Well let us open to Paul's second letter to the church in Thessalonica to the believers there. Chapter 2. We're going to cover verses 13 through 17 tonight. Looks like five verses for an eight-page Scripture sheet. 2 Thessalonians 2.13. And you're going to want to keep your Bibles open. We're going to leaf through some of 1 Thessalonians as well in the early portion of our talk tonight. But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, Because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. It was for this He called you through our gospel that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word. Lord, we thank you for your inerrant, infallible, divine word. We thank you, Lord, that your gospel originates with you and not with any man. And we thank you, Lord, that you sent Christ to redeem us from our bondage to sin, to Satan, and to death. And Lord, we ask that by your Spirit you would teach our minds and our hearts this night. In Christ's name, amen. Well in his first letter to believers in Thessalonica, we learned that while he'd been there, Paul had been teaching them that Christ would one day return to gather His church to Himself. To bring them to eternal glory. And we've observed that Paul concluded every one of the five chapters in that first letter with a reminder that Christ will one day return. And in 1 Thessalonians 4.16, if you want to turn there. 1 Thessalonians 4.16, he said this, "...the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first." And then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall always, always be with the Lord. 2nd Thessalonians 1-7, Paul adds that he'll be revealed from heaven with his angels in flaming fire. And in 1st Corinthians 15, in that letter Paul adds that when he returns, all the dead will be raised. Not just believers. The dead will be raised to imperishable bodies fitted for eternity. John 5, 28. It's in your Scripture sheet. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come forth. Those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life. Those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment. So there's two passages that clearly show us that all the dead will be raised at the same time. Now 1st Corinthians 15, beginning in verse 51, those who are alive at the time Jesus returns will also be changed. not just the dead, and to be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye to imperishable bodies." Now in his second letter to the believers in Thessalonica, Paul continued to speak of Christ's return in glory and judgment to gather His people and eradicate all evil. This has been obviously a major theme in these two letters. And Paul wrote of two events that will precede the Lord's return. What he called the apostasy, a treacherous departure from God. And the revealing of the man of lawlessness or man of sin. So by the term apostasy, Paul's talking about a widespread falling away from Christ in the church. A rebellion against him by a large multitude in the church. People who've made a profession of belief in Christ. People who've been in His church, among His people. In Romans 11, in verse 25, Paul wrote of two other events that will precede the return of the Lord. One, when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And two, the conversion of a believing remnant of Jews. And Paul has told them and us, no one knows the day of his return. So it'd be a good idea to stop trying to figure it out because we'll know the day he returns. Acts 1-7, he said to them, Jesus did to his apostles, it's not for you to know the times or the epochs which the Father has fixed by his own authority. In Matthew 24, 36, when Jesus begins to speak to their question about the end of the age, He says, But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. Now 1st Thessalonians 5, 1, As to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. So there's three passages that affirm that truth. No one knows when he's going to return. Now at the time of Paul, and still today, the coming of the man of sin is being restrained. There's a restrainer. He doesn't tell us who the restrainer is or what the restraint is. But he does tell us this. At the divinely decreed moment, at the appointed time, the restraint will be removed and Satan will begin to carry out his plan, which will involve this apostasy. And it will end in defeat and disaster for Satan. 2-7 of 2 Thessalonians, though Satan is being restrained, his evil work was already going on then and it's still going on. The lawless one will be revealed when the Lord returns and slays him. But at this time, and at all times, Satan, while he has some power, is limited by God. He can only do what God permits him to do. We saw that, of course, in the book of Job. So the lawless one's going to be revealed when the Lord returns and slays him. And as we've seen, that's not going to be any long drawn out conflict in some field over there in modern day Israel. That's all a symbolic picture of what's going to happen. The issue is going to be settled and Christ's victory is going to be won in a moment, in an instant. So between now and then, as believers, we must live in this fallen world in a manner that's in harmony with the gospel. By a living faith in obedience to Christ. That's what we need to be doing. Not trying to figure out what day He's getting back here. And over against the damnation that awaits all of the apostates and all of Satan's followers stands the salvation unto glory which God has in store for all His children. Those who believe in Christ. So here's our passage. We should always, we are bound to, we are obliged to. This word means we owe it to give thanks to God. Why? because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and through faith in the truth. It was for this, he says, that He called you through our gospel, that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the fifth expression of thanks that Paul has made in these two letters. Five times he has said, we give thanks to God for you. Look at 1 Thessalonians 1, 2. We give thanks to God, verse 3, for your work of faith, your labor of love, your steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 2, 13. We thank God for you because when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as the Word of men, but for what it really is, the Word of God. And we also thank God that you endured the same sufferings that your brethren across the sea had been suffering. First Thessalonians 3, 9, he gives thanks for all the joy that he and Silvanus and Timothy were experiencing because of their faith. 1 Thessalonians 5.8, He instructed them, In everything give thanks. In everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. And brethren, Christians ought always to be thankful people. Thankfulness, gratitude to God should be a mark of all the people of Christ. And it should be evident in us. Now 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, the first chapter he said, we're obliged to give thanks to you because your faith is greatly enlarged and your love for one another is growing ever greater. So he's thankful for many things about the way these people have come to Christ and are living in Christ. And now He says, we're thankful. We're obliged to give thanks because God has chosen you. Chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. By His Spirit, He has set them as He sets us apart to Himself. Now, God's objectives in calling them are clearly stated by Paul here. They're sanctification that they would be set apart unto holiness and two, that they would have faith in the truth. And the means by which God accomplished this, the means by which God had called them to sanctification and faith is the gospel, the good news with which our Lord had sent Paul and his companions. And this term, our gospel, it doesn't refer to any peculiar form of gospel preached by Paul and Silvanus and Timothy. It's the same gospel that was preached by all the apostles. It's the same gospel we preach here today. This gospel, this good news, was not an invention of any man. It had been committed to Paul by whom? By the Lord Jesus Christ. So God called them. We're going to look at these words here because there are some very significant words in these two verses. This is almost the gospel in miniature here. God called them to sanctification and faith through the gospel for the ultimate purpose of obtaining for them the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the purpose. Sanctification. is the process of a sinner being set apart by God to himself to become increasingly detached from Babylon, from the world, and to become increasingly attached to Christ until Christ's image is completely formed in the believer. Faith, as we see in Hebrews chapter 11, is the God-given assurance of the truth of the gospel, leading to belief in the truth of redemption through the atoning death of Christ, by which he obtained for all who believe in him salvation unto eternal glory." Now that's a mouthful there. But that's the gospel. And God accomplishes these things in and for all those He has chosen by calling them. Now there's a general call of the gospel when we witness to somebody and say, come to Christ. Here's the gospel. If you come to Him, He'll forgive you. And then there's an effectual, special call of the gospel. That's what Paul's talking about here. God effectually calls. all those He has chosen in eternity past and given to His Son as a gift. Remember what Jesus said in John 6, 37. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me. The Lord acts on our will, which has no desire for Him in our unsaved, unregenerate state. But He acts on our will so that we desire Him and desire to know the divine truth. James, writing to early first century converts, James 118, wrote this. In the exercise of His will, He brought us forth. By what? By the gospel. By the word of truth. So that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures. Folks, this matter of salvation is a work of God. It's not a work of us. What we do is believe in Him. But Jesus assured us that this special call, this effectual call of the gospel is always effectual. Look at John 6.37 and just drink these words in. All that the Father gives me will come to me. Did you hear that? All that the Father gives to me will come to me. Jesus doesn't mince any words. And the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out. Look at verse 39. This is the will of Him who sent me, His Father, that of all that He has given me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. The end result, the ultimate purpose is that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. They are called in order that they may one day possess a glory in common with Christ. That Christ is glorified in the believer and they in Him. And they in Him. So what Paul and Jesus, in these passages we've been looking at, what they clearly teach are what are called the doctrines of grace. The total inability of any man to live a holy, righteous life, or even to desire to come to Christ, apart from the working of the Holy Spirit. His choosing of his elect in eternity past as a gift to his son. And then the effectual call by which He draws those He has chosen to Himself. Look at John 6, 44. No one can come to Me. No one has the ability to come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him by this effectual call. And I will raise him up on the last day. And that all whom He has chosen and called will come to Him, We read about in John 6, 37. We just saw it. All that the Father gives me will come to me. You know, Jesus wasn't just talking some poetry here. He was explaining the divine work of salvation. And all those that the Father has given to Him and who believe in Him are secure in Him. Look at John 10, verse 27. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one. You're not going to hear very much coming from my mind tonight. We're going to read Scripture, and this is what we're doing. And in both letters to believers in Thessalonica, Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, plainly sets forth a doctrine that many hate, the doctrine of divine election. We see it in 1 Thessalonians 1-4, referring to his choice of them. And the biblical doctrine is summarized by Paul in Romans 8, 28 and following. Now look at this. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Now look at verse 29. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son. so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren. And these whom he predestined, he also... What? He called. These whom he called, he justified. Not guilty of your sins. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. So Paul is here unequivocally affirming that the believers in Thessalonica had been chosen to salvation by God. I'm not saying it. He's saying it. "...and have therefore been sanctified, set apart to God by the Holy Spirit, through the preaching of the good news, and the hearing of the good news, and the believing of the good news, of pardon of sins." That's the news. Your sins can be forgiven. An eternal life in believing. And brethren, all who are saved are saved in this same way. There isn't some other means of salvation. There isn't some other way of salvation. From our end, we come to Him and believe. But it's through the gospel, Romans 10, 17, faith comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ. Now, I know we're aware most people don't like this truth at all. There's not a whole lot I can do about that. But these truths are affirmed in the Gospels, and by Paul in at least seven of his thirteen letters, by Peter in his letters, and those who reject these truths. There's no other way to say this. Those who reject these truths reject the Word of God. And they hold themselves in judgment of God because they say what? This is not fair. This is not just. And in the minds of us fallen humans, it doesn't seem all that fair or just. I understand that. But I'm bound to affirm the Word of God. And this is America under the laws of men. We're under the laws of men here What's the laws of America now say? Everyone deserves an equal chance. And now just on the news the last couple of days, now some say everyone deserves an equal outcome. I don't know how many times I've heard this said. I don't know how many times I've preached these very words. But if we're going to come to a genuine knowledge of truth, then we must realize that if God gave everyone justice, you know who's going to be going to spend eternity in heaven with God? No one. We don't want justice, folks. So they say, well if he's going to extend mercy to some, He's obligated to extend that mercy to all if He's really fair and just. Well, that's not what the Scripture says. It's not what the Scripture says. But the point is, if God gave us all justice, none of us could have ever been saved from hell. All have sinned. All fall short. None is righteous. None does good. Those words from Romans 3.10, Citing the Old Testament psalm. No, not one. Only by God's mercy is anyone saved from eternal misery. Now you say, well suppose my good outweighs my bad. Suppose I'm about 90% good and really sins only cover about 10% of my life. James 2.10. Whoever keeps the whole law, the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. And then Romans 6.23, while the wages of sin, even one, is death. So if we all receive justice, we would all surely spend eternity in misery. Now God knew when He made Adam that Adam would fall. He knew that. He's omniscient. And He knew that in Adam, sin and death would come to all men, as it has. He knew these things before He created the world. And He determined in eternity past that He would extend mercy to some. Don't ask me why He didn't consult me, and I don't know why. For His glory is the best I can do. And I know that's true. But that doesn't necessarily help our understanding that much, I realize that. He determined in eternity past He would extend mercy to some in and through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who became a man. And brethren, this does not make God unjust. He wouldn't be God. And if He didn't send some to hell, most would say that would make Him unjust. He has to punish sin. And our sin has been punished. Jesus took our punishment. That's why it's those who trust in His sacrifice for our sins receive mercy. Now the reason you have an eight-page Scripture sheet tonight with two staples in it, which I hope don't make it unworkable, is because this is not some one-verse doctrine. We're going to read some Scripture. Ephesians 1, 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. And what do we have because of that blessing? We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace. Ephesians 2.1, And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. And among them, we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. That was all of us. But God, but God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. You see, we weren't involved in our new birth. We were dead. I remember hearing a preacher once trying to twist this around to make it seem like, well, we still had enough life to ... No. Dead. Dead in our transgressions. Unable to come to Him. No man can come unless the Father who sent me draws him. That's what Jesus said. So even when we were dead in our transgressions, He made us alive together with Christ. And then He, in case we didn't understand, by grace you have been saved. And raised us up. Raised us up with Him. And seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Paul wrote another letter around that time to a church in Colossae. Colossians 2.13, when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive. He made you alive. You can't make yourself be born again. He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions. Canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us. He's taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 2nd Timothy 1.9, He saved us and called us... There's that word again. ...with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was granted to us when? From all eternity in Christ Jesus. Titus 1.3. Paul, a bondservant of God and apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness. Colossians 3.12, So as those who have been chosen of God, holy, set apart, and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Philippians 1.29, For to you it has been granted, for Christ's sake. Not only to believe in Him. It's a gift. But also to suffer for His sake. And you want a couple of examples here? Acts 13, 48. Preaching to the Gentiles. When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the Word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. And then when Paul crossed over to Europe, to Philippi, Acts 16, 14, and preached to some women, including a woman named Lydia, the Lord opened her heart. The Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. And Peter taught this same truth. First Peter 1.3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to His great mercy, has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away. reserved in heaven for you. And look at this, who are protected by the power of God. How? Through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Then our Lord, Matthew 11, 27, all things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Matthew 19 and 11, Jesus said to them, Not all men can accept this statement, but only those to whom it has been given. And then in His prayer, in the Lord's Prayer in John 17, verse 24, Jesus again recalling and speaking and praying for those the Father had given Him. Father, I desire that they also whom You have given Me be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me. for you loved me before the foundation of the world." Now, this isn't just a New Testament development. God has always worked out His plan of redemption according to His grace. And frankly, those who have such difficulty with all of the passages we just read, don't seem to have as much of a problem with God doing exactly the same thing all through the Old Testament. He's always saved sinners on the basis of His gracious election of them. Look at Genesis 6, 5. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth. He was grieved in his heart. He said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land. From man to animals to creeping things, birds of the sky, for I am sorry that I've made them. But one man found grace, favor. Noah found favor. He found grace. Same word that's used for Mary. He found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Genesis 12.1, the Lord said to Abram, Abram, go forth from your country, from your relatives, from your father's house. Go to the land which I will show you, and I will make you a great nation. I'll bless you. I'll make your name great. What did Abram do to deserve this? Nothing. And you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. Well what do we know about Abram's background before that day? Well look at Joshua 24 too. Joshua said to all the people, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, From ancient times your fathers lived beyond the river, namely Terah the father of Abraham. And they served other gods. His father worshiped pagan gods. Then I took your father, the Lord said, from beyond the river, and I led him through all the land of Canaan, and I multiplied his descendants, and I gave him Isaac. Exodus 3, 1. Here's Moses pastoring a flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, priest of Midian. And he's got this flock on the west side of the wilderness. He comes to Horeb, the mountain of God, they called it. Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush. And behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. So Moses said, I've got to turn aside and see this marvelous sight. Why the bush isn't being burned up? The Lord saw that he turned aside to look. The Lord called him from the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses. He said, Here I am. He said, don't come near here. Remove your sandals from your feet for the place where you're standing is holy ground. I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob. It was God who came to Moses, not Moses who came to God. Deuteronomy 7, verse 6. Moses speaking now to the people, the sons of Jacob. before they go into the promised land, given them by God. For you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession. Out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth, the people who object to the doctrines of grace in the New Testament don't seem to mind that the Canaanites and the Assyrians and the Babylonians were separate, kept out of the people of God. And the Lord says, Moses says, The Lord did not set His love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any of the peoples. For you were the fewest of all peoples. But because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery in the hand of Pharaoh the king. Peter recalled these words in writing his first epistle. Now he writes these same words to believers in Christ. But what's he say? First Peter 2.9, you are a chosen race. You're a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has ... what? ... who has called you out of the darkness into His marvelous light. This is the effectual call that we spoke of. And then 1 Samuel 16.1. The Lord said to Samuel, How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? What do you suppose God's going to do? Fill your horn with oil and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have selected a king for myself among his sons. Could have selected someone else and he didn't. Is that fair? Is that unjust? I don't think anybody is trying to make that case. Isaiah 42, 1, speaking of the Messiah. Behold My servant whom I uphold, My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon him. This will be our passage in Luke, this Lord's Day. In Isaiah 43, 21, the people whom I formed for Myself will declare My praise. And for all those who think God ought to leave all this up to us who would sin and not come to Him and suffer for all eternity, Isaiah 46, 10, my purpose will be established and I will accomplish all my good pleasure. I will accomplish all my good pleasure, he says. To Jeremiah chapter 1, verse 5, he said, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. I knew you. And before you were born, I consecrated you. I set you apart. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations. God chose Jeremiah. Didn't choose any of his contemporaries. Malachi 1.2, I have loved you, says the Lord, But you say, how have you loved us? Was not Asa Jacob's brother, declares the Lord? Yet I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Asa." Meaning not loved Asa. "...And I have made his mountains a desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness." Well now if we want to see how Paul answers all of this. We now come to Romans chapter 9, verse 9, where he recalls this passage from Malachi. Now look at Romans 9, 9. For this is the word of promise, At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac. For though the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything... Hadn't done anything, good or bad. ...so that God's purpose, according to His choice, would stand, not because of works, but because of Him who... What? ...Him who calls. It was said to her, The older will serve the younger, just as it is written, quoting Malachi, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. Now here comes the question about injustice. What shall we say then? Paul asks rhetorically. There is no injustice with God, is there? Understand what we're going to read here is now the Word of God as well. May it never be! For he says to Moses... And look at these words. I will have mercy on whom I have mercy. I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. That's the answer. And it's right. And we don't understand it all. But God is righteous and God is just. Paul continues, Romans 9, 16, it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. Salvation, the new birth, forgiveness is an act of God's mercy. And He does it through opening our eyes to the truth. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate my power in you, that my name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth. So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires. Well, you'll say to me, then why does he still find fault? For who resists his will? And here's the answer. Who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, Why'd you make me like this, will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay? To make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use. What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? It was Pharaoh. And he did so to make known the riches of his glory to the vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory. Brethren, you who believe are those vessels of mercy. You who believe are those vessels of mercy. Again, those who would deny these truths or try to explain them away, deny the Word of God. They place God on the witness stand and they judge Him by our fallen standards of morality. We're not free to pick and choose what parts of Scripture we like and accept and which we do not. And I think we know many even in the visible church do precisely that. And this is one very significant reason why the church and America itself are falling into an abyss. We're not free to decide to excise passages from the Word of God that both the church and America seem to have forgotten or never came to realize. God is our creator. He's our lawgiver. He's our savior and sovereign ruler. And He's our judge. And what's happened? Especially over the past 300 years. And in recent years, right around us. Mankind has sought to replace God as creator with a ridiculous theory about the origins of life. Mankind has replaced God as the lawgiver with lawmakers who reject the law of God all over the world now. Mankind has replaced Him as sovereign ruler by giving authority to men who reject the authority in the Word of God. That's why we're in the situation we're in. What could possibly go wrong? Everything. Everything. We must turn to and believe and trust in the Word of God. That's what's wrong around us. How is the church going to influence the world for Christ if even the church doesn't believe what's written in the Word of God? It can't. If the church does not submit to the Word of God, to all of the Word of God, the world will remain as Babylon. Revival will not come unless the true believers in Jesus Christ and the Word of God declare the truth boldly. Well, they were doing that in Thessalonica. Paul says to his readers in verse 15, So then, brethren, stand firm, hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us. Now Paul's not speaking here of traditions as rituals or ceremonies or practices. He's using the term traditions to speak of the doctrine he had taught them, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now the NIV and some others actually translate this, not traditions, but teachings. And that's correct. Stand firm in the authoritative teachings that have been handed down to us. The word here that's translated tradition stands for all Christian teaching. Oral and written, handed down one to another, but received in the first place from whom? From God. The gospel is not of human origin. 1 Corinthians 11, 12, all things originate with God. The Word of God is our armor. We saw this this past Lord's Day. In Luke chapter 4, as Christ was tempted in the wilderness by Satan, and he fought and won the victory against temptation. How? By looking to the Word of God. That's right. Now Paul says, stand firm in that Word. And he was talking to them, but he's talking to us as well. The Word is our refuge. It's our shelter in the storms of this life. We're never at liberty to substitute our own ideas for what we've received from God in Scripture. We must stand firm in this Word. And that's what Paul says to them. This idea of standing firm has been a continual theme in both of these two letters Paul has written to these converts in Thessalonica. Keep persevering even in the face of persecution. It's a good lesson for us today. Keep persevering in the midst of lawlessness and false teaching, both of which were already in the world. Well then Paul, as is quite often his practice, concludes this section of the letter with a prayer. It's really more of a prayer wish because it's not directed to God. Prayer is directed to God. It's not something where we're talking to the group. It's directed to God. And so that's why I say this is really more of a prayer wish. But it's representative of his prayer. And it's a prayer that they would continue to be faithful to Christ. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father as a single unit. As a single unit. And notice He's got Jesus before God our Father this time as He does a couple other places. In Galatians and in 2 Corinthians 13. Who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace. May He comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word. Paul's prayer is that God in Christ will encourage and strengthen their hearts so that they will be able to stand firm in and cling to the truth. And we should be praying this for one another and for all the brethren in Christ. And you notice here, Paul names Christ first. By naming the Son and Father together, the Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father as one unit, Paul declares and acknowledges two things. The divinity of Christ and the equality of father and son. And here, Paul ascribes to Christ a divine work in common with the Father. The gift of a good hope, we don't want to just blow by those couple of words, is a certain expectation of glory. We can't explain how and all that was in the mind of God. But we know we're here and believing in Him. And we must acknowledge it's by His grace, by His mercy, by His work in us. And what we have is the gift of a good hope. a certain expectation of glory. God has decreed and promised it, and in Christ, He has accomplished it. By His Spirit, He applies it to us. You know, in those days, there wasn't a whole lot of hope for future glory in the religions of Greece and Rome and all the other pagan religions. But we who believe, we have this certain expectation. We can be sure. We have assurance. And this is of the essence of the gospel. It's not merely some optimistic viewpoint. The hope we have is certain. And it is like the new birth and faith, a gift of God. A certain hope of glory. Paul wrote of this, Colossians 126. He called it the mystery, which had been hidden from the past ages and generations, but now has been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles. That's what was happening in the time of Paul, which is what? Christ in you, the hope of glory. And we, sitting here, have this certain assurance. Look at Philippians 1, 6. For I am confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Let us pray. Lord, we stand in awe as we read Your Word. As we read of Your plan of redemption, which began before the worlds were made. And Lord, we thank you that you've opened our eyes to the knowledge of the truth of salvation, of forgiveness of sins by trusting in Christ's offering of himself on that Lord, we don't understand all of these things, every in and every out. But we know You are good and loving and righteous and just and holy. And that You have, by Your mercy and because of nothing in us, called us to Yourself and opened our eyes. with a promise of glory in Christ Jesus, in whose name we pray, Amen.