Lord in prayer, and then we'll look at what His Word has to say to us tonight. Let's pray. O gracious, almighty, eternal Creator of the heavens and the earth, our Heavenly Father, we praise You and we thank You, Lord, that we can come to You and we can listen to You speak to our hearts. And we pray, Father, that as we continue to study and to contemplate and and to think about what Your Word continues to teach us about Your sovereignty and our salvation, that it will, more than anything else, create within us an attitude of gratitude, a deep sense of thanksgiving, Father, and that we would be grateful for all things. We know this is Your will for us to give thanks, and all things is Your will for us because we are in Christ Jesus. And the more we contemplate how our salvation is totally and separably dependent on your sovereignty in our lives, the more we find our hearts being overwhelmed, overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude. So help us, Lord, tonight to continue to grow in our thankfulness to you for our salvation. We pray these things in Christ's name. Amen. Since the beginning of this chapter, chapter two, we have been looking at how Paul is trying to give assurance of the non-involvement in the day of the Lord. And again, his readers have come to the conclusion that they're into the day of the Lord, they have been deceived, and so Paul's giving them the assurance that they're not in the day of the Lord. And first of all, let's see, I need to get my first page of notes. First of all, he had to make sure that that assurance was based upon rightly understanding the issue of diminishing assurance, and that was in verses 1 through 2, and he made it clear to them that they had been taught falsely, that they had been receiving false teaching as if from them, and that they were not in the day of the Lord. Then the second thing that he does is he shows that God's sovereignty rules over all aspects of the day of the Lord. In verse 5, he made sure that they understood that assurance is a manner of faith. In verses 6, he made sure they understood that God is sovereignly, currently restraining the reeler. And then in verse 7 and 8, God's sovereignty controls the revealing of the Revealer. And then in verses 8 through 10, God's sovereignty determines the timing of the destruction of the Revealer. And then in verses 11 through 12, God's sovereignty assures judgment in the day of judgment, verses 11 through 12. And now, He wants to be sure that their assurance is built upon unshakable truths. So verses 13 through 17, he's going to share with his readers some unshakable truths that should build their assurance and help them realize that they're not in the day of the Lord. And as I mentioned last Sunday night, there's not too many of us here that are worried that we're in the day of the Lord. I don't think any of us are worried that we're in the tribulation period. And so how can we relate this passage to us? Because we don't have the same problem that the church in Thessalonica had at the time that Paul was writing this. Well, certainly we need to have encouragement during trials and difficulties in life. They don't have to be the trials and difficulties that would be associated with wrongly thinking that you're in the day of the Lord. We go through life with many trials, with many difficulties, and understanding God's sovereignty over all those things helps us to be able to have strength and courage to go through those difficult things. And so tonight, as Paul talks about building assurance on unshakable truths, I want us to take this teaching, and not so much to use it to help us understand we're not in the day of the Lord, but to use it to help us understand how to go through the difficulties of life. how to go through the trials of life, how to go through the temptations of life and the persecutions of life. And the first thing that Paul says in verse 13 is that we should always give thanks to God for you. So what he's going to begin to talk about here should motivate us to give thanks to God. And we're going to study tonight about God's sovereignty in our salvation. And we're going to study tonight about some truths that bring controversy in the church. We're going to talk about the doctrines of grace. We're going to talk about God's election. We're going to talk about His sovereignty. And we know that that does bring controversy in the church. And that's very unfortunate because whatever your view is of God's sovereignty, it is supposed to give you peace. It is supposed to give you assurance. It is supposed to give you a calmness of spirit. It is supposed to increase your gratitude to God. And so it's unfortunate that we as Christians argue about these things and we lose the sense of giving God gratitude. And so I just want you to know tonight that my goal is to help increase your thankfulness to God for His sovereignty in your salvation. So let me read to you verses 13-14, but we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved by God, 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 in this passage, the first thing that we're going to see is that God has chosen specifically these Christians. You see it there in verse 13 where he says, God has chosen you. So God has chosen who is to receive salvation. We're also going to see that God has chosen when they receive salvation. When did this choosing take place? Not so much when they receive salvation, but when the choosing takes place. You see there, God has chosen you from the beginning. From the beginning God has chosen you. So we're gonna talk about when was the beginning. We see the reason that God has chosen people. God has chosen them for salvation. Why did God choose? For salvation. And then the next thing we see in verse 13 is how did God choose us? How does he make that salvation work? It's through the sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. And then we see the purpose. What is the purpose of it all? What is the purpose of us having been chosen? He says in verse 14, it was for this. He called you through our gospel so that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. The whole purpose of salvation is that we may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. The whole purpose for our lives as Christians is to give God glory. And so we need to be very grateful that God has done everything that needs to be done and able for us to fulfill our creative purpose. We were created to give God glory and to enjoy Him forever. And the problem with the world today is it does not experience the peace and the joy that comes from fulfilling their creative purpose. Most of mankind is so separated from God, they have no concept of why God created them. And if you're not fulfilling your creative purpose, you're not going to have peace in your life. You're not going to have joy in your life. You're not going to have assurance in your life. So God saves us. He chooses us so that we can fulfill our creative purpose in receiving the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, gaining the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now as we begin to talk about this topic, this concept, the biblical concept of God's election, there's some passages that I wanna use to introduce us into this subject tonight. And so look with me in Romans 8, Romans 8. Verse 28, a verse that we are very familiar with, Romans 8, verse 28. And whenever I read this verse, I always want to address the comments that many Christians will say. Many Christians will say that when people are going through a difficult time, we as Christians should not share this verse with them. that we're actually being very cruel to share this verse. I happen to believe the exact opposite. I happen to believe it is the best thing that we can do with any Christian that's going through a difficult time to share this verse. And I happen to believe that if you're a Christian, you're much better off to understand what this verse means before you ever go through a difficult time. Oftentimes in my counseling, what I find out is people don't understand why they're going through suffering. They don't understand the purposes, so we have to play catch up with them. We have to get them to where they understand it. So much better to understand the purpose of your suffering before you go through the suffering. Then you just have to be reminded of what you already know. But here we see in Romans 8, verse 28, We know that God causes, and there it is again, God doing the work. God causes all things. Think about all things. That would be every difficulty in life, every hardship in life, every sickness in life. All things would include your temptations. All things would include your sin. So all things are all things. God causes all things to work together for the good. He's causing them to work together for the good, but for the good of those who love God. And I love the way that some have interpreted this. We know that we don't love God until God loves us. So you really could say that He causes all things to work together for those whom God loves. God causes all things to work together for those whom He loves. Because we don't love God unless He first loves us. And that puts the love in the hands of God. I can be a little shaky about my love for God, but I'm not going to be shaky about God's love for me. I know he's causing all things to work together for my good because he loves me. And he goes on to say, and to those who are called according to his purpose. And then in verse 29, we see what that purpose is. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren." That's the purpose. We were born again to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, so that Jesus Christ could be the firstborn among many brethren. And the word firstborn there means preeminent. so that Jesus Christ would be the preeminent one among many brethren. So Paul is teaching us here is God is using our difficulties, our trials, and everything in our life, he's using it to cause us to become more like Christ so that Christ can be the preeminent one among the church, so that Christ can sit as preeminent in the church. And then Paul bases this wonderful teaching on God's work in salvation. He says here in verse 30, What then shall we say to these things? What are you going to say? about the reality that those whom God foreknew, He predestined. And those whom He predestined, He called. And those whom He called, He justified. And those whom He called, He's glorified. And you notice the word glorified there's in the past tense. We know it's a future event. It's as if it's already done. In the eyes of God, we were foreknown, we were predestined, we were called, we were justified, we were glorified all at the same time. In his eyes, we are already glorified. What do you say about such great truths? He says here in verse 32, he who did not spare his son, but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? If God was willing to do all that, how can you not trust Him for everything else you need in life? He's done all this. You can trust Him for everything else He does in life. And then you come down to verse 35, this great verse again of assurance. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? Just as it is written, for your sake we are being put to death all day long, we are considered sheep to be slaughtered. But in all things, in all things, we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth or any other creative thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. You can see the unshakable confidence that Paul has in God's love for him because he understands the sovereign work of God in his life to bring him to the point of salvation. Now, Jesus also talks about this sovereign work, and John records what Jesus has to say to us in John chapter six. So look with me in the Gospel of John, John chapter six, first of all, in verse forty four. And again, I want you to see here what I really want you to see is how dependent we are on the work of God. How dependent we are on the work of God. John chapter 6 verse 44. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him and I'll raise him up on the last day. No one can come to Jesus Christ. No one can trust in Jesus Christ unless the Father draws him. He says pretty much the same thing in chapter six, verse 65. Look down here in verse 65. And he was saying, for this reason, I have said to you that no one, no one can come to me unless it has been granted him from the father. And how does this drawing and how does this granting take place? You see it there in verse 45. Go back up to John six, verse 45, as it is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught of God. They shall all be taught of God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. And we're going to talk a little bit later on what that means to be taught of God is to hear the voice of God speaking to you. It's one thing to hear the preacher teaching. That doesn't really do you much good. What you need to hear is the voice of God, God speaking to you through the preaching. All who are taught of God come to Jesus Christ. And what happens when one comes to Jesus Christ? Does that mean some will be left out and some will come and some will be left out? No, it doesn't. Because look at verse 37, John chapter six, verse 37. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out. That's 100% effective. When God draws you, when God grants you, when God teaches you, you come to the Son and He will not cast you out. That's 100% effective. Effectiveness. Verse 38. For I've come down from heaven not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of him who sent me that all that he has given to me, I lose nothing, but raise it up in the last day. For this is the will of my father, that everyone beholds the son and believes in him will have eternal life. And I myself will raise him up on the last day. So that's just some general teaching from God's word when it comes to this concept of God having chosen us. But let's go back to our passage now in 2 Thessalonians 2. Again, God has chosen who? Verse 13, but we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved of God. Why? Because God has chosen you. God has chosen who? He's chosen these believers in the Church of Thessalonica. He has chosen them. We read in Ephesians 1, verse 4, just as he chose us in him. Over and over again, when when Paul speaks of those whom God has chosen, he always refers to the Christians. God has chosen them. He's chosen when he when did they when were they chosen? Look here again in First Thessalonians, chapter one, verse 13, because God has chosen you from the beginning, from the beginning. Listen here to the rest of Ephesians, chapter one, verse four, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. He chose us in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world, before time. In the testimonies that were given yesterday, this verse was referred to as something that is incomprehensible. It's incomprehensible that God chose us in Christ Jesus before time. But why do we believe it? We believe it because it's what God's word says, and we believe it because the Holy Spirit has revealed this to us to be truth. In Genesis chapter one, verse one, the first four words we see in scripture is in the beginning, God. God existed in the beginning before there was time. There was God. Before that point, before Genesis 1-1, God had already chosen those who would believe in him. Why does he choose? Again, 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13, he chose us from the beginning. Why? For salvation. He chose us for salvation. He chose us to deliver us. To deliver us from what? To deliver us from his wrath. He chose us to be delivered from his wrath. We continue to read the passage from Ephesians chapter one, verse four, just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him. We were chosen to be holy and blameless before God. In love, He, that is God, in love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself. God predestined us to be adopted sons through Jesus Christ, adopted sons to God. What was the basis upon this choosing? According to the kind intention of His will. It had nothing to do with us. It had nothing to do with our goodness. And as we continue to study man's sin in our Sunday morning messages we just began this morning, the more and the more we understand Romans 3 9-18, we're going to understand there's nothing in us for God to see worthy of choosing. He didn't choose us based upon who we are. He didn't choose us based upon what we would do. He chose us 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. Listen to these words of Paul from 2 Timothy 2, verse 10. He says, for this reason, I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen. Paul endured all things for the sake of those who are chosen. Why? So that they also may obtain salvation, which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory. Now, I realize that one of the objections to understanding God's sovereignty and salvation in this manner is the objection, why should we do anything? If God has chosen who's going to believe, and if God has determined that they should believe, why should we do anything? Well, we do, and we share the gospel because we're told to, and we follow the example of the Apostle Paul. Paul endured all things, and he's in prison. He's in the worst situation in prison he's ever been in his life. He's facing death. His death is imminent. And he says, I endure all this for the sake of those who are chosen. Yes, God has chosen them. Yes, God has determined that they would believe, but God has also chosen the method. He's chosen the method by which they'll believe. They come to faith through the preaching of the gospel. And as we see here, when we begin to look at how this all takes place, we're going to realize that you have to have the word of God and you have to hold the Holy Spirit, just like we talked about this morning. With just the word of God, there's no salvation. There's no regeneration. There's no growing in the understanding of who God is, you need the Holy Spirit to take that Word of God and renew the spirit of man's mind with just the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit doesn't have the Word, the Holy Spirit is powerless to change anybody. You need both. You need the Holy Spirit and you need the Word of God. And that's the next thing that Paul says here in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 13. He says here, God has chosen us from the beginning for salvation through the sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. That's how God does this work. It's through the sanctification of the Spirit and through faith in the truth. Sanctification of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit sets you apart from the rest of the world, makes you different from the rest of the world. And how does he do that? Through faith in the word of God. through faith in the truth. Let's go back to First Thessalonians, chapter one, verse four. First Thessalonians, chapter one, verse four, where Paul wrote to these same people, knowing brethren beloved of God, his choice of you. How does he know that God has chosen them? It's what we read in verse five. For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in the power and in the Holy Spirit with full conviction. Just as you know what kind of men we prove to be among you for your sake. How does Paul know that these people were chosen by God? How does Paul know of God's choice of these people? It is because the gospel didn't come to them in word only. It wasn't just the preaching of the gospel. It wasn't the word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. The power of the Holy Spirit took Paul's preaching of the truth, took Paul's preaching of the gospel, and he used it to bring about in the hearts of the people in Thessalonica full conviction, full conviction. Conviction of what? We talked about that this morning. What is the Holy Spirit's mission as he works in a complementary way with God the Father and God the Son to bring about redemption? What's his part? What's his mission? to convince sinners of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. The Holy Spirit goes about taking the word of God, taking the gospel, convincing, convicting people that they are sinners and that they need to have the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And if they don't have the righteousness of Jesus Christ, there will be judgment. And when Paul preached the gospel to these people, the Holy Spirit took that preaching and caused these people to have full conviction, absolutely certain that this was true. 1 Peter 1, verse 1, Peter says that he's an apostle of Christ Jesus to those who reside as aliens scattered through Apontos, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father by the sanctifying work of the Spirit. It's by the sanctifying work of the Spirit. Now I want us to turn to Ephesians 4, verse 22. There was some of us that were talking about this passage a few weeks ago, and I want to look at that again tonight. Ephesians 4, verse 22 through verse 24. So turn there with me. Ephesians 4, verse 22. Paul writes here that in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new self, which is in the likeness of God, has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth. In verse 22 he says, you lay aside the old self. In verse 24 he says, you put on the new self. Now I realize that the way our English translation translates this, that it seems like this is something that has to be done yet, that we have to take off the old self and we have to put on the new self, that this hasn't been done yet. But when you keep your finger right there and turn with me to Colossians chapter three, where Paul says kind of the same thing. And here in Colossians chapter three, we can see that this is something that's already been done for the Christian. The laying off of the old self and the putting on of the new self is already being done. It's not something that we need to be doing, but it is something that we need to continue to live according to. And that's really what he's saying in Ephesians. You need to continue to live according to this reality that you've put off the old self and you put on the new self. Look how he says it here in Colossians 3, verse 9. Do not lie to one another since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices and have put on the new self who's being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of one who created him. This is a work that's already done in our lives. We've put off the old self and we put on the new self. The encouragement in Ephesians is to continue to live like that. In the tenses here, we see that. Because in verse 22, the laying off of the old self is a past tense verb. It's an aorist verb. It's a past tense verb. The putting on of the new self in verse 24 is an aorist verb. It's a past tense verb. These are things that have already happened in the past. But in the middle of 22 and 24 comes this verse 23. And that's the one that I want to look at tonight. And we're going to spend the rest of our time looking at this verse tonight. And it may be just a little bit difficult to follow, and that's why I hope the notes will help you. But first of all, understand that the verb there, renewed, is a present tense verb. It's not a past tense verb. It's a present tense verb. In the Greek, present tense verbs speak of a continuous action. This is something that's always happening. You're always being renewed. And the other thing that's interesting about this verb is it's a passive tense. It's something that's being done to you. It's something that you have nothing to do with. Nothing to do with. It's a passive tense verb. It's being done to you. You're being renewed. What part of you is being renewed? Being renewed in the spirit of your mind. The spirit of your mind. The spirit of your mind is that capacity that your mind has to reason. To reason. And the man humanity's ability to reason is what sets him apart from the animal kingdom. This is part of being made in the image of God. Part of being made in the image of God is we are given the ability to reason. But what happened at the fall, what happened when we're born in sin, is that ability to reason in such a way that you can think God's thoughts after himself, in such a way that you can understand God's thoughts in a way that you respond accordingly and appropriately to those thoughts, that ability has been lost. That ability has been destroyed. We can reason all sorts of things. Just look at all the miraculous things that we have done in medicine. Just look what we do in space. Just look at all the enormous things that mankind has accomplished. He has the ability to reason far, far exceeding any animal's ability to reason. We have great ability to reason. But mankind can't understand that his sin has separated him from God. Mankind can't understand that his sin puts him at enmity with God and puts him under the judgment of God. Why can't he understand that? Why is it that the average man can't read what we're reading in Sunday mornings in Romans 3 9-18 and understand, I'm a wicked, wretched sinner. Why can't they understand that? Because that's spiritual truth. And their reasoning ability, the spirit of their minds cannot comprehend that that that part of their mind is dead. That's what it means to be dead, to be spiritually dead. That part of your mind needs to be renewed. It needs to be regenerated. And that's what God does. He does the work. It's a passive work. This is what it means to be taught of God and all who are taught of God. They come to Jesus Christ. When God renews the spirit of your life and He gives you the ability to reason, wow, I am a sinner. I have offended a holy God. I do deserve death. There's nothing I can do about this predicament. But wait a minute, I now believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins. I can see that now. I can see that God took my sin and put it on his son and poured out the wrath that I deserved and poured it out on his son. I can see that now. I can see now and I can understand that if God took my sin and put it on his son, well then God can take the righteousness of his son and put it on me. And I can be declared to be justified before God because of the righteousness, this glories in the intricacies of the gospel become comprehensible to the sinner, because God renews the spirit of the mind. And when that happens, the old self is put off and the new self is put on. Now in your notes, I have two words written there. The first word is monergism. Monergism, jism, speaks of working. Mono, we understand, is one. It's working alone. There's a monergistic work that happens in regeneration that is a work that God does alone. Verse 23 is a monergistic work. It is a work that God does alone. It is regeneration. This is what it means to be born again. So long in my Christian life, I thought I was born again after I believed in Jesus Christ. No, I'm born again before I believe in Jesus Christ. Being born again just puts me in a position where now I can believe in Jesus Christ. That's a monergistic work of God. And as I begin to talk about synergism, I want you to understand that, because there are many people that we are in full agreement with that if they heard me talk about synergism, they would think that I do not understand the sovereignty of God. Because there are many people, when they speak of synergism, does not believe that there's any place for synergistic work in the Christian's life when they come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. But I'm going to show you tonight that there is a synergistic work. There's a synergistic work that has to happen. What does synergism mean? It means working together. It means working together. There is a work that we must do with the Holy Spirit. that finalizes our salvation. But let me emphasize again that if God doesn't do the monergistic work, there's no synergistic work happening. So who do we give all the credit to for our salvation? We give all the credit to God. Now I told you that this verse is in the passive voice. There's active voices in the Greek, there's middle voices in the Greek, and there's passive voices in the Greek. The active and the passive are very easy to understand. Our English language has equivalent. I hit the ball. That's an active voice. I hit the ball. I was hit by the ball. That's passive. So we have an understanding of the active and the passive, but we don't have an equivalent for the middle. And these past tense verses in 22 and 24, they are written in the middle. You laid aside the old stuff. That's a past tense verb in the middle voice. You put on the new self. That's a past tense verb in the middle voice. And this is where I'm going to get maybe a little complicated. because I'm actually going to read from our second-year Greek book. So I'm jumping you past first-year Greek, and I'm putting you into second-year Greek, because you need to understand that middle tense verb. And so bear with me as much as you can, and let me read to you about the middle tense verb. The middle voice. Here we approach one of the most distinctive, peculiar phenomenon of the Greek language. It is impossible to describe it adequately and accurately in terms of the English idiom, for the English knows no approximate parallel. There's nothing in the English that compares with the middle voice of the Greek. The middle voice is that use of the verb which describes the subject as participating in the results of the action. Here, the subject is participating in the results of the action. He's not causing the action on his own. He's not just receiving the action. He's participating in the action. While the active voice emphasizes the action, The middle stresses the agent. It, in some way, relates the action more intimately to the subject. So the reason they use the middle voice is they want to continue to look at the action, but they want to more closely relate it to the subject. They don't want the subject to have the full use of the action. They don't want the subject to be the sole receiving of the action. They want the action and the subject to kind of go together. Just how the action is thus related is not indicated by the middle voice, but must be detected from the context or the character of the verbal ideas. You can understand that makes it even more difficult. It changes, it depends upon the context. But I want you to listen to this because this is so important. So, the middle is strictly speaking never used without some sort of reference to the subject. That's very important. You cannot look at the middle voice and realize that it doesn't have nothing to do with the subject. It always has something to do with the subject. Who is the subject when we lay off the old self? Who is the subject when we put on the new self? The subject is you and me, you and me. That action has to have something to do with us. It cannot be a monergistic work. It has something to do with us. Now, there are four basic ways to use this middle, and let me give them to you, and then I'll tell you the one that I think we have in our passage tonight. There's the direct middle. And here's an example of the direct middle. Having gone forth, he hanged himself. Who are we talking about? We're talking about Judas. He went forth and he hanged himself. He had a part in the action and it had an effect upon him. That uses the middle voice to show that there was an action that happened that he took part in. He went forth, he wasn't hanged. He hanged himself. There's the indirect middle. He himself secured eternal redemption. Let's talk about Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ himself secured eternal redemption. Was that eternal redemption for him? No, it was for someone else. It is an action that he took part in that included him in the action. Here's the reciprocal middle. The Jews had agreed with one another. You have two subjects agreeing to one another, working together. Now here's the middle that I think we have in our passage. Here's the middle that's used in our passage. It's called the permissive, the permissive middle. Why not rather let yourselves be wronged? Why not rather let yourselves be wronged? It's like someone wants to wrong you, but before they can wrong you, you have to let them do it. It's the permissive middle. It's where the part of the subject is giving permission. So when it comes to laying off of the old self and putting on the new self, it's not as if we do that. We don't lay off our old self. We don't put on our new self. That, again, is a work that only the Holy Spirit can do. Only He can do that work. But He won't do that work if we say, no, you can't do it. Our part is to just let Him do it. That is our synergistic work. And when we understand the synergistic work of two or more things working together, we realize that the one can't accomplish it by itself. And the other one can't accomplish it by themselves. They must work together. Think about it. And putting off the old self, the Holy Spirit cannot do it unless we say, OK, unless we let him do it. Just saying, OK, do it without the work of the Holy Spirit isn't going to accomplish it either. The two must work together. And there are many Christians who believe in the doctrines of grace, who understand God is totally sovereign in their salvation, who understand the monergistic work of God, they have a difficult time saying they have any part in their salvation. What we often hear is, I had no part in it. There was nothing I could do about it. It's something that just happened to me. And if you look on the second page of your notes, you can follow along with what I'm going to say from here on out. And I think it might be easier for you to understand what I'm saying by following along. There are some who contend that when they believed in God, they had no other choice. They lacked the ability not to believe. There are many, and even in our church, there are many that say, I had no choice. I had to believe. It's so much of God that it just had to happen. Some take offense to this view and describe this thinking negatively as being robotic. That's how some respond to that. Well, then you're just a robot? You're nothing but a robot? You had nothing to do with it? You're just a robot? And of course, those that believe that, they say, no, that's not what I mean. I'm not a robot. I do not believe we need to question, I do believe rather, I do believe we need to question the view that we had no choice but to believe. I believe we need to question that. I believe when we look at what the middle voice is teaching us here, we have to question that. I believe we do have a part in our salvation. I don't believe that we had nothing to do with it, and that it just happened, and there's no way that we could stop it. I believe we do have a part in it. But rather than calling it robotic, I believe the better term is animalistic. Now let me quickly tell you what I mean by animalistic. Animalistic in the sense that animals do things by instinct. I think this more correctly describes what is being said. I think what people are trying to say is it was just instinctive. I had no control over it. It was just an instinct. And when they talk like that, they're really describing themselves more as being animals. Animals instinctively do certain things. In Michigan, instinctively in the fall, we see the geese rise up and form a V-shape and head south. It's not like the geese look at their time clock and say, well, it's November 22nd, this is time for us to get together and we gotta get in the V-shape. Okay, you take the lead, and when you're tired, I'll jump on. They don't talk about this, they don't reason it. It just instinctively happens. Why don't they reason it? They don't reason it because they're not created in the image of God. They don't have the ability to reason. When a Christian says, I had no choice but to believe I could do no other, they are they are doing so because they want to give God the glory for their salvation. They do not want in any manner to take any level for the credit of their salvation. I think this is very important. I think when we see people that disagree with us in certain areas, we have to understand where their heart is. Why do people say I had no part in it? It had nothing to do with me. They don't want to take credit for their salvation. They want to give God all the glory. And we need to understand their heart. And when we're trying to explain to them the truth more accurately, we need to recognize that I realize that you love God and I realize you don't want to take credit. You don't want the glory. I realize you want all the glory to go to God. Their motive is honorable and to be greatly appreciated. But I do believe in their expression and desire to glorify God. They inadvertently miss out on a greater opportunity to give God glory. I think if they better understand what's really happening, they can give God even more glory than they realize. We are created in the image of God. One of the many things that it means to be created in the image of God is to be created with a mind that can reason. Of course, after the fall, man lost all ability to reason and to think about the thoughts of God in a manner that God has intended. As a result of the fall, man cannot use his God-given ability to reason, an ability associated with being made in the image of God, to think God's thoughts after God. God has renewed the spirit of the mind, which is the reasoning factor of the mind in such a way that man once again can use his God given ability to reason that part of being made in the image of God in a manner that glorifies God when it comes to the most glorifying decision a man can make. What's the most glorifying decision we can make? To trust in God. And when we understand that we make that decision because God created us in his image to be able to reason through things and we give all the credit and all the glory to God for having made us in his image and given us the ability to reason and renewed our ability to reason so that we can use that ability to reason in the most God-glorifying manner, we realize that this is how we give God the most glory. God does not receive the utmost glory by us saying, I had nothing to do with it. It was just something that happened. God receives the utmost glory when we talk about our salvation in such a way that I used being made in the image of God, us being made in the image of God gives him glory. And we glorify God by being made in his image in no greater way than when we reason through our sin. our dependency upon the cross and believe in Jesus Christ. When God renews the spirit of my mind so that I can reason through and I can say, yes, I am a sinner, Yes, I deserve hell. Yes, my sin is so bad there's nothing I can do to advert this sentence. My sin has offended a holy God. I can reason through and I can see that. My sin offends a holy God and I can't do nothing to make up for that offense. Yeah, I can reason through. I can see that Jesus Christ, the son of God, became man to go to the cross and to provide me with forgiveness of sins and to provide me a way to be made right with God. And I can see all of this. I'm going to use my reasoning powers now that God has renewed. He gets all the glory. He's the one who's given me the ability to reason this way. I'm going to use them in such a way that I believe in Jesus Christ. You see, when God renews the spirit of her mind, what he's doing to our reasoning processes is giving us different desires in our heart. Our wills will always follow our strongest desire. Every single one of you sitting here tonight are dressed like you are dressed because when it came time to get dressed, that was your greatest desire. That was your greatest desire to put that on. We always follow the greatest desire we have in life. And when God renews the spirit of our mind to such a point that we can reason in a way that salvation is the greatest desire we have, we will always follow that desire. That's the way that we have been created. So when John says in John chapter 6 verse 45, it is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught of God. Everyone who has heard and learned from the father comes to me. He's talking about what we see here in Ephesians. We have heard from God. We have learned from God. And again, remember that verse 23 is a present tense verse. It's always happening. I can't remember your name, but you came tonight and you said how much you enjoy studying the Word of God and how the Word of God encourages you and how your life would be lost without the Word of God. Do you know what's happening? God is constantly renewing the spirit of your mind. He is constantly renewing your reasoning ability to be able to reason according to the Word of God. That's why we constantly need the Word of God. We constantly have to have the Word of God. And we constantly need to be dependent upon the Holy Spirit to take the Word of God and renew the spirit of our minds so we continue to reason everything according to the Word of God. So all of our decisions are done according to the Word of God. Why? What is the purpose of all of this? Look back here with me now in 2 Thessalonians 2 and we will quickly look at the purpose. It was for this he called you through our gospel. It was for this that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was that you might gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. We go back to Ephesians chapter one, verse number five. He predestined us as 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. That's why we give thanks, because it is all of the grace of God. That very word, grace, negates giving any credit to man. It is no credit to man. Anything that man does, man does because God has given him the ability. Anything that man does, it's because God created man to be able to reason such. God gets all the glory. He receives all the praise. And we walk away from here with nothing but thankful hearts. And no matter what happens, no matter what you go through, you can give thanks. And the more you allow the Word of God to renew the spirit of your mind so you reason according to the thoughts of God, the more you're going to see every trial, every difficulty, everything you go through, God is using it. He's conforming me into the image of God to the point where you can even begin to embrace life struggles as another aspect of God's grace. He has graciously allowed you to struggle so that you can be conformed into the image of God. That takes a renewing of the spirit of mind. Not only has it been granted to you to believe in Christ for God's sake, it has been granted for you to suffer for Christ's sake. That's what Paul says. How can you say such a thing? It's because your mind has been renewed according to the word of God. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, again, we are at loss to be able to express the gratitude that we must express for your goodness manifested in the giving of your word. One of the greatest, if not the greatest, gift is your word. We understand the tremendous gift of your son, Lord, but we would not understand that gift of your son had it not been for the gift of your word. It is your word that the Spirit uses to convince us that the babe in the manger is none other than the Son of God, born of a virgin. We have no problem with that incomprehensible truth because it's in your word and your spirit has renewed the spirit of our minds to reason through and believe that it is true. We believe in the resurrection. We believe that we are declared to be righteous in your sight, although we are yet sinners, declared righteous in your sight because your word tells us that if we believe in the promises of God, we will be justified in your sight. We praise you tonight, Lord, for your word. And Father, we thank you immensely for the gift of your spirit that continues, continues to ongoingly, unceasingly renew the spirit of our minds according to truth. To you, we all praise, glory and honor in Christ's holy name.