Untitled Sermon

Brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report, or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God. Don't you remember that when I was with you, I used to tell you these things?

And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work, but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so until he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan, displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles.

Signs and wonders and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refuse to love the truth and be saved. And for this reason, God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth, but have delighted in wickedness. You know, as we look at this section of 2 Thessalonians, it's just more evidence to me that God wrote the book.

If it were me. If. If I would have written this, I know what I'd have done. I mean, if I had received the word back from one of my friends that the people that I had been with and been teaching supposedly received some word from me or some letter from me saying that something that I didn't say had happened in this case that the day of the Lord had already come.

I know what I do. I know how I'd respond. I'd be quick to defend myself. So I would have written chapter 2 first. I would have made sure my points on this issue were clear so that I could be clearly understood. Because I want to defend my integrity and to defend my character. But it just shows that God wrote the book and inspiring Paul to write because Paul doesn't do that.

Paul doesn't write first defending his integrity or the teaching that he gave. Paul writes spending chapter 1 encouraging them. He knows they're discouraged. He knows they're disappointed. He knows they're confused and under a lot of pressure. He knows they're going through a lot of persecution. And so Paul spends the first chapter encouraging them in those three areas that we've looked at.

Over the last several weeks. The encouragement of praise. As in the first four verses he praised God for the fact that their faith was being increased. That their love was growing for one another. That their perseverance was being stretched. That the testimony of that fact was being spread all over the area. He encouraged them in the promises of God. Verses 6 through 10.

In the fact that God indeed was a God of judgment. That he was coming and he would pay back trouble to those that had troubled them. That he was bringing judgment upon those who did not know Christ. Who did not hold fast to his name. And he encouraged them to trust God through prayer. To pray that God would continue doing that work in their lives. Verses 11 and 12.

That he'd be gone. That he would glorify his name through them. And really that's a key to life. Chapter 1 is a principle of life. And if we hold to chapter 1. To the things that Paul brought out through our study of chapter 1. We'll have a principle. To hang on to. That will help in the midst of all of these circumstances. The circumstances themselves will not frustrate them.

And so Paul writes these things. See they're unnerved because of this word that's come to them. This prophecy. This letter or some report concerning the day of the Lord. They're in it. And they're shook up. Because they didn't think they were supposed to be in it. They thought that the Lord was coming. Was going to catch them out before all of this happened.

Now see this pertains. To any circumstances. I don't know how your week went. I don't know how many things came into your life this past week. That unnerved you. That got you shook up. You see we're affected externally usually. But those things act upon us. You and I choose how we respond to circumstances. The enemy would like to cause our circumstances to be confusing.

And cluttered. And distressing. And then have us react in a frustrated unsettled way. We choose. We choose to do that. Nobody makes you mad. Well he made me so mad. No he didn't. Whatever he did or said. You chose to respond in an angry way. Well I get so frustrated when I'm in that situation. Yeah. You've chosen to respond in that situation in a certain way.

People or situations don't make you happy. You choose to respond joyfully in those particular situations. Something doesn't make you sad. You've seen the information or the situation. And you've chosen to respond in that way. And so Satan will seek to disrupt our circumstances. Look at Job. Mess up his circumstances God and he'll be unhappy. So Satan messed with his circumstances.

His family and his possessions. Mess with the circumstances of his health Lord. And he'll curse you to your face. And so Satan messed with the circumstances. Job chose to respond in a different way. Than maybe you or I would have. And that's why Paul writes chapter 1 saying. If you get a handle. On this. If you learn in the midst of the circumstances. The encouragement of praise.

The encouragement of the promise of the word of God. And the encouragement of prayer. Then the circumstances won't matter. It doesn't matter what people say. It doesn't matter if somebody's saying. That you're in the midst of the day of the Lord. The circumstances themselves won't matter. Because you know God has you in control. There was a song back in the 50s.

Some of you were there back in the 50s. And me. By Elvis. You touched my hand. What a chill I got. Her lips are like a volcano that's hot. Hey we were stunted in the 50s. You know with songs. I'm proud to say that she's my buttercup. I'm in love. I'm all shook up. Remember that? Some of you. Some of you remember that. Surely. Nod your head if some of you remember.

Okay. I couldn't think of it. I believe it's only me. He was indicating that that love relationship. That he was in had him frustrated. Had him messed up in his thinking. And in his actions. I'm out of control. And that's what Satan wants to do to us. And so Paul points the Thessalonians and us. Back to the fact that God's in control. God's working of his good.

And for his pleasure. He is doing. And he is allowing. And he is growing. And he is stretching. And he is pouring out. So just trust him. And once you come to that point. Now Paul can instruct them. He can bring instruction on the matter of question. Concerning the day of the Lord. So now we come into chapter 2. Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And our being gathered to him. We ask you brothers. Not to become easily unsettled. Or alarmed. Let's just take this first part. Let's look at verse 1. Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And our being gathered unto him. This section now that Paul is going to deal with. Is going to deal with these two occurrences. The coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And our being gathered up to him. The Bible calls. This the blessed hope. It's the blessed hope that Christians long for. We are waiting for the blessed hope. The appearing of our Lord. And our being gathered unto him. This is what Paul had talked to them about. Before when he was with them. Look down in verse 5. In chapter 2. Paul says don't you remember that when I was with you.

I used to tell you these things. So he had already been telling them about the coming of the Lord. And the gathering together to be with the Lord. When he was with them in person. He wrote to them about that. In his first epistle. And he dealt with that in every chapter. Especially chapter 4. So that was what was the cause of their question. And their concern.

He had taught them. That they would be gathered together at the coming of the Lord. Before this day of the Lord occurred. And now because the persecution is intensifying. And a lot of their relatives and friends are dying. Being crucified. Being really severely oppressed by the Roman Empire. They are wondering. Have we already moved into the Roman Empire? Have we already moved into the Roman Empire?

Have we already moved into the Roman Empire? Have we already moved into that day of the Lord? Has that day of the Lord come? And Paul says. Concerning the coming and the gathering. Let's look at that first. Concerning the coming and the gathering. Paul says. We ask you brothers. We ask you brothers. Now it's easy to read through the word. And to read things like that.

We ask you brothers. I mean. Why did Paul write that? Why didn't he just write. Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And our being gathered. To him. Don't get easily upset or alarmed. Why did he put in. We ask you brothers. Was he just being nice? Did Paul just write to be nice? Is the Bible written nicely? Is the word of God written. So that we're politically correct.

So that we don't offend anybody. When we read the word. Was Paul writing. So that he could write in his literary style. So that he wouldn't discourage the Thessalonians. By the way that he wrote. Was this just some trite little greeting. Or some little thing that Paul said. As he would write. I don't think so. If we believe that every word. Is God breathed.

That every word is God inspired. Then even the way that it's worded. Is inspired by God. And important for our consideration. I don't believe Paul just says. We ask you brothers. I don't think that was just a common way of appeal. I think that Paul is using this. To identify with them. We ask you brothers. Paul's identifying with them. Signifying that this concern that they have.

Is a common concern. It's a common concern among the Christians. I imagine. With the intensity of the persecution. Throughout the Roman Empire. The Corinthians were feeling this. The Ephesians were feeling this. The Galatians would be feeling this same kind of thing. And Paul identifies with them. Signifying that this is a common concern. And because he mentions together.

The coming of our Lord. And our being gathered together with them. And identifies himself with them. As brothers in this. I believe he's showing. That these are a simultaneous occurring. The coming of our Lord Jesus. And our being gathered. Up to meet him in the air. And it's a concern for brothers. For those in the Lord. Now Paul didn't know how soon this was going to happen.

He assumed it was going to happen soon. It could happen at any time. I believe Paul was the originator. Of the doctrine of the imminence. Imminency. The imminent coming of Christ. I don't believe it originated with Darby. In the 1800s. Or with the McDonald girl. I believe this is something that happened. Back at the time of the apostles. So Paul believed that.

That Christ could come at any time. And included himself in that understanding. He identifies with them in this understanding. Listen. The rapture of the church. The gathering of the body of Christ. Together to meet the Lord in the air. Is more an issue of ecclesiology. Than eschatology. To understand the rapture. We need to understand the church. And if you understand that the church.

Is the body of Christ. And that's more the emphasis. And necessitates a rapture. A catching away. A snatching out. Then you'll understand it more so. Than if you look at it simply eschatologically. Simply as an end times occurrence. If you have an understanding of the church. That it is the body of Christ. And the significance of that reference. You'll understand that the body of Christ.

Will not be here during the tribulation period. It precludes it being here. And it's an ecclesiological issue. Rather than an eschatological issue. And so Paul is identifying. With them as brothers in this body of Christ. And he says verse 2. Do not become easily unsettled or alarmed. Do not become easily unsettled or alarmed. If you're reading King James it says.

Don't be quickly shaken. And that's where I got this idea for. Don't get shook up. Don't get shook. The word itself literally means. Don't be rattled or frightened. Or frustrated or unnerved. As it says unsettled or unnerved in NIV. Now this is a passive verb. And I know you're sitting there saying. Who cares? I did not like English when I was. I mean it's amazing I can speak it.

We are such an arrogant people. Americans are. We expect everybody in the world to speak our language. Speak English. You're not American if you don't speak English. I don't care if you come from every country in the world. You're not American unless you speak English. You go overseas. Everybody over there speaks at least three languages. Three different languages to communicate.

We butcher our own. We only have one to worry about. And we butcher the daylights out. But I hated English when I was growing up. Enough of that. I'll get off. But as you look at language. Language conveys thought and idea and purpose. Language is descriptive. Language communicates the essence of feeling. That's why Jesus is referred to in John 1 as the word.

Because he communicates what God is. Who God is. How God feels. What God does. The ability and the attributes of God. Are communicated to us through language. The word. As you look at the different languages in which the Bible was written. The New Testament was written in Greek. The Old Testament was written in predominantly Hebrew. And some Chaldean. About 160 years before the birth of Christ.

It was translated by 70 Hebrew scholars who were fluent in Greek. They translated the Old Testament into Greek. Because Greek is a clearer, more descriptive language than the Hebrew. And that was called the Septuagint. The translation of the Old Testament into Greek was the Septuagint. In the Greek language, their verbs are active or passive. And the reason I'm telling you this is because it will help in the understanding of something that's coming a little bit later.

A passive verb means something that is done outside of the one to whom it's done. Okay? Like in this particular case. Paul says, Do not become easily unsettled or alarmed. Quickly shaken. The verb for that is passive. It means it is acted upon. In other words, when Paul says, Don't be quickly shaken. If I'm telling you not to be quickly shaken, it means don't let activities out here shake you up.

Get you upset. The activities out here are what is acting upon you. Just like we talked about at the beginning. You and I choose to respond to the circumstances. It's the circumstances that are acting upon us. We're passive. We're just there. It's the circumstances that are acting upon us. So when Paul says, Don't be easily unsettled or shaken. He means by something out there that's acting upon you.

You're passive. The verb tense here is passive. Again, so he's dealing with the circumstances. Don't let the circumstances rile you up. Now, specifically, he zeroes in on what the circumstances are here that he's referring to. He says in the rest of verse 2, By some prophecy or report or letter supposed to have come from us. In Paul's time, as he was writing,

the people in the church didn't have an NIV study Bible or a Thompson chain reference. They didn't have that. They didn't have that available. They most often didn't even have access to the Old Testament scrolls because those were in the synagogues and they had been banned from the synagogues because they'd chosen to follow this new Christian sect. And so the Orthodox Jews didn't want anything to do with the Christians,

the Christian Hebrews. And they were allowing Gentiles in their services and everything else. So they excluded them. So the access to the Word, to the written Word, would be very limited unless they had a parchment or something available to them. Access to this was limited. The letters that Paul was writing, this very letter was probably a circular letter that was eventually copied

and then taken from church to church and read. So very often, people would stand up in the services and then they would say, I have a prophecy from God and they would begin to speak. And they wouldn't go into a trance, you know. Thus saith the Lord. They would just say, thus saith the Lord. God says this. And they would begin to speak boldly as speaking the very oracles, the Word of God.

And that's why in the book of Acts, it says, and those sitting around when this happens should judge them. The elders should take and judge as to what things they're saying to see if they be true or not. See if they line up with the Word of God. And if not, then they should just tell the people not to heed those things. That's just spoken from the individual himself

rather than coming from the Lord. So Paul says, I don't want you to be upset as if some prophecy has come to you or some report. Now a lot of times, we don't know where this prophecy may have occurred. It may have occurred in the Thessalonian church. It may have occurred in the Galatian church or another church in the area. And somebody brought a report back

to the Thessalonian church that somebody said that the day of the Lord had already come. We're in the day of the Lord. And then it says, or a letter supposed to have come from us. Now, I don't know about you, but Paul's talking about rumors. And it could have started with somebody just standing and saying, thus saith the Lord, you're in the day of the Lord.

You know, the day of the Lord has come upon us. We're in the midst. And somebody there hears it and they go and they tell somebody else from another section, hey, we were, somebody gave a prophecy that we're in the midst of the day of the Lord. And that guy says, wow, no kidding. Well, we heard from Paul that the day of the Lord's not to come. Well, until after the gathering

and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they could have said, well, I don't know. That's just what this guy said. And this other guy could have run over here and said to somebody else, I just heard a report from this guy that there was some guy who prophesied in the church over here and had a letter from Paul saying that, you know how those things go. It just goes on and on and builds.

How do you handle rumors? Somebody says something or you read something about something. You just believe it immediately and repeat it as fact. Or do you check it out? Now, I'm not talking just about something that's said to us. I mean, we need to be, we really need to be Bereans in everything that we, I, I, we get letters from Chuck Missler and everybody else.

And he's got real nice stuff in his articles and footnotes and everything else. And I tend to look at it and think it's there and he's got the footnotes. It's, that's it. And I just can speak it out, you know, instead of stopping to say, now, wait a minute, where did he get these notes for sure? Not to question the brother's integrity, but just because it's Chuck Missler

or Chuck Smith or Mark Fry or John MacArthur or somebody, you shouldn't just receive it and say, that's gospel. And let's tell somebody else. Check it out. Paul commended the Bereans for doing that. He didn't say, Bereans, wait a minute. I'm Paul, you know, what do you think? I'm somebody to see if you know, I'm Paul. He commended them because they took time

to just sit and to read and to check these things out, to see if what they said was so. I guess I'm exhorting us to just not be quick for us to repeat everything that we hear or read without stopping to take time to check things out. What would you, how would you want someone to handle some rumor that they heard about you? Did you hear about Mark? Yeah, he says that there's people on Venus.

Did you know that? Yeah, I knew that guy was nuts. I knew that there was something wrong with him. I knew it's all other people, you know, and all that and things get around to where I'm taking trips to Venus and all of that. I haven't heard that yet. Maybe I am. I don't know. But. You want somebody, and I do. When I hear something about somebody, I try to,

where'd you hear that? You know, and then contact the person. Have you told the person that it's about? No. Well, let's do that. Take that right back. And that's what's happened with this. This has been brought back to Paul from Timothy and Silas. They brought it back and they said, this is what rumors going around is that you wrote a letter even possibly that says that the day of the Lord's come.

And Paul writes back and says, don't be unsettled. Don't get shook up about some prophecy report or letter supposed to have come from us saying that the day of the Lord has already, come. Now we dealt with this phrase, this statement, the day of the Lord in Revelation. We dealt with it in first Thessalonians, especially chapters four and five. So let me just suffice it to say,

it's an old Testament expression, the day of the Lord. It's an old Testament expression, signifying a time when God is going to personally intervene in human history, bringing judgment against wickedness and sin and setting up his kingdom. That's what the day of the Lord is all about. God personally intervening in history, destroying his enemies and establishing his kingdom.

We know from our studies that that day itself will actually last a thousand plus years, a thousand years plus the tribulation period is seven years. So about a thousand and seven years, roughly. Verse three, Paul says, don't let anyone deceive you in any way. Now this is interesting to me because he just said, don't become unsettled or alarmed about this. And then he says,

it's like he repeats himself in verse three. Don't let anyone deceive you in any way. And I believe he says that showing and stressing that there are going to be down through history, great efforts of deception regarding this concerning the coming of the day of the Lord, concerning the coming and gathering of Christ, that there would be great deception. And so Paul admonishes, don't let anyone deceive you in any way concerning this.

And as you look at church history, we see that Satan indeed has sought to deceive the body of Christ down through church history regarding this. This whole idea of the coming of the day of the Lord has caused schisms in churches. Oh, we're pre-trib. Oh, we're mid-trib. We can't fellowship with you. I'm sorry. It's caused the emergence of cults. The Jehovah's Witnesses were established

on the assumption of the coming of Christ. Well, Jesus was going to come in 1914. No, he's going to come in 1917. No, he's going to come in 1922. No, he's going to come in 1924. Nope, then they revised it and brought it back. He really did come in 1914 and he's in his secret chamber and he is really reigning and ruling right now from his secret chamber. And Jesus in Matthew 24 said,

don't let anyone deceive you, saying that the Christ has come. Don't go out to the desert thinking he's going to be there. Or if they say he's in his secret chamber and he uses those very words, don't believe them. And then he talks about the day of the Lord coming as lightning flashes from east to west. That day of the Lord is going to be a big, significant thing,

something that the people will, that the world will know about. So it's been a matter for deception. The worst deception, I feel, is the abandoning of this idea of imminence. That this coming and gathering of Christ and this time of the day of the Lord is somewhere down the line somewhere rather than it could happen at any moment. I think that's the worst thing that could happen.

The putting off of the imminent, immediate return of Christ has been a detriment to the church. When we fail to believe that Jesus could catch us up at any instant, we become lax as Christians and we actually become scoffers. How many of you have mentioned that you believe we're in the last days and that the coming of the Lord could be at any time and had people say, and I've had people say, that are Christians? Oh yeah, people have been saying that for a long time.

My grandmother said that and her grandmother before her said that. It hadn't happened. And then they try and spiritualize this whole thing into... 2 Peter chapter 3.

Peter's writing this one, obviously, 2 Peter. Chapter 3, verse 1, he says, Dear friends, just listen as you're turning. 2 Peter 3, verse 1. It's to the right from where we were in 2 Thessalonians. Keep going until you hit 1 Peter and then keep going to 2 Peter. Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.

I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles. First of all, you must understand that in the last days, scoffers will come. Mockers. Scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, where is this coming he promised? Ever sinned. Since our fathers died, everything goes on

as it has since the beginning of creation. But they deliberately forget long ago that by God's word, God spoke and the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

So Peter's saying it's the word God said. He said in his word that he created the world by his word that through his desire and it's his desire in the world that he created, he brought the flood according as he said he would. And now he has the same earth reserved for judgment by fire just as he said he would do that in his word. Then in verse eight he says, but do not forget this one thing, dear friends.

With the Lord, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day. That's where you have that, there's a concept that people think, well, if this is true, then we could look at the church age as only being around for two days rather than 2,000 years. If a day is to the Lord like a thousand years and a thousand years like a day, then the church has really only been here for two days. Jesus was in the tomb for three days and on the third day he arose from the dead.

So if we equate that with church history that the church has been here for two days and on the third day Jesus is gonna rise up, literally come back. And establish his kingdom at the beginning of the third millennium, then that's where you have people saying that it really looks like as we come to this third millennium, this is the time that the Lord's coming back. It could be. I think the point that's being made here is that just be patient.

It's coming. The emphasis is on, even though a lot of time has elapsed, God is not slow in keeping his promises. Verse nine, as some understand slowness, he's patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come. Now he says, a thief, like a thief. Back in 1 Thessalonians 5, he mentioned that again.

But he said it shouldn't overtake you. Believers is a thief. It's not something that you're gonna be unaware of. You're gonna see all the things happening that are indicating that we're right at that particular time. You are children of the day, children of the light, not children of the darkness that these things should overwhelm you or overcome you. You're aware.

You're seeing these things happen. And Peter goes on down here in verse 10 to say, the heavens will disappear with a roar. The elements will be destroyed by fire and the earth, and everything in it will be laid bare. It's coming. And it's coming soon. So don't let anyone deceive you. This time is coming. The imminence of Christ's coming is to be at the forefront

and we're to not allow ourselves to be deceived in any way regarding this. Watch for the deception, in other words, is the admonition. Now back to 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul says, don't let anyone deceive you in any way for that day will not come. And then he lists two things that have to happen. The day of the Lord is not going to happen until two particular occurrences happen.

Occurrences happen. Two particular events take place. Until that day will not come, he says in verse 3, until the rebellion occurs. It says the rebellion in NIV. If you're reading King James, it says until the falling away, until the falling away. In the Greek, the word is apostasia. It's from the word from which we get our transliterated English word apostasy.

Until the apostasy occurs. Strong's concordance renders this word apostasy. As quote, a defection from the truth, a defection from the truth. Chuck Missler in his commentary defines this word apostasia as quote, a deliberate abandonment of a formerly professed position or view, a defection, a rejection of a former allegiance used to denote a political or military rebellion.

It's used in the Septuagint in the translation of the Old Testament into Greek to denote a rebellion against God. It's that way in Joshua 22, 22. In the New Testament, the word is used in that same way to denote a rebellion against God in Acts 21, 21. In 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 1. In 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 3. And in Hebrews chapter 3, verse 12. So the emphasis seems to be on the fact

that apostasia refers to a falling away from truth, a turning of one's back on the truth, a falling away from the gospel. But, and I don't want to throw this in to confuse you. I want to throw it in to give you something else to think about. There are other scholars who point out that this word apostasia comes from a root word, which means a departure or a removal from.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee is one who held to this particular view. A departure or a removal from. And then when you put that in the context of what's being said, that day will not come until the departure occurs or the removal occurs. It shows that there could be some significant application or reference to the rapture with the usage of that word apostasia. Now I guess I say this because I don't think

that it just renders it black and white in its definition of the word. I think it's written in such a way. In scripture, scripture is written with a lot of primary and secondary interpretation. A primary and a secondary application of the interpretation. You go back to Isaiah and you look at God's judgment against the king of Tyre. He pronounces, there's a judgment on the king of Tyre.

But after you read through it for a few minutes, you realize he's not just talking about an earthly king of Tyre and the city of Tyre. He's talking about Satan. You find that Lucifer is mentioned, the serpent, the one who was with him in Eden, bedecked with all kinds of jewels. Now the literal earthly king of Tyre wasn't with God in Eden. He's talking about somebody altogether different.

So there's a primary and there's a secondary application of that particular area. And that happens throughout scripture. We see the little horn in Daniel and we can relate him to Antioch, Antiochus Epiphanes, the son of Antiochus the Great, who came through in about 165 BC. Came through and was from the Seleucid dynasty and coming through Israel. He captured Israel and desecrated the temple.

He was not the little horn. He was like the little horn that's mentioned in Daniel. So there's a lot of primary and secondary application of this. And I want you to kind of at least weigh it out with the word apostasia. That because it does come from a root word, which means departure or removal from, that it could, lean towards that without hurting the understanding of the text.

In other words, you could render this, that day will not come until the departure occurs, until the church is taken out and the falling away occurs, the apostasy occurs, which I believe that's the way it's going to happen. Once the church is removed, the apostasy is going to happen. The great apostasy, the great turning away is going to happen. If you look at the definite article, the definite article is there in the rebellion.

It's there in the Greek as well. There is apostasy present all around us right now. There's, you know, I mean, you're just referring back to Joe Wright's prayer in the House of Representatives the other day and all the activity from so-called Christians who said, you know, how I'm offended because he offended the homosexuals and he offended the abortionists and all of that. And these are Christians.

I mean, can he be politically correct? No, he speaks the truth and the truth offends. And that's too bad. But there's an apostasy. And if you're leaning towards political correctness over the truth, that you're apostatizing from the truth. That's apostasy. That's turning away from an allegiance to the truth. But there is coming a time in history when there will be the apostasy.

By the definite article, it talks about a definite revolt, a definite great revolt that happens at the end of time. And I have several places of reference that you could turn to for that in 2 Timothy chapter 3. In James chapter 5, the entire book of Jude is related to this particular occurrence. But it could be that that's the result of the catching up, of the taking out, of the removal, that the apostasy comes.

In any case, whatever this is, be it the rapture and or the falling away and or both at the same time, that has to occur first before the day of the Lord. That's one of the things that has to happen. A second thing that has to happen is in the last part of verse 3. And it says, he says, and the man of lawlessness is revealed. That says the man of lawlessness in NIV.

It says the man of sin and the son of perdition in King James. But notice again, there's a definite article. The man of lawlessness is revealed. This is a specific person that will be revealed, that needs to come onto the earthly scene and be revealed to the world. It's not some, it's not some spiritual movement. It's not the Catholic church. It's a specific person,

the man of lawlessness. The Old Testament gives him some 33 different names, including the little horn that we mentioned in Daniel, the willful king, the prince that shall come. The New Testament gives him 13 different titles. John's epistle is the only one that calls him the Antichrist for which he's best known, but it's the least used of his titles. We call him the Antichrist,

this man of lawlessness who is coming. Here in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 3, he's called the man of lawlessness and the son of perdition. Or in NIV, he is doomed to destruction, which is literally what son of perdition means. He is a man of lawlessness. He is a man doomed to destruction. He's the Antichrist. The Antichrist in the Greek literally means a pseudo Christ.

He's not, he's replacing as much as coming against. You know, I think the word anti is coming against, but in this pseudo, pseudo means a replacement for, and the Greek rendering of the phrase Antichrist means that, a pseudo Christ, a replacement for Christ. And during this next week, I want you to look through chapter 2 because in chapter 2, you have some comparisons that Paul uses between the Antichrist and Christ, just in the way things are phrased. I want you to look through chapter 2 this next week and see if you can pick some of those things out.

The appearing of Christ, the appearing of the Antichrist. Look at some of these as you go through chapter 2 and pick some of these things out. Anyhow, pseudo Christ, replacement for Christ. If there's one thing that Satan has really done effectively, it's to cause people to either doubt his existence or make him up as some little guy in a red suit with horns and a pitchfork and a little curly tail with a point on it.

That couldn't be further from the truth. Satan is called the angel of light. In Isaiah, he is shown to be with God in the Garden of Eden, bedecked with every fine stone and jewel known. He was beautiful. He had musical instruments, somehow, timbrels and all that were encased in his body. So he made, he was wonderful to be around. He was alluring to be around.

The sounds that would come from him would be greater than a symphony. He would have been more beautiful than some of the most beautiful things in the world to look at. And so he is called an angel of light because he's deceiving in his appearance and in his actions, in his activity. And so this pseudo Christ that's coming is going to deceive in that way. He's going to be one of the most charismatic,

one of the most accommodating, one of the greatest easily followed individuals that the world has ever seen. But the Bible renders him as the son of perdition and the son of lawlessness. The King James rendering of the son of perdition is something I want to jump on real quick for just a second. Perdition is the opposite of salvation. Perdition is, is, is corruption that leads to destruction.

Salvation leads to eternal life. Perdition is only used twice in scripture. Once referring to Judas Iscariot and once referring to this fella in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, this Antichrist. And so some have, it's caused some to think, well, maybe this is Judas Iscariot reincarnate. Yeah, it's amazing how we can bring up some, you know, really weird stuff. I mean the scriptures themselves are,

wow, you know, but then we kind of add to them. I don't necessarily think that's, impossible, but I think that you could look at scripture and find an easier, a better answer. If you go back to Luke chapter 22 verse 3 and John chapter 13 verse 27, both of those verses indicate that at a particular point in time, Satan entered into Judas. Satan literally possessed him, took over and controlled him, not without Judas allowing that to happen, not without Judas just giving into that.

He just allowed Satan to enter him and Satan to possess him and control him where this was concerned. And so I believe that this is probably what this guy is going to do. That's what we see in Revelation chapters 12 and 13 is, is this guy is controlled by the dragon. He is just consumed. He is possessed and driven by the dragon and just filled with him as he's directed.

Man of lawlessness. He's against not just laws, man-made laws. He's against the laws of God. And we see that this is what Paul describes him as being like. Look at verse 4. He describes this man of lawlessness. He will oppose and exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

Again, notice the pronoun he. He is a specific individual, not a force, not a movement. He will be revealed back up in verse 3. The man of lawlessness is revealed. That word revealed is in the Aorist tense, in the Greek, which means he's going to be revealed at a specific time. At a specific time, this guy is going to be revealed. It's not just some force that's going to come upon the world and everything else.

But at a specific time in history, he, this personality, is going to be revealed and he will be over. He will oppose and exalt himself over everything that is called God. Now notice that that's inclusive. That's not just the church. He's not just going to set himself up as the head of the church. He's not the Pope. He's going to influence a Pope. That's alive at that particular time.

He's going to draw the Pope's Allegiance. He's going to cause the Vatican. He's going to cause all of Protestantism. He's going to cause Islam and Hinduism and all the Eastern religions. He's going to cause all those involved in the New Age movement, even Shirley MacLaine, if she's still there, to worship him, exalting himself over God, over everything that's called God, everything.

And just to make sure we understand that, Paul goes on to say not only over everything that is called God, but or is worshipped. That's everything. Everyone, everywhere will be forced to worship him as God. And then it says that so much so that he sets himself up in God's temple proclaiming himself to be God. He is literally going to claim himself to be God and to claim worship for himself.

Now the word for God's temple there, the word for temple is the word naos in the Greek, which can only mean the Holy of Holies. Absolutely. So Paul distinguishes where this is all going to happen. He says this guy is going to set himself up in God's temple in the Holy of Holies, can only be the Jewish temple of God in Jerusalem, and he is going to proclaim himself to be God.

It's not going to be in some temple somewhere in New York City or in the Vatican that he's going to set it up. If he wanted to use just a word for a temple somewhere, he'd use the Greek word hereon, but he uses the word naos, Paul does, specifically to indicate, this is going to happen in Israel, in Jerusalem, in the temple of God, in the Holy of Holies. Now why that's exciting is because since 70 AD there has not been a temple. The temple of God has ceased to exist over there since 70 AD.

People say, well, this guy could have done that. A lot of people like to associate this guy with Antiochus Epiphanes, again in 160 BC, came in, desecrated the temple, cut a pig up, sacrificed it on the altar, sprinkled the pig juice all over in the Holy of Holies and everything else, just desecrated the temple until Judas Maccabeus came in, and God drove him out of there, cleansed the temple, rededicated it. That's why they have Hanukkah, the rededication of the temple. A lot of people refer to Antiochus, and that's him.

Only one problem, in Matthew 24, verse 15, Jesus uses this as a sign to the Jews and calls it future. I mean, Jesus was after Antiochus Epiphanes, and Jesus said there's an abomination that's going to set itself up in a temple, an abomination that causes desolation. When you see this, and Jesus is speaking, specifically to the Jews, and it's amazing because that shows you that the Jews are going to be deceived right up to that point. This guy is going to be so smooth and so slick, and we're going to get to that in the next eight verses, that he is going to deceive everybody.

He's going to be Mr. Economic Advisor. I've got the solution economically. He's going to be Mr. Environmental. I can clean up the environment. He's going to be Mr. Welfare. I can get you on, and you don't have to lift a finger. We're going to just do things fine around here. We're going to have Social Security, and we're going to have payments, and you're going to be taken care of,

and everybody's going to think it's wonderful. We're going to have a universal healthcare system, and it's just everything's going to be great, and people are just going to be so deceived until he sets himself up in the temple and proclaims himself to be God, and Jesus said, Jews, when you see that, run. Run to the mountains. Run to that place prepared for you because there's destruction that's coming, heavy-duty destruction.

The reason that's exciting is because there is such a move in Israel to rebuild the temple. The priests are trained, and others are in training. The robes are there and ready. The mitre is made. The utensils that they use for sacrificing is there. The materials to build the altar and to build the basin, the laver, and all of that is there. The materials to build the temple are stored and ready.

They are cut and ready to be shipped and set up in Israel. I think we are close enough that as we see Israel trading land to the Palestinians, we're going to see eventually coming a land for Temple Mount, a deal that's going to be enacted by the Antichrist. We'll give you access to this land. Jerusalem can be the capital of Palestine, and we get the Temple Mount.

We get the part of the Temple Mount where we can rebuild our temple. They'll do that, and the Antichrist, I believe, will affect that, and we are this close to that. I mean, we're seeing all of this happen. All of this is imminent. The emphasis is the day of the Lord will not come until this rebellion, this apostasy departure takes place, and this fellow is revealed.

There's only one problem. There's something holding him back to where he can't be revealed yet. We'll see that next time. Just like a movie, isn't it? Just like a sequel on a TV. Something's holding him back. Read ahead. Read the next couple of verses. Look it over and pray. Jesus is coming soon concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering to meet him in the air.

It's happening soon. Don't get shocked. Don't let the circumstances that are around you every day that are acting upon you unsettle you or unnerve you. God's given us his word. He's given us in chapter 1 everything that we need to do to praise him for what he's doing and the work that he's doing, to praise him for the promises given in his word as far as judgment is concerned,

to praise him for the prayer that we can offer up to realize that he's continuing that work and to ask him to continue that work and to be glorified in us and through us, and you won't be moved by the circumstances. As you go to the tables this morning to partake of communion, thank him for that and be stirred up in your hearts again as to the promises that God made to us that those elements signify. The promises that those who would come to him and believe that he died for them on the cross will be saved and be having eternal life. If you've never done that, if you've never come to the cross, then you can do that right now.

Just surrender your heart to Jesus and ask him to come in and cleanse you. And as you go to the tables, you can partake of the elements that signify the proof that he's done that for you on the cross. There are also elements that signify his promises because he told his disciples, I'm coming again. I'm going to come and get you that where I am, you'll be as well.

And I'm not going to eat of the fruit of the vine again until I drink it fresh with you in my father's kingdom. He's coming and he's coming soon. It's imminent. And as you go to the tables this morning, be stirred up again in your hearts with the freshness of that. That it stir you on to love and good works. Father, help us this morning, we pray, as we come to your table,

to remember the blessings that you've given us through Christ. To remember the blessing that we have in having the availability of your word, being able to study it. And the blessing of walking in your love and in your nurturing. Father, we thank you for that. We thank you for your son. We thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are longing for his coming and our being gathered together with him.

Strengthen us, Lord. It could be today, could be today. We look with anticipation and with hope. In Jesus' name, amen.