I read about a minister one time
several years ago who was stricken ill, severe heart attack. He was almost my age in his late
forties, and lying there on the bed he said to a colleague, if
I ever get up off this bed, I'm going to have a Christ-centered
ministry. Now my friends, In the book of
II Thessalonians, we have a similar situation. The Thessalonians
had been disturbed by false teachers who had come to them and were
teaching that the coming of the Lord was at hand immediately. Christ was coming back, and that
right soon. And according to verse 2, these
people were shaken in their minds and they were troubled. They
even had forged letters from Paul. Somebody had written letters
to the church and forged Paul's name, that the Lord was coming
soon. And these people were shaken
and they were troubled to the point that some of them were
selling their businesses, they were quitting their jobs, they
were interrupting their homes. They were sidetracked from the
grace of God and from the ministry of the gospel. They were taken
up with this second coming to the point they were neglecting
their first love. And this is easy to do. And it
doesn't have to be, it doesn't have to be a book. It doesn't
have to be an attack on liberalism. It doesn't have to be prophecy.
It doesn't have to be doctrine. We can become occupied. I can
and you can. We can become occupied, and that
which occupies our talk, and that which occupies our conversation,
and that which occupies our thoughts, and that which occupies our activities,
to the point that the first love is forsaken, to the point that
we're more taken up with this issue whether it be doctrine,
or whether it be the ordinances, or whether it be a denomination,
or whether it be prophecy, or whatever it might be, or whether
it be conservatism. I think I can say that I am a
conservative. The word liberal is not a bad
word, though. I believe in liberal giving. But I do not want to be so taken
up in my activities and in my thoughts and in my conversation
to the point that I neglect that which God called me to do, and
that's to preach Christ. And I don't want us to neglect
as a church that which God called us to do, and that is to exalt
and magnify and worship and fellowship in and around the Lord Jesus
Christ. Paul said that over and over
again. God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I am determined to know nothing
among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified." And my message to you tonight
is the message of Paul to the Thessalonians, calling them back. Nothing wrong with prophecy in
its rightful place. Nothing wrong with fellowship
in its rightful place, nothing wrong with ordinances and doctrine
in its rightful place, nothing wrong with these things, but
calling us back, our minds and our conversation and our activities,
to the grace of God in Christ Jesus. This is our first love. God was
in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. And brethren, we encounter people
every day for the last time, and God forbid that our conversation,
and God forbid that our witness, and God forbid that our message
would be detrimental to their spiritual welfare rather than
edifying. I have preached so many messages
from this pulpit and other places to people who in a short time
after they heard that message went out to meet God. And we are those who must give
an account, not only this minister, but you too. Are our thoughts
centered on Christ? Are our activities centered on
Christ? Is our conversation Christ-centered? Are our minds on Christ Jesus? Have we been sidetracked? Now, here are four tremendous
themes of which Paul speaks in II Thessalonians 2.13, four tremendous
themes of which he reminds these people, four tremendous themes
on which and about which to rejoice and give thanks and put us back
on the main track. put us back on the main line.
First of all, in verse 13, 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul begins this way, But
we're bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
unto salvation. God hath chosen you. That's my
first thing. God hath chosen you. something
about which to rejoice, something in which to rejoice, something
that needs to be preached and proclaimed. Now, my friends,
let me make four statements about election. It's a word of which
the apostles were not ashamed. Our Lord was not ashamed of it.
The first statement about election is this. Election is truth. It
is truth. He says here, God hath chosen
you. God hath chosen you. It is true. If the people of God are called
the elect, then there must be an election. And the people of
God in the Scripture are called the elect. Christ called them
the elect. Turn to Mark chapter 13 with
me. Mark the 13th chapter. What I'm
saying is this. that if the people of God are
called in the Scripture the elect, then election must be true. And
Christ called them the elect. He says in Mark chapter 13, verse
20, And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no
flesh should be saved. But for the elect's sake whom
he had chosen, he hath shortened the days. Now look at verse 22. For false Christ and false prophets
shall rise and shall show signs and wonders to seduce, if it
were possible, even the elect. Now verse 27, And then shall
he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from
the four winds, from the uttermost parts of the earth to the uttermost
part of heaven. Now turn to Luke chapter 18.
Our Lord calls his people the elect. There are three times
he refers to them as the elect. And here in Luke 18, verse 7,
our Lord speaking again, And shall not God avenge his own
elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long
with them? In the book of Colossians, Paul
says, put on therefore as the elect of God vows of mercy. In Titus, the apostle Paul says
again, Paul a servant of God according to the faith of God's
elect. Peter says in his book, elect
according to the foreknowledge of God. John uses the word frequently. John says the elder to the elect
lady. Again he wrote, the church at
Babylon elected to gather with you. And again he said, the elect
sister. These men were not ashamed of
that word. I don't know why as a minister of God that I should
stand up here and when I use the word elect put my hand over
my mouth so nobody knows what I'm saying. I don't know why I should apologize
for a word that's used over and over and over again in God's
Word. It's used a whole lot more times than born again is used.
Many more times. Our Lord said in John 15, 16
to his disciples, this is just before he went to the cross,
in John chapter 15, verse 16, he said to them, you have not
chosen me, I chose you. You didn't choose me. Brethren,
we chose Him because He chose us first. We sought Him because
He sought us. We love Him because He loved
us. You didn't choose me, Christ
said, I chose you. And then here in John 15, 19,
He says, If you were of the world, the world would love His own.
But because you're not of the world, but I've chosen you out
of the world. Therefore the world hateth you. And then in John 17, if you'll
turn over there, here's our Lord's great high priestly prayer. Six
times, no less than six times, in this one prayer, no less than
six times, he refers to his people as those whom the Father hath
given me. Six times. He says in verse 2,
Thou hast given him the Son, power over all flesh, that he
should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given him.
In verse 6 he says, I have manifested Thy name unto the men which Thou
gavest me out of the world. He says in verse 9, I pray for
them, I pray not for the world, I pray for them which Thou hast
given me. In verse 11, he says in the latter part, Father, keep
through thine own name those whom thou hast given me. Verse
12, while I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy
name, those that thou gavest me. And then in verse 24, Father,
I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where
I am. Now if you'll turn back to the
book of John, chapter 6, In John 5 it is, John 6, and you want
to know the will of God? The Lord Jesus Christ tells us
what the will of God is. He tells us why He came to this
earth. He tells us what His mission
was, what His task was to perform. In John 6, verse 38, He said,
I came down from heaven, not to do my will, but the will of
Him that sent me, and this is His will. Now that ought to get anybody's
attention that has any interest in spiritual things at all. I
came down from heaven not to do my will, but the will of him
that sent me, and this is his will, that of all which he hath given
me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the
last day. Now whether we're preachers or
whether we claim to be believers, church members, deacons, elders,
whatever we are, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I'm not ashamed
of the grace of God. I'm not ashamed of the purpose
of God. I'm not ashamed of the word of God. And I intend with
all my heart to preach it and keep back nothing profitable
unto you. And election's true. Now it's
true. And Paul said in Acts 13, 48,
"...as many as were ordained to eternal life believe." And
I want you to listen to a scripture over in John 10. You say, I don't
like that, I will not have that. Well, I will not believe that. You turn to John 10, and some
more folks said that too. In John 10, verse 24, "...then
came the Jews round about it." And they said to him, How long
are you going to make us doubt? John 10, 24. If you are the Christ,
tell us plainly. And he said, I told you, and
you didn't believe me. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. But you believe not, because
you're not of my sheep. That's why you don't believe. As I said unto you, my sheep
will hear my voice. My sheep will hear my voice. Somebody told Roland Hill one
time, said, You believe in elections so strongly, why don't you just
preach to the elect? He said, If you'll put a mark
on their back, I will. I don't know who they are, but
I know they are. I don't know where they are, but I know they
are. I don't know when they'll come,
but they'll come. And I don't know when they'll
hear the gospel, but they'll hear it. They'll hear it, because
election's true. And not only is it true, but
look back at the text. He said, God hath from the beginning
chosen you. Election's eternal. It's true,
not a question about it. It's true. And secondly, election
is eternal. I thank God for you, beloved
brethren, because God hath from the beginning, from the beginning. Can you tell me when the beginning
was? Can you tell me when the beginning was? I think I can
tell you when it was. Turn to John, chapter 1. This
is all the information I have on it right here. In John, chapter
1, it says, in the beginning, just like it does in Genesis
1, 1, in the beginning was the Word, that's Christ. And the
Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the same was in
the beginning with God, and all things were made by Him, and
without Him was not anything made that was made, and that's
when He chose me, in the beginning. Before the creation of this world,
before the creation of the heavens, before the creation of Adam,
That's when he chose me. In the beginning. God hath from
the beginning chosen you. Now watch this. Election thirdly
is true. It's eternal. And thirdly, it's
personal. God hath chosen you. Somebody said, I believe God
has chosen nations but not people. What are nations but people?
Nations are made up of people. You can't have a nation and you
can't have people. God has chosen you. He says to Jeremiah, turn
to Jeremiah chapter 1, listen to this, in Jeremiah chapter
1 he says this, verse 5, the word of the Lord came to me saying,
verse 5, listen, before I formed you in the belly, I knew you,
I knew you. Now brethren, this word here,
I knew you, is that intimate personal relationship, that love
of as the old-timers used to say, complacency. That love of
acceptance. Before I formed thee in the belly,
I knew thee. He said to those people at the
judgment in Matthew 7.22, I never knew you. Now, wait a minute. The Lord of glory knows everything.
Yes, he knew their birth. They couldn't have been born
without him. He knew their lives. He knew their death. He knew
their destiny, but he didn't know them. And he meant by that
he never knew them in that personal, intimate, redeeming way. But he said, Jeremiah, before
you were ever formed in the belly, there was between me and you
a covenant relationship. I knew you. I knew you. And before you came out of the
womb, I set you apart, I sanctified you, and I ordained you a prophet
to the nations. I knew you. Paul says in Galatians
chapter 1, turn over there with me, Galatians the first chapter,
Paul was, what, about 40 years old when God brought him to knowledge
of the gospel? Paul was over 40 years of age
when he came to knowledge of Christ, when he was, as we say,
saved, when he came to know the Redeemer. But he was God's child
long before then. He says in Galatians 1 verse
15, when it pleased God, And that's when you're going to be
saved, when it pleases God. When it pleased God, who separated
me from my mother's womb. Paul said, when I was killing
Christians, I was one of God's own. When I was spewing out the
name of Christ with the greatest hatred, I was one of God's own.
When I was going up and down the country trying to annihilate
the name and influence of Jesus Christ, I was one of God's own,
because He separated me from my mother's womb. and it pleased
him to call me by his grace." Election's personal. Personal. Now turn with me to the book
of Romans. In the book of Romans, chapter 9, and there's been a
lot of battles fought and a lot of blood shed over this, but
it's still in God's Word. It's still in God's Word. And
God give us ministers and pastors and teachers with enough courage
and enough boldness and enough concern for the glory of God
and less concern for their salaries and their fame and their popularity
to preach God's Word. In Romans 9 it says here in verse
10, And not only this, but when Rebekah also had conceived by
one, even our father Isaac, The children being not yet born,
neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of
God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him
that calleth. It was said to her, The elder
shall serve the younger." That's God's decree. That's God's decree. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. Now what have you got to say
to this? You better be careful. The Master says there's unrighteousness
with God. Paul said, God forbid. He said
to Moses, I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will
have compassion on whom I'll have compassion. So then it's
not of him that willeth. We're born not of the will of
the flesh, not of the will of man. It's not of him that willeth. It's not of him that runneth.
It's of God that showeth mercy. Salvations of the Lord. Salvations
of the Lord from beginning to end. He's the author and finisher
of our faith. Faith's the gift of God. Repentance
is the gift of God. Salvations of the Lord in its
planning and in its ultimate perfection and everything in
between. And it's personal. And then turn back to the text.
Now listen to this. And Paul rejoices in it. Every
time you find Paul preaching on election, he's rejoicing.
Election's not your enemy, it's your friend. Without it, nobody
would be saved. Election's not your enemy. You
better thank God He did choose you. You never would have chosen
Him. You better thank God He did call you. You never would
have called. Everybody in this world is going
to hell if he can. That's right. You know anybody seeking the
Lord? I don't. And then the last place, election
is true, no question about that. It's true, like one preacher
said, not too far from here, I believe it, but if I preached
it, I'd split my church. That's the first sermon I'd preach
next Sunday morning. I'd like to know who God's people
are, wouldn't you? The first sermon, and that's
not being obnoxious, that's just being honest. If something in
this Word will offend you, then I've got, I owe it to your soul
to preach it to you. Like I said to one of my dearest
friends, I want to be your friend, and I'm asking you to let me
be your friend. But I didn't ask you to let me be your preacher.
God made me your preacher. God made me your preacher. I
didn't ask you to let me be your pastor. God made me your pastor.
And my first obligation is to preach this Word, whether it
offends, whether it hurts, whether it drives everybody away. It's
true. And election is eternal. God
hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Elect according
to the foreknowledge of God, chosen in Him before the foundation
of the world. God Almighty says He declares
the end from the beginning, saying, My counsel shall stand, I will
do all my good pleasure. And then election is personal.
God chose people. He wrote some names in the Lamb's
Book of Life. He didn't write numbers, He wrote
names. He didn't write down and say, there's going to be a whole
lot of people here. He wrote down who they were. Moses called
it the book which thou hast written. John called it in the book of
Revelations, the book of the Lamb slain before the foundation
of the world. And then election. Turn back
to 2 Thessalonians. He said, God hath chosen you.
God hath from the beginning chosen you. And God hath chosen you. To what? Well, a lot of folks
want to make it read to service, but that's not what it says.
It says to salvation. That's what it says. It says
God has chosen you to salvation. Redemption, forgiveness of sin,
eternal life, a vital union with Christ. That's what he's chosen
you to. And this election always produces that result. Watch these
two statements here. God has chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. My friends, there are two infallible
marks of election. You want to make your calling
and election sure? I'll tell you what the two infallible
marks are. Sanctification and faith. Those
are the two marks of election. First of all, every elect person
who is chosen by the Father who is redeemed by the Son, who is
called by the Spirit, receives spiritual life, receives spiritual
hunger, receives spiritual graces, receives spiritual holiness,
every child of God whom God saved. If you claim to be one of the
elect and you are not holy, you are not one of the elect. If
you claim to be one of the elect and you're not sanctified by
the Holy Spirit, you're not one of the elect. If any man hath
not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of his. If any man hath
not the fruit of the Spirit, he's none of his. The fruit of
the Spirit is love, joy, humility, meekness. All these things are
fruits of the Holy Ghost who dwells within us, and we grow
day by day in those graces and in that fruit. And then every elect person,
secondly, believes the truth. He believes the truth as it is
in Christ Jesus. He believes the word of God.
I can stand here in this pulpit and preach to him anything in
this book, and he'll sit there, though wounded by it, though
cut by it, though convicted by it, he'll sit there and say,
Amen, I believe that. I love it, too. I love it. Christ said there are two marks
of my sheep. They hear my voice and they follow
me. He brands them on the ear and
he brands them on the foot. And they hear his word and they
love it and they believe it and they walk in his footsteps. And
His commands are their love. That's exactly what they want
to do. They want to do what God says. They don't seek the counsel
of men. They don't seek the counsels
of men. They seek the counsel of God. What does God say? What does the Lord say? I want
to do what the Lord wants me to do. Thy will be done, not
my will. The essence of sin and the essence
of holiness. Now, we talk a lot about holiness.
The essence of sin is found in the first sin. When Satan said
five times, I will be like God, I will exalt my throne above
the stars of God, I will, I will, I will, that's sin. That's the
basis of sin. I know today preachers have cut
it up into certain things. If you do this, you sin. If you
do that, you sin. If you do something else, you
sin. You don't have to do anything to sin. Not a thing in this world. You can sit in a wheelchair,
paralyzed from the neck down, and not see, and sin. Because
sin is a will. It's my will. It's what I want
to do. It doesn't matter what God wants.
It's what I want to do. That's sin. You know what the
essence of holiness is? Christ prayed it in the Garden
of Gethsemane when he said, Not my will, but thy will be done.
I don't care what it costs, I don't care how it hurts, thy will be
done." Now that's holiness. And you can cut it up into picture
shows and smoking and playing cards or anything you want to
cut it up into, but you're not within spitting distance of sin
or holiness either one. That's right. Sin is a will,
the human will against the divine will. And holiness is submission
to the divine will. And that takes place in here. I got amused one time when a
fellow asked me, he said, wonder how Moses was so holy when he
didn't have any picture shows not to go to. That's a good question,
isn't it? All right, here's the second
theme, and I've been too long on that one, but let me get on
the next one, verse 14. God hath chosen you. Isn't that
a grand and glorious thing? Thank God. That's something to
talk about. That's something to rejoice in. That's something
to preach about. That's something to get happy
about. God hath chosen me. Pass me not, O gentle Savior.
Hear my humble cry, while on others thou art calling. Don't
pass me by. Don't leave me to myself. That's
all God has to do, send you to hell, just leave you alone. Just
leave you alone, that's all. It's not a matter of whether
you're elected to heaven or elected to hell. If God just leaves you
alone, you'll go to hell. Because you're a child of hell,
that's what the scripture says. Just leave you alone, just leave
you to yourself. And I'm talking about you believers, all God
has to do to put you on a shelf, just leave you alone. You'll
wind up there. Just leave you alone, just leave you to your
thoughts. Which are not his, leave you to your way. Which
are not his, leave you to your wisdom. Which is not his, just
leave you alone. And you'll wind up on the scrap
heap, I guarantee you. And I'm talking about myself,
too. What I say about you, I say double about me. All right, verse
14, here's another grand theme. God had called you. Now, brethren,
I want you to listen to these four statements. Election is
not salvation. Election is unto salvation. Secondly, election is not the
Savior. I'm not saved because I'm elect.
I'm saved because Christ died for me. Now, don't you ever forget
that. Once you make a God out of election,
Christ is the Lord. Don't even make this great thing,
don't even make it a toy with which you are amazed or amused. Election is not the Savior, Christ
is. And let me remind you the third
thing, that men are not forced into the kingdom of God. They
come willingly. Whosoever will, let him take
the water of life. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. There is not any man who is going
to heaven against his will. Just as when Noah finished that
ark, God said, Noah, come into the ark. He wasn't pushed in,
shoved in, dragged in. He went in just as willingly
as those people stayed out. And anybody that wanted to could
have gone in. And anybody here who wants to
be saved can be, if you want to. I don't have any trouble with
whosoever will. My problem is with all these whosoever wants
around here. They want. Christ said, you will not come
to me that you might have life. Come unto me, I'll give you rest.
I'm the door. Any man enter in, he shall be
saved. Any man whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I guarantee you. Men are not forced into the kingdom
of God. They're not saved whether they
want to be or not. Anybody who's saved wants to be. He wills to
be. He desires to be. And let me
remind you the fourth thing. Our Lord has no unbelieving people.
I heard a preacher say on the radio from Cincinnati a few years
ago, Doris and I were riding down the highway listening to
him preach, and he said this. And both of us know he said it
because she turned to me and said, Is that what he said? I
said, That's what he said. He said, I want to comfort all of
God's little children. who have loved ones who died
without hearing or believing the gospel. If they're one of
the elect, they'll be in heaven. There ain't a word of truth in
that. That's not so. No man's going to heaven who
didn't hear the gospel, and no man going to heaven who didn't
believe the gospel, and no man going to heaven who didn't love
the gospel, and no man going to heaven who didn't receive
the gospel, because the gospel's Christ. And that's saying a man
can be saved without Christ, and that's not so. This is eternal
life, that they might know thee and thy Son. He that hath the
Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. But how are they going to call
on Him in whom they haven't believed? And how are they going to believe
on Him of whom they haven't heard? And how are they going to hear?
without a preacher. And how in the world are they
going to preach if God doesn't send them? Romans 10, 13-16, 15. He says here, God
hath from the beginning chosen you, but verse 14 says He called
you by our gospel. By our gospel. Just like He called
Matthew, follow me. Just like He called Peter, James,
and John. Just like He called Zacchaeus.
Just like He called Paul. God had chosen by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. And anybody who doesn't
believe is not going to be saved. And I'll tell you something else.
The Holy Spirit is the agent of the new birth, the Word of
God's seed. The Word of God's seed. And that
Word is Christ. Of his own will begat he us through
the Word of truth. And a man does not have spiritual
life who hasn't heard the gospel. Impossible. Impossible. Christ is life. You can't have
life without Christ. And look at 1 Thessalonians 1.
Listen to this. 1 Thessalonians 1, verse 4. Now listen to this carefully.
Knowing brethren, beloved, your election of God. Oh, that's what
I want to know. Am I one of their legs? Huh?
That's what I want to know. It's true, and it's eternal,
and it's personal, and you can know it. How do you know it,
Paul? Because our gospel, the gospel
of Christ's incarnation, the gospel of Christ's perfect obedience,
the gospel of Christ's sacrificial death, his substitutionary work
on that cross in our place and in our stead, bearing our sin,
Christ being buried and rising again the third day. Christ our
mediator at the right hand of God. That's the gospel. It's
Christ. And it didn't come to you in
word only. That's what scares me to death.
I don't want people I preach to just to hear some words. I
don't want them to memorize some doctrine. I want it to come to
them in power. Life-giving power. regenerating
power, awakening, quickening power. Our gospel came to you
in power. It came to you in the Holy Ghost.
It came to you in much assurance. It was the living Word. That's
how it came to you. And then Paul said, That's how
I know you're saved. And that's how I know you're one of the
elect. Now turn back to the text. Let me give you the third theme.
2 Thessalonians 2, he said God had chosen you. And secondly,
he said God called you. And I must be brief, but in verse
16, watch this. Now, our Lord Jesus Christ Himself,
oh my, Himself, Christ Himself. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And God, even our Father, hath
loved us. Oh, think of Him. God loves me. I can imagine Him loving the
old prophets. whose eyes were rivers of tears,
David beloved, gallant, bold, brave, affectionate. I can imagine
him loving Elijah and Elisha and Moses, oh Moses, how wonderful. I can imagine him loving the
apostles, Peter and James and John. I can imagine him loving
some of those old reformers like Calvin, and Luther, and Whitefield,
and Zankeus, and old men who died for what they believed. But our Lord Jesus Christ himself,
and God even the Father, loved us. Us, Paul said. You Thessalonians, you Ashlanders,
you Yankees, God loved you. God loved you. God loved you. Even Christ himself. And it's
more than pity. You can pity a stranger. It's
more than mercy. You can have mercy on a beast.
It's more than benevolence. You can give charity to people
you've never seen. This love is a personal, discriminating,
intimate, particular, fervent, unchangeable, everlasting love. You'll never have loved anybody
like God loves you. You're incapable of loving like
God loves you. We're supposed to love each other
as God loved us. We're supposed to forgive as
God forgave us. We're supposed to be kind as
God was kind to us. Charles Spurgeon said, The love
of God for me is a fitter theme for contemplation than for explanation. The love of God is to be felt,
it can't be defined. Who can speak of His mighty love?
In what language can I sing of its sweetness? Love must be felt
in the heart, it can never be learned from the dictionary.
The love of God must be shed abroad in the heart, it can never
be memorized in the head. God loves me. How can I not love
even the most unlovely, huh? If God could love me in all my
wretchedness and all my rebellion, if God can set his love upon
me in that while I was yet a sinner, an enemy, why can't I love other
people? Maybe I can't because because I've never really seen
his love for me." Now look at verse 16. God had chosen us,
God had called us, God had loved us. And verse 16, "...and he
hath given us everlasting consolation." Brethren, run over in your mind
some of this consolation. This is what I like to talk about.
I love to preach about this. I love to talk about it. I love
to think about it. God has forgiven all my sins
because Christ died in my stead. My sins are all forgiven. Happy
is the man to whom God will not charge sin. Happy is that man. How can I get down in the doldrums
of depression when God has forgiven all my sins? And God loves me and he'll never
change in that love. Having loved his own, he loved
them to the end, the scripture says. And the promises of God
to me do not depend on my faithfulness. The promises of God depend on
my position in Christ and the merits of his Son. And this is
something I have to tell, I had to tell myself this this afternoon
and I got real upset. All things work together for
my good. I have his word for that. I don't
care what it is. Now that ought to make me happy.
And that ought to give me consolation and comfort. and I can cast all
my care on him, he cares for me." He cares for me. I can come boldly before his
throne any time I want to, through a rent veil, and I can talk to
my Father. And then he says he hath given
us consolation and a good hope. of good hope, that when I die,
I'm going to wake in His likeness, and my eternal immortal soul
shall join my resurrected body, and I'm going to be like Christ.
That good hope is in His grace. See it there? He has given us
a good hope, and the word through is in, in grace. not in my merit,
not in my works, not in my righteousness, in grace. Grace, grace, and more
grace. Our Father, thank you for your
word. Thank you for the comfort, consolation
of your word. Thank you for the correction
of thy word, the conviction of thy word. It smites us, humbles
us, and strips our old self-righteous rags from off us, knocks our
foundations of flesh out from under us. But oh, what a resting
place, what a soft, soft bed in which to lie. The Word of
God. We thank Thee for the promises
in Christ. Thou hast chosen us, Thou hast
loved us, Thou hast called us. And Thou hast given us everlasting
comfort. Friends can come and say kind
words, but after they're gone, we're alone. But Thy Word will
never leave us. These promises never leave us.
And we have a good hope, as good as the throne of God, as good
as the purpose of God, as good as the Word of God, a good hope
in grace. And we can say with David, I
shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. Thank you,
Lord, for saving our souls. Through Christ our Lord we pray.
Amen.