In this sermon, the preacher discusses five important aspects related to the return of the Lord and the believer's role. The first is the anticipation of the Lord's return. The second is the removal of believers from the world. The third is the rise of the antichrist. The fourth is the revelation of the man of sin. And finally, the fifth is the rejection of sinners by God. The preacher emphasizes the seriousness of rejecting God and warns that those who reject Him may face strong delusion and eternal damnation. He urges unsaved individuals to reconsider their stance and accept God's message of salvation through Jesus Christ. The sermon concludes with a reminder that believers are chosen by God, saved by Jesus, and destined for eternal glory.

We're at the second letter of code to the Thessalonians, and we're at the second chapter. And all the scholars are agreed that this chapter is one of the deepest and one of the most difficult chapters in the New Testament, so that we're at something that's really deep and difficult. And I want to try to bring it over to you in a way that you'll never forget it. If you've been reading through this second chapter or second Thessalonians, and you've looked at it carefully, I think that you'll find this out, that the key word for opening the whole chapter is the word, remember. Do you see the fifth verse? Paul has said a few things in the first four verses, and then he comes in quickly with this, Remember ye not that when I was yet with you, I told you these things. So that the things that he's bringing before the Thessalonians in this chapter are things that he has taught them before, but like many believers, they have forgotten some of the things they were taught. And so he's reminding them, he's filling up their pure minds by way of remembering. And he wants them to remember certain things that he had already told them when he was present with them. But these things that he wants them to remember, they fall into three groups. First of all, Paul is reminding the believers here at Thessalonica in the first twelve verses of this chapter about some very precious and important dispensational truths. Dispensational truths that take us from the Lord's coming in the first verse. Do you see the first verse? Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Dispensational truths that take us from the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ for His saints. The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and all gathering together unto Him. Of course, that's the last two very plainly, isn't it? That's the Lord coming through the air for His saints and all gathering together unto Him. Now these dispensational truths that he wants them to remember, they go from the coming of the Lord for His saints right through to the coming of the Lord to destroy the Antichrist. Do you see verse eight? Then shall that wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming. Now there are two comings mentioned. The first one is the coming of the Lord for His saints and all gathering together unto Him, and the second one is the coming of the Lord to the earth to consume the Antichrist. And the dispensational truths that the Lord wants these believers to remember range from the coming to the air right through to the coming to the earth. And there are many valuable truths in between, but we'll find them just in a moment. The things that he wanted them to remember, first of all they drop into the group that we call dispensational truths. And then the second thing that he wanted them to remember begins at verse thirteen. But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you brethren beloved of the Lord because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth whereunto he called you by your gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Of course that's evangelical truth, isn't it? Do you know he wanted them to remember the great dispensational truths that he had taught them and then secondly he wanted them to remember the great evangelical truths that he had taught them. Evangelical truths that take you from a point that Paul called the beginning. God hath chosen you from the beginning right through to a point that he called obtaining the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. And if you can measure that, it comes from eternity to eternity. It's evangelical truth that sounds that sound. From before the foundation of the world to the time when every believer will obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So that's something to remember. And then the chapter ends like this. Verse sixteen. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God in whom our Father is which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. Do you know that's devotional truth. And Paul wanted them to remember these things things that he had told them when he was with them And these things drop into three groups. Wispensational truths evangelical truths devotional truths You see he's reminding them here at the end of the chapter of God's love in the past God which hath loved us past love and hath given to us everlasting consolation and good hope You know a way out in the future there we have everlasting consolation and hope God's love in the past God's hope and consolation for the future and God's comfort for our hearts today That's present comfort God comfort your heart These are devotional truths And so I think that you get the key to the chapter when you see Paul making this plea Remember! Remember the things that I told you Wispensational truths evangelical truths devotional truths So he's making a plea that they'll remember these things Now he had a very good purpose for making this plea and for presenting these truths again in an epistle after he had offered them verbally to them when he had been with them He had a very good purpose for doing so You see some people had come in behind Paul's back when he had left Thessalonica and they had written to these young believers a letter and they put Paul's name to it It was a false document and the false document contained error and the error had upset these young believers and Paul's going to counteract this You see this letter that was supposed to come from Paul that taught these young believers that they were in the great tribulation, the day of the Lord because they were going through tribulation My, it had upset them! They didn't know where they were and Paul is going to put things right Do you see the second verse? He says Thus ye be not soon shaken in mind or betrothed See these young believers were shaken in mind and troubled Neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter are some You see somebody penned a letter and pretended that it was Paul and said this is a spiritual revelation given to Paul and this is the word of the Lord You are in the day of tribulation And you know saints would swallow that very quickly You know almost every time we have a world war you meet believers who say we're in the tribulation There's been a lot of tribulations according to them And sometimes people when they come up against thorns and trials and tests and troubles they're in the tribulation Do you remember when we had the wet summer some time back? Well you would hardly know which one it was would you? If I'd said the good one you could have picked this out But we had a very wet one some years back when the hay rucks were floating in the meadow And I met an old farmer one day and he said to me Mr. Mullen, we're in the depths of the tribulation I said how do you make it out? He said look at the hay rucks floating in the meadow If that's all that's going to happen then the tribulation is all right The same old boy I was talking to had about 40,000 quid in the bank It was just morning you know And so these Thessalonian believers were passing through persecutions You remember we saw that in the other chapter And they were passing through a time of real tribulation And someone had come in behind Paul and sent them a letter And said this is the word of the Lord, we've got it by the Spirit You're in the day of the Lord, you're in the great tribulation And so Paul says that shook you didn't it? You're shaking in mind, you're troubled Well you must have forgot the half of the teaching that I taught you So I'll have to teach you over again So he stopped, to put them over a truth they had already heard So we'll start where he stopped At the beginning, verse 1 Now here's a plea to them Now we beseech you brethren By the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ And by our gathering together unto him That ye be not too shaken in mind He said you know I want you fellows to get the hold of this That all believers down here The first thing that you are to look out for Is the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ The return of the Lord That's the first thing That's what you want to get the hold of Don't be worried about tribulation Or storms, or tests, or trials, or wars Or peril, or thorns, or famine, or negativity The first thing that must happen Of real importance to the believer Is the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ We're waiting still And mind you I think before I'm through with this chapter I can bring to bear upon this meeting The real conviction that we're desperately near To meeting the Lord just now This world is standing at a spot tonight And I believe that we're on the verge Of our Lord Jesus Christ's return to the earth And our gathering together unto him What a moment isn't it? The return of the Lord The removal of the church Our gathering together unto him He said those are the first two things If you get this thing all right now Get this sensational truth right Don't let anybody upset you The first thing is the coming of the Lord The second thing is the removal of the church The Lord himself shall descend From heaven with his church With the voice of the archangel and the trump of God And the dead in Christ shall rise first And we believers which are alive and remain We shall be caught up together to meet the Lord in the earth That's the truth that he had talked to me He said now you just get your eyes on these things The first thing that will happen Will be the coming of the Lord And the removal of the church And so he's making a plea He said don't let anybody upset you We beseech you by this We beseech you look out for that first Why that must happen before the time of tribulation comes When he goes on in the third verse And he said this Let no man deceive you by any means For that day That is the day of the Lord That these people were talking about In the second verse it's called the day of Christ But all the Greek scholars are persuaded That the word Christ ought to have been Lord there It's the day of the Lord That is the day of tribulation You remember I dealt one night with the day of the Lord Who pointed out that it was the day of tribulation Now he's saying in the third verse Let no man deceive you by any means For that day shall not come Except there come a falling away first You know the moment that Christ comes to the earth And the removal of the professing church Of the believers There will come a relapse In the professing church that left behind Remind you of the will You know I think that some of us are not too clear on this You know there are a whole lot of people stuck in churches And they're not saved And there are a whole lot of ministers stuck in pulpits And they're on their way to hell Well they are And you know they'll carry on the business when we go But I'll tell you this As soon as the true believers leave their sins The church will fall away And the church will be left behind My dear friends Did you see the supposed to be Reverend Young Talking in the paper the other day Did you? Pulling the Bible to pieces Trying to make a fool out of the Lord Jesus Tootooing America And then that date of it when he got a slap or two Well when there's nobody here to slap him he'll go on with it There'll be a few of them left behind and he'll be one of them Super will be another And all who deny the virgin birth To think that a man with a call around his neck Would call merely a bad woman And Jesus Christ a bastard Why I know where there's a minister Who stood up not so long ago and said That the Lord slithered with Mary and Martha all the days of his life The heathen They should blow them out But there's a whole lot to support them you know There'll be some of you stuck here tonight to support them And maybe you'll be left behind or all of them And when the true church has taken out The professing body that's left behind They'll get away What that church has stood for They'll be out crawling away then That's what the apostate called The apostate My, you can see they're merely nothing today Only they can't get off of it Thank God for men like Paisley who stand up and shout Thank God for the two Presbyterian ministers in the town Who wrote against this apostate preacher Thank God for every truth evangelized in the land That stands fast and fearless It means the last of the last days Thank God for everyone Ah yes, when the true church goes There'll be a falling away down here And then something will happen, watch it Well that's the third verse Let no man deceive you by any means For that day, that is the day of tribulation, shall not come Except there come a falling away first And the man of sin be revealed That's one of perdition Sir, are you getting these texts through this dispensational teaching? The return of the Lord The removal of the church The relapse of prophet Christianity And then the revelation of the Antichrist My, you needn't look round you for the Antichrist these days You believers will never see him He'll not be revealed Until we're gone And the professing church has gone to hell upon us But it'll be a right groan to reveal him then, won't it? It'll be right for us But what a caricature he is Have a look at him, Paul takes his time to describe him for us Here he is in verse four The man of sin Who opposes and exalteth himself above all that is called God All that is worshipped So that he of God Sitteth in the temple of God Showing himself that he is God You know there's a tremendous lot in that little verse that reveals this man This is the person You see, first of all you'll notice this That this character will oppose and exalt himself above everything that's called God or that's worshipped He doesn't want any God He's not going to have any God But he will eventually come to the place Where he'll be as God You know that's desperately like the way communism goes on You know years back when they began My, they didn't want any overlord And they didn't want any king or they didn't want any emperor Let's throw this upper ten crowd down And let's put to night He doesn't want God but he finishes up being God Tremendous thing isn't it How easily deceived we are But watch this man I'm only illustrating communism there You know he's not a communist Not by any means he's not But he's walking along the same principle Beginning by opposing God And ending up that he himself is God But we go on to see not only the passion But let's go down the chapter a little bit till you see his power Verse nine, even him Whose coming is after the working of Satan With all power and signs and lying wonders You know this fellow has power You know the moment the true church was out And the apostasy begins This man will step in and take command of everything And you know friends while he opposes everything that's called worship By lying wonders and signs He'll make the world worship him For he'll have power Power, mighty power The power of Satan You see Satan tries to eat God and everything Our Lord Jesus Christ Was God incarnate He was God manifest and flesh Yes, he was perfectly human He could weep, he could eat, he could sleep And yet through him all the fullness of the Godhead Bodily was demonstrated All the power of God Well so Satan, I'll get a man And he'll be Satan incarnate I'll fill him with my power And everything I have I'll give to him And he'll be able to do wonders But mind you, there'll be lying wonders It'll be wonders done to deceive Done to deceive There's a great lot of deception going on even tonight in the support Christian church You know I read some time ago and I mean to expose this That in one of these great healing campaigns in America The healer was known to do this He was known to send his right hand man in an aeroplane Two hundred miles across the state one morning And to pick up certain men Give them twenty pounds each for the day Say you come in the plane and you come in the plane and you come in the plane And you walk into the meeting tonight pretending to be a blind man And you come in in a wheeler chair and you come in somewhere else And you know this blind man was led onto the platform Stood there, asked a few questions And before a great crowded auditorium This healer raised his hand upon him And immediately he could see But if you were in the audience you wouldn't know a thing about it You'd be bluffed For you would come out there and say Mr Moon but I saw it I saw the blind man I saw the fellow in the wheelchair I saw, see and believe in it But very carefully The devil will bluff you if you're not careful Now don't go out and say that I said all the healers did that I didn't say any such thing And don't go out and say that I don't believe in divine healing For there's nobody in here believes more But I'm just warning you So very careful about the devil We're just at the end of the age and he's preparing for a tremendous thing And mind you in the not too far distant future we're going to see lying wonders We're going to see signs, I'll tell you this We're going to see miracles And this man indwelt with the power of Chisholm Will be able to do miracles And of course it's all to deceive The crowd that's left behind And there's some of them wouldn't be hard to deceive When you see the minister stand and tear him pages Out of the bible before his congregation And there's so many more and so many pages down And they all sit and swallow him So wouldn't be hard to deceive, would they? I don't know what some of you do under these emissaries of hell at all There's just one thing that I can never understand How real born again blood-bought believers put up with I can never understand that I can understand a whole lot of things But I can't understand that Now we've seen the passion We've seen the power Let's have a look at the people that's under him just for a moment Now watch, we'll go over verse 9 again Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan With all power and signs and lying wonders And with all deceivableness Of all unrighteousness in them that put Now that's the crowd that will be on the believers a lot for that Not a bit of them, you don't get one of them there You know the crowd that's left behind in the great apostasy The crowd in the midst of whom is revealed the Antichrist The crowd that will see these demonstrations and lying wonders Is that crowd that And I'll tell you why they're vanished The book tells you, did you read it? Look verse 10 again And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness In them that perish because They receive not the love of the truth That's a micro-save You know, there are two dispensations here You see, this dispensation that we're in tonight We're preaching God's truth And in Sunday night after Sunday night I try to bring this meeting the truth of the gospel And of course the truth of the gospel Uplifts a person who is called the truth I am the way, the truth And we're uplifting the truth But you know, when you go to a meeting And you begin to tell the congregation That there's just one sacrifice for ten Just one, it was offered itself When you begin to tell the congregation That nothing can force ten upon Nothing but the blood of Jesus When you begin to tell the congregation Neither is there salvation in any other For there's none other name unto heaven given To close the congregation into the cross And the blood and the Christ They don't like it Ah no, they don't love the truth That's a micro-save You see when I go to some churches And I teach the old gospel Just like I've outlined it now I know right well that I'll never go back again You know I can sense this at times I'm not very long preaching Sometimes I hear the old minister behind me coughing Sometimes you know ignorantly I turn round And say what's up with you, you've got the cold There's a whole lot of people You love the truth And you know, the child hates the lie Well this book declares that there's one coming In the not too far distant future And he's going to be indwelt by the power of Satan And his name is The Lie He's just the opposite to the truth And if you don't believe the truth now You'll believe the lie then God will speak to that So what's this working out, do you see? We'll read verse ten again Preachers for themselves And with all deceivableness upon righteousness And them that perish Because they received not the love of the truth That they might be saved And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion That they should believe And the two words there should be THE LIE Capital T, capital L In your Greek New Testament It's a person This person, this antichrist This man of sin, this son of perdition Is THE LIE He'll be in the other dispensation And the boys who don't like the truth now Will love THE LIE then Do you know, I know that when I preach to a congregation like this There's always somebody in the crowd Who's got a thought like this at the back of their mind They say, you know, my mother was saved And my father was saved And I knew the gospel And if Christ came now and I was left behind I would never bow to the antichrist I know too much You've just left, haven't you, we say That in that dispensation GOD WILL SEND YOU STRONG DELUSION You should believe the lie Say, that's quite good My, you'll just be the fellow that'll bow And you'll be found at the feet of the antichrist In a day to come if you don't watch Now, I want to get that wee bit further to you Watch this We'll read verse 10 again And with all deceivable nets of unrighteousness And them that perish Because they received not the love of the truth That they might be saved And for this cause GOD SHALL SEND THEM STRONG DELUSION THAT THEY SHOULD BELIEVE THE LIE THAT THEY ALL MIGHT BE BROUND I say, that's hardly anything, isn't it Mind you, I didn't think this This is your Bible, I didn't know You know, I remember I wasn't very long in this country side And I stopped with the old road man one day And leaned over the chair and had a yarn whistle And we got round to these things And I told him that there was a day coming When God would send people Strong delusion That they all might be bound He says, that's a lie I said, can you read And I brings this out and let him read it I can see his face, you know, he looks at it He says, my God, I didn't think that was in the book No, he didn't Did you think it was in the book? Ah, well, it happens to be that it is in the book And my dear, you might be one of those folks tonight And you don't love the truth I'll put my name on a church roll And I'll just go a few Sundays And I'll pray and I'll do this You'll go to hell, that's what you'll do You don't love the truth You don't want a borrowed Calvary, that's your trouble You don't want to come to the tent of personal failure, that's your trouble You don't love the truth Well, you love the lie, and you'll get it And mind you, we're just on the verge of this dispensation changing Now, are you following the notes? Have a look at the notes on the dispensation The first thing that we look for is the return Of our Lord for His saints The second thing is the removal of the believer The third thing is the relapse of the proof-having touch The fourth thing is the revelation of the man of sense And the fifth one I've just underlined for you Is the rejection of the sinner by his God My, the tables are going to turn on you Tonight you're rejecting God Well, there'll be tomorrow, next God will be rejecting you You'll laugh forever at God, you know Some of you think you can wiggle about with God My God will close the door in your face and can your strong delusion and let you go to hell Tremendous truths in this chapter My, they should make you tremble You'll not fool around with God forever You'll think He was a wee lad on the side of the street to see someone He's the almighty maker of heaven and earth And in great grace and love and mercy He has come and treated with some of your souls And you just laugh and you say Well, maybe tomorrow night the tables will turn To me, to you Tremendous Now, I want you to notice this Verse seven, we're back up to chapter For the mystery of iniquity God already works You know, the devil longs for the day and the hour and the moment When he'll be able to put this man of sin on the platform of this world And have everything his own way He longs for that You see, the mystery of godliness Grief is the mystery of godliness Do you remember the verse God manifests in flesh Well, grief is the mystery of iniquity Hidden, working through a man And he longs for the day when he'll be able to put the man on the platform of this world Only there's somebody keeping him back There's somebody keeping him back Do you see that little verse It says, in verse seven He who now let us will let Until he be taken out of the way Now, it's a great pity that that word let us And let They have lost their original meaning This is one of the English words That has lost its original meaning Hundreds of years ago, the word let meant to handle And the passage can read like this Only he who now handle Will handle Until he be taken out of the way There's somebody handling the devil tonight From doing it So I can put this question to the smallest believer in this meeting Who is You think it's the archbishop of Canterbury You're a fool if you do You think it's the president of the Baptist Union of Ireland You're still a bigger fool Look, we could put all the presidents And all the leaders of all the churches Into the arena with the devil And they wouldn't last the first round It's too big for us But there's one person down here tonight bigger than him The Holy Ghost The third person of the Trinity And every move the devil makes down here To flood this world with it The Holy Ghost lives He does But the day the church goes out And the day the believers go out Is the day the Holy Ghost goes out And the devil has the platform to himself And only he who now hindereth Will hinder until he's gone out of the way You know, as we've got to the end of the age You're bound to know that things have got worse I wouldn't like to go into this too deep But I think that I should just say a little word here You know, I'm just thirsty I was thirsty last week I didn't get a card from one of you And when I was just allowed Of twelve, thirteen, fourteen We used to play games at the corner of the street In the winter at night Kick the tin, do you remember that? Some of you older ones We used to play kick the tin And you know, we could play this at night And run into the shadows and hide And sometimes the losses would play with us too But you know, a loss could have had you in those days There were three or four boys in the docks And there was never anything wrong It was just fun They don't play kick the tin at the street corner now At twelve and thirteen They're cuddling them round the corner Am I right? Well I shocked you when I... That at one of the secondary schools in America Just last year, nineteen hundred and fifty nine Where a thousand boys and girls Forty girls under fourteen Were found pregnant That's the age we live in Oh you don't need to blush about it You know all of us That's the age we live in It's good as hell as fast as it can go I talked to a teacher from a secondary school Not so very far from here And here's what she told me She said there's not a fast girl at the school She said I'll talk them all They're living in a terrible age Do you know the devil would flood The earth with wickedness tonight If it wasn't for the Holy Ghost Oh they're getting nearer to it Just you take the believers out Just you take the men who rattle the mother in the church Just you take the steadfast unmovable defenders of the faith out Just you take the real chaps out Take the Holy Ghost out And you'll see your world will go to hell upon earth It will Thank God for the Holy Ghost been down here Thank God Because when we go The man of sin The son of perdition Will be revealed And although he'll be mighty and powerful Here's what will happen to him Verse 8 Then shall that wicked one The wording should be See the capital W there There should be wicked one Then shall that wicked one be revealed Whom the Lord shall consume With the spit of his mouth And shall be scorned With the brightness of his coming You see the Lord Jesus Christ will come And destroy him Now look down the notes in dispensation And you'll find what Paul was trying to get over to He said don't you fellows be worried or troubled The first thing you look for is the return Of the Lord for a change The second thing you look for is the removal Of the believer The moment we're gone there's a lot Will come in the professing church Then there will be the revelation of the man of sin Then there will be the rejection of the sinner by his God He reminded them of the mystery that was already working He pointed out the reliability of the spirit who would keep it by And then he underlined the reappearing Of the Lord to consume the antichrist Why he touched some truths didn't he You know Paul must have been a great preacher Because when he went into Thessalonica and preached the gospel Why he went on just in a few weeks To outline all these truths to them And he said you know when I was with you I told you these things How often I've preached these things from this platform And then I meet a young believer on the street And he wants to know something that I've said a hundred times He doesn't seem to be able to get it And if he did get it he seems to forget it And they were just the same up Thessalonica Now he turns from dispensational truths To evangelical truths to assure them And I think this is very lovely Can't you see the difference he makes in verse 13 But, oh that's one of these buts that come in But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you Brethren, beloved of the Lord Doesn't he make a difference between the boys that perish And the boys that are saved Oh we are bound to give thanks to God always for you Brethren, beloved of the Lord So can the saved ones now Changing the subject Something to say to them And here's the first thing that he said He said because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation Now that's a big subject, that's election now we're on And that's something that puzzled the young believers And the old ones and the middle ones too Election You know some people can't understand this They wonder why and how God can choose a man To be saved before the foundation of the world And yet at the same time leave him responsible for the choice That's a tremendous one isn't it Shall I take a moment or two to figure it out for the young believers Now listen to me carefully I was preaching some years ago At a certain place And I was preaching on the choice That Judas made The Lord Jesus looked at Judas over the Passover table And said to him What thou doest Do quickly And he sat for a moment or two And the devil entered into him And the group said he roared and went out and it was night He'd made his choice And I talked that night on the choice that Judas made And when I'd finished the meeting and went into the little vestry A very dear friend of mine One of the keenest intellects in the country The headmaster of the secondary school He came in through the door and he said Willie you talked the greatest lot of nonsense tonight I ever heard in my life I just laughed I said what baiting He said You must know that it says in the book of Psalms That Judas was to go to his own place I know that He said well if God prophesied Six hundred years before a man was born That he would go to that certain place Surely he couldn't go to any other place What are you couldn't about that There's all the difference between couldn't and wouldn't And if God knew that he wouldn't Don't you say couldn't I said sit down to head the kitchen for a minute or two No I said listen to me till we get this square and fair I said it's twenty past nine now I said to him And I'll say I'm God And of course being God I know everything I know the end from the beginning don't I He said yes Well I'm going to make a prophecy And I'm going to prophecy that in two hours that will be twenty minutes past eleven There will be a car coming up Union Street and one coming down Market Street And they're going to crash up at that corner That's a prophecy And I said we'll sit here for the next two hours and just a minute or two before the crash will drop And we'll stand on the footpath And sure enough because I'm God I know And because I'm God I foretold At twenty past eleven there's a crash I said the moment the crash takes place the crowd comes the police come Who do they blame for this crash me Go on I said forty No I said I said I'm not to blame I said just because I was able to prophecy I didn't take the wheel over their hands did I Just because I was able to foretell did I take the fellows responsibility away did I I didn't make it that he couldn't do anything else did I I just prophesied that he wouldn't But I left the responsibility on him didn't I He said worry you have got this you know I said it does not mean you worry about it you have you got it Have you got it When we talk about election And predestination And choice before the foundation of the world In God's full knowledge God looks down the ages And he can see the very spot Where I would of my own free will And with a glad heart it's postulogy And he chose me in Christ before the foundation of the world And mind you Because he chose me he didn't make it that you could Sir you're responsible sir And if you go to hell You'll be responsible And you're a free man to me And there'll nobody hand me on at the end of this meeting And if you want to go to hell you can go to hell Nobody keeping you back The choice belongs to you And I'll tell you this God will do everything he can To start you on the way to heaven But the choice rests with you You've got a decision You've got a choice to take You've got a savior to personally But if you don't want them you can go to hell But you know God knows everyone that will bow and trust his son And because of his full knowledge Of what you would do at that spot responsibly You would take Christ You were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world It's wonderful you know Your salvation was right away back before the foundation of the world Paul said All settled as far as God was concerned Why the boys would talk of being lost again You only go that way for a while And to the eternity past and have a go at it How are you going to rub this end of it out It's like a fiddle with this end of it don't you Have a go at the other end While you get on You're stuck Let's go on Verse thirteen But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you Brethren beloved of the Lord Because God hath from the beginning Chosen you to salvation Now watch this Fruit of the Spirit That's how he works it out You see I can see the triune God here I can see the Father Choosing me in Christ before the foundation of the world And you know down here in time The Holy Ghost has to come to convict me Of my deep needs He has to burden me with the conscious sense of my guilt He has to place me with my imminent danger I'm on a broad road that leads to destruction And the Holy Ghost deals with me And you know sometimes when I preach here on Sunday nights Why the whole congregation rises and walks up And you see someone sobbing Or someone coming the other way Why it's not many Sunday nights ago Since I saw Psalm Clark coming up through this way And then I went down here to meet him He just fell round and said Mr. Wong I'm not leaving this place till I'm saved What's wrong with you The Holy Ghost had made hold of him What a wonderful thing The Holy Ghost had gripped him That was sanctification of the Spirit The Spirit had separated him out from the crowd Sanctification means separation The Spirit had separated him out from the crowd Tell me was that Sure that was the first one He had got that one before he was saved You read the Bible upside down You see God the Father chose me in Christ The Holy Ghost brought me out from the crowd What did Psalm Clark need when he leant on my back What did he need Belief of the truth Belief of the truth Christ I just led him to Christ The Father chose me The Spirit girded me And the Saviour saved me That's salvation by the triune God That's what you call great salvation The Father chose me The Spirit convicted me And I was led to trust the Saviour Belief in the truth And so you get saved Now watch, it goes just a little bit further We'll read from verse 13 again But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord Because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation Through sanctification of the Spirit That comes first And belief of the truth Where unto he called you by our gospel You see, are you looking at the evangelical bit of your notes He touched the election by the Father He touched sanctification by the Spirit He touched salvation by the Son And then he touched proclamation by the preacher Why the preacher needs to preach the gospel Something, you know, that all you young men who go out preaching And all you fellows who go out singing You would need to learn to sing the gospel Siddling around, you'd think you were entertaining half-time The gospel! Do you know what it is? When I hear them singing, there's not that in the gospel Not that in the gospel Lovely wee lyrics, one thing and another Where's the gospel? It's the gospel, the gospel You need to get there, you know And the preachers would need to get there Because that's how God works Yes, the Father chooses, the Spirit conducts The Saviour is presented in the gospel For the belief of the sinner And then here's the end of the thing, watch To thee of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ Look friend, I think this is wonderful In eternity past I was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world In time I was convicted by the Spirit I was saved at the cross as I trusted the Saviour Who was uplifted in the gospel And in the street by and by I obtained the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ There was a gospel From eternity right through to eternity Man, he's making these fellows at Cecil and Acre Very sure that you fellows don't worry The middle part of the devil Here's where you fellows stand Frozen, sanctified, saved And you're bound for the... Wonderful isn't it? Couldn't Paul preach? The more I read the more ashamed I am He was a great preacher Never stand anywhere where some body belittles Paul He was a mighty, mighty God And so having that dispensational truth And evangelical truth He comes to this devotional truth In the last two verses He says, now our Lord Jesus Christ himself And God, even our Father Puts the two of them together, co-equal as usual Which has loved us I think that's lovely So he's making them turn around He said, do you see away back there? You know God loves You know there's one thing that fills my heart More than another, and it's this That God loves a character like me God so loves me away back there, who saw? That fills me, you know, every day I live that through And I know this, you know That the God who loves me back there will never change But you know, he's just touching the love That God had for them in the past And then he's touching The everlasting consolation and good hope That was brought to them through grace You know, are we out there In the all-knowing future In the unceasing cycles of eternity We have, why we have everlasting I'll tell you why it's everlasting Because we have an everlasting Savior You see, Hebrews chapter one said That the heavens would roll away like a scroll And the earth would be folded up like a vestal But one Lord Jesus will forever remain It doesn't matter about the tribulation It doesn't matter about the world being It doesn't matter about the atomic bomb It doesn't matter about the elements being melted with fervent heat Nothing can touch us He'll always be there Thou will be there That everlasting consolation The Savior that I trust He'll always be there Always be there But you know There's not only love in the past And everlasting consolation For all the unceasing cycles of eternity But you know there's comfort for today You know God comforts your heart Oh this is a great subject This subject of comfort Sometimes when I go into a home Where a loved one has departed Why your words seem so empty And every movement seems to mean something You don't know what way to stand You don't know what way to look You don't know what way to speak You would need a certain tone You would need everything that only God could give you And I feel that only God can really comfort I know that only God can wipe away the tears from your eyes I know that only Christ can bind a broken heart I know that only the Holy Ghost is called the comforter Why this is a mighty work that goes on every day we live Some of us have been tearing in the shadows in these last days The storm has been howling The boots been full of water The night has been dark But God can comfort your heart You see I think that when he got back to repeating things in this chapter He brought this dispensational truth in To re-teach them things they needed to know and had forgotten And he brought this evangelical truth in To re-assure them You are chosen man, you are sanctified, you are saved, you are bound for glory And I think he brought this dispensational truth in Not so much to re-teach them or re-assure them But to revive them He said the God of all comfort, do you see how he put it Shall bless you in every good word and much My, he was looking for revival for the boys who are passing the night Friends, there is a tremendous chapter With tremendous truth with a great depth And I want to make a special appeal To every unsaved man and woman in this building just now Dear unsaved friend I want you to think That you are living in a day and hour and age and dispensation When the grace of God And the spirit of God and the power of God And the word of God and the message of God is presenting Christ to you I want every unsaved man to take their time tonight And have another look at God's Son, I appeal As I have never done before That you take your time tonight and have a look at God's Son I would love you to see him stretched out on the cross With his hands nailed to yarns, shirt and dress I would like you to see his face is battered more than any man I would like you to see the thorns crushed down tight on his lovely brow I would like you to see the blood and the sweat As they fall down his naked fore With every bone out of joint His arms pulled asunder from his breath heaving I want you to get a hold of this This was God's Son And he would guide that you might have a saviour And before you rise from the seat tonight God thou doest, very quickly And you could rise from that seat and go out And it would be everlasting night for you You could be damned But if you come quietly and humbly and sincerely Lift your heart as best you know how and say Lord Jesus I want you to make as my saviour And with every fable of my being I accept you now My soul for you If you are not saved You will be saved You could be saved tonight And you could be bound Tomorrow When you come Let us pray Let us be still for a moment And let's fool around with God in this meeting Let's all just get our feet back on earth Realize that there is more than the pastor here The preacher doesn't matter too much He is not worth talking But there is a saviour here God's lovely Son is here And the burning question of this moment is What will you do with Jesus? You need Him There is no other saviour There is no other way back to God There is no other door There is no other land There is no other name under heaven given among men Whereby he must be saved It's either Christ or hell And all heaven waits And God hasn't made it that you couldn't But God maybe knows Would He? God forbid that He'll ever threaten over you He would not How oft would I have called you together as a hand And gather us a brood under her wing But ye would not Not ye could not Ye would not Christ's waiting Marvelous mystery Christ's waiting on you Lord, save sinners For Thy glory Amen