Let me clarify that in case it is a little confusing. The Bible does not say that God takes unsaved people and chooses them to be saved. And the other people He chooses to be lost and chooses them to reject Christ. That is false. For those people who hear, and believe, and receive Christ - those who are sealed by the Holy Spirit of God - to those people God has benefits and an inheritance.
Transcript
Alright we are continuing in II Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 13 through 17. This is part two. Last week we took the first part of verse 13. This is what we studied last week. Verse 13, Now we ourselves are indebted to give thanks to God always concerning you, brothers, having been loved by the Lord. The reason why we are giving thanks is because God chose you from the beginning for salvation. Very important phrase in the Scriptures. And the way the Bible is written in the New Testament we have to understand two things: (1) what the verb is – that God chose us for salvation, that little prepositional phrase for salvation on the end. (2) But we have to understand the personal pronouns – the you, the we, and the us. Because God chose you from the beginning for salvation. Who is the you? That is the big question.
There is the doctrine of predestination that is very popular today. And the doctrine of predestination basically states that God chooses people to be saved and He chooses people to be lost. Nobody has a choice. God chooses you for salvation or He chooses you to be lost, based on His discrimination of how He wants to do things, and who He want to save.
The problem is, as we studied last week from Ephesians chapter 1 where Paul went into detail of the predestination, and the choosing of the blessings of God for His people. That the you, and the us, and the we that he has mentioned in those verses – in verses 3-14 of Ephesians chapter 1, these are people that he describes in verses 13 and 14 of Ephesians chapter 1 as those people who have heard the gospel of salvation, who have received Jesus Christ; people who not only have received and believed in Him but also people who were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. So the us and the we and the you in verses 3 through 12 of Ephesians chapter 1 is making reference to saved people not unsaved.
Let me clarify that in case it is a little confusing. The Bible does not say that God takes unsaved people and chooses them to be saved and the other people He chooses them to be lost and chooses them to reject Christ. That is false. For those people who hear and believe and receive Christ, and who are sealed by the Holy Spirit of God, to those people God has benefits and inheritance.
In Ephesians it says, He chose us; who is us? It is the collective whole of people who believe. The people who already believe for them God has chosen us to stand before Him one day holy and without blame before Him in love. He has chosen us and predestinated us that when Christ comes, He is going to call us to Himself and we are going to inherit glory, the glory of the Lord. That is not choosing people to be saved and choosing people to be lost. He chooses and predestinates – for people who are responsive, He supplies everything for a person to experience the salvation of God. Everything. And we will see that today in our studies.
Why this is important is because this letter was written to people who were told, “You are under the judgment of God, that is why you are experiencing such hard times.” And so Paul was mentioning to them that you are not under the judgment of God, God does not choose His people for judgment. He chooses His people, according to the text, for salvation. You see the context, how it is shown here? I belong to Christ and He has chosen me for salvation, not for judgment. For those who reject Christ, they have been chosen and predestined for judgment because they have rejected Christ.
So notice in verse 13, again it says, Because God chose you from the beginning for salvation and then it says in two ways: in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Two ways.
In sanctification of the Spirit, first of all. In choosing me for salvation He sanctified me by His Spirit coming into my spirit. That is what it means to receive Christ. It is not an intellectual belief only. It is literally receiving His Spirit into my heart, into my insides.
The word sanctification means to be set apart. Putting that with, God chose you from the beginning for salvation, we have: He has set me apart by salvation. When He saved me, He set me apart for Him. I belong to Christ. So when His Spirit came into my heart or spirit, I was set apart for salvation and from judgment. That is what He did. It is not based on performance, it is based on the fact that His Spirit set me apart for Him.
We read in Ephesians chapter 1 verses 13 and 14 that we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance. The Holy Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance.
So He has filled me and He has sealed me. The word seal has to do with sealing of an envelope. No one can get in, nothing can get out. So we are filled with the Holy Spirit. We are sealed by the Holy Spirit. And that is the guarantee that we belong to Christ. It is not based on our religious beliefs, it is based on His presence, and the fact that His Spirit indwells us.
Now we know from Romans chapter 8 verse 9, Paul says, But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. Do you see what the qualification is? The qualification is not religious belief, but it is the presence of the Spirit of Christ inside of a person’s heart or a person’s Spirit. A person can believe in Christ and not have His Spirit.
James, in chapter 2 verse 19, tells us that You believe that God is one, you do well. But even the demons are believing and trembling. Do you know that Satan believes the truth? He knows it is true, that is why he tells the lie. A person has to be indwelt, that is, have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them in order for that person to belong to Christ.
Again, continuing in Romans chapter 8 verse 14 he says, As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. It is not saying that this should be happening, it is a factual statement. If you have the Spirit of Christ in you, you are being led by the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God.
Again, in Romans chapter 8 verse 16 he says, The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. It is not even my testimony. It is not even what I say about myself. It is the fact that His Spirit in me bears witness to my spirit and in my spirit, that I belong to Christ, that I am a son of God.
John in I John chapter 3 verse 24 he says, And the one keeping His commandments dwells in Him, and He, that is, God, dwells in him. And in this we know that He dwells in us from out of the Spirit whom He has given to us. I know He dwells in me, because He has given me His Spirit.
Again, in I John chapter 4 verse 13 he says, In this we know that we dwell in Him and He in us, because from out of His Spirit that He has given to us. I know He dwells in me because His Spirit is dwelling in me.
In Galatians chapter 4 verse 6 Paul says, And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Abba is the Aramaic for the word father. It is God’s Spirit in me that calls out to God as my Father. I do not even do that. It is God’s Spirit in me that is calling out to God on my behalf.
So if I ever have doubts because of the weakness of my flesh, or if I ever have any doubts about my salvation – according to Romans chapter 8 verse 16, again, the Spirit himself bears witness with my spirit that I am a child of God. His presence in my spirit is the guarantee that I belong to Christ, according to Ephesians chapter 1 verse 14. It is not based on my works, it is not based on my religious beliefs. It is based on the fact that He sent His Spirit to dwell in me, that is what makes me belong to Christ. But when He did that, He sealed me and set me apart for salvation and from judgment. God says, “Because you have believed I have chosen salvation for you and not judgment.” It is impossible for a person to set himself apart spiritually. It is impossible for a human being to do that. Only the Spirit of Christ can sanctify or set a person apart to belong to Christ. It is an act of God, not an act of man. It is something that God does to us, not what we earn, or work for. It is a gift.
Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 and 9, For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of you: it is the gift of God; not of works, in order that not anyone should boast. So the work of God must be performed on a person. It is like an operation. God performs a spiritual operation on a person and that person is saved. The person is transformed. The Bible calls it a spiritual birth, it calls it born again when a person experiences a new birth.
I, after I was born physically – obviously I have been, I was not hatched, I was born physically – I have experienced two births. My spiritual birth where Christ came into my spirit one day. But I also experienced a physical birth. I had a stem cell transplant and they consider every year after that a rebirth anniversary, that you are a totally different person. And I have had testimony from those around me that I am, in some ways, a different person having all my stem cells killed off and new stem cells put in. It was a six-week operation to do but that is what caused the cancer to go into remission. New stem cells so I became a new person. So I have been born again of spiritual birth when Christ’s spirit came in and gave birth to my heart, to my spirit. And then I experienced a physical birth when I had a stem cell transplant.
Look at verse 13 again. Secondly, so the first thing we are saved is in sanctification of the Spirit. But secondly, according to verse 13, a person is set apart for salvation by belief. It is literally, “belief of the truth.” That is how it literally reads. Belief is the verb form of the word for faith. The word faith means persuasion in Greek. Faith or the persuasion comes from God’s Spirit.
We know from Galatians chapter 5 verse 22 that faith is a fruit of God’s Spirit. I have the faith to believe in the truth of Christ because of what He has given me by His Spirit. His Spirit gave me the faith, the persuasion, to believe the truth. He has given some to believe the lie according to verse 11, one of our studies in the last two weeks. God actually gives people over to believe in the lie if they should reject the love of the truth. So He has given some to believe the lie. He has given some the faith and belief of the truth. That is a gift from God. A human being cannot do that according to the Bible. The only way a person can believe the truth of God is if God opens His heart and gives him the faith to believe. A person cannot believe the truth unless the Lord gives him the ability to believe it. Only God can open a person’s heart.
You need to pay attention to this. Only God can open a person’s heart. It is recorded in Acts chapter 16 verse 11 through 15. A very important section of Scripture, Acts chapter 16 verses 11 through 15. That Paul was in the city of Phillipi and on the Sabbath day he went down to the river where some women had gathered for prayer. Lydia who was a merchant, the seller of purple from the city of Thyatira was there. Lydia was one of the women that were down by the river praying. It tells us in Acts chapter 16 verse 14, important verse, Acts chapter 16 verse 14 tells us that God opened Lydia’s heart to pay attention to the things being spoken by Paul. The Lord opened her heart. The Lord has to open a person’s heart to be receptive. Well, Lydia got saved. And her whole family, their hearts were opened to the truth, and she became a very important member of the body of Christ. A person cannot even open his own heart. The Lord gives us the gift of faith to hear and to believe. Do you know that there are many people in church that do not believe the truth? They argue against it all the time. They do not like it and they do not believe it. Believing the truth is a mark that God’s Spirit is in that person, because a person cannot believe the truth without God giving that person the faith.
So in summary, His plan for me and for all believers is that we should be chosen for salvation. And that happens in two ways:
1) He sets that person apart by His Spirit.
2) And secondly, His Spirit gives that person the belief of the truth. Without His Spirit doing that for a person they cannot believe the truth.
It is all a gift from God, to even give the person the ability to be open to receive the truth of Christ and to receive Christ himself.
I can remember when my search for Christ began when I was in the military in Florida and I was out on a pier at night looking back over the skies over the south. And it was an electrical storm going on. And I saw this electrical storm, you could just see it – in fact, it covered, not just miles, but states, it was just so enormous. My response to seeing that is, “God, if You are real make Yourself real to me.” But nothing happened at the moment. But two years later when I was in Puerto Rico, I was there and I had an inkling to go to church on base. I went to church, and I was used to going to church when I was a young boy. It was just the same old church to me. It did not mean anything to me, nothing happened. But I heard that the chaplain had a Bible study in his home on Sunday night. I had never heard of such a thing – a Bible study in his home? Is it a church service? What is it? No, it is just a Bible study. Here was the clincher. They had donuts and coffee. And so I said, “You drink coffee and eat donuts in the middle of Bible study in a chaplain’s home?” That is right. “I got to go check this out.” Just the donuts and coffee would be worth it. So I went and I had no idea what he was talking about. I know he was teaching out of II Corinthians. And just sat around the living room and opened with prayer and gave a Bible study, while people could get up and go over and get donuts and coffee or do whatever. So I got my donuts and my coffee, and I sat there and listened. I have no idea what he was talking about. Not a clue. I went to this Bible study for nine months, not fully understanding what was being said or what was being taught. All I knew is I was drawn to go.
One night in my little apartment while I was walking across my bedroom floor God’s Spirit came on me. I sensed His Spirit coming on me. I knew who He was. I knew what was happening to me. And I knew that I was being born again by receiving the Spirit of Christ. I did not take Him, I received Him. He came to me at that moment. I did not say a prayer, even though I made that prayer two years earlier, “God if You are real, make Yourself real to me,” and He honored that prayer, and He saved me that night. He had been preparing my heart all those nine months in hearing the word and then He saved me.
So all I can say to you – if you are in a search, not sure if you are saved, or you want to know how to be saved, that is a very popular question that I have heard over the years. I can only tell you pray to God. Say, “Lord, I need You.”
You see, if God has opened your heart to be receptive to receiving Christ, you can call upon Him. Paul said in Romans chapter 10 verse 13, Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. God promises to save you if you call upon Him. But know what salvation is. Salvation is the sanctification of the Spirit coming in your heart. Salvation is the belief of the truth. You will not have to struggle. You might not understand things, but it will come eventually. God honors that prayer. Not just any prayer. Not just a person who repeats the sinner’s prayer. There is a sinner’s prayer out there that if you repeat it, they say you are saved. No, it does not guarantee anything, you must receive the Spirit of Christ.
I have been with people where they asked me to pray for them, pray that they would be saved. And I have prayed a prayer, but I did not pray for their salvation. I made them pray. You talk to the Lord. I am not going to talk to the Lord for you. If you definitely want to be saved, and you know what that means – is that Christ is going to come into your spirit, and He is going to set you apart for Him and you will belong to Him you will not belong to yourself. But as He comes in your spirit and you are born of His Spirit, however that might happen. Some people are saved immediately in talking to the Lord about. Other people are saved later on. They are driving in their car, or they are in their home, and the Spirit of God comes on them and they are given a spiritual birth by Christ. It is all by the operation of God. He performs the operation. He performs the ability to receive. He performs the ability to be open. He opens people’s hearts who are looking for the truth, but they cannot produce it themselves. He provides that for you.
And so we have to understand that this is Paul’s ministry. I just gave you a whole gamut of verses where Paul talks about how important it is to be born of the Spirit of Christ. And it is up to you, if you sense that God has opened your heart to be receptive to Christ, I would talk to the Lord about it. I would come to Him and ask Him to save you. And then when His spirit comes into your life and into your heart, you will belong to Christ, forever. You will never lose your salvation. You cannot lose your salvation because you cannot lose Christ and His Spirit is the qualification to belong to Him.
Well, we will finish the section out next week. Let’s close with prayer.
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