Now let's turn over to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. And what we saw there In all those passages, the contrast between the light and the darkness, the truth and the lie, the salvation of God and the condemnation of God, we see here in the instruction given to us by God himself through the Apostle Paul. And we've noted this contrast a number of times. But I want to focus on this again. So let's pick it up. And again, I'm talking about how God is God sends strong delusion, but he also to many, but he sends the truth of the gospel to Israel, to Jacob. And that's what we just read. So let's pick it up. right at verse five. And I want to read all the way into the beginning of chapter three, because it says in verse three of chapter three, but the Lord is faithful who established you and guard you from the evil one. And that's really ultimately where where the sermon goes. God sends because he is faithful. So now, brethren, beginning of chapter two, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means, for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power signs and lying wonders and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not believe the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie. that they all may be condemned who do not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the spirit and belief in the truth to which he called you by our gospel. for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast, wage war, right? Stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and our God and father who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. Finally, brethren pray for us that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified just as it is with you. And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful who will establish you and guard you from the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, both that you do and will do the things we command you. Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ. Paul asks for prayer from the Thessalonians that the word of God would run swiftly and would gather in all the elect. That's really what's being said, that it may be glorified, that that may run swiftly and be glorified just that it is with you, that it may send forth for the purpose. One purpose it sent forth is for the gathering in of the elect. And so God sends forth the word, sends forth the truth of what Jesus Christ has accomplished, the redemption and atonement. that Jesus Christ has accomplished for the chosen people of God just as it has been promised in the Old Testament. He sends forth that word and uses that word and the preaching of that word in the context of the preaching of that word where he gives life to his elect who are by nature Children of wrath just like the others and who are dead separated from him in trespasses and sins and he quickens them. He makes them alive. He reconciled, in their own person, He reconciles them to Himself, having reconciled them in the blood of Jesus Christ, having purposed that reconciliation before time began, to demonstrate His mercy and His grace, to the praise of His glorious grace, as Paul says in Ephesians 1. And God is faithful to do this. And so he sends forth got Paul praise that to the ask them for prayer that this message would go and would go forth and gather in all of the elect of God because and and that they would be delivered even from the most subtle of delusions. The most subtle of perversions. that's what he means when he says that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men for not all have faith. Of course he's talking about in the context of the church there are those that who are imposters and who use the church and use the flock for their own gain and present themselves as ministers of righteousness, but actually are ministers of Satan. And he says, for not all have faith. And so he reminds them that the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you. Now, previously, we see this contrast. where in verse 11, God sends strong delusion. That they would believe the lie, that those who are purposed for condemnation would believe the lie. So on the one hand, he sends strong delusion through Satan, through the working of Satan, with all power, signs and lying wonders, but God intentionally, purposely sends strong delusion. He tells us that imposters will come. He tells us that false preachers will come, that they will seek to deceive even the elect if it were possible. Well, he could not tell us that. He would not tell us that unless he's purposed that they would come. He's caused them to come. Through them he sends strong delusion that takes away many, because he's purposed that they would be taken away. But he's purposed that and sends strong delusion to the end that, as I've said, and we've noted many times, that as we are kept, as we persevere, as we are preserved, you could say it becomes increasingly magnified, increasingly known through experience that God also has sent the Holy Spirit to us and he has powerfully sent the gospel, the good news of our salvation in Jesus Christ that is final, that is accomplished and cannot be changed. and he preserves every one of his sheep in the truth of Jesus Christ. His preservation, his keeping is not in contradiction to his atonement and his redemption, which is not in contradiction to his statutes and judgments and what he has purposed. What God the Father has purposed, the Son accomplishes and the Spirit applies. And it's not without, there's no contradiction in it. There's not a paradox. There's not a mystery to the regenerate elect. It's a mystery to the lawless. It's called the mystery of lawlessness. They're in a mystery. But he said, and he sends them strong delusion, even as he, even as they hear the truth, they never hear it savingly. They never hear it in a regenerate state, brought into regenerate state. They hear it, but they twist it. They use it to justify and pacify themselves thinking that they believe it, but they, they actually are in a delusion. We're going to see that in a second. So he sends strong delusion, but he also sends salvation. He sends the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, spiritually, truly to his people and reveals his righteousness to them by the spirit. And so he sends both. That's the contrast. He sends Both. Now we see this in chapter one. Note this in chapter one of this same book. And I caught this, I was listening to this this morning, and sometimes I, nice, the device, you know, the device we have, you can pull up a chapter and you can listen to it with your phone. And notice what it says here in chapter one. We're going to pick it up right at verse four. He says of the same book, second Thessalonians, so that we ourselves, most of you, verse four of chapter one among the churches of God, for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God. Now, just pause a moment. He says, that he's thanking God and even boasts of the church, among other churches, boasting God, of course, for their patience and their faith in enduring the persecutions and tribulations. And the fact that they experience these persecutions and tribulations and that they endure through them is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God. And so that righteous judgment of God has two sides. It's that the elect would persevere through persecutions and tribulations, which he goes on to say, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer. So there's that, the righteous judgment of God, the righteous purpose that God has purposed is that they would be born again by the spirit of God And that they would persevere and we would persevere through persecutions, loneliness, mocking, scorn, name-calling, all manner of things that the religious people say about the regenerate elect and the church and despise. And we were thinking about that earlier today as I was talking with someone here just this morning. And as we endure that, that endurance has been purposed by God. And that is one expression of the righteous judgment of God, that we would be counted worthy of the gospel and suffer with Christ. Just as Christ suffered, we would also suffer. They called him evil. They thought they were doing God a service when they crucified him. Now that's one side of the righteous judgment of God, but look at the other side of the righteous. Same thing happening. There's persecutions and tribulations, but not, but, and so God, since he has determined there would be persecutions and tribulations, he's determined that there would be individuals who commit those or who bring those things about. Persecutions and tribulations. and their judgment that they will receive because of the persecutions and tribulations that they bring upon the church is also manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God. In our lives, right now, as you walk in this world and you experience the tribulation and the persecutions because of the truth of Jesus Christ. What you are witnessing is manifest evidence. Manifest means it's made known. It's evidence of the righteous judgment of God. Keeping his people through what he has determined to be the wickedness of those who persecute. And that's what he says. Since it is a righteous thing with God, verse six, to repay with tribulation those who trouble you and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. So God is sending strong delusion, but he's also sending salvation. And both of those things are manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God. Now let's look at some examples of that. And, you know, I'm gonna mention this one because we can go and read it, but we're familiar with the ministry of Micaiah, right? During the days of Ahab. And what Micaiah says there, when all the false prophets are speaking to Ahab and Jehoshaphat and, you know, gets the horns out, go up, go up against the Syrians and you will gore them, you will win the battle. And in Second Chronicles 18, and of course, Micaiah says, I saw the Lord sitting on his throne and said, who will send a lie to Ahab? And so God, through the false prophets, sent a lie to Ahab. And Ahab hears the truth from Micaiah, but he doesn't believe it. He can't believe it. It's been purposed that he wouldn't believe it. that he would believe the lie. And he hated what he heard from, from Micaiah. And so he went up and he was killed in the battle. Ahab was just a random arrow. Look at another place that we might not think about. Look at John 11. We're familiar with this section, but let's just, in light of what we're talking about, where God is sending strong delusion and His righteous judgment of those who are condemned. Let's pick up at verse 45 of John 11. And many of the Jews who had come to Mary and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him. But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus did. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, what shall we do? For this man works many signs. If we let him alone like this, everyone will believe in him and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation. And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them you know nothing at all nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people and not that the whole nation should perish now this he did not say on his own authority But being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation. And not for that nation only, but also that he would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad. That's the world being spoken of in John three, all the believing ones. They're the ones who are scattered throughout the nations and God brings them to the truth of the, through the preaching of the gospel. But consider this, look at this. Here we have Caiaphas. And he makes what is a very pragmatic and expedient statement. Much like, I thought of this when you brought up the situation where the woman said to Joab, right, it was Joab, said, what are you basically, what are you after? How do we save ourselves? He said, you know, we're here to get, what was the man's name? What's that? Sheba. Yeah, Sheba. And they said, OK, well, it's expedient that we one one man should die and save the rest of us. And Caiaphas is saying the same thing. He's saying, look, you know, using logic, practical. You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us. That one man should die for the people and not that the whole nation should perish. Our situation is that this Jesus Christ is stirring up, stirring up, he's causing things to be disrupted among the people, among the nation. He's working many signs. He's preaching and teaching. People are following him. They're following the miracles. They're amazed at what he can do. He's causing disruption. He's challenging the authorities and they're thinking, well, how do we put an end to this? If we don't put an end to this, the Romans will come and they will put an end to this. They'll put an end to us. They let us do our thing as long as we are under their thumb and they can control us. But when things get out of control, they're going to march in with their armies and they're going to put a stop to this. And it will be rather ugly. The authorities, the Jewish authorities are saying, even though they, and they hated the Romans. And so Caiaphas says, look, it is profitable for us. It is, the right thing for us to do. It is useful for us that this one man should die for the people. I mean, if he dies and the people are saved and not that the whole nation should perish. Now, from the perspective of the flesh, that seemed right. That seemed helpful. That seemed good. That seemed accurate. And really, it was. They put Jesus to death. And as far as Jesus was concerned, by and large, things settle down. And so that was a true statement. And look how the scriptures speak of that statement. Now this he did not say on his own authority, but being high priest that year, he prophesied That means he spoke the truth of Jesus Christ regarding the elect in all history, and we read that, and that is encouragement, that is establishing, that God is using even this unregenerate man to speak the truth of what Jesus Christ has accomplished for the elect, and for us, For us, God is expressing faithfulness in sending us the truth and expressing his righteous judgment of salvation for all of the children of promise. The same statement. But to those who are not regenerate, the example being those in the days of Caiaphas, they're not regenerate, they hear the same words And that is a strong delusion to them that they should carry out what Caiaphas says, who's a religious man. And they would regard him as a religious leader and their act of killing the Christ, murdering the Christ for them is a religious act. And so the same statement that Caiaphas makes is for the one God sending strong delusion that they should believe the lie, which is self-interest, self-preservation, self-salvation. Expressed in the sense that, well, if this one man dies, the rest of us will be saved. And so that's what they go on and do. God sending that strong delusion. But the same statement for the regenerate elect of God, ultimately for all the elect of God, is God proclaiming, he was prophesying, right? Caiaphas was prophesying. God proclaiming the truth of Jesus Christ for the encouragement and the benefit and the preservation of his people. So God is faithful in both. In the one statement, In the one statement, he's faithful to bring about the circumstances to work out what he has determined beforehand, the statutes and judgment to bring about the condemnation that he will pour out on the unbelieving who do not believe the truth, but believe the lie. They do not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. And at one and the same time, he is sending forth his son in the gospel, in the truth of Jesus Christ. And so the faithfulness of God is both, you can say both ways. It's expressed in all things. The faithfulness of God is expressed, and that's exactly what we see in 2 Thessalonians. Now back to 2 Thessalonians. He says He sends strong delusion, but He also says He sends the Gospel. He sends the Gospel. We saw that in John 3, where Jesus Christ says, let me turn to John 3. For God did not send his son into the world, verse 17. For God did not send. God sent his son. God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world. That world is all of what ultimately are the believing ones. All those born of the flesh and born of the spirit. That's what he says earlier. All the elect of God, God did not send his son into the world to condemn them. He sent his son into the world to condemn the other nations. Again, both things are happening at one and the same time. And that's the way it is all the time. It's the way it is today. God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him would be saved. That word might means would be saved. They would be saved by the righteous work of the son, establishing righteousness in the flesh, going to the place of death and bearing the iniquity and shame of the elect that he might work out the atonement that satisfied the justice of God and be raised because of their justification. For God did not send his son to the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Could also say, for God did not send his son into the world, or we can say it like this, for God did send his son into the world to condemn the world. Could be said that way. Different world. Isn't Jesus Christ going to condemn the world? He's returning. He's not returning to redeem. He's returning to condemn. To judge. That means to condemn. So this first time he came, he didn't come to judge the nations. He came the first time, 2000 years ago, he came to redeem, but he is coming back and he is coming to condemn the world, all the world, the world of the wicked. And even his first time, you could say was a, well, he even says that the rule of this world is condemned. So it didn't happen yet in time, but it's happened. All those not included in union with Christ by the father at the cross, at his death, they are condemned already. They will not believe. God will send them strong delusion in various ways, and they will not believe. They will not receive the love of the truth. God is faithful. God is faithful. So he sent his son into the world, not to condemn the elect, but to save the elect. And he sent his son into the world, and will send his son into the world to condemn. the wicked. Look at Romans 8. You know this. I'm not telling you anything you don't know, anything you haven't heard. This is a reminder to meditate on the faithfulness of God. If there was one sin that's a surprise to God, one act by a wicked person that would be a surprise to God, that somehow was not something that he caused and he ordained, then how could it be that God could promise to be faithful? He couldn't promise. He couldn't be faithful. He couldn't promise that he would be faithful. Romans 8, I keep saying John, but Romans 8. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin. He condemned sin in the flesh that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit, who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit. We also see that in, and I noted this this morning too, when I was listening through Thessalonians, just turn to 1 Thessalonians again, or this first chapter in 2 Thessalonians, this caught my eye too. In verse 11, now we're at 2 Thessalonians 1.11. Therefore, we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness and the work of faith with power. Now we can read right over that, but let me just take out one section for emphasis. And fulfill all the good pleasure of the work of faith with power. The truth is that the work of faith with power is His work. His work of faith. And fulfill all the good pleasure of His work of faith with power. And so when it says, he condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit, means who do not walk according to the power of the human mind, the human intellect, the human putting together of a proposition, the human repenting, human believing, human action, human assent, human acceptance, human works, human anything, but according to the spirit. It's the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words I speak you are spirit and they are life. So the working of faith with power is the working of the spirit in the heart and mind of the elect. It is a gift of God to those who are regenerated by the spirit and they have confidence in that Jesus Christ has delivered them, is delivering them and will deliver them. because God is faithful to work out His righteous judgment of salvation. He sends His Son and He sends the truth of His Son to His people, to those that He loves, as an expression, as the expression, in contrast to his sending delusion to the vessels of wrath, he sends the truth as the expression of his righteous judgment of salvation. And that's why Paul thanks the Lord for his brethren. And he reminds them in verse 16, now may our Lord Jesus Christ, I'm back to second Thessalonians 2, 16. He says, now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and our God and father who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace. He hasn't given us delusion. He hasn't given us what is expedient for us to save ourselves. He hasn't preached the gospel that we would use the truth of Jesus Christ to present ourselves before God as believing the right way. No, he has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, by the election of grace. May he comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work and where he's going, what he says. In verse three, and this is this is the point. That God is faithful. He is faithful. But the Lord is faithful. He is faithful to send strong delusion. He is faithful to keep his people from that strong delusion. He is faithful to preserve them. And the more he preserves them in the truth, the more crazy they appear to the world. The world doesn't know the judgments of God, they cannot know the judgments of God. And so, of course, the more we Those judgments are worked out in the experience of the church the crazier we look to the world. Especially the religious authorities of the world who take the name of Jesus Christ to themselves. God is faithful in that too. He's faithful in sending them strong delusion. But the Lord is faithful. Brothers and sisters, the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from Satan with all power signs and all of his power signs and lying wonders. That's the connection. But the Lord is faithful who will establish you and guard you from the evil one. He has done that for us. That's why we are in this place. That's why we worship him here. That's why we are separated from those that we once called brethren, because the Lord is faithful. The Lord is faithful to expose the imposters. to expose the hidden contradictions of their doctrine and to continue to nourish us as we grow and have our senses exercised to discern between good and evil. He is faithful to establish and to guard all of his children from the scheming from the scheming, and from the mystery of lawlessness of the evil one. And that is our confidence before Him. That we gather in this place, we gather in this place, worshiping God and His faithfulness. That He is actively now, In our lives, he is working out his righteous judgments. We see it in the lives of people who are under the delusion of the lie. And we see it in our brethren. who know and love the truth. And we see in ourselves who know and love the truth by the power of God. What a rejoicing. We are obligated to give thanks to you, brethren, beloved by God, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation. And God, from the beginning, chose them to receive the delusion of self-righteousness. And God is just, and He is the Savior. There is no other. There is no other. They worship an idol who cannot speak, who does not exist. They worship a reflection of themselves. They are as blind as the idol they worship. They can't hear any more than the idol they worship. And they can't save. And that idol doesn't save because there's only one. He's the only one. He is the only one. Let's stand together and let's pray. Oh, Lord God, we thank you for this encouragement in your word that it's recorded for our preservation by the spirit, by the powerful, your powerful spirit. Salvation is of the Lord, Father, Son and Spirit. We marvel. At the simplicity of Christ. We marvel that we should know this, something that is so simple, but utterly unreachable, unattainable by the strength of the creature. God You are praiseworthy. You are high above the heavens. You are holy, holy, holy. And we who fear you bow before you and worship. Praise the Lord. Through the ministry and the truth of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, we pray all these things. Amen. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling. and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. To God, our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen. Amen. We're dismissed.