Untitled Sermon

teachers that's how we teach our kids repeat that back to me what time will we have tonight seven o'clock so we pray you'll be here and uh as tim shared it's a good opportunity to invite family and friends uh who may not be saved and and just pray we'll pray together that god's spirit will will move in hearts father we do ask that that you would so move even right now through your word and by the power of your holy spirit that you would fan the flame in the hearts of those who are lukewarm who have named the name of jesus but not really followed after him that you would plant the seed in the hearts of those here who may have no idea who he is other than some name on a bumper sticker and that you bring forth a harvest in the hearts of

those that are ripe unto you this morning we pray that for the concert this evening as well the same thing god in jesus name amen amen turn with me if you would to second thessalonians second thessalonians chapter two there we go i'm not no leave those on those stay on here we go now too no way i'm not in the shadow there we go because i know how tired eyes get you know and you get in the shadows you get in a little dark spot and all of a sudden the eyes and you're going to have enough enough trouble doing that anyhow and i don't want to encourage it any any further than that just a reminder as to where we are in second thessalonians for those that may not have been here this is a letter that paul wrote to encourage the believers

of thessalonica and i know a lot of us look at it as a prophetic letter and it is it does deal with prophecy it deals with the second coming of the lord it deals with the revealing of the antichrist and the antichrist and the antichrist and the antichrist and the antichrist and the antichrist but it also is a letter of encouragement because remember the thessalonians were discouraged they had come under all kinds of persecution recently since paul's visit and since paul's last letter there were those that were being arrested and beaten and even crucified there were those that were having their possessions confiscated it was happening with such an increasing intensity that the people were believing that maybe somehow the tribulation

had already come that the day of the lord had already arrived and they'd missed the rapture and then to top it off there was evidently a letter of encouragement to the people of the that began circulating or at least rumors of a letter circulating that purportedly was from the apostle paul saying that indeed that was the case the day of the lord had come and that they were in the great tribulation and they were agitated and they were nervous and they were upset and so might we be as we're in these last days and we know that the lord's coming as soon and there's the great debate about is it pre-mid or post-trib and all that stuff and as the situation increases in your life maybe that becomes less and less of a concern and you're just becoming

overwhelmed and and you're feeling the tribulation you're whether we're in it or not and so this is a letter of encouragement for you as well and paul rather than beginning this epistle by defending his character and defending his own integrity that he did not would not and could not to quote dr seuss and the current public individual who's marketing his own version of how things happen he would not could not and did not write this letter that supposedly was from him he didn't do that he began his epistle with a with a word of encouragement and so all of chapter one is a letter of encouragement to the thessalonians encouraging them to hang in there and trust because god indeed was working in their lives

their faith was increasing that was evident their love was was increasing that was evident their perseverance was stretching that was evident in fact the testimony of all of that was becoming made aware to everyone around the areas of macedonia everyone was talking about the thessalonians and how strong they were and how loving they were and how strong they were and how they were moving on in the midst of all of this persecution and paul encouraged him by that praising the lord for that then he encouraged them along the area of god's promises in verses seven and eight in chapter one with the promise that god would indeed take care of them and those that had troubled them god would trouble and those that did not know the name of christ god was going

to judge with a very severe judgment and we spent a great deal of time talking about that then he encouraged them with prayer the prayer that he was praying that god what god was doing in their lives he'd keep it up and that he would strengthen their walk and that they would come to just trust in him through that and then he moves into chapter two which is where we are now and that's when he begins to answer their questions and concerns about whether or not they're in the day of the lord and really that's the way it needs to be in our lives you know rather than looking for all of all of this other stuff rather than making maybe prophecy the priority you know where are everything falling and and you know we're in the last days you

know what's going on let's look at all this stuff in 88 reasons why jesus is coming in 88 maybe our priority ought to be to develop that relationship with him first because then it doesn't make any difference whether it's 88 or 98 or whenever it's whenever the lord decides to come and so the first part of chapter two is don't get shook up paul said don't be over don't be overwhelmed don't don't be unsettled by the report of some letter reportedly coming from us saying that the day of the lord has already come and then he lays down two stipulations he says two things have to occur before that could even happen and and they're both going to happen and they're both going to

in verse three two things have to occur first of all there is the falling away or the rebellion as it's listed in niv the apostasia in the greek the apostasy and i believe as we mentioned before that this has a two-fold meaning the primary meaning is the apostasia or apostasy the falling away that it's used so often in scripture to mean that the rebellion against the things of god there is an apostasy that's coming a falling away from the things of god Falling away from the truth of God's word and apostasy, a specific falling away is coming. Now, people are falling away. I mean, if you get George Barna's books or read the different reports that they even published in Newsweek about how people are leaving the church at a great rate and how

the church seems to be apostatizing. I heard some statistics this past week that 50 percent, 50 percent, that means one out of two of you and me, 50 percent of a congregation will not read its Bible between now and next Sunday. Won't even open it. So one out of every two people in this room will not even crack a Bible between now and next Sunday until they come.

But the only sad thing about that is, is they find that between 30 and 40 percent of the people that are here today won't be here next Sunday. The congregation takes a day off or whatever. And so the time people are spending in the word is dwindling and people are leaving the church, leaving that fellowship that's called the church. But there, and that is apostasy.

There's the church, the world is definitely seeing an apostasy. But there is a. Specific apostasy that's coming. This is the definite article in the Greek is they're referring to a specific falling away. What will trigger that, I believe, is related to the rapture of the church. And that's the second meaning of that word apostasy. The word, the root in that word apostasy in the Greek comes from a word which means a

departure. And it can mean a departure from the truth of God, which falls into the rebellion or the falling away from the truths and the things of God. Or it can refer to a departure, a departure, a being removed. From a being taken out of, and that you can, I see that as more of a secondary. The primary is referring to the apostasy, the falling away from the truth of God.

But I think connected to that is the departure because I think they're related. I think the apostasy will happen when the departure comes, the great apostasy. And we'll see a little bit more as to why that as we get down into the verses we're going to look at today, verses six and seven, that has to happen first. And Paul indicates it hadn't happened yet. The apostasy has to occur.

And then he says, and the man of lawlessness has to be revealed. That's the second thing there in verse three. The apostasy, the rebellion, the falling away has to occur first. And then the man of lawlessness must be revealed. And Paul implies from writing here that those things haven't happened yet, that this man of lawlessness is being restrained. He's being held back by something or someone, but that he will soon be revealed.

And I think it's interesting that that word is used, reveal. Last time I had asked you to read through chapters one and two and look for ways that the things of Christ are. Paralleled by the things of Antichrist. And I want to take some time for us to do that as we get into this area of looking at the restrainer, the one who restrains. The reason I want to take time to do this is because I think often it's easy for us

to look at the Antichrist and the things of Satan as being so abject or so different from the things of God that they're easily recognizable. But we already know from the word and from the examples in the word that unless you are in the word. And unless you are acutely aware of things going on, you and I can be deceived very easily. And we need to remember that the Bible says, 2 Corinthians chapter 11, verse 14, that Satan manifests himself as an angel of light.

Now, the caricature we have of Satan as being a little horned individual in a red suit with a pitchfork in control of hell is an oddity that I believe was created by Satan himself. Satan is not in control of hell. Satan is not in hell yet. And when he goes to hell, he will definitely not be in control of it. He manifests. He manifests himself as an angel of light.

The word Antichrist literally in the Greek means a replacement for, not opposed to, a replacement for. And that's exactly what this man of lawlessness, this man of sin is going to proclaim himself to be as a replacement for Christ. The son of God come in the flesh. He is going to manifest himself and declare himself in the temple of the God of Israel to be the God of Israel in the flesh.

And so I want you to see that and realize. Because we need to be so careful and so aware of the things around us that seem to look good and taste good and smell good because that's the way Satan manifests himself. And they all have to be tested against the word of God. Look at the way that Satan manifests himself here, manifests his false Christ. Now, Satan loves to imitate God.

And I think I mentioned that, but I want to stress it again. He loves to imitate God and especially the things of God and especially in that the son of God. And so let's look at three things right here. First of all, let's look at the coming. His coming, the coming of this man of sin compared with the coming of Christ. It's called the parousia in the Greek, the parousia, the coming.

Look at chapter one for just a second. Look at verse nine in chapter one. Paul writes that they, those who do not know God will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power. Verse 10, on the day that he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed.

And so his coming. His coming is going to be with majesty and with power glorified as this image of the glory of God, the majesty of God, the power of God at his parousia, at his second coming. The second coming of Christ is going to be magnificent. It's not going to be overlooked. People will not miss it. It's going to be tremendous in power. Zechariah says every eye will see him.

So it's going to be magnificent. And really, when you talk to nonbelievers who maybe have, have gone to Sunday school when they were younger, but never really came to Christ and all that, they know that they realize that it's good that, you know, when Christ comes again, even though they don't realize that they need to be in a relationship with him. But when he comes again, he's supposed to come powerfully and majestically. Well, look at how the Antichrist is going to be revealed.

Look in chapter two, down at verse nine, the coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed. How in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs, and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. No, the evil that deceives Satan again, does not manifest himself to us as dark and covert and evil. He manifests himself to the world as nice and innocent and wonderful and great to the taste, sight, smell, and touch.

It's only after you bite that you find out that he's covert and evil and dark. And so the manifesting of this man of lawlessness, he's not going to come on the scene and say, I'm the man of lawlessness you've all been looking for. Six, six, six on my forehead. Yes, sir, that's me. He's going to come with all kinds of miraculous signs and wonders and the deceitfulness of Satan.

Looks good, sounds good, smells good, seems good. Majesty, power, just like the second coming of Christ is supposed to be. He's going to imitate it. Let's look at his revelation or the apocalypse, the revealing. Notice that word's used in both chapters one and chapter two. Look at that of Christ in chapter one, verse seven. When he comes, he's going to give relief to you who are troubled and to us as well.

This will happen when? When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven. Well, look at chapter two. This son of perdition, this man of lawlessness, verse three. As he comes, the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is what? Is revealed. His apocalypse is revealing. Just as Christ will be revealed. Now, he's not only coming and going to be revealed, just as Christ will come and be revealed, but he has his own gospel.

He has his own gospel. Look at the gospel of Christ is mentioned in chapter two, down in verse 10. Why are these perishing? Verse 10, because they have refused to love the truth and so be saved. Down in verse 12. And so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth. That's not just truth. That's the truth. That's the gospel of Christ. How are you saved?

You believe the gospel. What God has said about his son, that he sent him into the earth to die for yours and my sins, that he raised him from the dead to conquer that the areas of sin and death. And he now sits at the right hand of God. It was the shedding of his blood that covers us. And when you and I believe that, that's the truth. That's the only way we can be saved is by believing the truth.

Those who don't believe that believe the gospel of the Antichrist, which is in verse 11 of chapter two. For this reason, God sends them a powerful delusion. So they will believe the lie, not a lie, not just a general lie, the lie. And we'll talk about that when we get to verses nine through 11. There is a deception coming and it is the gospel of the Antichrist.

It is the lie and it dates back to Genesis, back to the beginning of creation. But right now we see that this individual is being held back. Look at look at verse three for just a minute again. 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 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? Paul says 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. This man of lawlessness is being restrained. Now who or what is this restrainer? Well, that's been the subject of debate down through the history of the church. And I would ask you because there are different points of view on this. And because this is an important section of the word.

All of it's important, I know. But as we're studying this section is very important. I would ask you to not just take what I say today about this as well. That's the way it is. That's what he said. But take it home and pray about it before the Lord and ask God to reveal it to you. Because. How you look at this will affect the rest of the chapter. Will affect the rest of this book.

How you look at this letter that Paul is writing to the Thessalonians. Will be determined by how you are looking at this restrainer. Who this is or what it is that's holding him back. Everything else prophetically dealing with this book rests on that. Now look at verse 6 for just a minute. Paul says to the Thessalonians. Now you know what is holding him back.

Now you know what is holding him back. Two things I want you to see. Number one is that there is a force. That's restraining the lawless one. There is a force holding this guy back. And number two I want you to see that Paul infers that the Thessalonians know what that is. Paul says. Don't you remember verse 5 when I was with you I used to tell you these things.

Verse 6. And now you know what is holding him back. The thing that gets me is they knew but all of us. Make it such a controversy. But Paul says you know what's holding him back. And so that tells me we can know it too. It's not something that's supposed to be mysterious. It's something that's supposed to be done. It's supposed to be discerned by readers of the word down through church history down

to our day. We can know what this restrainer is and should know what it is or who it is. Now this force or the word what there is what's called a neuter participle in the Greek. In other words it doesn't say it doesn't determine masculinity or femininity. So it's not referring at that point to a person. It presents this restrainer initially. He says now you know what's this neutral force this neutered participle.

There is this force. There's this force this restraining force that's an impersonal force right now that's holding this man of lawlessness back. And this restraint prevents this guy from manifesting himself the fullness of iniquity that he will that he will possess. I believe that he will be possessed by Satan himself. And we've seen that in Revelation 12 and 13.

We saw that earlier in our studies as we were looking at this man of lawlessness. And so you can pick up on the tapes from that or our previous studies in chapter 2 of 2 Thessalonians. Satan embodied in the flesh just like Christ is God in the flesh Satan imitates he will be Satan in the flesh. He will possess this individual. But right now he's being restrained.

Listen you and I think things are bad going from bad to worse. We ain't seen nothing yet. And prayerfully you won't. Prayerfully you're on the bus. It's leaving soon because when this guy comes on the scene it's really going to get bad. Now I believe this guy's alive today. I believe that we are the generation that is going to see the consummation of all of

these things. I believe this guy is active now. In the political scene in the world. He's not real predominant right now. He has not been made evident yet because he's being held back. He's being restrained. But I believe he is alive. I believe he is active and when the restrainer is removed he will just naturally step onto the scene of world events and look again like the greatest thing since milk.

But right now we see this as just a force that's holding him back. Look at the rest of verse 6. Now you know what is holding him back. So that he may be revealed. At the proper time. Now there's another phrase that parallels the things of Christ with the things of this antichrist. The phrase at the proper time. Literally and if one of your versions may render it in the fullness of time.

And you should remember that from reading about Christ and the appearing of Christ. Galatians chapter 4 verse 4 Paul writes, but in the fullness of time God sent his son. We read that in the fullness of time Mary brought forth a male child and wrapped him in swaddling clothes. And laid him in a manger. And called his name Jesus. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. And that simply means that in the time appointed.

In the appointed time where God said from this point to this point this is going to occur. You will bring forth a son in the fullness of time or at that proper time that God appointed that happened. Now notice this with the antichrist he is going to come at the proper time and the fullness of time. And here it just simply means that that where Satan thinks he's the one orchestrating everything it's God.

God's ordained it. He can't manifest himself. until God's appointed time. God is in full control. God is orchestrating every step as the master conductor. Now, verse 7. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work. The secret power of lawlessness is already at work. The phrase there, secret power, is simply the Greek word mysterion, mystery. The mystery of lawlessness in King James. And all the mystery is, all mysterion

means is that which was previously hidden and unknown and has been divinely revealed. That, it was at work, it was just previously hidden and unknown, now has been divinely revealed. What was that that was previously hidden and unknown but now is divinely revealed? It's the secret power of lawlessness. Now, the word lawlessness in the Greek has the definite article attached to it,

the lawlessness. The secret power of the lawlessness is already at work. Now, why I'm so picky at that is because it implies a definite aim of Satan at overthrowing God and God's work and setting up his own rule. That's what Satan's all about. He's not just seeking to be a thorn. He's not just against God. He wants to overthrow him, just like he did as we read in Isaiah and Ezekiel. He wanted to ascend to the areas of the Most High, to the throne of

the Most High, and overthrow God. And he's never quit with that desire, even though he's been removed from the throne of the Most High. He's never quit with that desire, even though he's been removed from his living place in heaven, even though he's been restricted, even though he knows his ultimate end. He has not ceased in his desire to overthrow God. And that's the secret

power of lawlessness, which has been revealed. It's already at work. It's not just waiting for this man of sin to come. The lawlessness itself is already at work. Look back up in verse 4. The lawlessness involved is that when he is revealed, he will oppose and exalt himself over everything that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sets himself up in God's

temple, proclaiming himself to be God. So this lawlessness that he's talking about is not just disorder and a general violation of law. It is a definite aim, a definite move by Satan to overthrow God's rule and to set himself up as being God. So all of the different things, like with gang activity and the increase of drug use and the increase of a resistance to authority, the increase of the feelings of anarchy that are rising in this nation are not due to a political party. It's not due to certain candidates that are not in office. It's the move of the power of

the lawlessness, which is already at work. Now, again, realize it hasn't been released yet in its fullness, but the power of it's at work, indicating that even though this man of sin is going to embody that, there's a spiritual force behind him, which is going to empower. Him to do that. And that spiritual force is already at work preparing his path. And there

again is another parallel with Christ to the Antichrist, because what's what's the Holy Spirit's work? What does the Holy Spirit do? He prepares. He prepared. When you go to the Old Testament, it says the angel of the Lord moved before the children of Israel through the wilderness and prepared the place for them to rest in the evening so that when they came to

that place, they knew that's where they were supposed to be. Now, the angel of the Lord is not Gabriel or it's not Michael or it's not some other archangel up there. It's referring to the spirit of God, to Christ, the spirit of Christ, which is the Holy Spirit of God who went before them and prepared that path. That's the job of the spirit. How did you come to Christ? Well,

somebody told me about him and and I just saw that and I believed. What do you think that just happened that day? No, the spirit of God has been dogging you since you were born. And he through your parents or through your grandparents or through a preacher or through those at work or through those in school has been sowing seed into your heart, sowing that seed of the gospel fall there, telling you about the wonders and the work of Jesus Christ. And then at some point, God said harvest and somebody was brought along or some

event happened in your life. And all of a sudden the scales dropped and you saw Christ as your savior and you embraced that. But it didn't just happen. The work of the spirit had been moving along, preparing that to happen. Well, by the same token, this spirit or this power of lawlessness is moving about already, preparing the path. Well, the spirit of the spirit is moving about already. Well, by the same token, this spirit or this

man of lawlessness, when he's revealed, otherwise he's not just going to come on a scene and everything just clicks right in. It's a work, a work of preparation that's happening in the world right now. The secret power of lawlessness that is making preparation that's already at work, doing plans and preparation. I shared a couple of things, the first service, and I'll just share them with you. And there are myriads of things that we could share. You know, if you and I knew

everything that was going on in the world, we'd probably drop. Just couldn't believe it. There are so many things happening in the world today where we are so ripe for all of this to happen that wasn't true 15 years ago. Let me give you a couple. One world government. It doesn't just happen. There have to be plans laid and preparations made for things to fall into place for a one world

government, for a one world police force, a one world order, a one world banking system. And there are all kinds of things already going on where that's concerned. In the financial industry, it would blow your mind to know what the Federal Reserve is all about, to know the things that they're already doing, to know how your bank, your wonderful little banks are locked up with trade overseas already. And it's just a step away from issuing new currency or the mark. And they may

just skip the one for the other. Already, if you've been watching MasterCard commercials, MasterCard is, we were in Missouri this week and they had the MasterCard commercial on. And I just kind of caught it. TV was on in the motel room. And now the fingerprint on your card, because the fingerprint has so many characteristics on it that make your fingerprint different from everybody else's in

the world. Well, I think that's just a prelude. The military has been working on that for the last several years before MasterCard. I think they're going to kind of, that's just a step they're kind of taking. Then they're going to realize that's a waste of time. Let's just go to the chip. You know, let's just go right to the chip. One world government. Last October, executive order number 25 came into being. Executive orders

are something the president issues, which can supersede Congress, which can supersede the Supreme Court. It's usually executive orders are issued in the events of emergencies or natural disasters to give the president power to be able to do things that need to happen quickly. So, you know, they don't have to bog down in Congress. We are, we are currently as a nation operating under an executive order in an emergency status that's been going on for about the last 30 or 40 years that nobody really realizes. We're operating

under executive order right now as a nation. It's never been shut back down. But executive order number 25, in effect, lets the president, in the event of a natural, national emergency, a national disaster, hand the control of the military over to the head of the United Nations just automatically. Now, executive orders, in order to go into effect, once a president issues an executive order, it has to go before Congress. And Congress has 30 days to act on it. And usually

what they'll do is one of two things. They'll either say, well, we want to study this. And so they'll take the executive order and they'll channel it to a committee. And that more or less kills it. It doesn't become law until the Senate looks at it. And then they say, well, this is what ought to happen. Then Congress okays it. Or they simply ignore it. And then at the end of 30 days,

it becomes law. It becomes an act that's possible that the president can do. Now, I heard about this back in October, and I did see it once in a while. And I did see it once in a while. And I did see it once on one evening newscast. But it was down several segments into the newscast. And it was brought out as just something that they're doing. And it was really unimportant. And it would have

been real easy to miss had I not been looking for it. Well, nobody did anything with it for 30 days. It's law. Now, scenario. We've already had Oklahoma City. Let's say some goofball plants a nuclear device, low-yield nuclear device, somewhere, some city or something, and detonates it. And the country goes into a state of national emergency. We don't see missiles coming over. So it has to

know there might be others somewhere else. We're in a state of national emergency. President automatically just hands over the control of the military to the United Nations. And we have UN forces that are running our country. One world government. We're that close. The lines of technology. Terry and I are in a degree completion program up in Wichita. We're in a marketing module

right now. And last week, we saw a video. The video was dealing with just marketing things. I mean, they're not going, you know, let me show you how we're setting up for the one world government. They're just showing us marketing tools that are in use right now, you sit there as a Christian and go, you know, it's ready. Frito-Lay for one company. This is an

example is what we saw. You've seen in the grocery stores when they're taking inventory, they have those little handheld computers that they take inventory with, haven't you? Well, Frito-Lay, all the Frito-Lay drivers have those. And when they go into their market, when they go into their stores that they deliver to, they not only take inventory of their product, but they inventory what other product is there that they're in competition with. And at the end of the day,

all of the drivers from all over the country take their little computer and they go to their store. And all of that information is relayed to the central headquarters of Frito-Lay in Dallas, Texas, which processes 40 billion bytes of information a day from all over the country. There's 400,000 outlets where Frito-Lay distributes its stuff. They said that's equivalent to 14 million written pages of information a day. Computer takes that,

breaks it down, processes it by division to where at any store, at any location in the country, they know how much product they're selling of how many different styles of their product and how much product their competition is selling and what product their competition is selling that beats what they're selling. So they know how to stock their product that will compete with that product the next day. Now, how, how, what's, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what steps next. And let's do that with people. We can do that with people. We were talking 40

billion bytes of information. There's only 250 million people here. There's only six or seven billion people in the world. So we can process all that information easily. If we're processing 40 billion bytes of information already, just with one company, there's also a grocery store that they showed in this grocery cart. And it had a little screen on a little computer screen and their

scanners hanging down from the ceiling in the grocery stores. And they asked us if we'd seen this in the area and nobody from our area had seen it yet. As you're pushing your little grocery cart down an aisle and you come to the can aisle and you turn down the aisle, the scanner knows where you are. And it tells you that there's green giant corn on sale, five for a dollar right there in that aisle. And that if you, if you want, there's also issuing a 20 cent coupon on that and you can take

it for, for each can. And you just run it over the little scanner there right on your cart. And the computer automatically enters that. So that when you come, back to your grocery checkout line, they just wave a wand over that. And it automatically processes everything you've bought, takes off your coupon. You don't have to carry paper coupons around with you anymore. Automatically does that. But it knows where you are at any particular time

in the store. These are in operation in our country already. Now it doesn't take another genius to figure out the next step is we can do that with people and know where anybody is at any particular time within the country. Arbitron and Nielsen, who are famous for their ratings, the Arbitron ratings and Nielsen ratings and all the different areas of music or the industry.

And you can get all kinds of data on how such and such a company, is running or how people are buying such and such a product. And music industry uses Arbitron a lot where that's concerned. They are already purchasing the scanner data from the stores, from the retailers, so that they can see how products are selling in different areas. What they try and decide what the, what the reason is that that product is selling. And if they needed to transfer

more product to that particular area instantly. Nielsen is already, already has 2.3 million people who have agreed to take a little card and wherever they go, they scan that card with whatever purchase they make, so that the scanner information not only reads out what products are being sold, but what that individual is buying. Now that information is going to be sold to merchandisers. So if you go in and you go shopping and you hand them your little card and you pass it through and you've bought a Gerber baby food and Purina dog chow, well next week in the mail, you're going to get coupons from Gerber and a letter and a coupons from Purina, because they want to keep you as a customer. Now, what that does is tell me that there's no privacy

anymore. They know how you're going to sell your product. And that's what Arbitron and Nielsen are doing. They know how you shop. They know where you shop. They know what you buy. They know your lifestyle. All like that. Those things are here. And within the next couple of years, it's going to be involving all of us. David McGee mentioned, and I've seen it in Time Magazine, the Identipet.

Have you seen the little Identipet ads that have been in Time? Where they have a little chip now that they can insert, inject into the collar of your pet. So you don't have to worry about dog tags anymore. If your pet is lost, you can just say that, you know, I have this dog and he's a collie and he has an Identipet tag on, you know, that's a good thing. So that's a good thing.

And so they just take him to a vet and the vet just scans the back of his neck and it tells who the pet belongs to, what his name is, you know, how to get ahold of the owners. And they're also presenting that if you look at the ad with a picture of a child there. And there's a move now to do that. You know how they do it with teeth already. They're starting to do

that, put little identifying things in kids' teeth. They're wanting to do that now with the, like the, the Injectipet thing to identify the kid. So your kids will always have ID on them wherever they are. You don't have to worry about it. You'll know they'll have identity. It's what, it doesn't take a genius to see how, what the next step is. I mean, this is the, this is,

this area of, of the, the spirit, the, the power of lawlessness. It's already worth making preparation and the attitudes of people, the separation of church and state. Let's get God out of everything. Verse four, who opposes everything that's called God. Let's accept a homosexual lifestyles. Now we need to love the homosexual, but stand against the lifestyle.

And yet already, many of you have already gone to classes where you're learning how to incorporate into your plants and all that stuff. How to, how to be accepting of diversification classes. So you can understand the diversity of, but you can't tell them about Jesus because that's an offense to their lifestyle. So already the spirit of lawlessness is at work. Verse seven, quickly,

but the one who is holding him back will continue to do so until he's taken out of the way. Let me read that with some emphasis, but the one who is holding him back will continue to do so until he is taken out of the way. The word holding, if you're reading King James, your word is let the one who lets will continue. We'll let until he is taken out of the way. It means

to hold down, to restrain, to seize on, to withhold. It's a, it's a definite activity of restraint. Again, that is referred to here. So as bad as it's getting, as much as gang activities increasing and drugs are increasing and depravity is increasing and rebellion among youth is increasing, it's still being restrained. I mean, now you get a picture of when that goes, man,

what's going to happen? It's being held back. Then there's the word until the one who is holding him back will continue to do so until or till he is taken out of the way. That indicates a definite time limit on the restraint. It is very soon going to be removed. The restrainer is, is going to be removed. The word taken there is, I know I don't want to confuse people, but I want to give you the basis of the tenses of the verbs. It's in what's called

the aorist tense in the Greek, which means that's a definite event. The removal of the restrainer, the taken out of the way of the restrainer is a definite event that will happen once and for all. And when you look at it and understand that that's what the, the grammar is saying, then it doesn't mean it's going to just kind of dissolve. It doesn't mean that it's some kind of a governmental force that's restraining, that's going to dissolve like the Roman empire, which some people have looked at the restrainer and thought it's the Roman empire that was restraining in the early, in the early history of the church. That's what

was one of the things they thought was the restrainer is the Roman empire or one of the Roman emperors. No, it's a definite event. That's not just going to dissolve, but it's going to be taken out of the way once and for all at a specific time. Only it's in what's called the subjunctive mode in the Greek, which means we don't know what time it's going to happen. It's

going to be a definite event, but we don't know when. Now I like this. We'll be taken out of the way. Literally that means out of the midst, out of the midst. Now, when you couple that with what we know of first Thessalonians chapter four, when Jesus comes in the air and those who are dead in Christ will rise first. And then we, which are alive and remain will be caught up together out

of the midst. That makes you think this restrainer is going to be taken out of the midst of all of this. Go back to the words one and he, because there's a shift in gender here. If you go back to verse six, where we started, Paul says, you know, what is holding him back? And remember that was neuter. It was just the force itself. But now in verse seven, he gets specific. The word one there in

the Greek, the one who is holding will continue until he is taken out of the way. Both of those are masculine in their tenses, which indicate a person, an individual, clearly a person. It's not the Roman emperor. It's not the Roman empire. It's not human government in general. Some of the things people have speculated on is even Satan himself. And that goes clear against what Jesus said in scripture. How can Satan oppose Satan? Some have said it's

Michael the archangel. Some have said it's Elijah. Some have thought it was the apostle Paul. Some have said it's the Holy spirit of God. And that's what I hold to. It's the Holy spirit of God who is the restrainer. You see, if we, if we look to scripture to interpret scripture, which is how we should interpret scripture. I mean, it doesn't make any difference what Barkley says or what Fry

says or what Dobson says or what MacArthur says. What does the Bible say? If you go to scripture to interpret scripture, you're going to see that it's the Holy spirit of God. And if you go to scripture, you find that in scripture, only God has ever restrained Satan or evil. Only God does that. Nobody else. Paul never restrained evil. None of the angels restrained evil. Only God

restrains or holds back evil. Let me give you some quick examples. Stay with me. I know it's hot in here and I know your eyelids are getting heavy or almost there. I just got some things I got to share with you about this. Okay. You go clear back to Genesis chapter three, Adam and Eve were booted out of the garden. What does God do to keep mountains? That's an angel

there, right? The cherubim at the entrance. And what else? A flaming sword that turns, in every direction. Now, if you read it, it doesn't indicate that the angel was holding the sword. The angel was there, but there's a definite distinction between the angel and the flaming sword that sits there and turns in every direction to keep the man and woman out of the

garden. He's guarding the garden against what? Adam and Eve going back in eating and being in perpetual sin forever, eating from the tree of life and being in sin. Well, that's, I believe that that sword that's a fire that's turning every which way is the Holy spirit of God. You can come back to the new Testament and find out in the armor of God in Ephesians six. One of the things

that we're going to learn about is the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Again, a sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. In Exodus, the children of Israel had the cloud that went before them to lead them cloud during the day, fire by night. It overshadowed them, came over them as a canopy to protect them when they got to the red sea and Pharaoh's armies were coming up behind him. What did, what did that cloud do? It came up over them and went back and set itself

behind them to protect them. What was that cloud? It was the spirit of God. It was the Shekinah of God. It was the Holy spirit of God. It's the spirit of God that protected them. In Genesis six, God said, my spirit will not always strive with man, will not always contend with man. In Job chapters one and two, we saw that Satan couldn't touch Job. Why? Because God had a hedge about him.

What'd he plant a little green shrub? What was the hedge? The spirit of God. Satan couldn't touch him because he was guarded by the spirit. Ephesians tells us that you and I as believers are sealed a hedge, a green hedge, the spirit of God that keeps us, that seals us, that protects us. In the gospels, God restrains Satan's efforts to take Christ before his time by his spirit. As you look

at scripture, you find that the restrainer can be none other than God, the Holy spirit. He's the only one in scripture who restrains evil, but how is he now restraining and how can he be taken out of the way? Well, at Pentecost, the Holy spirit entered into a unique relationship with the believers. At that particular point, it says the spirit of God became the indweller. He indwells us.

And back in John chapter 14, verses 16 and 17, he tells us how long he's going to do that. Jesus said, I will send you another comforter, the spirit of God, which has been with you, but shall be in you for how long? Forever. How long is that? As David said, it's forever. Doesn't mean he's going to yo-yo him back out if you do something bad and then send him back in if you do something

good again, and then pull him back out. If you do something bad, he's going to dwell with you forever. He seals you. He is with you forever. He is in the church, dwells within us as the church forever. That's a unique relationship, was not a part of the old Testament, a permanent indwelling of the spirit. He dwells with us. Listen, the Holy spirit in his church in and through us is

the restrainer. You are the restrainer. The Holy spirit of God in you is restraining the man of lawlessness. That's exciting. I was visiting with a brother this past week who said, man, it seems like where I work, I don't see any other Christians. I feel like I'm the only one. Hey, you're the restrainer. You're not only light and salt in that place, but you are what God is using

to restrain the forces of evil, to restrain this lawlessness. And you may say, well, I don't know a whole lot. I'm just, you know, me and insignificant. I don't know all this stuff in the word of God. It doesn't make any difference. The spirit of God does. And he lives in you. If you're a believer and as insignificant as you may seem, or as unlearned as you may feel, you

are, you are what God is using to restrain the evil around you. And you are what God is using to share his gospel. Warren Wiersbe writes, people who criticize Christians in the church in general do not realize that the presence of the people of God in this world gives unsaved people opportunity to be saved. The presence of the church is, is delaying the coming of judgment, just as lot pictured prior to the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19 verses 12 through 29.

You are what is holding the judgment back. And, and a lot, if you go back to Genesis 19, you find that, that God could not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah until a lot in his family were moved out. And Peter picks up on that in second Peter chapter three and says, God knows how to deliver the righteous before he brings judgment. And he uses lot as an example. He's going to deliver the

restraining, the restrainer. He's going to pull the restrainer out of the midst. The restrainer goes at the rapture. The church goes at the rapture and the restrainer is out of here. So we're right on the edge. We're waiting, for that to happen. Now that should make your socks shudder because it puts you and I in a very important position as believers in Jesus Christ. You see, if you're a believer, Satan knows he

can't destroy you. He knows he can't have you for his own, but he knows he can neutralize you. And that's what he works on. First service, we recognized our wrestlers in Cali County. And, and I want to, I forgot to do that as we started. And I praise God for our wrestlers, you know, in Cali County who took first and second in a state in division 5A. That's exciting. And I

mentioned that, that Paul says in Ephesians six, that we wrestle, against flesh and blood, but powers and principalities and spiritual wickedness, evil in high places. That means we struggle against it. We fight against it. Why? Because Satan wants to neutralize you. He wants to dim your light. If he can, if a light dims, what happens? Darkness increases. So if he can dim your light, he'll increase the darkness.

So he don't want it to, he'd love to destroy you, but he knows that he can't. So all he wants to do is dim you because you're a part of the restraining force. Now, what does God give us faith to do? The Lord really spoke this to my heart this week. And we'll, we'll close with this. When Jesus and the disciples were in the boat and they were going across the sea of Galilee and Jesus went

to sleep and the storm came up, you know, the story, the disciples get freaked and they wake him up and they say, we're going to die. And Jesus rebukes the storm. And what does he say to the disciples? Oh, you have little faith. What was he wanting them to do that they didn't do? Now, hold on to that thought, because I have two other things to talk to you about. What was he wanting

them to do that they didn't do, that they should have done? A little bit later on, they're coming into Jerusalem. Jesus curses a fig tree that's barren. It doesn't have any fruit, has leaves, but no fruit. And they marvel at that. The disciples marvel at that. And what does Jesus say? With little faith. If you had the faith, but as that of a mustard seed, the grain of a mustard

seed, you could say to this mountain, be removed. And it would carry itself from here as far as from here to the sea. What was Jesus wanting them to do when they told him that? Hold on to that thought. There's another one. They're coming down off the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus and Peter, James and John. They get down to the bottom of the mountain. A guy comes up to Jesus who has

a demon possessed son. And he says, I took him to your disciples, but they couldn't get rid of the demon. What does Jesus say? Oh, perverse and disobedient generation. How long must I bear with you? And he cast the demon out. What was he wanting the disciples to do that they weren't doing? In all three cases, follow me in this. In all three cases, the answer

is the same. What was he wanting them to do in the boat? You see often, and I've heard messages on this. I've heard people say at that point in time, he wanted them to rebuke the storm. They had, if they had faith, they could rebuke the storm and the storm would be over. What was he really wanting them to do? What did he tell them when they got in the boat, where they were going?

Going to the other side. Okay. So they're rowing away and the storm comes up and the water's coming in. What did he want them to do? He wanted them to go to the other side. He wanted them to do, keep rowing and bail, row and row and bail and row and row and bail. He didn't say rebuke the storm. He wanted them to have faith in what he told them to do, that they'd go to the other side.

They just needed to keep rowing and bailing. When he told them about the faith of the grain of the mustard seed, what did he want them to do? Start telling mountains to jump into the sea? You know, since that was written, I have never read anywhere in recorded history of mountains jumping into the sea anywhere. Nobody since Jesus said that has made a mountain jump into the sea.

Now, either we don't have faith because the mountains aren't going to the sea, or we don't have an understanding of what he meant by that. What did he mean by that? What does a mustard seed do? He used the example of a mustard seed. It keeps on going. If it falls into a mountain and falls into the crack in the mountain, what does it do? It grows. It keeps on

growing. It grows and bail and grows and bail and keeps on growing. So the obstacle that's put in front of you and I, we don't have to say to it, obstacle be gone. You know, in the name of Jesus, obstacle be gone. We just keep on rowing, row and bail. Trust the Lord, row and bail. Keep on growing, growing and bail. When Jesus and the disciples came down off the mountain of transfiguration, why did he rebuke

them? If you go back a chapter or so, you find that he sent them out two by two. And what did he give them power over? Demons and all kinds of evil spirits. Did they not have power over this one? I don't see that. Jesus didn't say, now I'm sending you out two by two, and I'm going to give you power over demons and all unclean spirits, except this one you're going to run into in a

guy when we're up on a mountain. That one comes out by prayer and fasting. You're not going to be able to cast him out. Jesus didn't say that. He gave power over all demons and all unclean spirits. What happened? They tried. And it didn't work. What'd they do? They quit. The emphasis is that God gives you and I faith to keep rowing, to keep growing, to keep believing and trying and moving on with him. It doesn't

make any difference what the enemy's doing. It doesn't make any difference what kind of plans the enemy's setting up out here. Doesn't make any difference that the chip is only a breath away. Doesn't make a hill of beans worth of difference. Keep rowing. Keep going. Keep trusting the Lord. You are the restrainer. You are the light of God manifest in this world today. You are what's holding back the lawless one.

You are his light and his salt that he has sent to the place that you're at to tell people about Jesus. I don't care how insignificant you feel. I don't care how unlearned you feel. You just got to be it and he'll empower you to do it. Let's stand together. The apostasy has not yet occurred. The man of sin is not yet being revealed. He won't be revealed until the restrainer is taken out of

the way. That's going to happen anymore. You are it if you're a believer in Jesus Christ. I had an individual come during the break between services and weep and wanted prayer for his family because his family wasn't saved and he knew it and he wanted them to hear that. And I know many of you have friends or family that aren't saved and you know we're that close. We'll continue in prayer with you for them, but you're the one that

God's placed at that place at that time. Just be light and salt. Just love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. And love those God puts in front of you as yourself, even and especially your unsafe family and friends. And let him do the work. Just keep rolling. Keep rolling. Father, we're at that end. We know that very soon you're going to remove the restrainer and the man of lawlessness is going to

be revealed. And we know the devastation that's coming in it and it takes our breath away to think about it with those that we love and our friends, Lord, who don't know you. And so, Father, we pray that you would use us mightily in their lives, that you would use us where we are in our factories and our offices. In our schools to be light and salt, not to be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of our minds to just keep taking those steps one at a time by faith to keep rolling.

Father, we ask it in Jesus' precious name and for his glory. Amen.