Hold to God's Unchanging Hand

Just for the last probably few months, that has been preaching through the book of Second Thessalonians. And we find ourselves in Second Thessalonians. Today, we're going to be looking at verses 13 through 15. But before we do, well, let me read it to you, and then we'll have Lord of Prayer. Second Thessalonians chapter 2, starting in verse 13, it says this, Paul writes, 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 and 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 were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us.

Let's pray. Our gracious and kind heavenly Father, we ask God right now that you would quiet our spirit and our minds, Lord. Father God, that you would remove all of the distractions that would keep us from hearing what it is you want to say to us. Father God, I pray that you would help me, God, to call my mind, that I might thank clearly, that I might proclaim this glorious message of the gospel of our Lord and say to Jesus Christ. We thank you, Father, that you are here with us this morning, God, and you've given us your spirit, that we might freely know the things given to us by God, so we ask this morning that the Spirit of God would be our teacher that he would attend to the preaching of your word, Lord.

God, and he would take the feeble words of this uneducated person, Lord. Father, that he would cause it to come with the full conviction of the Spirit. Father, that it wouldn't move us, God, to do what you're calling us to do in your word. We give you thanks in the name of our Blessed Savior, Jesus. Amen. If you've been with us over the last couple of months, we've been in the book of 2nd Thessalonians, and a couple of weeks ago, dad began the 2nd chapter of 2nd Thessalonians, and before I, we begin looking at verses 13 through 15, let's review real briefly what he's been talking about in 2nd Thessalonians, chapter 2. Paul is writing regarding a very specific issue. And the issue is that the Thessalonian space is in danger of being shaken.

They're beginning to lose their composure. He says in chapter 2, verse 2, that you, well, starting in verse 1, now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him, that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as this from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. The reason that he's concerned that their faith would be shaken is because God had begun an incredible work in the life of these believers. If you have read the book of 1st Thessalonians, you see that when Paul brought the gospel to him, he brought it with the power and much full conviction of the spirit of God.

So much so that it absolutely changed, too, they were, as people. The Bible says they turned from their idols and began to serve the living and true God. And their faith was a testimony to all the people's around. So God had done an incredible work in their life, but a problem arise in the church, and that was this false teaching that they believed that they were in the day of the Lord. And so they became shaken in their faith. They were on the edge, they were beginning to withdraw and not do what God had called them to do. So in verses 3 through 11, Paul makes it plain to him. He tells me, dresses this false teaching that they were in the day of the Lord and he begins to explain to them that they couldn't be in the day of the Lord because the apostasy had not taken place first.

Because in order for the day of the Lord to take place the man of lawlessness, the anti-Christ is going to come onto the scene and he's going to establish himself as the object of worship. And so Paul says, this can't be so. And he goes on to tell him, and assure them, when this does happen that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to be the victor, he says in verse 8, then that lawless one will be revealed and the Lord will slay with the breath of his mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of his coming. Aren't you glad you're on the winning team? Aren't you glad this morning that you are the beloved of the Lord Jesus Christ and you are not going to endure the day of the Lord? He goes on to say in verses 10 through 11, that there are going to be those who face judgment.

There are going to be those who are in the day of the Lord and the reason that is true is because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. Well, Paul is worried about the fact that they are removing himself from being in the gospel work because of their fear and their intimidation that they're in the day of the Lord. And so he wants to write and encourage them. And it's obvious that he hasn't said enough because he goes on to encourage them in verses 13 through 15. But I want you to look closely, what is Paul's purpose in getting in this message? It comes in verse 15, he says, "'Solden brethren, stand firm and hold on.'" Paul's admonition is in this morning and his admonition would be to you, would be to stand firm and hold on.

When Paul tells him to stand firm, he's referring back to his negative appeal, not to be shaken. Don't be shaken in your faith, but be steadfast. Hold on, exert strength, get a tight grip. But what is it that Paul wants them to get a hold of? Well, he gives the answer in the second part of verse 15. He says, "'Solden brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which were taught you whether by word of mouth or by letter from us.'" When he speaks of traditions, he's not speaking of the rabbinical traditions. He's not speaking of necessarily the traditions of the church. But what he is speaking of is the apostolic teaching that comes to us in the Word of God. That's what he's telling him the need to hold on to.

What is going to bring us stability and calmness in our faith is the treasure that we have here in the Word of God. And specifically what Paul is going to tell us, it's the doctrines of God's sovereign grace. Some of us face the kind of issues we're being tempted to be fearful. And our faith is being shaken because of the circumstances that we go through are maybe because of a wind of doctrine that's blowing us off course. Or maybe it's just because we're being lulled to sleep by the spirit of the age. Maybe we're being distracted for pursuing eternal things and we're being driven to pursue those things which are going to pass away. And what Paul wants to tell us this morning is stand firm. Get a tight grip on the apostolic teaching of God's Word.

Get a tight grip on the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and the implications that it has for our life. I don't know about you, but some of you may have heard the story of a man by the name of Henry Dempsey. In September of 1996, Henry Dempsey experienced a day that he'll never soon forget. Henry Dempsey's a pilot. In September of 1996, he was on a computer flight from Portland, Maine to Boston. When all of a sudden he heard this unusual noise in the back of the plane. So he decided to go check it out and he left the controls to the co-pilot. And as he went back, he reached the rear of the plane. And all of a sudden that plane hit an air pocket. And it jolted Henry Dempsey. And it slammed him up against the back door of the plane.

Well, Henry Dempsey discovered what it was that was making the noise. Because when he hit the door, the door opened and he was sucked out of that plane, flying at 4,000 feet at 200 miles per hour. Well, when the co-pilot saw the light register that the back door was open, he immediately called for a emergency landing. And he told them that they needed to send a helicopter out because they needed to recover the body of Henry Dempsey. Well, what they found was that Henry Dempsey actually, as he was going out, grabbed hold of the back door ladder and was holding on to this ladder. The plane for 10 minutes flew at 200 miles an hour at an altitude of 4,000 feet. And here was Henry Dempsey holding on for all that he was worst.

Now, when did he endure those 10 minutes? When he landed, his head was about 12 inches off the ground. And when the plane came to a stop, they discovered something. Henry Dempsey wasn't dead. He didn't perish. He was holding on for all he was worst for life and death to the railing of the ladder of the back of the plane. And when they discovered him, it took them several minutes to untry his fingers from that ladder. Can you imagine that? What would be going through your mind? At 4,000 feet, 200 miles an hour, you're holding on for all that you're worst. What an amazing story. But what I want you to see from this story is that just as Henry Dempsey had a death grip on the stair railing, we as believers in Jesus Christ, we need to hold on to the precious truth of God's Word.

Because we're going to experience pressure. We're going to experience temptation to let go and to fail to do what God is calling us to do. And that is to be about the King's business, to be involved in bringing other people into the kingdom of God. Once you go imagine for a minute that what Henry held on to was not the railing of the stair, but a cord, a strong cord, a three-stranded cord. And in verses 13 through 15, Paul describes to us for us this three-stranded cord that we must hold on to, that we may be steadfast to hold on to. And it's the cord of God's sovereign grace. And Paul enlightens us the three aspects of his grace. If you would look at verse 13. The first strand, strand number one of this cord of God's sovereign grace is the biblical teaching of God's stubborn love for his people.

What these people needed to know more than anything was that they were dearly loved by God. You see, they thought they were in the day of the Lord. And so we'll probably, a conclusion that came to their mind was, something's wrong here. As God forgotten us, does God really love us? Paul wants to assure them that they're loved by God. He says, but we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord. Paul tells them that they were the object of the affections of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's two ideas involved in this idea of this word, beloved. The first idea is that God loves this by his own choosing. God initiates this love that we share with him. If you take your Bibles and turn real briefly to Deuteronomy chapter seven, we have a commentary in Deuteronomy chapter seven of how God loves his people.

Now, the people he's speaking of is the people, his Old Testament people, the people of the Israelite. And he assures the Israelite of why he loves them and Deuteronomy chapter seven, starting in verse six. He says this. Deuteronomy chapter seven, verse six. He says, 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 people who were on the face of the earth. He could have chosen the Amorites or the Hittites or the Philistines, but it says the Lord God did not set his love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples or you were the fewest of all peoples. But because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which he swore to your fathers, the Lord brought you out of a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh, King of Egypt.

We need to understand something about the love of God and that is that God is the initiator of love. It's not that we love God, but that God loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. God's love is free, it's unmerited, and it's unrestrained in whom he chooses to love. And that may sound kind of a difficult thing to take in, but that's what the Bible teaches about God's love. Not only is God's love by his own choosing, not only is he the initiator of this love, but God loved us by being committed to us. When the Bible speaks of God's love, it speaks of the headset love of God, the covenant love, his steadfast love, his loyal love, God enters into a covenant just like a man and a woman entering into a covenant for marriage and it's to be till death it was part.

Well God's love is from everlasting to everlasting. He loves us throughout all the eternity. And so this word, the idea of this word, when he speaks of us as his beloved, it stresses the idea that we, having been loved in the past by God, we are now constant recipients of God's love in the present. We sing a song called Your Beloved. And this is the chorus. He says, it says, I'm your beloved. Think about that, you're the beloved of God. I'm your creation and you love me as I am. You have called me chosen for your kingdom on a shame to call me your own. I'm your beloved. In Romans 8, 35 to 39, Paul tells us the durability of God's love. Listen to these words. Romans chapter 8 verses 35, Paul answers, asks this question.

Who will separate us from the love of God? Will tribulation, distress, persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? These weren't odd ideas. These weren't just something that Paul pulled out of the blue. These were things that Paul experienced as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. He experienced what it was like to go through tribulation and distress and persecution, and famine, and nakedness, or peril, or sword, and Paul had come to the conclusion that nothing, not even those things could separate him from his love. He says in verse 36, just as it is written for your sake, we are being put to death all day long. We were considered a sheep to be slaughtered, but in all these things, we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us.

For I am convinced that either death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor heights, nor death, nor any other created things will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. You can imagine how sweet that sounded to these Thessalonian believers who thought they were in the day of the Lord, thought they were headed for a judgment, and yet Paul confirms to them, no, you're not headed for judgment, you're the beloved of God. You're the object of the affection of Christ. God calls us his children. I love, I know a lot of your children, and I love them, but I don't love them like I love my own children.

My children are the object of my affection. The Bible calls us the bride of Christ, and there are many brides out here, and I love you as sisters in Christ, but I don't love you the way I love my own bride. You know what, that's the same with God. We're the specially loved people of God. We're his beloved, we're his children, and his love for us is the fuel here. It's a special kind of love. Isn't that amazing? When I think about how much God loves me, sometimes I think it's super good to be true, don't you? When you think about who you are and what you've done, and how bad when we fought down in our responsibilities to God, but it's love doesn't depend on me. Rates 7 has quoted this cute little poem several times about the oddity of God loving us.

He says this, isn't it odd that a being like God, who sees the facade still loves the quad that he made out of the sod? Now, isn't that odd? Isn't that true? Don't you feel like a quad sometimes? God sees it through the facade. He sees our very worst. A lot of you, you look at one another, and we see the best about each other, because we don't see each other in our worst moment. God sees the whole picture, and he continues to love us. He continues to be committed to us, because we're in love. Strand number one that we need to desperately hold on to, of this court of God sovereign grace, is this biblical teaching of God's stubborn love. You are dearly loved by God. Romans 8.28 says, and we know that all things work together, forget to then the love God, to then who are called according to his births.

And I know many of you out there are just tempted because you say circumstances where you think, how could God love me through this? But it's part of this point, and he uses it in order to bring you into a deeper, intimate relationship where you can experience his love to a greater degree. That's how much God loves you. He chose you, and he's committed to you throughout time and eternity. The second strand that Paul revealed to us is the biblical teaching of God's sovereign election. They needed to know that they were chosen for salvation. You can imagine if you thought you were in the day of the Lord and you were an experienced judgment, what you want to know is that salvation is coming, that you're going to experience salvation and scatter throughout the Bible or statements about this doctrine of election.

But we should always give thanks to God for your 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, the statements that are scattered throughout the Bible express the truth that the existence of a people of God can be explained only on the basis of God's plan, God's will, God's action, not from a series of human decisions. If you're here today and you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you are a Christian because of a free decision of God, dependent not on any conditions, but solely on Him who elects. This is what the testimony of Scripture is. Read the Apostle Paul. Read the Apostle Peter. Read the Apostle John.

Think about what the Lord Jesus Christ has said in self. John 15, 16, this is what Jesus says to his disciples. You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit would remain. So that whatever you ask of the Father in my name, He may get to you. The word that Paul uses here, the word chosen is the Greek word, Harold Mai. And it means to choose for Himself, to choose for oneself. The emphasis is on the acquiring of an object. It is the idea to take and to seize and to grasp. Yesterday was my 11th wedding anniversary. I've made it 11 years married to my wife, four children, two dogs, one cat, two fish, and a bird later. Here I stand as a married man to a beautiful woman for 11 years.

But one of the nuggets of wisdom that I've learned over these 11 years is that you never go shopping with your wife if she's going to buy a dress or an outfit. It is absolute insanity. And you men who've been married a younger time, I beseech you. Therefore, brethren, do not go shopping with your wife for a dress or an outfit. A couple of occasions I tried doing that. And so what I did was, as I dropped her off for the first couple of hours, I went throughout that moment and looked at everything and looked at those things that I wasn't interested in. And two hours later, I came back as she was still circling the racks, picking out outfits. And so I decided to stay with her and give her some encouragement.

So for the next two hours, she came winning and out of that dressing room as I sat outside that dressing room and she showed me outfit after outfit. And I encouraged her and I said, honey, you look beautiful in that outfit. That is the outfit you need to get. It looks great on you. And two hours later, she came out and we had gotten nothing. And at five hours later, we walked out of that store and we hadn't acquired anything. I want to tell you, God's election is not like that. God is not a window shopper. He actually acquired something. He acquired a people of God. And that's what he's saying in 2nd Thessalonian chapter 2 verse 13, you are God's acquisition. Verse Peter 19 says, we are a people for God's own possession.

Notice what Paul says about their election. He says in verse 13, because God has chosen you from the beginning. And Ephesians 1, 4, Paul says, that we were chosen in him to be holy and blameless before the foundation of the world. 2nd Thessalonians 1, 9, we were chosen before time began. Titus 1, 2, we were chosen long ages ago. Before you had ever done anything good or done anything bad, God said his affection on you. One old lady who was a press material, heard these two preachers preaching about the doctrine of God's sovereign election. And she made this comment to him. She says, I have long ago settled that point of when God chose me. For if God had not chosen you before, I was born. I am sure he would have never seen anything in me to have chosen the afterward.

Don't you feel like that? Man, I'm so glad he chose me back then. Because there's no way I could ever have married his choice. There's no reason whatsoever why God chose me. That's going to be one of the first questions I asked him. Why, Lord? Why me? Why me, Lord? Why would you choose me? The glory is truth. And rather than to deny it, rather than to try to explain it away, Paul says we should continually give thanks for it. We ought to rejoice in it. It ought to be like the cream of the cake that we obeyed ourselves in the fact that God, in eternity past, sovereignly said as affection on us, and he made us his own. He acquired us as his people. Notice what he says, the purpose of this election.

Why did God choose us? He chose us for salvation. Unlike the people in verse 11, who are going to be deluded by the lie, and they're going to experience destruction, God said as affection on us, so that we would experience salvation. And first, that's only five, nine, Paul told these believers. He says, for God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. And this salvation has three aspects. It has the past since aspect. You have been delivered from the penalty of sin. You were holy and righteous, and you stand holy and righteous before God, because the guilt has been removed. The penalty has been paid. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

And the present tense were saved from the power of sin. We no longer have to obey sin. We have the ability to choose to obey God and walk an obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And in the future tense, we're going to be delivered from the presence of sin, once and for all, glorify it. The Bible says, the Lord Jesus is going to come back and we're going to see him, and we're going to be like him. What an amazing time that's going to be. I look forward to that day. Notice what he goes on to say. We experience the salvation through two things. We experience the salvation through sanctification by the spirit and faith in the truth. We experience the salvation by sanctification and the spirit and faith in the truth.

What does it mean to be sanctified in the spirit? It is the spirit's work of setting us apart as God's possession. And more specifically, I believe what he's talking about, is that time in your life when the Spirit of God convicted you of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and he gave you the life of God so that you would believe in the truth. Because that's the second thing that follows. The fact that you must believe in the truth. Being elected doesn't save you. You must believe in the truth. Romans 10, 9, and 10 says that if you believe with your mouth and confess with your, ever if you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth, you shall be saved. You must believe. But the catch is, you only believe when the Spirit of God does His work of sanctifying you.

I believe this to be true because it's a testimony in Scripture and it's a testimony of my life. At the age, at an early age, my parents began to share the gospel with me and I can remember numerous occasions, very specific occasions, where they told me the gospel, and it fell in deafening, or I can remember one very specific occasion in our house in Richmond. And now my dad was on his back and I was sitting on his stomach at the age of five and he was sharing with me about the love of Christ. And you know what? I heard that, and I believed it was true, but I didn't see the importance of it in my own life. And he began to continually share with me. But it wasn't until the age of six that the Spirit of God did His work of setting me apart.

It wasn't until the age of six where the Spirit of God brought the gospel and He made it plain to my heart. And I can remember it as though it were yesterday. We had gone to play basketball with some men in the church, and my dad allowed me to tag along. And we were on the way home, and my dad is back then, he drove a lot of different kinds of cars because he worked on a car a lot. He would use car dealer. And so he would always bring home these cool needle banged up cars and it just happened. We were driving a convertible at the time, and it was at night time. It was a summer night. The stars were out and on our way home. As I'm gazing up at the stars, my dad begins to share the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He begins to share of God's love for me, and how He suffered, and He died on a cross so that I can escape the penalty of judgment. And I can remember for the first time as a little boy, as I looked up to those stars, and I thought, this has application for me. This has applications for my life, because I'm not his child. I'm going to hell. And I can remember being gripped by fear, because the spirit of God convinced me that I was a sinner, that I was a violator of the law of God, and there was a judgment day coming. And I can remember, as we pulled up in the driveway, I never said anything to my dad, but I got out of the car and I walked up the stairs to my bedroom, without even turning on the lights.

I fell on my face on my knees before my bed, and I cried out to God. And I asked Him in that simple way that a six-year-old can, and I asked God to rescue me, that I believe that Jesus died for me, and that there was salvation to be had in Christ and Him alone, and He saved me. Listen to these words that Jesus tells us, and John 6, 35, 2, 45, because I believe this is what happened that the Lord was drawing me to Himself. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. You come to me, will not hunger, and you believe in me, will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me, and you did not believe, all that the Father gives me will come to me. And the one who comes to me, I will certainly not cast out for it, come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me.

This is the will of Him who sent me, and of all that He has given me, I lose nothing, but raise it up from last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who behold the Son and believes in Him, will have eternal life, and I myself will raise Him up on the last day. Therefore, the Jews were grumbling about Him because He said, I am the bread of life that came down out of heaven. They were saying, it's not just Jesus, the Son of Joseph, who's Father and Mother, we know, how does He now say, I have come down out of heaven? Jesus answered and said to them, do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws Him, and I will raise Him up on the last day.

It is written in the prophet, and they shall be taught of God, everyone who was heard and learned from the Father comes to me. That night, was my first day of class, where the Father began to teach me, of His saving love, through the work of the Spirit of God, and it was that night that the Father drew me to Himself. And because He drew me, I placed faith in Jesus Christ. It's a day that I'll never forget. It's a day of rejoicing. So the second strand of this court of God, sovereign grace, is the strand of the biblical teaching of God, sovereign election. God has chosen, you believe, for salvation. The last strand that we need to hold on to, strand number three, is the biblical teaching of God's effectual call.

If you take your bibles and look back, and second Thessalonians in chapter two, starting in the first part of verse 13, says, God has chosen you from beginning for salvation, through sanctification by the Spirit and faith and the truth. It was for this. He called you through our gospel that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. God has chosen you in the attorney path, but he calls us in time, so that his eternal choice becomes a present reality. When God calls you, you begin to experience what it means to be the chosen of God. This word called is a very strong word. It means to summon. It's a word which means it demands a response. I don't know about you, but I'm a very, very hard sleeper.

When I fall asleep, I wake up for nothing. I mean, I won't wake up. And I've been through four children, four children who, as they were, in their first few months, who used to scream and cry, and God gave me the special ability to black it all out. I never, ever had to wake up in the middle of the night with my children. And I'm still thankful that I have a wife who is a light sleeper, whatever noise is made. She hears it. In fact, last night, I got into bed late, and I was thinking about what was going to take place today, and nervously, I began to crack my toes. And my wife, she was sleeping like this. And the middle of the snore, she went, quick, cracking your toes. I'm not kidding you. That's exactly what happened.

But it's amazing, when the telephone rings. If the telephone rings in the middle of the night, which it does, on certain occasions, my mother-in-law, for some reason, to me wants to call it two o'clock in the morning for one reason or another, tell me to turn off the water or turn the lights out. For some reason, I immediately wake up when I hear that phone ring. I just spring out of the bed, and the reason is it's because I believe it's been conditioned. Because in my teenage years, on several occasions, we used to get calls in the middle of the night. And normally, what that meant was that my grandfather had gone to the hospital. I can't tell you the numerous occasions, where we would get a phone call in the middle of the night, and at two o'clock in the morning, I would wake up, and fear would grip my heart.

Because I knew, it was probably my grandfather being taken to emergency because he had a few heart attacks and problems. And so we would get in the car and travel to Lodi and see him in the hospital. So now, anytime I hear a phone ring, I immediately get up and I answer the phone if it's my mom, my first spot is, my dad's going to the hospital. Something's wrong with that. Or if it's Linda, I immediately think something's wrong with Don. Don's going to the hospital, and I begin to group with fear. Well, this word, for a call, it needs to summon. It demands a response. It demands that you get out of that, and answer the phone call. And first, Cecilonian, first, four and seven. Listen to what Paul says.

He says, knowing brethren, is that what I want? Knowing brethren, beloved by God, His choice of you, for a gospel didn't that come to you and were it only, but also in power, and of the Holy Spirit, and with much full conviction, just as you know, what kind of narrative we prove to be among you, you also became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having received the word, in much tribulation, with the joy of the Lord. This was the time where God called these believers. When Paul came with the word of God, and the gospel, and he preached it to them, God called out their name. He summoned them, and they embraced the gospel by faith. The instrument of this calling is the gospel. When God calls someone to faith in Jesus Christ, He calls them with the gospel.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, Paul says, to the believers and Christians, for I delivered you as a first importance, that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, and that he was raised to say, third day, according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to many after his resurrection. That is the heart of the gospel. That is the beauty of the message of Christ, that Christ died as substitutionary death for sinners. The instrument of the calling of believers is the gospel of Jesus Christ. You know what? One of the most encouraging things to my heart is to hear personal testimonies, because personal testimonies are the story when God called you to faith in Christ, when God summoned you with his voice through the work of the Spirit.

If you've never heard Steve Sandi's testimony, I urge you to pull him aside and hear how God called in the faith in Christ. It's a beautiful story. Steve Sandi has been married probably about six months, and he's an iron worker, and if you know iron workers, they're some of the most honorees people around. You can talk to him. He'll testify to that fact. But Steve Sandi grew up in a pretty much a Christian home, and he was a Christian but he had never embraced Christ. He knew some of the stories of Christ. But for some reason, unbeknownst to him, God allowed this old iron worker who traveled from job to job to be on Steve Sandi's job with this particular point in his life. And the odd thing about this iron worker was that he knew the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he couldn't keep his mouth shut.

Whether they were at lunch or whether they went out afterwards or whether they were on the job, this man would continually talk about the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, about how Christ died to save sinners, because they could escape hell and they could have heaven. And as Steve Sandi tells the story, there would be oftentimes, where he would be working down, bending over, working with this iron, and this man would begin to speak as he was working as well, and his ears would perk up. And he did everything he could to try to avoid the message. But he couldn't help it. It was like beautiful music in his ear. And as he would bend down, and he heard the story, he would come to his eyes. And you know his iron workers, you don't cry and find another iron worker.

And so he would wipe his brow, like he was wiping the sweat off. God was calling his name. And then one day, real soon after that, he went to one of the churches. And God summoned him through the work of the Spirit, and he embraced Christ by faith. God calls us to full the glorious gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you're here today, and you're not a believer, you're in the best place you could ever imagine, because the Bible says that faith comes by hearing, and hearing, by word of Christ. That's why we need to be sharing this for his gospel with our family, and with our friends, because God uses the message of the gospel to call his people to himself. I love this story that Jay Vernon McGee used to tell about this young man who lived in the South years ago.

He wanted to join his particular church and so the deacons were began to examine him, and to make sure that he was really a believer, and they asked him, how did you get saved? And his answer was, well, God did his part, and I did my part. And that kind of worried him a little bit. What do they mean? God did his part, and he did your part. And this was his explanation. He said, well, God's part was the saving part, and my part was the sinning. I'd done run from him, as fast as my simple heart, and a bloody slate could take me, but he'd done took out after me, tell you, run me down. I don't know about you, but that's exactly how I got saved. I was running as fast as I could away from God, but God ran me down.

God is a fast person. He never loses the race. And if he's running you down, I guarantee you, he will catch you. Strand number three is the biblical teaching that God calls, affectionately, his people, to himself. Notice what the goal of this calling. Why is this calling so grand? It's a glorious, he says in verse 14, it was for this, he called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. That you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. One of my favorite passages in Scripture is in first John chapter three. For the writer, John the Apostle, he said this, he said, you see how great a love the father has bestowed upon you, that he would call you the children of God, and such we are.

But this reason the world does not know us because it did not know him, beloved, now we are, the children of God. And it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we will see him just as he is. Not too long ago, we sang a song, what a day that will be, when my Jesus, I shall see, when I look upon his face, the one who saved me by his grace, when he takes me by the hand, and leaves me to the promised land, what a day, glorious day that will be. These believers, and that's the one I can need you to know that God called him to obtain the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. They needed to know that there was a day of glory coming, that this was their hope, and this is our hope.

This is our hope because of God's sovereign grace. Listen to this poem by Carlos Bean, who says this, but for grace, my soul had perished, withered as the desert sand, gone to shadows and tormented, but for grace's perfect plan, but for God's unceasing mercy, but for God, but for Calvary sacrifice, I had wondered blind and thirsting, fell to Satan's grim device, all but the blessed blood of Jesus, shed upon that cruelty, called me from the lingering shadows, saved my soul and rescued me, but for grace, or grace perfected, but for love's undying flame, I had never hoped in Jesus, never had even known his name. The power here today, he would want to tell you, this words of advice, the words of advice, and the admonition that he gives these believers and testimonians, so then brethren, stand firm, and hold fast the traditions which were taught you, whether by word of mouth, or by letter from us, and I encourage you this morning, stand firm, hold on to the court of God's sovereign grace, the three-stranded courts, the court of God's stubborn love for his people, the court of God's sovereign election, and the fact that he chose you for salvation, the court of the teaching of God's effectual call, the fact that he called you to share in Christ's glory.

One of my most favorite songs, is that a word, most favorite? I don't know if that's good grammar, but one of my most favorite songs, growing up in the church, was a song called, hold to God's unchanging hand. And the song that speaks about our duty, to stand firm, is a whole type, to God's sovereign grace. Some of you today are facing incredible trials, you're facing great difficulties, and your temptation is to draw away. Your temptation is to draw back, and not be involved in the work of God. Your temptation is just to try to make it through. But God is calling you to stand firm, and hold tight. Some of you are being lulled to sleep by the spirit of this age. I don't know about you, but that happens often to me.

Where we begin to pour energy in our time into things that just won't last, things that aren't eternal, and God's calling us to hold on tight to the things that are eternal. We have to stand firm and God's grace. I'm going to ask you to close your eyes, and to bow your head. And this morning, I'm going to close by singing this song over you called, hold to God's unchanging hand. It's one of those old, oaky songs. So I apologize if you don't like it. But listen to the words of this beautiful song. Hold the God's unchanging hand. Time is filled with swift transition. Not a person who can stand, build your hope something eternal. Hold to God's unchanging hand. Trust in Him who will not leave you.

What so ever years may bring. Here, by earthly friends, forsaken, still more closely to Him plain. COVID, not this world's main riches. That so rapidly decay, seek to gain the heavenly treasures. They will never pass away when your journey is completed. God, to you, will be true, fair and bright, the home in glory. Your enraptured soul will heal. Hold to God's unchanging hand. Hold to God's unchanging hand. Build your hope something eternal. Hold to God's unchanging hand. Our gracious Father, we thank you for your unchanging hand. We thank you, Father, for your sovereign grace. We thank you, Father, that your love for us is stubborn. O Father, we thank you this morning that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.

We thank you, Father, that you chose us an eternity path, and you acquired us as your possession. We thank you, Father, that you chose us for salvation, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and our beliefs and the truth. We thank you, Father, that you called us to share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for that moment in time, God, where you called our name. O Father, when we heard your sweet voice, and you said, come unto me, all who are weary laden, and I will give you rest, all we thank you, Father, that you caused our hearts and our minds to respond in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ and this glorious message of the gospel. Father, God, we pray this morning that you would cause us to hold tight, to stand firm, to be steadfast, and standing on these great doctrines of your grace.

All Father, may they seem precious to us. May they appear as the most precious thing in life, as we hold them tight and hold them firmly, so that when the circumstances of life bring fear in our hearts, that somehow, in some way, you don't care about us, God, all that we would not believe the lie, but that we would believe the truth. Father, God, we pray that we would not be low to sleep. We pray, Father, that we would build our life on things, and our hopes on things that are eternal. God, help us to be busy about the kingdom. The Father, God, I pray for anyone here who is yet to hear the summoning call that you call us with, Father, I pray today, maybe today, will you call their name, or the gospel of Jesus, become sweet to them, and by faith they embrace Christ, and by faith they are delivered from hell and from judgment.

All we thank you, Father, that for those of us who believe your Word, the Bible says, we do not come in a judgment, Father, that will never perish, and that no one will snatch us out of your hand. We love you, Father, and we give you thanks. In the name of your precious Son, Jesus, and our great Savior, Amen. Amen. I just want to...