Turn with me, if you will, to
2 Thessalonians and hold your Bibles open there. I want you, if you can, to try
to put yourself mentally in the position of these Thessalonian
believers These are men and women who owe their conversion, who
owe their knowledge of the gospel in God's providence to the Apostle
Paul. Paul had come there and preached
for about three weeks, and God greatly blessed his preaching
to the hearts of many, Jews as well as Gentiles. And after he
left, a gospel church was established there and began to flourish.
And now word has gotten out in the community, gotten out among
the believers, that Paul had written a letter, and the pastor
was going to read it Sunday morning. They were coming together to
read a letter written by Paul while he was away at Athens preaching
the gospel. He takes time to write to these
Thessalonian believers, and they're going to read the letter for
the first time. And you can imagine their excitement.
They haven't heard from him in a long time. They love him dearly.
He never forgot them, they never forgot him. His heart was with
them, their heart was with him. And now, they're gonna come together,
and as they come together to worship God, the faithful apostle
has written a letter, they're gonna read it. In the first chapter,
the apostle writes to them expressing the care and love of a loving
pastor's heart. He commends them for their display
of the grace of God, for their commitment to the things of God.
He speaks to them in a very commending manner of their faith and love
for one another, for their patience in tribulations and persecutions
and trials and troubles, the things that they endured for
the gospel sake. And then in the same chapter,
he speaks to them with confident assurance, assuring their hearts
and ours that Christ is coming again. He says, the Lord's going
to avenge you and avenge himself. Don't you fret yourself with
those who oppose you and persecute you. Don't you fret yourself
with those in this world, in the religious world or the secular
world, who stand in opposition to you. The Lord Jesus is coming
in flaming fire to take vengeance upon those who oppose him his
gospel and his people. And the apostle in the last two
verses of that first chapter speaks to these Thessalonian
believers assuring them of his unceasing love for them, praying
for them day and night. He says, I cease not to offer
prayers to God on your behalf. You see, faithful preachers. faithful pastors, faithful gospel
ministers, not only labor to preach the word to men, they
bear you in their hearts. They bear the burden of your
soul in their hearts and they seek from God that his grace
may be effectual to you for the glory of his name and the everlasting
good of your souls. Now, I want us to read together
chapter 2, and these 17 verses of chapter 2 will be my text
this morning. I want to read them verse by
verse and comment on them as we go along, line by line. Someone
apparently had written to the church at Thessalonica. Perhaps
they had come by and visited. And they said, now, we've seen
Paul since y'all did. And we have a word from Paul
that the Lord Jesus is coming again right now. He's going to
be here before you know it. And you better get ready. And
so Paul gets wind of this. And he writes to these folks
and tells them, now, don't let anyone fool you. Don't let anyone
fool you. I've got to comment on this thing,
and I've got to assure you concerning certain things with regard to
our Lord's coming. Now we are approaching, as you
know, the 21st century, and as it has been every century through
history, so it shall be today. It already has come to pass,
and it will yet come to pass more and more. As we come to
the end of this century and begin to approach the 21st century,
if the Lord is pleased to leave us here that long, folks are
going to be falling out of the woodwork making predictions about
the second coming of Christ, telling you that this is the
last time and here's proof. If you turn on the television
set, when you go home tonight, I'll guarantee you'll find somebody
telling you, now hang on, fellas, we know we're in the last day.
Ever since I can remember as a believer, I was I was not quite
17 years old when God revealed the gospel to me, and I began
studying the scriptures with some concern for my soul and
God's glory. From that day to this, I've been
hearing men tell us that they've already hewn a stone, they've
already got the first stone for the temple over in Jerusalem,
and they're starting construction any day now. It's been going
on constantly. Listen carefully. The apostle
writes here to give us fair warning. Let no man deceive you. Do not
be fooled by them. Any man who makes predictions
and sets dates and tells you When Christ is coming, or even
tries to tell you, he must certainly come within this given framework
of time. Who sets calendars and schemes
and rolls charts and says, now look here, this is proof positive,
the Lord Jesus must come right about this time. Or he must come
on this date, or he must come in these circumstances. Don't
pay any attention to it. He does not speak with God's
authority, and at least in this regard, he has absolutely no
idea what on this earth he's talking about. The scriptures
are abundantly clear. Our Lord Jesus says of that day
and hour, no man knows anything. No man. Our Lord tells us plainly,
it is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the
Father hath put in his own power. God doesn't intend for us to
know, and I guarantee if God don't intend for us to know,
you're not going to know. And I'm not either. God has fixed
it so no man will ever figure it out until the Lord comes.
I think it would be safe to be like the Apostle Peter. If you
go back and read Joel chapter 2, as you read through the scriptures,
nobody had a clue what Joel 2 was talking about. Nobody. Nobody
had a clue what Joel 2 was talking about until the day of Pentecost.
And on the day of Pentecost, when the Pharisees came and said,
well, look, those fellows are drunk with wine. Peter said,
boys, these aren't drunk. This is what Joel said was going
to come to pass. He said, this is it. And I'm
telling you, nobody has a clue as to when Christ is coming again.
Nobody. But when he comes, every believer
is going to say, this is it. This is what he was talking about.
Now we understand. All right, let's begin then in
2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 1. 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 though we had written it, as that the
day of Christ is at hand. Now I want us to look at all
17 of these verses. I'm going to just skim across
the surface and pick up a few nuggets as we go along, but I
want you to get the message of this chapter. In this passage,
these first two verses, Paul tells us five things that are
obvious to anyone who reads them. First, our Lord Jesus Christ
is coming again. He's on his way back to fetch
his bride. up to glory behold he coming
I do not use the language normally and say the Lord shall come that's
not the language of scripture but rather the Lord is coming
behold he coming so that there is nothing yet to be done nothing
yet to be fulfilled before he comes again now Lord Jesus since
he went up to heaven has been coming back for his bride you
say well he's been a long time coming oh no he's been gone two
days He's been gone two days. One day with the Lord is a thousand
years, and a thousand years is one day. He dwells in the leisure
of eternity. I'm frequently gone from my wife
longer than two days. I want to hurry and get back,
but I'm frequently gone longer than that. So when the Lord says,
behold, he cometh, everything that has taken place, is taking
place, or shall yet take place, is but the step of Christ in
providence coming to fetch his bride. And when he's come to
do the last day, he'll go take you home. Behold, he cometh.
Secondly, there are no signs or prophecies yet to be fulfilled
before our Lord's return. And thirdly, we're never told
to look for signs. As you read the New Testament,
the apostles never once say, look for signs. Our Lord Jesus
never once says, look for signs. But rather, we're told to look
for Christ. We are to live daily looking
for Christ to come again. We are to live standing every
day upon the tiptoe of faith, looking for the Lord Jesus at
any moment. And yet, while we do so, we're
to be laboring in his vineyard as though he may not come for
another thousand years. Now that's language of Scripture.
That's the fourth thing he's telling us. I'll try to illustrate
it for you. When I have called home or I've
told Shelby before I left I'll be home a certain time, certain
day, you can look for me. I'll tell you exactly how she
looks for me. She cleans the house. She goes about taking
care of sending out the tapes. She comes over here and takes
care of things at the office. If I've left something to type,
she types that. She starts fixing some baked macaroni and cheese.
That's my homecoming dinner. Baked in the oven, just the way
I like it. And she's going about the business. And every little
bit, she'll look out the window. If she's at the house, she'll
walk up to the picture window. She'll just look, see if she sees me
coming up the road. Or if she hears a noise, she'll look out the
back door, see if I've driven up the driveway. Because she's looking for me.
But as she looks for me, with great anticipation, expectation,
and desire, she's going about her business and responsibility
as a believer, as a wife, as a woman in this world, and that's
exactly how we are to look for Christ coming. Never, never,
never is someone to just quit his job and say, well, we'll
wait for the Lord to come. Oh no, that's irresponsible.
Never is someone to say, oh, we'll not do this, we'll not
do that, the Lord's coming any time. That's irresponsible. But
rather we are to go about our business as faithfully serving
our God in our generation looking for Christ all the time. Does
that make sense? That's what the Apostle is teaching us here.
And then he tells us also that our Lord may appear at any moment. So we must never allow anyone
to dupe us into thinking that he knows when or where the Lord
Jesus shall return. Our Lord may come at any moment,
or he may not return for another thousand years. It's our business
to live every day looking for him. Every day laboring in his
kingdom, but looking for him. All right now, look at verse
3. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall
not come. except there come a falling away
first, and that the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. Father, there are no visible
signs preceding our Lord's coming. There are no visible signs we're
to look to, like the gathering of Israel as a nation, or anything
to do with Israel as a nation. Yet the apostle does tell us
that before Christ's second advent, There must be a wholesale universal
departure. An apostasy from revealed truth. An apostasy of many women who
professed faith from that which they professed to believe. Now
that's something else. Paul is not here talking about
the liberals. He's not talking about open heretics.
He's not talking about vile ungodliness. That's not the case at all. He
is here talking about those things that concern a departure of men
and women who claim to believe God from the faith revealed in
Holy Scripture. He's talking about many women
who claim to be followers of Christ who have wholesale, universally
departed from the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not something
that takes place here and there, but something that takes place
literally through the world. Now look at this third verse.
Here the Holy Spirit tells us that heresies must come. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
11. Indeed, these heresies had already
begun in apostolic times, and they only get worse as time passes. So even as Paul wrote concerning
this apostasy, he was writing concerning that which he himself
had begun to experience and witness in his own day. Here in 1 Corinthians
11 verse 19. There must. Do you see that?
There must. This is not an accidental thing.
This too is included in the purpose of God. Sometimes we get to thinking
that we're living in such terrible times and we wonder what's happening. Has God lost control? Oh no.
Oh no. This too is in the purpose of
God. There must be also heresies among you. Among you who profess
to be the children of God. That they which are approved
may be made manifest among you. How is that? How is that? Those
who are approved won't fall for the lie. Those who are sanctified
by the grace of God, those who are chosen, redeemed, justified
and sanctified by God Almighty will not fall for the lie. They
will not follow the voice of the stranger. The Apostle Paul
had already begun to experience these things, and he says, the
man of sin, Antichrist, must be revealed. Now again, the Apostle
John writes in just the same manner concerning Antichrist.
He says, when you talk about Antichrist, when you think about
these things, don't imagine that this is something that's just
in the future. Forget everything you heard about
coming out of Hollywood. Forget the movies about the apocalypse
and all that nonsense. Forget the movies about the beast,
666, and all those things that come out of Hollywood. And try
to find out what this book teaches. When Antichrist comes, he's going
to come to be revealed not to the world. He's not going to
appear as some kind of a green-eyed monster. Adolf Hitler would never
pass for Antichrist. That's not what he's talking
about. This fellow is something that he'd fight worse than Adolf
Hitler. This fellow is so cunning and
deceiving, you'd think he's a prophet of God. But he's not just one
man. He's a multitude of men. He doesn't
come with a devil suit on and a long, hairy, fiery eye and
a pitchfork in his hand. Oh no! He comes with a Bible
in his hand, stands in a pulpit just like this one, and dresses
up so you look at him and say, man, he's got to be God's prophet.
This Antichrist will not be revealed to the world, but he'll be revealed
to you who know God. You'll be made manifest to men
and women who know God. Look at verse 4. This is how
he describes it. who opposeth and exalteth himself above all
that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth
in the temple, or the house of God, showing himself that he
is God." Now, you back up and look at that and say, well, what's
that talking about? You mean a man is going to set himself
up in the house of God and say, boys, I'm God? Oh no. Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. That's
too obvious. That would be obvious to anybody.
I think any fool would recognize that, don't you? Some moony comes
along and he says, I'm there, I'm the Christ. That's not what
he's talking about here. That's not what he's talking
about here. The apostle here identifies Antichrist, this man
of sin, not as one man, but as many. Not as a man, but as a
system. Now I have no problem at all
in stating boldly with our forefathers as they did, That the Antichrist
and the Pope certainly are one. That was true in the days of
the Puritans and the Reformers. That was true in the days when
the Pope burned our Baptist forefathers at the stake. And that's still
true today. Pope and Antichrist are one.
You say, well, you shouldn't say that in this day. Everybody
wants to get along. That's one of our problems. That's
one of our problems. We have all become accustomed
to the age in which we live and which everybody is endeavoring
to get along with papacy. Let's get all the churches together.
Let's get them all together. Oh, what danger. Our forefathers
faithfully identified papacy and the Church of Rome as Antichrist,
and it must be done in our day. And yet, I don't mean that that
is all that is to be spoken of as Antichrist. His unholiness,
the Pope, certainly is Antichrist. Roman Catholicism certainly is
Antichrist. It cannot be stated too plainly,
too emphatically, or too often. It must be stated. However, it's
a serious mistake, a dangerous mistake, to limit Antichrist
to one man or one religious sect. As I said before, if you want
to read it at your leisure, in 1 John chapter 4, John said many
antichrists have gone out into the world. The Apostle Paul had
to contend with antichrists in his day. He had to contend with
antichrists at Corinth. He had to contend with antichrists
at Colossae. He had to contend with antichrists
at Galatia. Everywhere he went, wherever
he went and preached the gospel, somebody came preaching a false
gospel and often tried to pin his name on it. Notice how Paul describes this
thing called the man of sin, this son of perdition. He is
one who opposes God. He opposes God. He is set in
opposition to God. Does that mean he stands up on
Sunday morning? You go through town here. I don't
care where you go. I don't care whether you go to
the Papist Church, the Mormon Church, Baptist Church, Presbyterian
Church, Pentecostal Church, Russellite Church. Go through town. Go to
any of them. And come back and tell me if
you find somebody who stands up and pulls a pig's head. Boy,
I'm against God. That's not what he's talking
about. Oh, no. He's talking, buddy, about a
man standing in the name of God attempting To speak from the
Word of God who leads you in a way that opposes God. That's something else. He exalts
himself above God. Well, how does a man do that?
A man tells you that his will overpowers God's will? A man
tells you that God wants what God can't do because he won't
let him? A man tells you God tries but man prevents? He exalts
himself above all that is called God and is worshipped as God. That's the reason Paul spoke
in Colossians chapter 2 very plainly concerning those who
promote free will works religion. He called them will worshippers.
We are worshippers. That is, rather than worshipping
God and attributing all things to God's will and exalting God's
will, they exalt man's will and they bow down and worship their
will and exalt themselves above all that's called God. Antichrist, then, is any system
of religion. Any man. Any preacher. I don't
care who he is. Any man, any preacher, any church,
any denomination that makes salvation in any way to be dependent upon
or determined by the will, the work, or the worth of the sinner,
rather than the will, the work, and the worth of the Son of God. It's Antichrist. It doesn't matter
whether that system of religion is conservative or liberal, that's
irrelevant. Doesn't matter whether it's a
mainline Protestant church or a wild cult. Doesn't matter whether
it's Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, Presbyterian, or otherwise. Any
church, any doctrine, any preacher, any religious system that makes
man the centerpiece is Antichrist. Is that plain enough? Let me
be understood. This is what I'm saying, and
I'm saying it Bob Ponce calls your souls at stake. And the
souls of men and women in this generation are at stake. And
the glory of God is at stake. I had a young man call me last
night from California, and he was asking me about this very
statement I'm about to make. And he said, I know it's true,
but my flesh opposes it. I know it too. It's not comfortable
to flesh. I'm telling you what God teaches
in this book. Those who teach that God's will
can be altered, that God's will can be hindered, that God's will
can be thwarted by man's will or by the powers of hell, are
according to Colossians chapter 2 will-worshippers, not God-worshippers.
They're Antichrist. Those who teach that the merit
and efficacy of Christ's atonement resides in man's will, man's
decision, and man's faith are anti-Christ. The merit and efficacy
of Christ's atonement resides in Christ's atonement, not in
your decision. Those who teach that the gracious
operations of the Holy Spirit may be somehow successfully resisted
by man, our Antichrist. Pastor, what do you mean? Man
stands up to you and tells you, God the Holy Spirit is calling
you. God the Holy Spirit wants you
to believe. God the Holy Spirit is drawing
you to Christ. Maybe the last time, you better
catch on now. He's trying to get you to come,
but it's up to you. Either that's Antichrist or the
man preaching to you is. One of the two. One of the two. It can't be both ways. Either
God Almighty is indeed almighty, or he's a puny thing and not
worth spit. That's exactly right. Those who teach that grace can
be forfeited, are taken away as a result of something a man
does, are Antichrist. They're Antichrist. Now look
at verses 5, 6, and 7. Remember ye not that when I was
yet with you, I told you these things? And now you know what
withholdeth. The word is restrains, hinders,
holds back. That he might be revealed in
his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work. You see it again. It's already
at work. Only he who now lets or restrains will continue to
let or restrain until he'd be taken out of the way. This is
what Paul is saying to these Thessalonian believers. The Holy
Spirit now restrains, withholds the power and the influence of
Antichrist so that he doesn't have his way altogether. However, the time will come when
the Lord God will turn all hell loose again upon this world. In Revelation 20, we read of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the great angel of the covenant, who comes down from heaven. And
he lays hold of the dragon, that old serpent, the devil, and he
binds him with a chain for a thousand years. That's exactly what happened
at Calvary. Our Lord said, now is the prince
of this world cast out. He bound him that he should not
deceive the nations of the world. The text does not mean that Satan
is somehow going to be bound so that he has no influence over
men. The text means he shall not deceive the nations anymore.
You see, until Christ's first advent, all the nations of the
world were deceived. Our forefathers, Bill, were worshiping
staunch. All the nations of the world,
black and white, all the nations of the world, all of the silly,
silly superstitious idolatry that you find among the Hindus
and among the Buddhists and among the Tibetans, all of it, all
of it was just common in our society among Gentile worlds.
All of it. What you find among the witch
doctors in Africa was just common in the Gentile world. We were
idolaters, deceived, deceived the whole world until God sent
the gospel into the world. And then in Revelation 20, verse
7, the apostle says at the end of that thousand years, that
is at the end of Christ's spiritual reign, before his glorious second
advent, he's going to turn Satan loose on the nations of the world
to deceive the nations of the world again. God help us. I suspect we're
right in the middle of it. I suspect we're right in the
middle of it. I've traveled through much of
the English-speaking world, and I'm telling you the nations of
the world are duped, deceived, and damned with Arminian freewill
works religion. And it's just as idolatrous if
they bowed down and worshipped in the temple of Diana or bowed
down and worshipped at some stump and called it God. Look at verse
8. And then shall that wicked, that
wicked, Paul seems not to be able to find words to describe
with sufficient disgust and vehemence, that wicked, that wicked wand,
that wicked thing, that wicked system. Then shall that wicked
be revealed. And the Lord shall consume with
the spirit of his mouth, thank God, and shall destroy with the
brightness of his coming. When he comes again, he'll take
him and cast him into hell and the whole church of God will
say, Hallelujah! The Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Even him whose coming is after
the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders,
and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
perish, because they receive not the love of the truth, that
they might be saved. Here are five things revealed
in these three verses. Listen carefully. Antichrist
arises, is revealed, and shall be consumed and destroyed exactly
according to God's purpose. Sometimes men get the idea that
somehow Satan and God are rivals. They're not rivals. Satan is
God's preacher. He's God's devil. And when God
gets done with him, you'll cast him into hell. And Antichrist
is not somehow a rival to Jesus Christ. He is that which Jesus
Christ, the Lord our God, absolutely controls and uses him only as
he sees fit. Secondly, the apostle here teaches
us that signs, wonders, and miracles are as clearly the marks of Antichrist
in these last days as they were identifying marks of Christ and
his apostles in the apostolic age. Is that what you read in
that book? Lindsay, you interpret scripture.
Can you find any other reasonable interpretation of that text? Any other reasonable interpretation?
Well, what about this charismatic movement? Boy, everybody's catching
on. Everybody's involved in it. The world's been taken over with
it. It's just as surely a sign of Antichrist today. as miracles
and wonders were the sign of Christ in the apostolic age.
Just as sure, man. Just as sure. You mean, Pastor? If it amazes you, just as plain
as that, folks, you mean now? Do you mean that these folks
are confused? No, I don't mean they're confused.
I mean they're lost. Do you mean these folks are somehow
not in agreement with us? No! They're not in agreement
with God! That's the issue. Thirdly, the deception of Antichrist
is so tremendous, so very tremendous, that if it were possible, the
very elect of God would be deceived. With all deceivableness, Antichrist
comes. And then fourthly, the religion
of Antichrist, self-righteous works religion, is here called
unrighteousness. Unrighteousness. You see, free
will works religion. Idolatry, the worship of the
creature rather than the worship of God. If you read the first
chapter of Romans with one eye open, we'll tell you plainly
that kind of religion is the promoter of all the ungodliness
we have in our society. We live in this society where
men and women just take marriage as a trivial
thing. and we'll shack up and we'll
get married, it's all the same thing. Oh, no, it's not. Oh,
no, it's not. They take folks, folks look at,
look at fornication and adultery as if, as if, you know, it's
like sitting down smoking a cigarette. Not quite. Not quite. Folks look at homosexuality and
say, well, this, you know, this is just, these people just have
a different view of things. Oh no, they're under the curse
of God. Don't you understand? And the
problem, the problem is not the education system. That's bad
enough. The problem is not with the politicians,
bad as they are. The problem is not with society,
bad as it is. The problem with society is the
church by which society is ruled. And society is always ruled by
its church. Always. One way or the other.
Romans chapter 1 lays at the doorstep of modern day religion. The cause of the perversity of
our age. Here Paul calls it ungodliness. Utter ungodliness. If you turn
your television set on and not think to yourself, ungodliness. Something bad wrong with you.
Something bad wrong. We live in a godless, ungodly
society. And yet it's a society in which
everybody says, Lord bless you. Lord bless you. I was flipping
through channels in a motel room one night, and I got up to the
bathroom, and while I was in the bathroom, some fellow on one of these comedy
channels just cussing and blaspheming. I mean, I was embarrassed to
listen to that by myself. I was in the bathroom. God bless
you now. What's the matter with this society?
The God they worship is themselves. That's what's wrong with this
society. The reason for the delusion of
men and women, however, is their own willful rejection of truth. It's not that they don't receive
the truth theoretically, but that they receive not the love
of the truth that they might be saved. Are you listening to
me now? Rex Bartley is not merely giving
assent to truth that is the evidence of saving faith. Saul of Tarsus had that. Saul of Tarsus had that, the
Pharisees were Orthodox in their doctrine. Judas Iscariot had
that, the demons who confess Christ as Lord had that. Saving
faith not only embraces truth, it loves the truth. Loves it. We love Christ, the embodiment
of truth, and we love the truth of the gospel revealed in him
and by him. all believers do alright read
on verse 11 and for this cause please follow me now for this cause the cause what
they received not the love of the truth God shall send them
a strong delusion. By God, I can't think of anything
more sobering than that statement right there.
God shall send them a strong delusion. If God sends you a
strong delusion, you're deluded. And there's nothing anybody can
do to stop it. That they should believe a lie. That they all might be damned,
who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. The fact is, God sends blindness
in judgment just as he sends light in grace. God gives unbelievers the fruit
of their own way and sends them to hell singing, blessed assurance,
Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory
divine. I told you earlier in the service
about Pastor Greg Elmquist's wife, Tricia, been in religion all her life.
And God saved her. She's 42 years old. God saved
her. Been in religion all her life.
And I'll tell you what the response was. Some of you may be shocked. You'll just be shocked. Some
of you might think I'm lying. But this was the response. She
started getting hate mail from folks in the church. Started getting nasty phone calls
from folks in the church. How come? Because they would
not receive the love of truth. And for her to confess Christ
as their Savior now was to them exactly what it was. It was a
declaration that their religion was nothing but idolatry. And
no man's going to take that sitting down. Nobody's going to take
that sitting down. A man will kill you to keep his
God. I don't care if his God's a rabbit foot. He'll kill you
to keep his God's. God gives unbelievers exactly
what they want. This is what he said, since you
wouldn't receive the truth, therefore shall they eat the fruit of their
own way. and be filled with their own devices. This is what it
says, Murrah. There is a way. There's a way. There's a broad way. Broad way. Everybody approves of it. Everybody
approves of it. Yeah, that's good. That's good.
Get in that way. There's a broad way of self-righteous,
free will, works idolatry, which seemeth right unto a man. But the end thereof are the ways
of death. People tell me all the time,
well, we're all going the same place, we're just taking different
ways. I'm afraid you're exactly right. The whole world's going
to hell, just taking different roads. Again, the apostle tells us here
that the religion of man, free will works religion. That religion
which men think is righteousness. Oh, look at the good they're
doing. That religion that men look at and say, boy, now that's
good. That's impressive. I like the
looks of that. God calls it unrighteousness
again. Twice right here in these first
eight verses. Now then, here are these Thessalonian
believers sitting down, just like you are, and they've heard
this message. And they understand it. They
understand it. These Thessalonians, better they
were in that same church you were in before God saved them. The Gentiles, they worshiped
down there the goddess Diana. You know, that fertility goddess. Or they worshiped Thor or Zeus
or one of those astrological gods you read about in the newspaper. The Gentiles did. The Jews, they
had been duped with the self-righteousness of Pharisaic works religion.
And here they sit in the Thessalonian church and they read these things. And their hearts break within
them because they know they willingly pursued that course of ungodliness
all their lives in which their own family neighbors, relatives,
and friends are totally engulfed. Now then, can you imagine what
shouts of hallelujah must have gone up in their hearts, how
they must have screamed in their souls, bless God, oh glory to
God, as they read this next word. But we're bound to give thanks.
All the way 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 in the truth. A good many of you had been exactly in this position.
I recall when Bobby Merle, some of you others came to me, acknowledged this is where I
was. Now this is what Paul said, you'd still be there, except
for one thing, God chose you. God chose you. My whole family is engulfed in thick darkness. Right where I was and right where I would be today
except for one thing. I hurt for them. I do. My soul I hurt for them. But I've rejoiced in God's goodness. He chose me. Chose me to salvation. Chose me to salvation by the
regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. By sanctification of
the Spirit. Chose me to salvation through
belief of the truth. chose to save me by sending His
Word to me, and by sending His Spirit with His Word to awaken
and quicken me, grant me life and faith in Christ. Whereunto He called you by our
gospel. We come to preach the gospel
to you. Imagine Paul's boldness. Just
imagine a man alive, what kind of man he must have been. This
fellow was not one of your political preachers. He was not one of
these preachers that counts noses. And he didn't keep a tally sheet
to send back to the convention headquarters and let you know
how many baptisms we had this month or this year. No, Paul
was concerned about men's souls, not their money, and not what
he could get from them. And he came to Thessalonica,
a pagan, pagan Gentile city, where men worshipped everything
except God. Everything. And he found him
a place in the synagogue there, in the Jewish synagogue. Imagine
that! He walks into a Jewish synagogue.
And folks perceived that he has some knowledge of scriptures
and they said, would you like to speak to his brother? He said,
well, if you don't mind, I believe I will. And he stands up and speaks the
truth of God. Those fellows are standing there,
gritting their teeth, reaching for stones. We'll kill you before
you get out of here. And Paul goes right on preaching.
And the Jews said, we've had enough of that. The Gentiles
said, go over and preach to us. And Paul goes up to Gentiles
where they worship hideous looking things they call God. Worship
everything except God. Everything. And Paul stands up
and he says, fellas, I want to tell you about God. To tell you who He is. These
vanities, these vanities you call God are just vanities! I wish I had half the courage
that man had. I tell you what gave him courage. He believed
God. He believed God and spoke the
truth of God as one must stand to give account to God. And when he did, God blessed
him. And men and women who at first were ready to stone him, so mad
they could have killed him, now would give their own eyes for
him. Because he was a messenger of
grace in the hands of God to their souls. Look at verse 15. Stand fast. Hold the traditions
which you've been taught, whether by word, that is, whether I was
standing here talking to you personally or by our epistle,
whether I said it orally or said it in writing. Stand firm. Hold the traditions which you've
been taught. Now, this is what I say to you,
my sons and daughters in the faith my brothers and sisters
in Christ, in this day of wholesale apostasy,
in this day of spiritual darkness, famine, and utter perversion,
we who have been taught of God must hold fast the traditions,
not the traditions of the religious world, not the traditions of
mom and dad, Not the traditions of custom and superstition, but
the traditions of holy scripture and gospel truth. Let others
say what they will. Let them do what they will. For those of us who have experienced
the grace of God, hesitation, shifting, shrieking, shrieking,
evading, and compromise, would be treason to the Son of God. Treason to the Son of God. Should I be called upon tomorrow
to go to a Jewish synagogue and preach, and I simply talk to them about
law and religious ethics and Moses' teachings, and did not
faithfully, faithfully proclaim Jesus Christ the Lord to them.
It'd be treasonous on my part. Somebody asked me, what would
you preach if you were called on to preach in an Albanian church?
Don't need to worry about it happening. Say exactly what I preach. I'd
preach free grace as forcefully and as long as I could possibly
keep their attention. I'd preach it as plainly as I
could possibly preach it. We must stand fast. Paul writes
to Timothy and says, hold fast the form of sound words which
thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. And I say to you, hold fast that
form of sound words. Oh, I would to God you'd hear
me. I would to God somehow I could impress on you the earnestness
with which I preach this to you. If I drop dead before I get out
of this pulpit, hold fast what you've heard. Hold fast what
you've heard. Have nothing to do! with idolatrous
free will works religion. Nothing to do with it. As you
care for your soul and the glory of God, give no credence to free
willism. It is nothing but idolatry. We
believe and acknowledge Man's utter depravity because this
book teaches it and we've experienced it. We believe and acknowledge
and confess with joy God's sovereign election because this book teaches
it and we've experienced it. We believe and acknowledge Christ's
particular effectual redemption of our souls because this book
teaches it. God's glory demands it and our
souls have experienced it. We believe and acknowledge that
God's grace is sovereign and irresistible because had it not
been for God invading our hearts and closing us to approach unto
Him, we never would have. We believe and acknowledge that
every believer shall indeed persevere in grace and faith unto the end
because this book teaches it and we've experienced God holding
us by His grace. Now look at verse 16 and verse
17. This is Paul's benediction, his
inspired declaration of divine blessing upon God's elect. And I can't think of a better
way to conclude this sermon or a better note to give you to
carry home with you this morning than these words of blessedness.
This is my prayer for every one of you. This is my prayer for
you. And this is God's promise to
every believer, every sinner who trusts Christ alone as Savior
and Lord. Now, our Lord Jesus Christ himself,
and God, even our Father, which hath loved us. Isn't that so? The triune God hath loved us. It doesn't say, Merle, he loves
us, though that's truth. It says something far better. He hath loved us. And if ever he hath loved us,
for eternity it shall be declared, he hath loved us. Read on. And hath given us everlasting
consolation. The Lord God has given us everlasting
consolation through the everlasting gospel of his everlasting grace,
and good hope through grace. The Lord is my portion, saith
my soul, therefore will I hope in him. Thou hast called me to
hope upon thy word. Christ is my hope. That's all. That's all. May God then comfort your hearts
and establish you in every good word and work. For Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. Lindsay, you come listen
to him. Taffy, if you want to come on
and get ready for baptism. Kathy Pruitt wants to confess
Christ in Believer's Baptism, and we will rejoice in the opportunity
of sharing that ordinance with her, administering the ordinance
to her, and sharing in her confession of God's free grace in Christ.
If God's given you life and faith in Christ, and you want to confess
Him in Believer's Baptism, you let me know. We'll be delighted
to make arrangements as soon as possible.