
this world is just not a loose cannon and that anything that
happens in this world, it just happens by chance and nobody
knows, nobody's in control. Everybody's out to lunch, nobody's
in control. Well, beloved, that's not the
case. God is in control. He has his spirit in the world
who is restraining and hindering, and he will do so until he decides
to remove him from the world. Now then, look at verse 8 to
9 quickly. 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.
This is the Antichrist. And I believe that the Antichrist
is more of a spirit than he is a person. Now I realize that
these verses talk about, seems to indicate that he is a person
who will be embodied by Satan and that he will come and he
will with power and signs and lying wonders deceive many. Now, I believe that the Antichrist
is at work in the world today. And this is another mystery,
but beloved, the Antichrist is working. We know that religion
is anti-Christ. Oh no, you say, all religions
talk about Christ. Most all religions. But my friend,
the true Christ is not being preached. The true Christ is
not being reverenced, respected. His sovereignty is not looked
upon. His name is not exalted and glorified
as it ought to be. The Antichrist is at work in
the world. Now, Paul here tells us in verse
10, and he will come, or the Antichrist will be here in the
world in power and religion, and with all deceivables of unrighteousness
in them that perish. Now, this Antichrist and the
religion of Antichrist, this is a very deceiving thing. Now,
you know, when we think about people being deceived, by the
things that are being preached in the world today, we wonder
about it a great deal, but do you know that there isn't anybody
deceived that thinks they are? Everybody that is deceived, they
don't believe they are. They do not believe they are.
If they knew they were deceived, then they would be looking for
another way. But they're deceived and we know
that this religion thing today and there's so much deception,
and this is of man. This deception is because men
are following a man. It's not by God or His Word.
God will deceive no man. He will not. And Paul said to
the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20 and verse 32, And now, brethren,
I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able
to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them
which are set apart or sanctified unto God. In other words, Paul
says, I commend you to God and to His Word. And brethren, as
we face and look at the world condition and the condition of
religion, I point you to the Word of God. And I say, stay
on the Word. Because if you don't stay on
the Word, the Word of God is not going to mislead you. It
will not. But whenever you follow a man,
regardless of how clever and how charismatic he may be, my
friend, you'd have no way of knowing where you're going to
go. And nine times out of ten, you're going to end up going
the wrong way. You're going away from Christ.
You're going away from the truth. And so we need to stay on the
Word. We need to stay on the Word.
This deception is by man. Now, this is the problem. We're
told that this is the problem. here that because they received
not the love of the truth. He says this deception will take
place to the unrighteous in them that are right now perishing
because of the want of faith and love toward Christ Jesus.
And he said, and it's because they received not the love of
the truth that they might be saved. They received not the
love of the truth. This is the problem. It didn't
say they had never heard the truth, and it doesn't say that
they did not know something about the truth. It says that they
didn't love the truth. They did not love the truth.
Now one of the characteristics of false religion is that anytime
a preacher gets close to preaching the truth about the sinner, truth
about Jesus Christ, truth about the doctrines of the Word of
God, men will show and vent that fact. They will make it clear
that they do not love the Word of God, that they do not love
God's salvation. They do not love His truth. Now
then, it says here, because they received not the love of the
truth. What is the truth? Somebody says. Well, Jesus told us. He said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the truth. And
if any man will come to the Father, he must come by me, because I
am the way, the truth, and the life. And 1 Corinthians 1 and
verse 30 says, Of God are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is
made unto you wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
So the Lord Jesus Christ is salvation from A to Z. He is salvation. Salvation is in a person. Salvation
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now then, the spirit of Antichrist Let me try to identify that a
little bit more. It's religion without Christ.
You know anybody that's religious as all get out? Just religious. But they don't know Christ. They
do not know the Lord Jesus Christ. They have no eternal life because
they don't know Him. The Bible says this is life eternal
that you might know Me, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom
I have sent. This is life eternal. And here
this spirit of Antichrist is religion without Christ. They use his name, but they don't
know anything about his person and anything about his work.
They use his name, I say, but they do not know anything about
his person and work. It's righteousness without Christ.
You ever know anybody that tried to establish a righteousness
of their own that they thought God was going to receive? Did
you ever know of anybody that thought they were good enough
to go to heaven just like they are? Did you ever meet anybody
like that? That's the religion of Antichrist. Beloved, the Bible
teaches that no man can go to heaven except he be as righteous
as the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And the only way you can become
as righteous as Christ Himself is for you to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and have His righteousness imputed or accredited
to your account before God. That's the only way you can be
as righteous as Christ. But my friend, the Antichrist
says, religion without Christ, righteousness without Christ. And they attempt to come to God
without and apart from Christ. They do it all the time. They
bow down before a statue. or they will recite some creed,
or in some way they try to worship and come before God, believing,
as Jesus said, maybe the commandments of men rather than the commandments
of God. But my friend, when you attempt
to come to God apart from Jesus Christ, you're attempting to
come to God apart from a blood atonement. You cannot come to
God except you come through the one Mediator, between God and
man, and that's Jesus Christ. You must come to God through
Him, that One that God has sent into the world to be a propitiation,
a sacrifice for our sin. Now these people do not love
Christ. Antichrist people do not love
Christ. Those that are against Christ,
they do not love Jesus Christ. Now you say, well, how can you
tell whether a man loves Jesus Christ or whether he does not
love Jesus Christ? Well, normally, my friend, you
can tell it by the amount of respect he has for the Word of
God itself. You can normally tell also, I
believe, by just listening to that man's conversation. Is his
conversation full of the big I, himself? In other words, is
he his own God, or is it full of Christ? Is it full of Christ? Is his confidence in himself,
or in his religion, or is it in Christ? Where is his confidence? A man's religion is not going
to get him through the graveyard. It's Christ that will enable
you to stand in the presence of God as righteous as Jesus
Himself. For this cause, these people
do not love Christ. They do not love Him. And for
this cause, judgment is coming. Not because they have a few weaknesses
and a few failures. No. Not because they have, you
know, because they have not treated everybody like they should treat
everybody. No. But because they love not
the truth, who is Christ. They do not love Him. Now then,
because of our attitude toward Him, for this cause, He said,
shall they all be damned. They receive not the love of
the truth that they might be saved. For this cause they do
not love Christ. Their attitude toward Him is
we can make it without Him. We don't need Christ. Well, you
can't make it without Him because God will not accept your life,
your works, He will not accept you apart from being in union
with His Son. Now they don't love substitution.
They don't love blood and the blood of Christ, the righteousness
of Christ. They don't love and appreciate
identification with Jesus Christ. They don't love sovereign grace.
They don't love the amazing grace of God that brings a sinner into
right standing with God. They don't love it. Hosea 4 and
17 says, Ephraim is joined to his idols to let him alone, let
him alone. Now these that receive not the
love of the truth, they're in union with their idols. Themself
being the number one idol, themselves, what they can do, their works,
and then their religion. These are the idols of men. Now,
when God says that about a man, there's no telling where that
man's going to end up. He's going to perish. When God says he's
joined to his idols, let him alone. And the Antichrist people
are joined to their idols. And you just go preaching against
their idols, the idol of free will. You go preaching against
their idols, and you'll find out that these people, that God
has left them to themselves, that he's abandoned them, and
left them to themselves. Well, what happens when God sends
a man strong delusion? The Bible speaks here in verse
11, and for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion that
they should believe a lie. And so what happens with that?
Well, God just leaves them to themselves. Just leaves a man
to his own religion, to his own works, to his own ways. Just
leaves him to himself. Well, you know, there's a change
coming right here. That's the bad news. But we do
have this guarantee from the Word of God that there is one
that is restraining and hindering all of this and will happen up
to a point. But at the same time, there's
some other things going on in God's program and purpose which
are glorious here in this chapter. And lest we be discouraged and
become fearful, lest we be taken up with the fearful times and
seasons rather than taken up with Him, there's a change as
we said takes place here in this chapter And it begins here with
verse 13. But, Paul says, we're bound to
give thanks always to God for you. There's some people now,
he's writing to these people in the church of the Thessalonians
that said, we are bound to give thanks always to God for you.
We're obligated to give thanks to God for you. Now, when we
look at this, we asked ourselves, why Paul? Why would you be obligated
now to give thanks to God for this crowd that you're talking
about now? Well, it's very clear, brought
out, I think, in the Scriptures, that this was a people that Paul
felt that he couldn't thank God for. There was reasons for it.
Reasons why he should. Now let me just call a couple
things to your attention. Turn back, if you will, to chapter
1 of 1 Thessalonians. And let me mention this second
verse of 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. He says, We give thanks to
God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers.
Paul felt like that this people was a people that he could thank
God for. And so he said, We give thanks
to God always for you all. He thanked the Lord. And then
notice in the 3rd chapter and verse 9, again Paul says, For
what thanks we can render to God again for you. for all the
joy, wherewith we joy, for your sakes before our God. These were
a special people, and they were a people that were special for
specific reasons. And while the mystery of iniquity
is working over here, God is working over here in the midst
of the people, and Paul says they're faith worthy. God is
to be praised for them. Now notice, if you will, in 2
Thessalonians 1 and in verse 3, and here he says again, we
are bound or obligated to thank God always for you brethren.
as it is meat, meaning that it's comely and it's right that we
thank God for you, brethren, because your faith groweth exceedingly,
and the charity of every one of you all toward each other
aboundest. So Paul says, I thank God for
you. And then in this second chapter,
our text this morning, in verse 13, here it is again, but we're
bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord. And so God is doing a work here
in His people, in His church. Now, you're a special people.
And why were they special? Well, number one was because
they were chosen of God. They were chosen of God. Paul
said, we must give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation. They were different than these
other people Paul was talking about. They were different. They
had been chosen by God. God had said His love upon them
in old time and sovereign grace had called them and brought them
out of sin and out of their bondage in sin and brought them into
the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why you are like you
are, Paul would say, is because God has chosen you. He has chosen
you before the foundation of the world. You know God chose
Abraham. And you know that God chose Israel and God chose David. You remember the story about
David? Samuel went to his father's house,
Jesse's house. And you remember that all the
sons of Jesse was brought in and they come before Samuel and
Samuel He said, no, they're not the ones that God has chosen.
God hasn't chosen any of them. Do you have any other son? He
said, oh yeah, we got the youngest, David, but he's out tending the
sheep. Bring him in. And when he walked in, God said
to Samuel, rise and anoint him. He's the one. God had chosen
him. God had chosen David, rejected
all of his brothers. and had chosen Him. Now beloved,
let me say this to you, that this choice of His people is
a matter of praise. It's a matter of praise. Thank
God for electing grace. Thank God that He chooses His
people. The Bible is clear on it. And
then it's also a matter of love. He said we're obligated to give
thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord. Not our love to Him, but His
love to us. It was the love of God to us
that made a difference. It was the fact that God loved
us in Christ and chose us in Christ that made the difference.
That's why we're not on the other side of the fence over here in
this other column over here of these antichrists, these people
that do not love the truth and so on. That's why we're out of
that is because God loved us his love not ours And then this
is a matter of sovereignty because it says from beginning He chose
us from the beginning Now this was something that God did before
we were ever born before we were ever thought of except in the
mind of God And God had chosen us from before the foundation
of the world. From the beginning, God had chosen
you to salvation. And then let me say, this is
a matter of salvation. To salvation. Not to an office. God has chosen us unto salvation. That we be saved. That we miss
the wrath of God. That we be spared and delivered
from eternal judgment. We have been saved by the grace
of God. And it's a matter of means also
because it was through the sanctification of the Spirit and the belief
of the truth. This is what makes these people
so special, is that God sent the Holy Spirit to set them apart
and gave them the gift of faith that they might believe the truth.
Now, brother, you say what you want to, but that's the difference
between men in this world. It's those that God has set apart
for Himself, and He's given them the gift of the Holy Spirit,
and they're able to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what separates people from people in this world. Do you have the
gift of faith? Has God given you the gift of
faith? Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you trusted
Him? So it's a matter of means also.
Next he says, I thank God for you because He called you. He called you. Now this is important
to see in verse 14. Where unto He called you? Now
over and over again in the Bible, over 150 times, salvation is
attributed to a call from God. God calls His people. And we're also told here that
He calls them by the gospel. He calls them by the gospel.
Now there is no salvation apart from a call from God. You have
to hear from God in the Word. Over in the first letter, Paul
talked about how that they had heard the Word, and they received
it not as the Word of man only, but that it was the Word of God. And that he said the Word came
not in word only, but in power. And so there's a difference.
When the Word of God comes to a man in power of the Holy Spirit,
that's when he's called. God calls. And you know you can
tell, there are times when you can tell that the Word is not
just the Word only that you're hearing. But that you're hearing
from God in the Word. And that God is speaking unto
the souls of men as the preacher is speaking. And so he calls
men by the gospel. And so these people, God didn't
leave them alone. He did not leave these people
alone. Now, you remember what he said to Ephraim? Ephraim jawed
to his eye, leave him alone. And that's curtains for a man. If God ever says, leave him alone. But God never left these people
alone, you see. He called them. He called them
with an irresistible call that they had to come unto the Lord
Jesus Christ. Well, he called them by the gospel.
And then in verse 15, and we're going to close here in just a
little bit. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions
which ye have been taught. Another thing that Paul could
thank God for was that these brethren were taught. I mean,
the Word of God had been taught these people. Now, beloved, there's
so much ignorance in religion. And if you listen to some of
these TV preachers or some of these radio preachers, you oftentimes
will be found praying, I hope nobody's listening to that fella.
I hope they're not. Because ignorance, ignorance
my friend, is a mark of false religion. And you remember that.
If a man don't know what the Bible teaches, and if he doesn't
take you to the Word of God and show you what the Word of God
teaches, then that man is misleading you. Well, this is not true among
God's people, because God, He teaches His people. He teaches
them. And I hope that this church is
a church, and I know that it is. Now, I can thank God for
you, because we have many here that are scholars in the Word,
and know the Word of God, and know the truth of the Scriptures.
But you know, 1 John 5 and 20 says that we know the Son of
God has come and given us an understanding. that we might
know Him that is true, and we're in Him that is true, even in
Jesus Christ. And He is indeed the true God.
In Matthew 28, you remember in the Great Commission, it said
you go and preach the gospel to all nations, baptizing them
in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching
them to observe all things which I've commanded you to observe. And in Ephesians 2 in verse 10,
it says, We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. So we've been taught of God.
And then in verse 16, he says something here that I want to
mention to you. 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. Paul
here says, I can thank God for you people because God has given
you a good hope. through grace. Not based on works,
not based on what we've done for God, not based on our religious
affiliation. God has given us a good hope. Our good hope is through grace. Hear me out. The gift of God
This is the gift of God because it says that God gave it to us. It's a good hope because it's
in our Lord Jesus Christ. It's a good hope because it's
through grace. It's a good hope because it is
everlasting. He speaks here of everlasting
consolation. Now beloved, the way to have
a strong faith is to have a great and mighty God. Now you know
there are people that when they're saved People, they look at them,
people that's known them before, and they say, I can't believe
what's happened to that fellow. I'm astonished. And I've witnessed
that a number of times back through the years. I'm astonished. I
can't understand what's happened to that fellow. Well, we realize
that people that have never experienced the new birth, and people that's
never been brought to faith in Christ, that they're astounded
by because they don't have anything to compare it to. They don't
know anything about this experience in the grace of God. But the
way to have a strong faith is to have a great and mighty God. And our God is a great and mighty
God who can control over here and manage iniquity and at the
same time call His people out and save them. He's a great and
mighty God. And our faith is in this great
and mighty God. Somebody said nobody's faith
can be stronger than he believes his God to be. Do you believe
your God is strong enough to manage the mystery of iniquity
and at the same time save and secure the salvation of His people? Do you believe He can? Well,
beloved, I believe He can. And I believe that most of you
believe that. And I cannot have, listen to
this, I cannot have strong faith in a God who I think is weaker
than men. Now you might want to make a
note of that. I cannot have a strong faith in a God who I think is
weaker than men. Now you hear from this pulpit
that God is almighty. And you hear from this pulpit
that God will save His people. You hear from this pulpit that
God will manage the mystery of iniquity. That God will take
care of it. That He will handle it. And you
hear from this pulpit that God's people are to be comforted and
they're to rest in the Lord because of the gifts which God has given
them which namely is everlasting consolation and good hope through
grace. And this God of ours is a mighty
God. And He establishes, in the last
verse, He establishes the hearts of His people. He comforts their
hearts and He establishes you in every good word and work.
How can He do that if He's not a God who can manage and control? If He's not a sovereign God,
how can He do this? Well, He can do it because He
is a sovereign, an absolute sovereign, and He does according to His
will among the inhabitants of the earth, and in heaven, and
among the inhabitants of the earth, none can stay his hand,
or say unto him, What doest thou? Now, in this thought about being
established here, I like what it says in 1 Corinthians 15,
58, and I'm finished. Therefore, my beloved brethren,
Be you steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in
vain in the Lord. Stay on the Lord. Good work. Good word and good work. The
good word of the gospel and that good work which God has ordained
before that we should walk in. And so may the Lord be pleased
to make these things clear and to comfort your hearts this morning
that In spite of all that we see and hear and know about going
on around us, both in the world and the religious world, that
we can rest in our God and we can give thanks for the Church
of our Lord Jesus Christ, thanks for His people and for what He's
done. And I thank God for you all.
May the Lord bless you and give you remembrance of His Word and
truth. At this time, we're going to