AS THE END COMES – 2 THESSALONIANS
Part 6 – How To Be Ready For Christ’s Return
(2 Thessalonians 2:13-14)
May 13, 2018 – Mothers’ Day
Dr. Mark S. Hartman, Lead Pastor
INTRODUCTION
2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. (NIV)
1. GOD CHOSE YOU BY HIS GRACE TO BE SAVED THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT’S WORK IN YOUR LIFE. (2 Thessalonians 2:14)
A. 2 Thessalonians 2:14 God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit…
B. Not one person could or would want to come to God on our own.
1. Every person without Christ is spiritually blind.
2 Corinthians 4:4 Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God. (NLT)
2. Every person without Christ is spiritually dead.
Ephesians 2:2 Since a person is totally lost, spiritually dead and even blinded to the truth, it is a miracle anyone ever gets saved. (NLT)
C. We are saved only because the Holy Spirit leads us to salvation.
John 16:8-11 When the Spirit comes, He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 in regard to sin, because men do not believe in Me; 10 in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
D. The Holy Spirit actually does three things to open our eyes about God:
1. The Holy Spirit begins showing a person that he is lost because of sins and those sins have separated that person from God. The greatest sin is the sin of pushing Jesus away from your life.
2. The Holy Spirit begins showing a person that she could be experiencing a right life if God was at the core of her life.
3. There is judgment coming for the person who rejects Jesus but if you receive Him you will be delivered.
E. God chose from the beginning that people would come to salvation through the work of the Holy Spirit Who draws people to God and makes their heart right with Him.
2. GOD CHOSE YOU BY HIS GRACE TO BE SAVED BY BELIEVING THE TRUTH OF SALVATION THROUGH CHRIST. (2 Thessalonians 2:14)
A. 2 Thessalonians 2 has made two big statements about personal responsibility:
1. 2 Thessalonians 2:10 They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. (NIV)
2. 2 Thessalonians 2:13 …From the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. (NIV)
B. 2 Thessalonians 2:14 God called you to this (salvation) through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
C. Everyone has sinned and fallen short of God’s perfection.
D. The wages of our sin is eternal separation from God. God is Just and so He must punish our sin.
1. Exodus 34:7 God will by no means clear the guilty.
2. Romans 6:23 The wages of sin is death…
E. God loved us even while we were rejecting Him and sent His Son to give Himself up for us.
F. I go to heaven by committing my life to Jesus. (Romans 10:9)
Romans 10:9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (NIV)