Pastor Dana Kidder preaching from 2 Thessalonians 2:13-15 at Redemption Bible Church in Bellefontaine, Ohio.
Redemption Bible Church
Hold Fast
- Have you ever heard of Charles Spurgeon? Probably mention him every other sermon or so. He was known as the Prince of Preachers. And I believe for good reason. Very few men could turn a phrase like Spurgeon. Maybe Martin Luther, the author of that last hymn. But he's actually more known for his wild insults, his doctrinal writing and his work opposing the established church than he is known for his preaching. But Spurgeon, who ministered in the midst of Victorian England, could preach any man under the table. And Spurgeon affirmed the doctrine of irresistible grace. Irresistible grace is the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit who convicts, calls, draws and regenerates elect sinners. So Steve Lawson writes in his biography, this work unfailingly results in the faith of all those chosen. All whom the Father chose in eternity past and all those for whom the Son died are those whom the Spirit brings to faith in Jesus Christ. None whom the Father elected and for whom Christ died failed to believe. The Holy Spirit grants repentance and faith to these elect sinners and ensures their conversion. And then Lawson continues. He says this irresistible call is distinct from the general call of the gospel. The former is extended only to the elect and cannot be resisted. The latter is extended to all who hear the gospel and is resisted apart from the Spirit's effectual call. So Spurgeon explained it like this. He said the general call of the gospel is like the common cluck of the hen, which she's always given when her chickens are around her. But if there's any danger impending, then she gives a very peculiar call, quite different from the ordinary one. And the little chicks come running as fast as they can and hide for safety under her wings. That is the call we want. God's peculiar and effectual call to his own. Again, he says this in another place, difficulty is not a word to be found in the dictionary of heaven. Nothing can be impossible with God. The swearing reprobate whose mouth is blackened with profanity, whose heart is a very hell and his life like the reeking flames of the bottomless pit. Such a man, if the Lord but looks on him and makes bear his arm of irresistible grace, yet shall praise God and bless his name and live to his honor. Spurgeon knew these things from experience. Let's now how he described how the Spirit had conquered his own stubborn heart. He said, when he first came to me, did I not spurn him? When he knocked at the door and asked for entrance, did I not drive him away and do so despite to his grace? I can remember that I full often did so until at last by the power of his effectual grace. I said, he said, I must, I will come in. And then he turned my heart and made me love him. God's effectual call is effective. Or to put it another way, God's irresistible grace is irresistible. And I say this often, but God uses means. He uses mere men to issue the general gospel call. After all, how will they hear without someone preaching? All of this means that God's irresistible grace makes even the most resistant hearts receptive to the offer of salvation. Listen to the confidence that Spurgeon had in his preaching of the gospel. He proclaims this, he says, if Jesus Christ were to stand on this platform tonight, what would many people do with him? If he were to come here and say, here I am, I love you. Will you be saved by me? Not one of you would consent if you were left to your own will. He himself said, no man can come to me except the father who had sent him, draw him. Ah, we want that, he says. And here we have it. They shall come, they shall come. You may laugh, you may despise us, but Jesus Christ shall not die for nothing. If some of you reject him here, there are some that will not. If there are some that are not saved, others shall be. Christ shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hands. They shall come and not in heaven nor on earth, nor in hell can stop them from coming. This morning as we look at 2 Thessalonians, we're gonna look at chapter two verses 13 to 15. We're gonna see that the apostle Paul is switching gears pretty drastically as he shifts from talking about the condemnation of those who have rejected the Messiah to the assurance granted to those who have believed in him. I wanna read the whole chapter together so that we get a sense of all of this as one coherent thought. So 2 Thessalonians chapter two. Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you brothers not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way, for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the man of lawlessness has revealed the son of destruction who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called God or object of worship so that he takes his seat in the temple of God proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember when I was still with you that I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. But the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he's out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion so that they may believe what is false in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But we had always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord because God chose you as the first fruits to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then brothers stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us either by our spoken word or by our letter. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. Let's stop and pray here. Father I pray that you would give us years to hear and eyes to see Lord. Help us to understand. I pray that I would decrease and that Christ would increase. And that when we leave here today we would be just another step closer to Christ likeness. That you would use your word to continue to sanctify this church, these people, us, to your glory. We pray in Jesus name, amen. What is it that repeatedly energizes the lawlessness or the worldly spirit of the age throughout history? What is it that has caused certain societies or certain cultures to promote the moral, I guess, degradation that has ebbed and flowed throughout history? What makes the spirit of the age so compelling? Well, we saw in the first part of this chapter, chapter two here, the Apostle Paul explained that the spirit of Antichrist to use the Apostle John's words or the mystery of lawlessness he says, that that mystery is already at work in the world. It's already working to influence and deceive not only the world around us, but as Jesus says, even if possible, the elect, even the church, even God's people. So think of the proverbial frog in a pot of water. It's cold at first, but then slowly warms up. The church is sometimes unable to discern false teaching. Because far too often, we just grow accustomed to it. And we just grow spiritually numb. Far too often, Christians or the church does not know what she believes or why she believes it. Far too often, we've become dull of hearing and need someone to teach us again the basic principles of the oracles of God. We need milk, not solid food. That's from Hebrews. The far more worse off is the world. Particularly those who have heard the word, the gospel of salvation and have rejected the Savior. In some cases at least, scripture makes it very clear that God will harden the hearts of those who refuse to love the truth. God will sometimes give them over to their sinful wicked appetites. So for example, just look again at verses 11 and 12 here. Therefore, God sends them a strong delusion so that they may believe what is false in order that they may be condemned who do not believe in the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. That can be a bitter pill to swallow. Especially when we consider every one of us have people that we love and yet have steadfastly rejected Jesus Christ. We wanna water verses like that down. But that actually means what it says. There's been a couple of passages that speak to this truth plainly. Psalm five, verses five and six says, "The boastful shall not stand before your eyes. "You hate all evildoers. "You destroy those who speak lies. "The Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man." Proverbs chapter six, verses 16 to 19. There's six things that the Lord hates. Seven that are an abomination to him. Hotty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies and one who sows discord among the brothers. This is a difficult doctrine for those who think that the sum and substance of God is found in the phrase God is love. The whole idea that God would send them a strong delusion that they may believe what is false. In order that, they may be condemned. That is hard to believe. But the truth is that we stand condemned already for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and the wages of sin is death. Unless we think this is merely the teaching of the Apostle Paul, surely not the teaching of Jesus himself, he just talked about loving everyone. Listen to what Jesus said immediately after giving us that promise of the gospel that we know is John 3, 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, the whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. The very next two verses, 17 and 18, says this. "For God did not send his son into the world "to condemn the world, "but in order that the world might be saved through him. "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, "but whoever does not believe is condemned already "because he's not believed in the name "of the only son of God." However, the flip side of this doctrine is where we find ourselves today. What about those whose heart has not been hardened? What about those whose heart God has not hardened or they are not under a strong delusion or to get even more specific? What about those who did receive him, who believed in his name, John 1? Well, their fate is in the hands of the Lord as well because they are chosen, called and kept. Chosen, called and kept. So let me give you three big words to file back in your memory bank for future use. The first word is soteriology. Soteriology is the study of the doctrine of salvation. This is that branch of theology that looks specifically at how a person is saved. And in that study, in the study of soteriology, there are two other, these are the other two big words, two basic viewpoints of how a person is saved. Monurgism and synergism. Monurgism, think mono, one, right? Monurgism or monurgism is the doctrine which holds that the Holy Spirit is the only agent that affects the regeneration of Christians. It is God who saves. Synergism, think synthesis, right? A blending of two or more. Synergism is the view that there's a cooperation between God and the human in the regeneration process. So they'll say something like, God reaches down and says, just give me your hand. Just give me your hand. The biggest problem with that view is that the person is not drowning. The person is not struggling, he's dead. And I believe that this passage today teaches us very clearly that it is God who chooses, God who calls and God who keeps, chosen, called and kept. So chosen, look at verse 13. But we are always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. Now, the importance of including this paragraph with the preceding one, this is why I wanted to read the whole chapter, the importance of reading these together can't be overstated. Paul is comparing and contrasting the status or the fate of the Thessalonians saints with those who were bewitched by the mystery of lawlessness. So verse 12 ends with the judgment of unbelievers, but Paul quickly follows that with a note of thankfulness for God's work among these believers that he's writing to. So there's a sharp contrast between the imminent condemnation of the wicked false teachers, along with those who have believed them and those who have believed in the truth. For them, their salvation is sure and secure. Do you remember what are the most two important words in the Bible? Do you remember? But God. But God. To summarize from Ephesians two, we can see this actually all over Scripture, but to summarize Ephesians two, and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. But God. Being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace, you've been saved. But God. Notice these verses begin with a similar emphasis. But, and that word there on its own is so significant because it immediately reminds the church, as they're hearing, as they're reading this letter, it reminds the church that there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And ever the pastor, the apostle Paul, is not calling them to set their minds on the condemnation of God's enemies, previous verses, but rather giving them assurance that this fate is not their fate. And another significance of really this verse or the opening phrase of verse 13, is that in a letter as short as this, this is a very short letter. In a letter as short as this, Paul here repeats almost verbatim from the opening of his letter. So look back at chapter one, verse three. He says this, just the first phrase of chapter one, verse three, we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right. And then here in verse 13, but we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, beloved by the Lord. It's impossible to put too much stress on the thankfulness that Paul has for this church and the thankfulness that we ought to have toward God for the salvation, not only of our own salvation, but of the salvation of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul here is intending to remind them of this fact. Last night, if you were at the Shindig, a couple of our members shared their testimony of how God changed them. They shared their testimony of how the Lord saved them. And we are thankful. We've heard testimony when we've had baptisms of how God has saved his people. And we are thankful. We are thankful that we get to hear and see. We ought always to give thanks for one another. Paul here is intending to remind them of this. He is stressing that the most important for them to remember as a church, as they face opposition, as there are accusers accusing them, as there are persecutors. The most important thing for them to remember is that they are brothers and sisters in Christ. They're his together. In fact, this is where he kind of slightly deviates from that chapter one, verse three, by saying that they are beloved in the Lord or by the Lord. And it's important because that phrase by the Lord, that's a specific reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. Specifically God the Son. That's who Paul calls Lord, almost always is Jesus. So Paul is giving thanks to God the Father that they are loved by Jesus. And that distinction that is so significant because in all of the instances, at least all the ones that I could find, where Paul writes of Christ's love, he always connects it in some way to his saving work on the cross. Christ's love is best illustrated, best seen in his work on the cross. Just listen to a couple, Galatians two, verse 20. I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. In Ephesians chapter five, verses one and two, he makes the connection again. He says, therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Of course, this is significant because Paul believes what Jesus said. Jesus said, greater love has no man than this, that someone laid down his life for his friends. That's why Paul wrote in Romans five, eight. But God shows his love for us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Greater love is no man than this, that someone laid down his life for his friends. You wanna see that greater love? Christ died for us. We are beloved by God, by the Lord. Paul is thankful that the Thessalonians saints are beloved by the Lord and he is especially thankful that this means that they have been called and redeemed. But I also wanna point out another kind of very subtle reason that Paul is emphasizing they're being beloved by the Lord. See, he's drawing a connection between Israel and the church. Paul is taking language originally reserved for Israel and applying it to the church. Speaking specifically, even to a certain tribe, in fact the one that Paul belongs to, he says in, this is Deuteronomy 33.12 says of Benjamin, he said, the beloved of the Lord dwells in safety, the high God surrounds him all day long and dwells between his shoulders. See what Paul is doing? Paul is assuring this church, made up of both Jew and Gentile, that they are the beloved chosen people of God. And he's rooting his thankfulness in their election. God chose them. God chose them with the goal that they may be saved, he says. And this is tied together with the concept of the love of our redeeming Christ. So not only does the Father love us, but this necessarily means that the Son loves us and chooses us as well. Now, here is a mystery that has not been revealed. Here's a mystery that's not been revealed. It's fair to say that we cannot know for certain why God loves and chooses certain people and not others. It's fair to say that. We don't know why God chooses some, but not others, except to say that it's for his glory. But here's what we do know. In Deuteronomy chapter seven, verses six to eight, we read this. Speaking to Israel, for you are a holy, a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession. Out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth, it was not because you are more in number than any of the other people that the Lord said, his love on you and chose you. For you are the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh, King of Egypt. And here we see similar language for the Thessalonians saints, or we could just say for the church. God didn't choose us because we're so great because we're the most prominent people in Logan, Champagne, Union, whatever counties we live in. That isn't why God chose us, God chose us for his glory. And from a worldly standpoint, or from our eye stand, he shouldn't have chosen any of us because we're all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But just as God had chosen Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he's chosen us to be saved. It's worth taking a moment to point out right here that salvation to be saved in the Apostle Paul's writings, it actually refers to several things at once. So first in this immediate context of chapter two, he's telling the Thessalonians that they will be saved from perishing, that they will be saved from suffering the same fate as the lawless one faces up in verse eight. Remember verse eight says, "And then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. To be saved is to be saved from the coming judgment." We've seen this just even around these two letters, first and second Thessalonians. So in the first letter in chapter one, verses nine and 10, we saw that they turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven, for whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. And then at the end of that first letter, in chapter five, also verses nine and 10, "For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might live to him." God has saved us from the wrath to come. So to be saved is to be saved from the coming judgment. But Paul also stresses that to be saved is to be made whole or to be made complete in faith, in righteousness and ultimately in resurrection or in glorification. Remember, turn back to first Thessalonians, just a couple pages, chapter four. This is what he is saving us to. Listen to verses 13 to 18. He says, "We don't want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep. They may, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope." So Paul is gonna take away or give them hope, point out their hope here. Verse 14, "For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive who are left until the coming of the Lord will not proceed those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command and the voice of an archangel and with the sound of the trumpet of God and the dead and Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive who are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words. We will always be with the Lord. That passage is saying, even those who have died, don't worry, we will always be with the Lord. Then finally salvation is, it's being reconciled to God and brought into an intimate relationship with him. So Titus chapter three says it this way in verses four to seven. Says, "But when the goodness and loving kindness "of God our Savior appeared, He saved us. "Not because of works done by us in righteousness, "but according to His own mercy, "by the washing of regeneration and renewal "of the Holy Spirit whom He poured out on us richly "through Jesus Christ our Savior "so that being justified by His grace, "we might become heirs according to the hope "of eternal life. "Like a mother or a father taking care of a newborn baby, "there's an intimacy in those words. "There's a close relationship like none other "by the washing of regeneration "and renewal of the Holy Spirit. "He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. "He has chosen us to be saved." He says, "By the sanctification of the Spirit, "that means that we are made holy. "We are set apart by the Spirit "and through the belief of the truth," he says. Because we know that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. He chose us, but He also called us. He called us, verse 14. To this, he called you through our gospel so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So not only did God choose them, but He also called them. And He did so, as Paul says here, through our gospel. The gospel preached by Paul, Sylvanas, and Timothy when they were there. And so now we're back to that idea of the effectual calling, the place where we started with Charles Spurgeon. So it reminds me of Ezekiel. We read it, I don't know, a couple of weeks ago. Prophecy, he says. Prophecy over the bones, they were very dry. Prophecy, that means preach. Preach, he says. And Ezekiel preaches, and the bones start to rattle and come together as dead men are made alive. That's what's happening. They start to come together. They start to be made alive again. Not just bones, very dry. Now their sinews, muscles start to form. They stand up and God breathes into them the breath of life. Prophecy, he says, preach. That's the calling. Throughout Paul's writing, he's gonna make it very clear that although God has chosen us, that doesn't mean that we're born saved. In fact, we could say that the new covenant is actually new. So compare this to the old covenant. Jeremiah 31, he actually calls it the new covenant and promises this. God says, for this is the covenant that I will make to the house of Israel after those days declares the Lord. I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they shall be my people and no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother saying, no, the Lord, for they shall all know me. There's no more necessity for evangelism. They shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more. That's talking about, when I say there's no more need for it, there's clearly a need for evangelism in the world today. I'm saying amongst believers. Under the old covenant, they all still had to believe by faith like Abraham did. Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. They still needed to believe by faith. In the new covenant, we're by definition, in the new covenant because we have believed by faith. And God remembers our sin no more. And so the new covenant is unlike the old covenant. No one is able to be born into it. Instead, we are chosen by God and called in repentance and faith. Romans 10 makes us very clear. Verses 9, 10 and 11 says this because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the scripture says everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. And then just a couple of verses later, he explains the call. He says, how will they call on him of whom they have not believed? How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? How are they to hear without someone preaching? How are they to preach unless they're sent as it is written how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news? But they've not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who is believed what he heard from us. So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. This is how God uses effectual calling. He uses preaching to call sinners to repent and believe. And if Jesus calls you, you follow him. Like the disciples leaving their nets, follow me. They followed him. If Jesus calls you, you follow him. God has chosen and called his saints. And so we can know for certain that our salvation is secure. Notice the second half there of verse 14 where we find the purpose of the calling so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. We need to see this as being in contrast with how God deals with his enemies in the previous section. They faced death and destruction. We face glorification. God has acted in such a way toward his people that we are guaranteed salvation and future glory. Now there's a couple of ways to interpret this. We might say that to be glorified means to be made perfect, complete and lacking in nothing. It means to be made perfectly like Jesus Christ. And we know that this is the end goal of our salvation, of our sanctification. If we are chosen by God and called to be partakers of the glory that is to be revealed, we can be sure that we will be kept by God. But to obtain the glory of God could also mean that to behold, it could mean to behold the glory of God, to obtain it with our eyes, to see it face to face. It means to bring him glory and see or feel his glory, to be in the presence of God himself. And tell me that's not the end goal of our salvation as well. Not only is it to be made like Christ, perfect and complete and lacking in nothing, but it's also to be with him face to face. Seated at his table, like Mephibosheth. So if we are chosen by God, we are called to be partakers of the glory that is to be revealed. And we can be sure that we will also be kept by God. Kept, verse 15. So then brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. Now, I called this section kept because I wanted to emphasize God's work in our salvation. Only he can keep us saved, right? This is the point of the new covenant meal, communion. Each week when we come to the Lord's Supper, we renew our covenant vows because we've broken them, but he hasn't. One of my favorite quotes on this idea, I think it's from John MacArthur. If you could lose your salvation, you would. If you could lose your salvation, you would, but you can't because he won't let that happen. And so as Paul brings these thoughts to a close here in verse 15, he issues a command to the brethren in light of this chapter. In fact, notice the connection between verse 15 and verse two at the beginning. Let me read verse two. So we ask you brothers not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or spoken word or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Verse 15. So then brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. The opposite of being quickly shaken in mind or alarmed is the idea of standing firm and holding fast. So the problem that they face and we often face is mental and emotional instability. What's the solution? What has Paul done? Paul has assured them the truth of God's actions. These are the indicatives. He has called them to trust that God has chosen them and called them. And so now he moves to the imperatives because God has chosen you, because God has called you, because God has saved you. Now the commands are how we respond. And there's two commands here that are both in the present tense, meaning this is the need for ongoing action. Keep standing firm, keep holding fast. So stand firm, continue to be firmly committed to the convictions and beliefs once for all delivered to the saints, to the gospel of Jesus Christ, to the word of God. He used that same phrase back in his first letter when he told them to be standing firm so as to not be shaken by the afflictions that they face. Stand firm, hold fast. He's saying the same thing here. Don't be shaken by the allegations of these false teachers. Don't be shaken by the mystery of lawlessness, the spirit of the age that is at work in the world. Instead, fight the fear that may weld up inside of you. Fight those emotional, angry responses, whatever it is. Fight those things. As you see, all that is happening in this present evil age and stand firm in the truth of God's word. Stand firm and hold fast. We stand firm, in fact, by holding fast. By adhering to, that's what this literally means to hold. If you've ever used superglue or a good construction adhesive, expect it to hold, right? Anybody old superglue ad with the guy wearing the helmet hanging upside down? That's the idea here. Hold fast. In light of the false eschatological claims that have caused them to be fearful. The false claims that Christ has already returned and you missed it, they're called to fight that fear by tightly gripping the traditions you were taught, he says. Simply put, those traditions are the things that Paul himself had learned and passed on to them when he was with them, teaching and preaching. And then the letters that he wrote that we acknowledge as scripture. Stand firm and hold fast. So let me finish with this. When discouragement or fear set in, because of opposition, because of this present evil age or really because of any reason. I want to give you five specific things that we must stand firm and hold fast to. Five specific things. The first is the gospel. The good news of Jesus Christ. He told them back in the first letter, chapter two, verse 13, he said, "We also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not only as the word of men, but as what it really is, the word of God, which is that work among you believers. Hold fast to the truth you have been taught." That was verse five, we looked at it last week. Hold fast to stand firm on the truth that you've been taught. Sometimes I'll tell people, remember your baptism. Remember the testimony that you shared with the church, the work that God had done in your life to bring you to salvation. Remember those things. Hold fast to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We also stand firm and hold fast to the Christian life, or Christian living. I don't know how to put this. It's Romans 6, 17. Paul says, "But thanks be to God, that you who are one slaves to sin, have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you are committed." It's sanctification, it's growth, it's change. It's the normal Christian life. Remember those things, that you were slaves to sin, but you've become obedient to the teaching of God's word. The third is related to all of this. It's discipleship, or more specifically, as a church, we could even say it's raising up leaders after us. So 2 Timothy 2, 2 says this, "And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, and trust the faithful men who would be able to teach others also." This is the importance of raising up the next generation of leaders in the church. But I put this one in here specifically for us, because not only is this about raising up church leaders who will follow us, but there's a massive amount of application right in there for every parent in the room, for every aunt and uncle in the room, every member of this church. This is what we're doing, is we are entrusting the scriptures to the faithful ones who will come after us. We are raising up faithful moms and dads in the little boys and girls in the church. Faithful Christians behind us. Discipleship. Number four, hold fast to the hope of the resurrection. First Corinthians chapter 15, verses three and four, for I delivered to you as the first importance what I also received, that Christ Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. Of course, this is the gospel. Hold fast to the hope of the resurrection that is rooted in Jesus Christ's resurrection, the good news of the gospel. Christ died for our sins. And then I'll just finish with this one. Number five, hold fast to the ordinary means of grace. Acts chapter two, verse 42, they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers. They devoted themselves. Not only to this, not only to the teaching of the apostle Paul, the apostle John, apostle Peter, not only to the teaching that we have now in the word of God, but they devoted themselves to the fellowship. And that's, you know this, that's more than just the lunch that we're gonna have in a few minutes. Although praise God, that's part of it. It's the one another's in scripture. It's the caring for one another that you do so well and so regularly. They devoted themselves to the breaking of bread, which is both the meal and the Lord's supper, proclaiming His death until He returns. And the prayers. There's so much of church life that's contained just in that one verse. So much of the Christian life that's just contained in that one verse. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers. If we were to focus on those things, we will not be consumed by the fear, the anxiety, the pressures of this world. Instead, we will be focused on Jesus Christ and His church. And we will be transformed. Pray with me. Father, I pray that we would do this, that we would focus on the apostles' teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers. That even in Sunday school, when we share prayer requests with one another, when they go out in emails, when we just share them personally or privately with one another, that we would remember to pray for one another, that we would pray for those who are unable to be with us because of sickness or whatever, that we would pray for those who are here, that we would pray for our moms and dads, that we would pray for our families, that we would pray for the grandparents, that we would pray for those going off to school, that we would pray as the school year starts as we come into the holidays for whatever reason, Lord, that we would remember to pray for one another, that we would love one another enough to be able to pray. Father, I pray that we would continue in these things, that we would be a people who hold fast to your truth because you have chosen us, you've called us, and you are keeping us. Father, I pray that we would be transformed into Christ's likeness and we pray this in Jesus' name.