God Has Chosen Us From the Beginning for Salvation — Ian Robson

Anointed Leaders for the Church in Dark Times

As we continue to celebrate our 41st anniversary, having completed 41 years, we have entered a new generation, biblically speaking, 40 years if we take as a biblical generation. So, we are moving on and we want to see Lord raise up leaders who can take the church forward, especially in these dark days.

And we need leaders who are anointed, filled with the Holy Spirit, with a fire in their hearts to keep the church pure, as we have sought to do these 41 years. And the word on my heart is what we just learned as a memory verse for this week.

Chosen for Salvation Through Sanctification

I want that we focus on that, but that comes at the end of 2 Thessalonians 2, where Paul says, before we read, before that, he says we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

It was for this he called you, through our gospel. That's why you're here this morning, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, not just forgiveness of sins, not just to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and many, many other things, but to gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I hope that encourages you and challenges you. So then, brethren, stand firm and hold on to the tradition which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us. Now, may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father who has loved us, given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.

That's a word that we can keep in our hearts, especially for these days, that we never lose sight of our calling and why God has called us, why God has chosen us. God has chosen you. Underline that. God has chosen me to be the first fruits of salvation.

He's chosen me for salvation. He's not destined me for wrath, but for gaining the glory of Jesus Christ. Let that be your focus. And all the other things that happen should not unsettle us as we enter more and more into dark days.

Recognizing the Signs of the Times

And one of the callings and one of the responsibilities of us as a church, and we have sought to do that, is to warn ourselves, to alert ourselves of the times that we are living in. Jesus said, you know how to forecast the weather, but you don't recognize the signs of the times that you live in.

He said that to religious people who had the Bible, the Pharisees. You don't know how to recognize the times. And I believe he says that to us too. Many things that we know, internet and so much of technology today, but we don't recognize the times that we live in.

And so multitudes, multitudes are deceived. And that's something that I want to share with you this morning, that we take heed to the warnings that Jesus gives us and that the Holy Spirit gives us through the apostles in the New Testament.

And keep that before us in the days that we have already entered into. And Jesus has given us many warnings about the last days before his return. In fact, his disciples asked him in Matthew chapter 24.

Matthew chapter 24, you can look at it in verse 3 and 4. It says that he was sitting on the Mount of Olives and the disciples came to him privately saying, tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?

That's the question they put to him. And Jesus answered and said to them, the very first thing he said to them in response to this question, see to it that no one misleads you or no one deceives you. The Living Bible says don't let anyone fool you.

In Matthew 24, verse 5, you notice there this word many times, the word many. It says many will come in my name. Many will come in my name saying I am the Christ. Now we've heard if you've been coming to this church, it's not just people getting up and saying I'm Jesus Christ, I'm the Messiah.

If you've been coming here, what Jesus was saying, many will come in my name saying that I, Jesus, am the Christ, am the Messiah. So that can be very deceptive. And I've heard people even from our church say, they preach the same things.

You know what we hear and see, it's the same things, isn't it? I'm not saying we are the best church. We are doing only a part of God's work, you've heard that, a very small part. But we should not be fooled.

So Jesus said, many will come in my name saying I am the Christ. And that's how we see it today. Many are saying that Jesus is the Christ. People even from non-Christian religions are saying that Jesus is the Christ.

And will this mislead many? Matthew 24, 5. And you will hear, he says, you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened. That's the thing that we must see too, that we don't get frightened.

We don't get afraid, we don't panic. All those things must take place, but there's not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. And in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.

We have seen that. And seeing it all the time. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. And when the beginning of birth pangs, you know it is, it doesn't go on. A woman who enters into birth pangs is about to deliver a child, it doesn't go on and on.

Maybe long. Sometimes I know for one of my children, my first child particularly, it was long. All through the night my wife had to wait. And painful. But birth pangs don't go on forever. There has to be a delivery.

So, it says there, these are the beginning of birth pangs. And I believe the birth pangs have already begun. My brothers and sisters, we have eyes to see. And then they will deliver you to tribulation and will kill you.

We are seeing that happening. All over the world you will be hated by all nations. Because of my name and that's coming also. At that time, many will fall away. Not some, not a few. Many will fall away and will betray one another.

And hate one another. Brothers will give up their brothers. Children will give up their parents. And many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Many will be deceived. Five times there. Many, many, many.

Endurance, Forgiveness, and Salvation

Not few, not some. When I read a word like that, it puts a fear in my heart. Lord, I don't want to be among that many. Save me from being among that many. I want to be among the few, even if it's few, that will be saved.

That's what Jesus says there. Verse 14. The one who endures to the end, he or she will be saved. If I endure to the end, not just in suffering, but endure in love, to the end, we will be saved. And I have to see to it that I endure in love.

I have to see to it that I forgive others as Jesus has forgiven me. Otherwise I will not be forgiven. I've said this to many, many people. You cannot enter into the gates of heaven. You can't even see the gates of heaven if you're entering with bitterness, resentment and anger in your heart towards anybody.

And I don't care what they have done. And this, I have sought to keep my heart pure. I was really challenged by, you may have read this, a book, Corrie Ten Boom, we went through so much suffering. We went and saw the hiding place when we were there in Holland, where she hid many Jews.

She was the only one who survived from her family. All the others were killed by the Gestapo. Even her sister Betsy was killed. And she had a lot of hatred and resentment in her heart. But she was saying how, you've read the book, I've not yet read it, but I've seen her story.

And what spoke to me was when this person, and I think it's in her book, when she saw this Gestapo soldier in her meeting, you know, she was traveling and testifying about what God had done, you know, about the healing of forgiveness.

And there in the congregation, and at the end of the meeting, one man came up and she recognized, old man, elderly man, she recognized that he was the Gestapo soldier, the Nazi soldier who killed her father, mother and practically her whole family.

And she just, you know, she found something well up in her heart. And he came with his hand outstretched. And she said it was so difficult for her to stretch her hand out. And she just cried in that moment, cried out to God.

And she suddenly felt a warmth in her heart that flowed into her arm. And she stretched out her hand and she said, you know, in her heart she said, I forgive you. And he came to her and he said, I want to really ask your forgiveness.

I'm sorry. I'm a born again Christian today. I've come to know Jesus as my savior. She speaks there of the healing of forgiveness. And I want to say there's a healing, my dear brothers and sisters, when you forgive as you have been forgiven.

I want to say that to anybody here, who's holding any kind of resentment or bitterness or grudge or anger in your heart, towards anybody, whether it's outside the church, worse still if it is in the church, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.

So that's why Jesus said, see to it. He says that no one deceives you and the one who endures to the end, he or she will be saved. And this gospel, this gospel of forgiveness and sanctification and righteousness and everything shall be preached to the whole world as a testimony to all nations.

Then the end will come. So when we read that word, like I was saying, many, it puts a fear on our heart. It puts a fear in our hearts. I don't have to panic. Jesus said that. Don't get frightened. Many times he said to his disciples, don't get afraid.

He says in Luke chapter 21 verse 36, he says, keep on the alert at all times. It's a parallel passage there. Praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place and to stand before the son of man.

So that's all I have to do, pray that I will receive strength to escape all these things. And whatever may happen, and we think of persecution, we think of what people are going through in different parts of the world, our brethren who are suffering in different parts of the world, some of the atrocities that are happening.

And in this short time that we have been away in that part of the world, we came to see the atrocities. You cannot believe the wickedness of the human heart. When he went to this concentration camp in Auschwitz and saw the atrocities upon men, women and children.

And we saw all the hair that was shaved off and just piled up and that was being exported and sent and made into quilts. Oh, I've never seen it. It made me a broken man. It broke my heart. I said, Lord, can this be possible that a human heart is so wicked?

That's what it is when we have unforgiveness and anger and whatever else in our hearts. So I just want to say that we have to take heed today to all that we are hearing on the internet, all that we read on the internet, all that we hear on TV, today's charismatic prophecy, which I will read a letter from Brother Zack later, after the meeting, which is a mixture of truth and error, but more error than truth and that's the deceptive thing.

You know, it begins with, you know, Jesus said that they will say that I am the Christ. So there's more error than truth in a lot of prophecy, so-called prophecy today, in particularly charismatic churches.

And we have heard in this church, as Brother Zack has often said, if you do not get to know God's word, you deserve to be deceived. I want to remind ourselves, if you do not get to know God's word, if you do not take trouble to study it, to meditate, and to obey it, you deserve to be deceived.

So, what comes to me is this, I can pray and I can get, let God's word sink into my heart and be bathed in the word of God and seek to obey it, I will be preserved. And you will be preserved, my brothers and sisters.

Testing Prophecy by Scripture

And today's prophecy speaks about, you know, great revival that's coming and a great awakening and people are all excited. And people who don't know God's word get excited. There's going to be a great awakening, a great revival before the return of Christ.

It's deceptive and misleading. Because the Holy Spirit warns us, if we know the scriptures of tribulation, right there in the beginning, as you enter this church, Jesus said, there's the words of Jesus, in the world you'll have tribulation.

And at the end it says, be of good courage, I've overcome the world. So we don't know the scriptures, my brothers and sisters. We deserve to be deceived. The Holy Spirit warns us of tribulation and persecution.

And we must be ready for that. It's already happening in different parts of the world. They want to obliterate God completely. There's a rebellion against God that's coming. That's already come. I'm told that in the US, the so-called Christian country, the teachers are instructed not to call students boys and girls.

They are to address them as students. Why? Because transgender people now are recognized. God created them male and female, but now they've brought in something else. Rebellion against God. Brother Benoy who was here last week told me about a baker who lost his job because he refused to bake a cake for two males who wanted to get married.

A florist was asked to close down her shop because she refused to make a bouquet for two women who wanted to get married. These are things that are happening. A magistrate, a judge lost his job and was taken to court and sentenced for refusing to marry transgender people.

It's getting worse my brothers and sisters. Just because we live in India, it's not caught up here, doesn't mean that we are escaped. We have not escaped. We have to be ready. One of the responsibilities of us as a church, as elders, is to warn the flock.

We can only warn you and we can alert ourselves so that we are ready for these days when they come upon us. Paul writes so much about the second coming of Jesus. In fact, his second letter to the Thessalonians, a wonderful church, the church in Thessalonica, a really wonderful church.

In fact, if you look there, Paul in the beginning, in 1 Thessalonians, he says we ought to always thank God for you. Three times he says we thank God for you. And in his second letter, that was the burden of the apostle Paul that 18 of the 47 verses, 2 Thessalonians contains 47 verses, 18 of those 47 verses speak about the second coming of Jesus.

So that's the importance of why most of it is to warn us. And I want you to look at that. And more than 300 times in the New Testament speaks about the coming of Jesus, the return of Jesus Christ to this earth.

The Second Coming and the Public Reading of Scripture

2 Thessalonians in chapter 2, which we have seen before, but I would encourage you to read these scriptures more and more. And I want to say to you this morning, we'll be reading a lot of scripture this morning.

We're going to give attention to the public reading of scripture as Paul told Timothy. So if you're not brought your Bible this morning, you're missing out on something. I want to encourage you my brothers and sisters, don't be ashamed to carry a Bible.

To carry a Bible to church. I see many people who don't belong to CFC with Bibles in their hands as we arrive here in the morning, going to church. But some of us are just content to have it on our mobile, on our iPad, and we think oh it'll be put on the screen.

That's how it is in the western countries. I've been there to the church that my children go to. Not many people carry Bibles there. Nobody covers their head. None of the sisters cover their heads there.

My wife was the only one. I don't care what the others said, or what the other family member said. But she obeyed God's word and covered her head. And very few people carry Bibles because it's all projected on the screen.

Or they have it in their mobiles. But I want to encourage you, don't be ashamed to carry a heartbound Bible to the church. Because you've heard Brother Zach say, and I believe that it's so important. I have it in my iPad, I have it in the mobile, I thank God, and when I have spare time, I can always go there, read some scriptures.

But it's so good to read God's word, because you can see things. And I want to tell you, if you can, I said this before, if you can invest in a marginal reference, you know, a center margin in your Bible, you'll get tremendous wealth.

You'll get revelation on some things. Invest in a margin Bible. A little expensive, but it's worth it. And study the scriptures. You like to mark it? My first Bibles were all marked. I still have my first Bible, full of markings and coloring and highlighting and all that.

But I thank God, because I have his word in my heart today. It comes up in different situations. So I want to encourage you to do that. And if you've not brought a Bible today, you're going to miss out, because we're reading a lot of scripture.

And then we spend the rest of the day in some good activities and fellowship, as we had promised. So I want you to look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. When you read all this, that is so called prophecy today, that comes forth many things that people speak about.

I tell you, the people just follow it all. And even as recently, to hear somebody who was a visitor to one of these charismatic churches, and to hear a so called prophecy directed at that person who was a visitor.

And you can be taken up, if you don't know God's word, and if you're all looking for personal prophecy, somebody to point out, some pastor to point out in the meeting and give you some word to hinge on, or to give you guidance, you can be thoroughly deceived.

And so, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, and Paul says there, now, what about the I want to read this to you from the living bible, ok? You can follow it in the version that you have. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, and we just read on.

He says, now what about the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to meet him. Please don't be upset and excited, dear brothers, and mean sisters also, by the rumor that this day of the Lord has already begun.

You would have even read in the papers and read on the internet that the antichrist revealed himself on August 31st 2016. We are heading there. I saw last night that the world will end on October 31st 2016.

That's not far off. All these things, which is all there on the internet and people are reading it and swallowing it, just believe it. So, he says, please don't be upset and excited, dear brothers, by the rumor that this day of the Lord has already begun.

If you hear of people having visions and special messages from God about this, or letters that are supposed to have come from me, don't believe them. Don't be carried away and deceived, regardless of what they say.

For that day will not come to pass, will not come, until two things happen. Now, pay attention. This is the Holy Spirit with the Apostle Paul. He says, don't be deceived, don't get upset and excited. He says, that day will not come until these two things happen.

What is it? First, there will be a time of great rebellion against God that has begun. A time when many people will fall away, the apostasy. That's the first thing. And the second thing, the man of rebellion, or the man of lawlessness, or the man of perdition, as the Holy Spirit calls him, will come.

And the Message Bible says, the son of hell. He will defy every God there is and tear down every other object of adoration and worship. He will go in and sit as God in the temple of God claiming that he himself is God.

And I want to tell you, there's only one temple where God says that he will sit and that's within our bodies. So, you know, people are looking to see, you know, when's the temple going to be built in Jerusalem?

I'm not waiting for that. I'm not interested in that. The only temple, Isaiah 66, where God says that he will dwell in is our bodies. So, the Antichrist will take a body. He will come in a body, like Jesus came in a body.

Jesus, the son of God, God the Father, who manifested himself to us, came in a body 2 ,000 years ago and that's how, that's what the Antichrist, he will go in and sit as God in the temple of God. That's a body, a human body, claiming that he himself is God.

Don't you remember that I told you this when I was with you? And you know what is keeping him from being here already? For he can come only when his time is ready. You know who keeps him back? It's the Holy Spirit.

And when the Holy Spirit moves out of the way, he will reveal himself. So, whether it's August 31st, 2016, October 31st, 2016, I'm not interested. We will know. We don't need dates. Jesus himself never knew dates when they asked him.

So, we need to pay heed. I want to say to you, when we read this chapter, and I encourage you to read it again and again, and read all these verses where it speaks about the coming of Jesus. Read what Jesus said in the Gospels.

Read it, my dear brothers and sisters, so that we can be warned, that we can be alerted, and we can be ready, and we can pray, that we can escape all these things that are coming upon us, and be saved.

Loving the Truth and Rejecting Deception

That we can read all this and pray that the love of God would be poured out within our hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit, that I cannot hate anybody, that should be so far away, but I cannot even bear a trace of resentment or grudge or bitterness or anger towards anybody, because there's no place.

My heart is filled with the love of God. I tell you, and I say that before God, I have prayed that umpteen times, and I prayed that in situations where I've been tempted to be, to go out of the love of God, to leave that address, and I cry out to the Lord, Lord, pour into my heart the love of God through the power of the Holy Spirit, and He has done it, and He's done it, and He'll continue doing it.

So, there'll be no room, no trace for any offense, for me to get offended, for me to get bitter, for me to get resentful, no matter what ever happens. I have, I believe in my Savior, and I've been baptized, immersed in the Holy Spirit, but He goes on pouring, pouring, as I, as it goes out of me.

You know, don't keep it within you, let it flow out as rivers of living water, like Jesus said. That is the true baptism of the Holy Spirit, that we can love others. If you don't speak in tongues, it doesn't matter.

You can, you may, if you wish to, but the love of God in your heart, through the power of the Holy Spirit, you need that, my dear brother and sister, for these last days. And so, ask Jesus, ask Him, if you've never really seriously asked Him, Lord, baptize me in the Holy Spirit, and pour into my heart, through the power of the Holy Spirit, the love of God.

I love you with all my heart, love my brothers and sisters, you love me, love my neighbor, as I love myself. He will hear that prayer, my brothers and sisters, He's heard it for me for many, many years, particularly after coming to church, for 41 years, I could say that.

So, looking at this, here in 2 Thessalonians, in chapter 2, we don't have time to read all of it, but, it says there, I want you to pay attention to this word in verse 10, you know, Paul there gives a warning, don't be deceived, don't be fooled, and he tells us the two things that will happen, before Jesus comes, and it says in verse 10, that the Antichrist, this man of sin, the man of lawlessness, the man of perdition, he'll come with all the deception of wickedness, for those who perish, because they did not receive, listen to this, the love of the truth, so as to be saved.

Underline that. To receive the love of the truth, so as to be saved. And to love the truth about myself first. And when I hear it from somebody else, when somebody tells me something, or I hear something in the church that cuts deep into my heart, to love the truth about myself.

Not get offended. You heard, it said, you know, Brzezinski said it often in the past, you know, when these nobility, when these rich nobles go out hunting, they hire the tribesmen, you know, who come along with them with their drums and clappers, and they go out into the forest, and they're there on their horses, you know, to shoot the tiger, and they go on beating their drums to get the tiger out and clapping, with their clappers, and he says, you don't shoot the clapper, shoot the tiger.

So that's how it is. When we hear the truth about ourselves, don't shoot the clapper, shoot the tiger, we will be saved. That's what it says, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.

So to love the truth, my dear brothers and sisters, to be saved. Never get offended. One of the first things you hear if you come into this church, is the first thing that you have to learn, is that you'll never get offended.

No matter what anybody does, or says, or does not do, or does not say, you will never get offended. And, he says in verse 11, for this reason, this is the frightening thing, for this reason, God sends upon them a deluding influence, so that they will believe what is false, so if you got a margin there, they'll lie.

They'll lie. Just like Jesus was an embodiment in a manifestation of the truth, he said, I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the father except through me. The antichrist is the lie, like he was from the beginning when he deceived Eve in the garden.

And Paul was scared, he was afraid of the church in Corinth, he said, I'm afraid for you. Just as I've betrothed you to Christ as a pure virgin, that your mind should not be led astray from that simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ, because, you know, because of the craftiness of the serpent, like the serpent deceived Eve, he says, your mind should not, that's where it begins.

That's where deception begins, my brothers and sisters. Just let's be alert to that. And he says, for this reason, God sends upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe the lie. The embodiment of the lie, the man of sin, the man of perdition will come into the temple of God.

This is God's temple. And say, I am God. That's what he wanted to do right from the beginning. And he's making one last ditch effort. But like it says there, he'll be destroyed with the breath of Jesus' coming.

Hallelujah. So we don't have to be afraid, but we have to love the truth, so that we can believe in the truth, like it says there. They did not believe the truth. And it says about having faith in the truth.

It says there, in order that they may be judged. Verse 12, who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. I cannot believe the truth if I don't love the truth. And I cannot have faith in the truth if I am to be sanctified if I don't love the truth and if I don't believe it.

It's all there in scripture, my brothers and sisters. Look at it for yourself. Meditate on it. And so, we came to that word that we began the meeting with. Paul says, but, oh thank God for that, but. We should always give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation.

Gaining the Glory of Jesus Christ

First fruits, if you have a margin. First fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit. I am sanctified by the Spirit, that's why I need the Holy Spirit and if you have not been immersed in the Holy Spirit and you're not living and walking in the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit every day, you will not be sanctified.

I will not be sanctified. And faith in the truth, what we just spoke about. It was for this he called you through our gospel that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's our calling, to gain the glory of Jesus.

Others will see, not us, see the glory of Jesus. We're going to have a time of testimony and I hope, it's not going to be about me, but what Jesus has done. This testimony, I remember in the early years, you speak so much about yourself, but I am learning, not learned, I am learning.

I want to speak so much more about what the Lord has done. Not what I have done. I was this, I was that and all kinds of things. People have their glory, it says in all the filth. We should be ashamed of that.

I want a glory in Jesus. And that's how it is. I hope our time of testimony will be like that, to give thanks to God, thanks to the Lord Jesus for what He has done. And more and more that we gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

That's our calling. So then, brethren, stand firm, hold to the tradition by which you were taught, whether by word or mouth, or by letter from us. And now may the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.

May God bless this to our hearts and keep us faithful that we will endure in love to the end. Amen. Let's bow our heads. Take a moment. Take a moment just to hear what the Spirit is saying to us, to me.

When He speaks to the church, He speaks to me. He's not speaking to the walls and the pillars here. Lord, You're speaking to me. I don't want to be deceived. I don't want to glory that I've been so long in the church.

I do this, I do that. I serve the church. I sacrifice. Lord Jesus, I want to endure in love to the end so that I'm saved. Pour out Your Spirit upon me. He's right there beside us to immerse us. You've been immersed before.

A Prayer for Holiness, Endurance, and Fresh Filling

Ask Him to fill you afresh. You've never been immersed. Ask Him this morning, Lord Jesus, I need to be immersed in Your Holy Spirit. Will you do that for me now? I forgive and release anyone I've had anything against.

I don't want to give room in my heart for any more resentment or anger or bitterness, whoever it is. What's still if it's to our own partner? Lord, I forgive. I release because You've forgave me and released me.

I'm so great a debt. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit that I never get unsettled or unmoved or moved by the things that are happening around me. I'll be strong in faith and stand firm for You and bring glory and honor to Your name.

Bless us, Lord. Keep us be faithful to You as a church and keep us pure and holy till You return very soon in glory. We thank You that Satan has no power over us. You've chosen us. You've chosen me. Lord, You've chosen me for salvation, not for wrath and anger.

You will sanctify me by Your Spirit and keep my faith alive in the truth. Always love the truth about myself. Please help me, Lord. I ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, we'll sing a song and after that we want to give our little flowers in this church.

We had the big flowers last week, the little flowers, to sing their song and we will close the meeting. And now we'll have the little flowers, our children come up and sing their song.