Let's turn in the Bible to Proverbs chapter 3, and then to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, and let's stand together. Proverbs chapter 3, beginning at verse 13, about the treasure that wisdom is, true wisdom is, which is the true knowledge of God. in that knowledge, the knowledge of how to live to God for His glory. Happy is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding, for her proceeds are better than the profits of silver and her gain than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her. Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who retain her. The Lord, by wisdom, founded the earth. By understanding, He established the heavens. By His knowledge, the depths were broken up and the clouds dropped down the dew. My son, let them not depart from your eyes. Keep sound wisdom and discretion, so they will be life to your soul and grace to your neck. Then you will walk safely in your way, and your foot will not stumble. When you lie down, you will not be afraid. Yes, when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes. For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught. And now 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse 13. But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or by epistle. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. This is the word of the living God. Amen. We turn in our Bibles to 2 Thessalonians 2 to study verses 13 through 17 this morning. A momentous day, a very momentous day in the history of the last century was August 6th, 1945. It was a day when a B-29 Superfortress named Enola Gay dropped a bomb, also named Little Boy, a 15 kiloton nuclear weapon on the city of Hiroshima. 90,000 people, estimated 90,000 to 120,000 people died. Likely 45,000 or 50,000 instantly. Another 50 or 40 to 70,000 in the next months, often from horrific and gruesome injuries. This action, together with the second bomb dropped on the city of Nagasaki, was listed by the Emperor Hirohito in a message to his nation that this terrible new weapon meant that it was time to lay down their arms and surrender. And so this powerful weapon, in a sense, brought to an end a horrible, bloody war. Now, today, 12 Ohio-class submarines in the Navy, together, 7,500 times the firepower, per sub, actually. The capability to wipe out Tens of millions of people with one nuclear equipped submarine. 30 to 40 million people. One weapon of war. Times 12. And then the nation of Russia holds today an equivalent opposite power. Astonishing power. power to destroy on a scale before our age unimaginable in human history. Now there's real evil in the world and real evil needs to be combated and stood against often in war. It's not wrong. But we as believers look at these things and we should see them and in them see that Indeed, it's a sinful, fallen world. And that there is much in the way of wickedness that needs to be opposed. There's also much in the way of humility concerning our own sinful ways. This immense power, power of nuclear weaponry for the last 75 years now has been something that many people have been afraid of. They have feared that these powerful instruments would bring an end to humanity and history as we know it, and destroy the planet. But really, all of that description pales in comparison with the powers that exist in the spiritual realm. Those are temporal powers. But there are spiritual powers far greater and more dangerous than any temporal power. And the worst warfare that we can think of in the physical world cannot be compared with the power and powers at work and the eternal consequences of warfare in the spiritual realm. There are far greater and more dangerous powers, spiritual powers. There are far greater kingdoms, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. And those powers are at work far above and beyond the rise and fall of any empires and nations in this world. As a matter of fact, when God looks at the nations, what does He see? Fine dust on the balance, drop in the bucket. The nations, the peoples of the world are like grasshoppers, nothing. When the kingdom of darkness exercises its horrendous powers, its powers are not just for temporal destruction, but with an intent for everlasting destruction. to drag souls into hell forever. The context that we come to in verse 13 is the context of some of the most sobering verses in the Bible that we've studied over the last two weeks. Paul has just described, in a sense, the spiritual equivalent of nuclear war. The possibility of a major error in Thessalonica that people thought that they had missed the coming of Jesus was refuted by the Apostle Paul in the first 12 verses of this chapter, the revelation of a war between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. And that this war is presently ongoing, but will be manifested just before the coming of Jesus Christ with a figure called the man of sin, the Antichrist. And that the day of Jesus will not come until first there is a great apostasy, verse three, and then this singular figure in history just before the second coming, a false Christ, the man of sin, will appear. And that there are titanic spiritual forces and battles that are happening now in this clash of kingdoms. Again, not with just temporal consequences, but eternal consequences. And we are presently experiencing that warfare between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. And although the text indicates a final, culminating Antichrist figure, the text also teaches us that the same spirit of lawlessness, and as the Apostle John teaches us, many Antichrists have come. that this warfare is a present mortal danger for the souls of men and women and boys and girls. That it will come with massive deception, with the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders. And, if you use the language of 2 Peter, 2 and verse 2, when he talks about false teachers that will come at the end, many will follow them, that the apostasy will be great. There'll be crowds of people following deception, that there have been in history and there will again, and there will at the end of the age. And that Satan is seeking to put counterfeit religion before humanity in order that sinners would be deceived and turn from Jesus Christ and leave him. With all unrighteous deception, Satan will work among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. Jesus, Matthew 24, false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders so as to lead astray, if it were possible, even the elect, the chosen people of God. The spiritual equivalent in the first section here has been given to the spiritual equivalent of a global thermal nuclear war has been sketched out by the Apostle Paul. Now that's the context. But then there's a sudden shift in tone in verse 13. A remarkable shift in tone. And an electrifying statement. And you need to have the context in mind to sense the weight of what happens now in verses 13 through 17. Note first quickly the shift in warmth of address from that warning about spiritual forces and spiritual warfare, this language, but we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, but indicating something different than that which preceded it. He's moving from teaching to prayer, from warning to encouragement. He's doing that with the warmest of possible greetings. Brethren, beloved by the Lord. He's stepping back from his sober teaching and warning not to think that Jesus has already come and to explain this great spiritual warfare of the ages culminating at the end. And he's stepping back now to encourage the believers at Thessalonica. And to do so, again, with the warmest of tone and language. Beloved by the Lord. And why is it that he's giving thanks for them against the backdrop of this equivalent of global thermonuclear war in the spiritual realm? What is it that makes him shift so quickly from the warnings in the exhortations to the thanksgiving. What's in his mind when he thinks of this shift, when he says, but brethren beloved of the Lord, why is he suddenly giving thanks? It's because of this electrifying statement in verse 13. Because God chose you for salvation. God chose you to be saved. And what's in his mind is this, that God chose you to bring you through that war all the way to the end. Now, so much is packed into verses 13 and 14, really the whole of the doctrine of salvation, but let's trace it through for a moment here. He begins, The first note of his thanksgiving, well, rather than beloved of the Lord, is because God from the beginning chose you for salvation. What is he talking about here? The bedrock for his thanksgiving is the doctrine of election, that God, according to his sovereignty, chooses individuals for salvation. That's what he's saying. God, from the beginning, chose you. It's language similar to what he writes in the Ephesians, from before the foundation of the world, God chose you. It's the doctrine of sovereign election. And the word here uses in the Greek is that he has chosen you in order to show you special favor. In other words, the backdrop is the great spiritual warfare. The thanksgiving is that there's salvation and that God has chosen you unto salvation to be saved. He begins with election. Then he says, chose you for salvation from the beginning. Now, there's two ways of translating this. It could also be the firstfruits. The idea of firstfruits here, Paul often uses the similar language here to firstfruits in Romans chapter 16 and verse five, for example, he is. He says the following. Likewise, greet the church that is in their house. Greet my beloved Epinnaeus, who is the firstfruits of Achaia to Christ. And he uses this again and again. The idea here is that he's rejoicing in that these are early converts chosen by God to lay the foundation for a church in Thessalonica to be saved, to make it through the spiritual warfare of the ages and through the final judgment, to use the language of chapter one, that you will have rest when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, who in flaming fire will take vengeance on those who do not know God, those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power, when he comes in that day to be glorified in his saints, to be admired among all those who believe. Talking about the very end. He's talking about reaching the end. He's talking about making it through that war to the very end. It becomes clearer in verse 14. He has chosen you for salvation, to which he called you by our gospel for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so if you take the language together, we have Paul giving thanks to God for everything beginning with God's electing law. Beloved of the Lord, chosen by God, all the way to the final and full obtaining of the glory of Jesus Christ when He appears with His mighty angels from heaven. He's thanking God for the reality of the fullness of their salvation. And He does more than that. He also describes how this salvation is being applied in history. How is it that God carries a sinner, carries you through the spiritual warfare of the ages to the final judgment seat of Christ so that you obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ? You get the prize. Heaven, glory. How? The Apostle Paul also explains that. He chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. Now, this is very, very important. Backdrop of spiritual warfare. Thanksgiving is for salvation, which is rooted in election, brings you all the way to the final glory. How? Two things Paul says. He says, sanctification and faith. Instruments by which God carries you through satanic deception all the way to the obtaining of the glory of God. Instruments by which He prepares you for the final judgment to obtain the glory of God. Now let's flesh that out a little bit more. Through the sanctification by the Spirit. He is talking about this. But this salvation that God brings and works includes, in the first place He mentions, the real life changes of sanctification, where your old sins are being crucified and new obedience is coming up, springing up like fresh fruit in your life. In other words, one of the ways that a believer can even know his or her election is that there's change happening within. First, that there's a willingness in you to confess sins and repent of them. Secondly, that there's a desire in you that you want to live a different way, that you want to leave an old life behind. that there is a hunger for sanctification, and that in that sanctification, that is the way that God is protecting you from the wiles of the devil, the deceptions of the evil one, where he's transforming your heart, your mind, and your life according to the word, and then especially here, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, who dwells in you and cannot be inactive. You have to get this. Sanctification by the Spirit is an inevitable mark of the true believer because it is the divine Spirit of the living God who dwells in you and is keeping you for final salvation, saving you now. See, one of the problems we have is people say this, well, I got saved 20 years ago when I walked an aisle and I prayed a prayer. The Bible actually doesn't use the word salvation that way. Now, when someone puts their trust in Jesus Christ, we're getting a little ahead of ourselves here, faith, we enter into what our catechism calls the estate of salvation. But salvation is the whole, it's rooted in election, and it has at the end the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ at the other end, and then everything in between is salvation, which belongs to the Lord. And Paul is saying that the way that God is going to save you in Thessalonica is He's gonna bring you through these temptations and make you more and more like Christ by the power of the Spirit, that there's a divine supernatural keeping and transforming, making you ready for the day of Jesus. What that means for you is you should, you must be growing and changing. Old sins need to go and new obedience needs to be put on. And maybe for you this morning, there's a list of sins that you know, that are maybe near and dear to you. Maybe it's anger, maybe it's porn, maybe it's laziness. Maybe you're a young adult here and you're having trouble listening to your parents. Salvation and sanctification are inseparable. And the work of the Spirit is to destroy and give you the grace and power to mortify old sins, the flesh, and live a new life according to the pattern of Jesus Christ. How? Through sanctification by the Spirit as part of salvation. Satan's deceptions, as an aside, require the Holy Spirit's power to resist Think of Jesus when He was baptized. The Spirit came on Him like a dove. And then He was tempted in the wilderness. And He also stood by the power of the Spirit. Sanctification by the Spirit. It's part of your salvation. Second, how? By belief in the truth. Faith. How did that come? To which He called you by our Gospel. Paul is saying simply this, and it's actually something profound. We preached the gospel, but when we did, it was God in history calling you to believe in Jesus Christ, and you did. It's interesting that he Describing salvation here inverts the order we ordinarily think of salvation. We would begin with faith and move to sanctification. He's not reversing those two things. He is actually getting to the bedrock, the beginning here of our salvation, which is that having believed and trusted in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, by the preaching of the gospel, the call of the gospel, hearing God himself calling you in history to a real savior, Jesus Christ, He says, they believed, they had faith, to use the language of the writer of the Hebrews, they believed to the saving of their souls. By faith, united to Christ, justified, sins forgiven, Holy Spirit granted, sanctification happening. All of this, Paul says, I give thanks to God for you, beloved by the Lord. because flowing from election are all the benefits of your salvation, and you will be saved. Now, this emphasis on faith is important here. And if there's anyone here this morning who hasn't responded to the gospel, haven't believed the truth, again, as the gospel is preached this morning, as Jesus Christ is set before you, God is also calling you in history, like he did through Paul in Thessalonica long ago, to believe the truth as it is in Jesus. To commit your life to the only one who has the power to save you. in the spiritual warfare of the ages, and from titanic forces of the kingdom of darkness, which will destroy you apart from the sovereign, powerful, saving mercy of God and Jesus Christ." You know, if you knew today, later this afternoon, that one of these heavy weapons were to fall on this city of Greenville, and you knew that there was a bomb shelter, When you had one hour from now, where would you go? You would take your family, your children, and your car, and you would get there as fast as you could, and you would find shelter from the storm. And that's what the Thessalonians had done. They had found the shelter of Jesus Christ. Believed in Him, received the Spirit, were being transformed, all rooted in election. And that's why Paul says, I give thanks to God for you, beloved in the Lord. The end of that salvation, to obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So he goes from the declaration of salvation, rooted in election, to the means of salvation, faith in Jesus Christ, justification and sanctification, and finally, the end, to obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, to one day be in that place. The angels of heaven cry, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty and worthy is the Lamb. And to see with unshrouded face the unshrouded, unmitigated glory of God. streaming from the throne. Paul says, this is what I'm giving thanks to God for. From eternity to eternity, rooted in the work of Jesus Christ in whom you believe by the power of the Spirit, you are being saved. And I rejoice. You are about to, again, if you understand this phrase, obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, to enter into, one day, the throne room of God, and see shining in the face of Jesus Christ the glory of God, and enjoy fellowship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And to be safe, to use the language of Psalm 46 that we just read, to be there, our life, in Christ, hidden with Christ in God, Colossians chapter two, three, to obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul's rejoicing because God has chosen you to make it through all the way to the end. That's what he says. Some things to think about, God's electing love. The bedrock of salvation here is election. Think of it often. Calvin says at this point, you see Satan has no power over any whom God has chosen. Note again the two essential aspects here of faith, uniting us to Christ, We receive the benefits of justification, adoption, sanctification, faith, the initial entrance into the estate of salvation. But note carefully that Paul believes that your sanctification, your transformation, and this should be liberating to some of you who think the wrong way about the law and about sanctification, that it's part of your salvation and it is the way in which God is both holding you, protecting you, and preparing you for glory. So pursue it. Keep the end in view, the glory of Christ. Now a command, verse 15. Therefore, brethren. He has set two realities now before these Thessalonians. He said, here's the spiritual warfare of the ages and the danger connected with it. Here is the glory of salvation, beginning in eternity past to eternity future. Here's your two options, two destinies. This is yours. Salvation. Therefore, stand fast. Hang on. Hold tightly to Jesus Christ. Look at the command, therefore. Again, a logical connection. Brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by our word or our epistle. He's encouraging them. It's like, again, the writer to the Hebrews, warning in chapter 6, verses 1 through 8, and then he says, but we think better things of you. He's saying, this is the reality of spiritual warfare, but you have been chosen for salvation, so stand fast. You ever give a child a present for their birthday? A couple days later, you find it in a heap somewhere in the corner of the house. They've forgotten it. Paul's saying don't do that with salvation. Don't forget it. Don't let it go. Don't presume that all is well. What I mean by that is just think, well, I believed 20 years ago. That's all I need. I don't need to hold on anymore. I've got what I need. I've got my ticket. No, he's saying, believe in Jesus Christ, pursue sanctification, long for obtaining the glory of Jesus Christ. In our spiritual weakness, we can treat salvation like this. Think of Esau. We can very quickly go astray. Galatians 1, Paul warns the Galatians. In Hebrews 3, the writer of the Hebrews warns the Hebrews how quickly we turn away. Think of the parable of the sower under tribulation, or the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches. The Word is a treasure, and there's a lot of competing currents in this world, behind all of which is Satan and his demonic power to say, let go, to distract you, to divert you. Paul says, no, think of your salvation and hold fast, stand firm. How? By holding the tradition that you were taught, whether by our word or by our epistle. Now, what does tradition mean here? The word preached by the apostles concerning Jesus Christ. It's the same as the gospel that he preached, which came to them by his active personal preaching and teaching in person in Thessalonica and by his first letter. And Paul is saying, take all of that And hang on. Don't let go. Everything. Hold fast to it. He's saying, know the Word. Believe the Word. Hold on to the good doctrine that you have been taught. Hold on to the decree of election, and the reality of sanctification, and the importance of faith, and the obtaining of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Hang on to it all and don't let go. Don't let go. In 1905, There was a raw diamond found in South Africa called the Cullinan diamond, 3,100 carats. It was finally given as a gift to King Edward VII in London, England. The problem was what to do with this raw stone. Well, they decided to find the best diamond cutters in the world to cut that stone. One of them right now is in Queen Elizabeth's scepter. It's worth $400 million. The other is in her crown. It's a little smaller, probably not as much. Well, how did they get cut? Well, they had to be transported from England to Amsterdam where the Asher brothers were to cut it. And what actually they did is they published that the Royal Navy would send a special warship across the English Channel with a special box locked in the middle of that ship. And that box actually was empty and the captain didn't know it. And the diamond was in the pocket of one of the Asher brothers who took the train and the ferry and the train to get to Amsterdam. He just held it in his pocket. I am guessing he didn't let go. And that was just a piece of rock. He didn't let go. Jesus taught the parable of the treasure in the field, the pearl of great price. Paul, building on that same theme, says, here's what you've been given. Rooted in eternity past to eternity future, salvation. Hold on to Christ. Stand fast. Hang on. In the spiritual warfare of the ages, don't let go. Let me speak to our rising generation here, our youth here at Covenant. I do now and then you who are moving from childhood to adulthood. You have an inheritance in the covenant of grace of the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ and him crucified declared to you and you are called to follow him. You live under the sound of the gospel of Jesus Christ week after week here at Covenant from your parents, Lord willing every day, you have the word of God. You have the same preaching and traditions of the apostles, whether by word preached or by letter, that Paul was talking about here at Thessalonica. Hold on to it. Let me ask you what you're planning to do with it. The Apostle Paul, the Word of God says to you, hang on, believe in Jesus Christ, pursue sanctification, pursue obtaining the glory of Jesus Christ. There's nothing better to live for, no one better to live for than Jesus Christ. No one. And this world right now is doing its level best to tear you away from Him and the covenant of grace. The doctrine of the Reformation, hold fast to that. Great doctrine of election, hold fast to it. Pursue holiness. Make it your personal aim, even if you're young. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And don't listen to the world. Some of you perhaps are familiar with Homer's Odyssey. You remember the part of it where he was to sail past the sirens, the tempters. And it was said that The songs of the sirens, these tempters, supposed to be female creatures tempting the sailors to doom. And what would happen is when the sailor heard this song, the myth was that he would break apart, drive his ship onto the rocks, break apart and be destroyed. So what he did is he gave all his sailors earplugs. He said, tie me to the mast. Tie me to the mast because I want to hear the song, but I don't want to go to the shipwreck. I don't want to follow the sirens. Lash me to the mast. So he did. They sailed into the waters and he heard the song and he said, untie me. Lost his mind. And his sailors tied him tighter to the mast. And on the other side, when the songs were gone, they let him go free. This world has its sirens. And they're saying, Leave the faith. Don't hold on. And what you need to do is, by the grace of God, hold fast and stay lashed to the mast and not listen to the tempter. That's the backdrop of this, the deception of Satan, verse 9 of the same chapter. Let me say something about our cultural moment. But the world pleasantly says, all of you, about Christ, about the Christian family, about the right worship of God, about the doctrines of the sovereignty of God, these are becoming increasingly unpopular. It is not a small thing that this week in our cultural moment that the leader of the primaries in Iowa was a man who claims to be married to a man. It's a sin for which there is a gospel that we preach. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, such were some of you, but you were saved. There's salvation for all those who put their trust in Jesus. There's freedom, there's sanctification, there's life, there's a hope of obtaining new glory for all those who repent. But it's not a small thing in our day. when the world placards such things, together with abortion and a thousand other sins, materialism and the love of things that are passing, and says, come join us in the rebellion. The command is stand fast, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the hope of the Lord, in the work of the Lord. We'll get more into this next week, but I'd be remiss to not know that the section ends with a blessing. Paul doesn't just say, stand fast. He says, God himself will hold you. Now may the Lord Jesus Christ himself and our God and father who has loved us and given us eternal consolation and a good hope, comfort your hearts and establish you. in every good word and work. He says, your salvation began with election, worked out with sanctification, rooted in faith. Goal is to obtain the glory of God. Hang on to what you've been given in the gospel. But remember, the God who stands at the beginning is the God who holds you now, the God at the very end. This week, my little Naomi was sick. I think it was Monday night. It's hard to remember exactly. She woke up scared and upset somewhere in the night, and I picked her up. And when she lays in our bed with us, when she's scared and upset, none of us get any sleep. So every now and then, one of us volunteers, Laura Lee or I, to go take care of the little one so the other can sleep. And it was my turn to do that. And I was laying with her on the couch for a little while, and she fell asleep, and then she would wake up. And she would cry, and I would say, Naomi, daddy's here. Her lower arm would reach around and grab me by the neck, and I would grab her, and she'd fall asleep again. A few minutes later, she would wake up and she would cry. She would check if my arm was still there, and she would reach and grab hold of me a little bit more. And she needed to know that. What is Paul saying here? He's saying very simply, God the Father and the Son have laid a hold of you in salvation. Don't ever let go of the Lord. Hold fast. Brethren, beloved of the Lord, who have been given salvation from the beginning to the end, hang on. God will carry you through the spiritual warfare of the ages to the end. Let's pray. Lord, we come to you this morning, all of us so often surely feeling much like the Thessalonians long ago, besieged by the world, the flesh, and the devil. Worn, tempted, tired. trying to swim in the heavy surf of the waves and billows of this present world. Lord, we thank you for so great a salvation rooted in eternity past, stretching to eternity future. Lord, we long to obtain the glory of Jesus Christ. Keep our faith strong. Sanctify us. And Lord, we pray that you would establish us or that you would cause us to stand, by the same grace with which you began in us, or that we would finish, and finish well. Carry us, we pray, through the spiritual warfare of the ages. Lord, we give thanks to you, as the apostle did long ago, for so great a salvation. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.