Belief and Love of the Truth

Well, good morning again, brethren, and happy to see all of you. Happy to see that all of our little kids are here with us in services. And so that's always a wonderful blessing to be able to have them here. And I appreciate what Mr. Barnett went over in the sermon at. It certainly is clearly applicable, not only the little kids, but the big kids! Because all of us fit into the category of children when it comes to God. He is looking at us, and I guess you could go through an entire sermon about how he says we need to become his little child to be a part of the kingdom of God. That's not what I'm going to talk about, but that is certainly what he tells all of us. I did want to maybe follow up or continue on with the thought that our sermon at closed on, because in Matthew 24, Jesus told his disciples, and he was actually giving them an innocence of warning because they were asking him, in verse 3 of Matthew 24, tell us, when is this going to happen and what's going to be the sign of your coming in the end of the age? They were inquisitive, and they wanted to know. They had been with him for quite some time. They knew some major transition was going to happen. They didn't know exactly what was going to take place. But he had told them enough to know that, well, I want you to be aware. And of course, he had told them about the temple and how there was going to be a destruction.

And yet, what he told them, he answered them in verse 4 when they asked him about the end of the age and the sign of his coming.

He says, I want you to beware that no one leads you astray. And of course, he's going to go on. He's going to go ahead and describe. He's going to go ahead and talk about how to not be led astray. How to be alert. How to be aware. Of course, he warns in verse 5, Many are going to come in my name, saying that I'm the Christ and lead many astray. And so he said, many are going to use my name, but they're not going to be my messengers. They're going to be a part of a deception. And of course, we need to see that deception, not only in our lives, but in this world. We can also drop down to verse 24. And I'm not reading all of the other things that I know you're familiar with, but in Matthew 24 verse 24, it talks about, in verse 21, a great time of suffering occurring. And in verse 22, in those days, if those days were not cut short, then no one would be alive or saved alive, but for the sake of the elect, those days will be shortened.

Thankfully, God is going to be merciful. He is going to bring a conclusion to this age, but he's going to be merciful because he loves you. For the sake of the elect, he is going to stop the difficulties that this world is going to enter into, and then he is going to begin to make a big transition. He goes on in verse 23. If anyone says, look, here's the Messiah, or there he is, don't believe it, we're false prophets, or messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce great signs and omens to lead, or to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

And again, as Jesus had given his disciples warning, he knew they weren't going to be living at the time when the end of the age happens. That was for us. They were going to live through a time when the temple would be torn down, and so that was to be motivational to them. You know, they were going to live during a time when at least some of them would live up to the time when the temple would have gone through a great destruction. But what he points out here at verse 24 is that he doesn't want us to be led astray. He wants us to be alert. He wants us to be aware. And if we are alert and aware, and if we are filled with the Word of God, and I want to show you a couple of things. There are two very, very specific things that we need to have in mind as far as what God wants from us or what he expects us to know. And I'm going to point those out as we go through the sermon this morning, but I want to lead from where we are here with Jesus to what Paul actually told the church in 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians is a short book. It's only three chapters. And yet it follows quite closely to the first book of Thessalonians. The book of Thessalonians is written to the people. Thessalonians, written to the church there, a church that Paul was quite close to, a church that he had been involved in raising up, one that he loved deeply. And yet when you read through 1 Thessalonians, you see that he's trying to help them know that Jesus Christ is going to return. In a sense, he was trying to be motivational. And even you see in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 that they were asking or they were wondering, well, you know, what about? People are dying. What's going to happen? And of course, he told them you don't need to worry about that either because what we read in 1 Thessalonians 4, we are very familiar with here. We back up a page here. In verse 13, I don't want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who have died so that you not grieve as others who have no hope. But since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even though Jesus, or through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. For with this we declare to you by the word of the Lord that we who are alive and are left until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have died. And so he was talking about not only the resurrection and an understanding of the resurrection and to understand the security that the people, the brethren who had died, have because the resurrection is sure. It is absolute, and he was telling them.

But I have to also say, because Paul wrote this second letter to the Thessalonians, he wrote this actually somewhat shortly after he wrote the first one. It wasn't all that long later because some of them had misunderstood what he said. Some of them concluded that he was saying, oh, Christ's coming is going to be pretty soon, because of course he was talking about, well, we which who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord. Well, that was going to be a long time off, but you could see how they could misunderstand and not perceive what he had to say. So I want to start here in 2nd Thessalonians. Paul, in writing this book, wanted them not to be deceived about Christ's coming, and he wanted to correct any misunderstanding that any of them had that they might have gotten from his first letter. So let's start in verse 1 of chapter 2, because this is the primary section that I want to focus on here. That's 1st and 2nd Thessalonians 2, starting in verse 1, as to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brethren, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed. And that's either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though it's from us. So he said, I don't want you to be alarmed or shaken. I don't want you to be disturbed if someone tries to tell you something different than what I have just told you.

He says, I don't want you to be shaken in any way to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here, or it is at hand. See, this is what he was actually explaining. He said, I don't want you to misunderstand. I want you to realize there are several things that really have to happen before the coming of the Lord.

That's how he was trying to help them. And so he said in verse 3, let no one deceive you in any way. And again, he was talking about the coming of the Lord. Let no one deceive you. For that day, that day when Christ will come, it will not come unless several things happen. Until several things happen, he says, that day will not come unless a falling away or a rebellion, a falling away from the truth, comes first.

So he said, you know, there's two things I'm going to highlight here. One of them is a falling away, and again, we may be able to think back to times in the past when there appears to be a lapse in the work that the church was doing.

And yet, we might also be able to think back over the last 50 years, knowing that Christ is going to return, as we believe very soon. Has there been a time when there has been a removing from the truth? You know, that's something that we all, I think, are able to view and look at and be able to see quite clearly. He says, I don't want anyone to deceive you that today will not come unless a falling away comes first. And he says the lawless one is revealed. A lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction, or the one who is the son of destruction or son of perdition.

And this individual in verse 4 opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God. Now, this is a description of something I've not yet seen, at least as I would understand, someone being so brazen, so arrogant, so infected with Satan's attitude, which you're going to see this is clearly the source of this, and yet clearly the lawlessness that is promoted or taught by this individual is something that we're quite familiar with.

We're familiar with that because that's been going on all along. So to go back again, he says a falling away is going to happen, but also the lawless one. This lawless one is going to be revealed, and he is the one who exalts himself to be God. In verse 5, don't you remember that I told you these things when I was with you? This is Paul's reminder to them, I told you that was going to happen. That hasn't happened yet. That isn't yet on the horizon, as he was saying this back in the middle part of the first century.

That hasn't happened. That has only kind of begun as far as that attitude, but this individual is not arisen. Because he goes ahead and describes, he says, the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. And so here he describes how that an undermining is taking place even at this time when he was writing this, an undermining of people saying, well, you don't need to be concerned about sin. You don't need to be concerned.

And clearly, that's the whole message of all news programs today. You rarely ever, you do occasionally, hear the word sin. That's usually not what they are talking about, not what they want to discuss, not what they want to identify. They want to talk all around it, but they don't want to identify what is lawful and what is lawless. They don't want to define that. And yet, even in our churches, that is something that they would prefer not to discuss, because that is not a topic that they would like to address.

But it says this mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but only that until the one who now restrains it is removed, and then that lawless one will be revealed. And so he describes this lawless one again. He describes this son of destruction. And of course, it appears clearly that Paul could have had in mind...

was Paul aware of Revelation 17 and 18 and 19? Absolutely not. He wasn't aware of it as it had not yet been written. And yet he had to be, under the inspiration of God, aware of what he needed to tell the people here, and clearly what he could have seen in the book of Daniel. Because the book of Daniel indicates an individual of this type coming on the scene and ultimately fulfilling what we see as the role of a false prophet and ruling over a religious empire in conjunction with a military leader at the very end of the age.

This is all revealed in the book of Revelation. But of course, Paul is writing this 30 or 40 years before the book of Revelation. So clearly God was given insight or giving him insight. And yet, as we read this, I think it's interesting to note he says the lawless one in verse 8 will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the breath of his mouth, annihilating him by the manifestation of his coming. And the coming of this lawless one is apparent in the working of Satan, who uses all power and signs and lying wonders in every kind of wicked deception.

So again, this ties in with what we heard earlier, that those deceptions, those signs don't prove that you're from God. Because clearly Satan is doing this with this individual who is lawless, who does not teach obedience to the law of God, not teach an understanding or correct understanding of sin. But he says the working of this lawless one in verse 9 is apparent in the working of Satan, who uses power and sign and lying wonders, every kind of wicked deception for those who are perishing.

And so we don't want to fit that category as far as those who are perishing, because many people are going to fall into that category, and that's not something we wish to come upon them either. But we do want to see what the warning is. And the warning is actually a little more clearly detailed here in the next few verses. And so I want us...this, I think, is something that we need to be aware of, as Paul said. You know, there's going to be a falling away, a brief moving away from the truth.

You can again think of how that might have already occurred, or how that might occur even yet in the future. And also this lawless one is going to arise with the power of Satan, and ultimately it'll fulfill what we read in Revelation 19, being destroyed by the coming of Jesus and by his establishment of the kingdom of God on earth.

But what he says is that this individual and these deceptions that are going to come from Satan, they're going to come upon those who are perishing. He says because these people, the people who are going to perish and who are going to be deceived, they refuse to love the truth. They refuse to love the truth, and so to receive salvation. See, that's a very important point that we want to keep in mind, because there are warnings here, but there are also encouraging statements. It says those who are going to perish and be deceived are going to refuse to love the truth. Of course, I'm going to say that's one of the things that we should do. And in verse 11, he says, for this reason God sends or allows them to have a powerful delusion, leading them to believe something that's wrong, something that is false. And that would clearly describe many people today. They believe, maybe very sincerely believe, something that is not lawful, that is not according to the Word of God, not according to the law, as we understand it, referring to the Ten Commandments. But it says God has sent them a delusion, leading them to believe what is false so that all who not only don't love the truth but don't believe the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness will be condemned. See, there's two different things mentioned there. Loving the truth and believing the truth. See, those are specific things. They're specific elements that can produce stability. Stability and assurance and security and that can strengthen our faith and our courage as the people of God. And so I want to point those out because I think it's important for us to keep those in mind. See, there's two fatal flaws listed here to those who would be deceived. They don't believe the truth and they don't love it. So there's kind of a growing element there in what we see. And I want to turn back to what Jesus said in John 7.

Now we commonly read John 7 and the verses in verse 37 and 38 and 39. We commonly read this toward the end of the Feast. We read this in conjunction with the eighth day of the Feast and with a time that is certainly yet in the future when people are going to be given access to the Word of God, given access to the truth in the Word of God, and given an understanding of the books of the Bible and be granted the living water from the Spirit of God. You know, that clearly is an application that is right here in John 7, verse 37. But I think, like for us to think of it as well, because it directly applies to us today. It says in verse 37, on the last day of the Feast, the great day, well, Jesus was standing there, he cried out and he said, let anyone who is thirsty come to me. And so here he was pointing out that he is the author of truth, he's the author of life, he's the author of the way that leads to salvation.

He is. He rules over life and death. He is the resurrection. He's the one who holds out eternal life. He says, let anyone who is thirsty come to me and let them, let them who believe in me, drink. They believe in Jesus Christ. Believing in the truth of God is one of the two items that we mention that can keep us from being deceived. So he says, let anyone who is thirsty come to me, let the one who believes in me drink, or as the scripture says, out of that believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water. And of course, John gives the explanation in verse 39. He said this about the Spirit of God. Talking about the living water, it refers to the Spirit of God, which believers in Jesus were to receive, for as yet there was no Spirit because Jesus was not yet glorified. Many times people can really read and they can say, well, I know I need to believe in Jesus. So whatever their belief in Jesus is, you know, that is kind of how they live. And yet truly believing what Jesus said, believing who actually Jesus is, because this actually has to do with God. This has to do with who God is and what God is doing and how God is transforming human hearts and minds and moving them away from lawlessness to lawfulness to where we are filled with the love and with the mercy of God. And so he mentions in verse 38 and in verse 39 the need to believe and have a believer's heart and believing those who were the believers in Jesus were going to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Again, clearly not everybody that Jesus even talked to believed Him. They didn't believe Him at all. And it wasn't that they just didn't believe He could perform miracles because they had to watch and say He apparently can do that, but they didn't believe who He was, the Son of God. They didn't believe He'd existed for all eternity because He had. He had been with the Father going back to eternity in the past. He did not have a beginning, and yet He had come to the earth, and He was a physical human being, and He was interacting with them, but they still didn't get it. You know, in our latest Good News, there was an article about, that Robin Weber wrote. It was in the section of the Follow Me section, which is actually, you know, a consistent thing that we have in there every month. It's a two-page, usually shorter article.

And yet it has, you know, some very wonderful elements in it because it points us to following Jesus Christ. And the article, this last one, in this last Good News was entitled, Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled. Let not your heart be troubled. And it talked about how that, you know, there's a lot of crazy stuff that happens in this world and in our lives. We suffer things that we wish we didn't. We go through difficulties that we wish we didn't go through, but we also enjoy blessings and mercy from God that we want to continually be reminded of. And what he was saying was, well, Jesus said, Let not your heart be troubled. Now, where did he say that? Well, he said that in John chapter 14. John chapter 14, verse 1, turn over a couple of pages here.

He says, Don't let your heart be troubled. Let not your heart be troubled. He was telling this to his disciples, and now his disciples were in a predicament. They were in a predicament because here they were with Jesus. They had just had their feast washed by Jesus Christ. They had just observed and participated in a Passover service that involved the bread and wine that was to symbolize his sacrifice. And they were told by him, You need to follow my example. You need to do what I'm doing. You need to love one another. You need to love one another more than anything else because that'll be an identifying sign for you. And so why do you have to say, Let not your heart be troubled? Well, I bet you he could take a look at the crowd and see there's a few troubled hearts out here. You know, they cannot figure out what I'm really saying or what I'm doing. And of course, they were going to run into a time of betrayal because they were all going to betray him here in the next few hours. And yet he says, I don't want you to be unstable. I don't want you to be insecure. I don't want you to feel that we don't know what to do.

He said, Don't let your heart be troubled. He says, You believe in God. See, they had an awareness of God. They had an understanding of God. They comprehended about God that, well, God was the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. That's what they thought. That's what Mary and Martha talked to him about. Yeah, we understand. We're Israelites. We understand God dealt with our people. He says, You believe in God. You believe in the way you understand God. You believe in God. You believe that God could open the Red Sea.

You believe that God can do miracles as we reiterate throughout the Old Testament.

He says, Believe also in me.

To believe in me. And you have nothing, nothing to be concerned about or to be worried about. He goes on and explains this a lot more than I'm not going to go through or not take time. But he says, I want you to believe that I'm God in the flesh. I want you to believe that I'm the Son of God. And see, this was, in a sense, kind of hard to do because here they were eating meals with him. Here they were having their feet washed by him.

Now, this just doesn't make sense. You know, why would God interact with me in this way?

But he wanted them to understand, I want you to believe in me because as you do, as you believe in who I am and what I'm able to do, that you have absolutely no reason to fear. You have no reason to be afraid. And even though you'll find a bunch of, you know, I imagine that was the scariest day of the disciples' lives. Whenever Jesus is hauled away, he's out there with them. And he's volunteering, I'm the one. You know, Judas is pointing him out, kissing him, and he's saying, let the others go. They're okay. You know, they're not the one you're looking for. I'm the one. Take me. They had to be scared to death. They had to be completely mind-boggling, you know, stuff going on in their head. Because here, you know, we've been with him for three and a half years. We've seen him walk on water. We've seen him feed thousands. We've seen him heal people. We've seen everything he's done for us. Do we really believe who he is? What Jesus said was, you believe in God. Believe also in me. Believe that I'm the creator, I'm the Redeemer, I'm the Savior. And of course, that belief, the belief that he was talking about was not just knowing who he was. It was a firm conviction that that belief has to be followed up by a response. A response in obedience, in service, in love.

See, really coming to know who Jesus was was an amazing thing for the disciples.

And it really can be a secure thing for us because he tells us believing in the truth, believing in him, believing the kingdom of God is going to come, and loving that truth. Those are stabilizing factors for any of us. You know, I was thinking, and we've got a few of the kids here left, I think. At least all of them are in here. I want to mention, you know, believing about God and about Jesus is really important. I wanted to tell you, Jack, I wanted to tell you something about, and I think Max is there, and Micah. I wanted to tell you something about something that happened the other night, and I want you to figure out what was going on. Monica's there, too, now. I see her. My wife was in our bedroom, and she likes to go to sleep. She likes to go, of course, it gets dark at five o'clock anymore. She likes to go to sleep early, and she, of course, turns out all the lights, and she wants it to be real dark. We've got shades on our windows so that you can make it pretty dark, and yet about an hour after she went to bed, she's knocking on the door wanting me to come see, turn off the light! Turn off the lights!

And, you know, she had the lights turned off, and the shades were there, but there was still a whole lot of light flooding into her room. What was that light coming from?

Does anybody know? Huh? See, it was two days ago, and in Kansas City, of course, this wouldn't have been the case everywhere, but it was absolutely cloudless, clear! And the moon was so big, it was full, and so much light was shining in through the blinds and into the room that my wife thought that we had the lights on, or that I'd turn the light on outside, or the neighbors, you know, which we also have, they're turning the lights on and off, or they've got all kinds of lights.

She thought something's wrong. But see, all that was happening was the moon that God created and set to rule the night. The moon was so bright, it was waking her up. She couldn't go to sleep because it was too light. Now, see, whenever you watch the moon, God created the sun. He created the moon. It says that in Genesis chapter 1. It talks about that, I believe, the fourth day, setting the sun to rule the day and the moon to rule the night. And see, most of us, we can look outside when you see the sun shining, or you can see it when you get up, or you can see it when you go to bed.

Basically, it looks the same. You don't want to look at it because it's too bright. But see, the moon changes all the time. The moon is always changing, and sometimes it's bright, and it's full, and sometimes it's a half, and sometimes it's a quarter, and sometimes you can't even hardly see it at all.

Because, you know, God said it that way. It fascinates me to watch the moon. I guess I'm kind of moonstruck. I don't want to be loony, but it's always fascinated me as I've grown up from being a young kid, and as a teenager, I could watch the moon. I mean, you don't watch the sun, it just does the same thing all the time. But you watch the moon. You watch the moon because if you're out at night, you see that's different than what it was.

You never know where it is. You know, I have trouble finding it. And yet the moon was set by God, and we can watch that every month. We can watch it change. If it's clear, it could be full, and it would be real, real bright. And there'll be a time when it can barely be seen, and there'll be a time when it can't be seen at all. And yet God is the one who set that in the sky. And as you grow, you can watch that, and I think we all have to marvel at the creation that God has made.

And yet Jesus was clearly involved in that too. He was clearly involved in setting the sun in the sky and the moon as we see it. And that, no matter who we are, no matter where we are, it's the same.

It might vary a little as far as location, but it's always going to be the same. And whenever God talks about, you know, that he lives in a high and lofty place and where he inhabits eternity. I know that is not maybe easy for any of us to fully understand, but that's what he says. But he also says his name is holy, and he's not a holy man. He does dwell in that high and lofty place, and he does also want to dwell. He will dwell with those who are contrite and humble. In many ways, I think watching the moon can cause us to see we don't have any power at all.

You know, we are powerless over any changes or anything. You know, we're just going to watch. And I just love to see the moon growing and ultimately being full, because that's exciting. Kind of going backwards is not as quite exciting. But watching the moon can be a proof of the existence of God to any of us.

And it clearly should be a part of what Jesus was saying when he said, in order to keep from being deceived, in order to have stability, you need to believe in the truth. You need to believe in me because I am the truth, and the Word of God is truth, and you need to love that truth.

You need to love that truth more than anything. I think it's exciting to see in John, the Apostle John writes in the Gospel of John, of course he wrote other books, but in the Gospel of John, he writes about believing in Jesus Christ. He writes about that more than any of the others. If you look it up and look up belief, you know you find almost half of every statement about belief in the New Testament is in the Book of John because he writes about it so much.

Let's take a look at a few of these here in John chapter 1.

John chapter 1, now of course this is talking about the Word in verse 1, and the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God, and all things came into being through him. He's the one who set the earth in a reshaped form for man, as we realize. Genesis 1 is discussing. But in verse 10 it says, the Word was in the world, and yet the world came into being through him, and yet the world did not know him.

They didn't understand who he was. They didn't comprehend the magnitude of understanding Jesus Christ. And it says in verse 11, he came to what was his own, the Messiah. This was the promised one. This was the one that the Bible has talked about for so long, and now he's here. He's the creator. He's the Redeemer. Here in chapter 10, we turn over to chapter 10. Again, every one of these chapters are just filled with all kinds of wonderful things about Jesus Christ. But in chapter 10, you see Jesus revealed as the door for the sheep, and also as the Good Shepherd. John chapter 10, in verse 11, he says, I'm the Good Shepherd, and the Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. But what I want to focus on is after Jesus said these things, in verse 22, at the time of the Feast of Dedication, the Jews gathered around him in verse 24 and said, how long are you going to keep us in suspense?

If you're the Messiah, then tell us! Well, see, that's what he was telling his disciples there in John 14. Truly believe who I am. Truly believe that I'm the Son of God.

And yet Jesus said about these Jews who were gathered around him, Jesus answered and said, I have told you, but you don't believe it. You don't comprehend who I am. The works that I do in my Father's name testify to me, but you do not believe because you do not belong to my sheep. See, here he gives a lot of additional information, information about our relationship with God and our appreciation of Jesus Christ, but more than just appreciation that if we are a sheep in his sheep bowl, if we're a sheep in his flock, it says in verse 27, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. They don't just believe me, they follow, they respond, they know what I ask. And of course, that has to do with lawfulness as opposed to lawlessness, as we saw earlier.

He says, my sheep respond to me and I give them eternal life and they'll never perish.

To move on to chapter 11. Now, most of the time we would think that, well, this is talking about Lazarus. This is talking about Lazarus being raised from the dead, which clearly Jesus also had, the power and the authority to do to cause a resurrection of a physical person, physical resurrection of a person who has died. And yet he had messages for Martha and for Mary.

I don't think he really had that much of a discussion with Lazarus because he was dead. See, later he could talk to Lazarus, later he could discuss with him, but he was dealing with Mary and Martha, and he was dealing with his disciples. This is what he wanted them to learn from this extraordinary John chapter 11.

Verse 11, after they'd heard about Lazarus dying, he said after this, he told his disciples, our friend, Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I'm going to go to wake him up. And of course, the disciples said, well, you know, if he's asleep, then he'll be all right. And Jesus said, well, he had been speaking about his death and they thought he was referring to sleep. But Jesus told them plainly, verse 14, Lazarus is dead. For your sake, I'm glad that I wasn't even there. He says, for your sake, because I'm trying to help you. I'm trying to mold and shape your faith in who I am. For your sake, I'm glad I wasn't there so that you may believe, that you would believe not just who I am, but what I represent, the truth from the Father, and that I am going to be able to help him. So let's go. And so he, of course, goes.

And of course, in this whole account, which is a wonderful account again, in verse 25, Jesus said to Martha, I'm the resurrection and the life, those who believe in me.

Even though they die, they're going to live. And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.

He was teaching them the value of belief in him, belief in him as the Son of God. And of course, in verse 42, when we finally get down to him interacting with the tomb and with Lazarus, and of course, ultimately, he's going to say, Lazarus, come forth. That's what he's going to command. And yet in his prayer to the Father, in verse 42 or verse 41, Jesus looked upward to the Father and he said, Father, I thank you that you always hear me. And I know that you have always heard me, but I'm saying this for the sake of the crowd that's standing here, the disciples and the others who were around, so that they may believe that you sent me. So that they can believe that I'm the Son of God, I've been sent by the Father, I'm here to do a marvelous work, and I'm here to commission them to be Christians and to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God. See, that's a message that people often have only smatterings of understanding about. But to us, that should be very clear. That is the foundation.

We jump on over to chapter 12. Chapter 12, you know, kind of summarizes what's going on in several different interactions with Jesus. In verse 9, the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, and they came not only because of Jesus, but they came to see Lazarus, whom he raised from the dead. You know, he had created quite a stir from his abilities. So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and beginning to believe in Jesus. See, that was actually a starting point for them to believe who he was. And even for the disciples, he wanted them to so thoroughly understand who he was. But he also wanted to understand, or for the disciples to understand, I'm going to be put to death. And you're going to need to back up your belief with your actions. You're going to need to back up your belief with obedience and with doing the work of preaching the gospel. And of course, he later mentions chapter 12 verse 35. Jesus said, The light is with you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in darkness, you don't know where you're going, but while you have the light, believe. Believe in the light, so that you may become the children of light. See, that's how we take on a transformation that we cannot do ourselves.

We can do what it tells us. We can do what we are to do in believing the truth and in coming to love the truth, having our heart so wrapped around the truth with the help of the Holy Spirit. In Mark 1, verse 14 and 15, this was the theme of our Kingdom of God sessions that we have had here over several years. But in Mark chapter 1, it says, After John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom of God, and saying the time has fulfilled, the Kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe the gospel. Believe the message that I am introducing about the Kingdom that's going to come, about the Kingdom that you are being prepared for, about the Kingdom that must come, so that you can move it. It's all right. You don't want to have the sun giving you a suntan there.

That's as bad as the moon. That is the moon shining in in its full strength.

But see, this was a part of the instruction we were seeing that Paul was giving the people there at Thessalonia. They were wanting to be secure, and they didn't know exactly what's going to happen before Christ returned, and they wondered. Yet he said, falling away from the truth will happen, and this man of sin will be revealed. And of course, he described it in a way that would later be elaborated on by Jesus himself when he told John what to write down. This is my revelation to you about how a beast and false prophet will arise, and this false prophet will do all manner of signs and wonders by the power of Satan, not by my power. He said, don't be deceived by that, but you have to believe the truth, and you have to love the truth. And so let's go back to 2 Thessalonians as we conclude this. 2 Thessalonians, where we kind of began, chapter 2. See, this is what he tells us when we talk about believing the truth and truly loving the truth.

You know, that gives us assurance. It gives us security. It gives us stability as we look toward the future and as we even watch what's happening, what's going to happen. You know, some of the things that are happening right now are certainly leading up to a conclusion that's going to happen. Some of them seem to be getting worse and worse and worse, and yet ultimate these things are going to happen. So in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 9, says, The coming of this lawless one is apparent in the working of Satan, who uses all power and signs and lying wonders in every kind of wicked deception for those who perish or are perishing.

Because those who fit that category who will be deceived refuse to love the truth and be saved. For this reason, God sends them a powerful delusion, leading them to believe what is false so that all who have not believed the truth take pleasure in unrighteousness. See, those are the categories that we can see where people will be deceived, they will be diluted, they have no foundation, they have no stability, and of course it's the belief of the truth and the love of the truth that is mentioned here. And we could read the next few verses as we conclude because we have everything to be thankful for and certainly to appreciate that God is going to not only be with us, but He is going to help us as the Spirit of God, as Jesus said in John 7. The Spirit of God is not just to be given to us, it's to flow out from us. It is to be what is transformed our hearts and minds so that we truly do love the truth. We are saturated with that.

But it says in verse 13, we must always give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved of God, beloved by the Lord, because God chose you. You hear He was talking to the church members, He was talking to those He wanted to secure, He wanted to encourage, He wanted to uplift because God chose you as the firstfruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. And for this purpose, He called you through our gospel, through the proclamation of the good news so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brethren, simply stand firm. Stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word or mouth or letter. Don't be pulled aside, don't be pulled away, don't be confused, don't be deceived. Know what's coming, but know that through our calling, you know, that's a fascinating section there in verse 13 and 14 because it talks about our being chosen, our being called to understand something about the truth that will give us stability.

And so we have every reason to appreciate God's calling. He not only desires for us to succeed, He anticipates to help us succeed and be a part of His divine family as He sends Jesus back to introduce the kingdom to the world at large. So we have many things to continue to study, but we also want to not only believe the truth, but truly love that truth.