Instructions, Part 2

chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Last week, I started back into 2 Thessalonians, but I don't know who all listened and who didn't, so I'm going to do a pretty good recap today. Of what we talked about. Paul had written 2 Thessalonians about a year after the first letter to the Thessalonians was written. It was written as an encouragement. It was written as

instruction. And that's kind of how we laid out the outline of this book. Chapter 1, he encourages them. Chapter 2, he instructs them. And then chapter 3, he will exhort them. But some things had begun to take place in the church in Thessalonica. First of all, they faced a great deal of affliction, and they faced a great deal of persecution. And so because of that, false teaching had gone around that the rapture had taken place and that

they were now living in the day of the Lord. And the day of the Lord is always referred to as a time of great judgment. Sometimes we call it the time of the great tribulation. And so they thought that that's what they were living in the midst of. And so they were confused. They were discouraged. They were afflicted. And so Paul wrote this letter. And as he wrote this letter in the first chapter,

again, he encouraged them. But now he's going to begin to instruct them. And what he instructs them about in particular is not only the day of the Lord, but specifically the signs that they will look for to indicate the day of the Lord or the signs that will be there to indicate the day of the Lord, in particular, the man of lawlessness. And so we pick up in verse 1 of chapter 2, and this is what it says.

Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called God or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. Do you not remember that? Do you not remember that? Do you not remember that? Do you not remember that?

Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will slay with the breath of his mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of his coming. That is, the one whose

coming is in accordance with the activity of Satan, with all power. Signs, false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, so as to be saved. For this reason, God will send upon them a deluding influence, so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. Now, as he begins to talk to them about these things, the first thing he does is he makes some requests and gives a little bit of a warning to them.

He says, He references one event that I believe takes place in two different acts, the second coming of Christ. The first aspect or the first act of the second coming of Christ is Christ's coming for his church. That's what we read about in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, when he says, Behold, I tell you a mystery, we shall not all sleep, but in a moment, the twinkling of an eye, when the last trumpet sounds, the dead in Christ will rise first. And then we who are alive and remain will be caught up, which is where we get our word rapture from, will be caught up to be taken to be with the Lord, to meet the Lord in the air, and then we will forever be with the Lord. It's what we often refer to as the rapture of the church.

So that's his coming for his church. But then there's a second aspect of the second coming that I believe will take place seven years after that, and that's him coming with his church. We read about it in Revelation chapter 19, when it says that he returns on a white horse, and those, around him who are clothed in clean white linen, which is how the church is described in Revelation, is riding on white horses behind him, returning with his church. And so he says, whatever it is, we know that Jesus is coming back.

And so in regards to that, there's three things that I do not want you to do. Number one, I do not want you to be shaken in your core. I don't want you to be shaken in your understanding or shaken from your composure. The word shaken, it's a really violent word. It can also be a word translated earthquake. But the idea is a sudden jolt. In other words, I don't want everything that happens to jolt you.

And I brought this up last week. It seems like there's a lot of things that happen in the world that can shake us, right? And I went through kind of a litany of things. I might go through a couple of those really quickly. Do you guys remember when Y2K happened? And the church was about as jolted as I've ever seen the church be jolted before. And you don't have to show your hands, but how

many of you still have beans and rice and generators, right? Because you thought everything was going to end January 1st of the year 2000. And then I also remember when the Gulf War happened back in the early night, the first one, when the first Bush was in office. And everyone went, this is it. This is Iran or this is Iraq. This is Babylon. He's coming down. We know what's taking place.

And it didn't happen then. And then of course, 9-11 happened and everybody did the same thing. And then COVID happened and everybody did the same thing. And trust me, the vaccine is not the mark of the beast, even though some people tried to say it was the mark of the beast. And, and all these things happen. And we had a tendency to get shaken, jolted, which is why Paul writes,

hey, listen, when it comes to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together in him, first of all, don't be shaken. Don't be shaken by every single thing that comes along. Second thing he says not to be is he says, and don't be disturbed, which carries with the idea of a a settled state of, a settled state of, of, of being disturbed or a state of constantly being unsettled. The idea is there. In other words,

you just live your life constantly worried about things. Oh no, what if this is it? Oh no, what if this is the, this is the big one, right? And that's how you kind of live your life. He says, I don't want you to live like that. I don't want you to live in constant fear. But the third thing he says is, I don't want you to be deceived. He says that in verse three,

let no one in any way deceive you. You know why he has to say that? Because there's a lot of deception out there. And I made a earth shattering statement last week, right? The wisest thing you hear all of last week and all of this week. The problem with things that are deceptive is that they're very, wait for it, deceptive, right? In other words, there's a lot of

truth with a little bit of false mixed into it. And the little bit of false is enough to make everything wrong. And so we have to be careful to be, to not be deceived, to not be shaken, to not be disturbed, and to not be deceived about the day of the Lord, about this coming judgment, whether it be by a spirit or whether it be by, a letter or whether it be by a message. In other words, there can't be somebody that just comes to you and says, I've been given this brand new revelation that no one's ever heard before.

Listen, if somebody comes to you and tells you they've been given a brand new revelation that no one's ever heard before, it's probably not true. Because no, no prophecy is given to private interpretation, but great men of old, as they were moved by the spirit, gave us this truth. And so if somebody is coming to you with a brand new revelation, it's probably not true or it's not brand new. He says, don't be moved by another spirit or by another message or by another letter or by some video you watched on YouTube or you named the thing, right? It's almost like Paul knew what was coming. He knew that social media and YouTube were

on their way. He says, don't be, don't be shaken, don't be disturbed, and don't be deceived by all of these things. And then he tells us that he gives us the two signs that will be true of the day of the Lord. Verse three, Let no one in any way deceive you, for it, meaning the day of the Lord, will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed. He says there's two things that will

mark the day of the Lord. There's two things that will mark that moment. First of all, there will be an apostasy. The word apostasy means a falling away, a rebellion, or a departure. Now there are some who will say this means the rapture, the departure of the church. I don't agree with that. I don't agree with what that statement says. I think it actually means what it says there when

it says apostasy. It'll be a wholesale falling away from the faith. However, what would be a better way for the faith to be completely abandoned than for most of its ambassadors to be removed first, for the church to be removed first? And we'll deal with that in just a moment. First will come the apostasy, because if there's no more witness to the truth of Jesus Christ,

if there's no more church to give out the truth of Jesus Christ, then people will be left with a religious power. And if there's no more church to give out the truth of Jesus Christ, then people will be left with a religious power. vacuum, which will enter this next sign, which is the man of lawlessness will be revealed. And he's described two ways. First of all, that statement that I just gave you, the man of lawlessness.

The word lawlessness can also be translated sin, so he's the man of sin. In other words, this individual, and I do believe it's an individual, not a system or government, this individual will be the embodiment of sin. But he will also be the son of destruction, meaning that he will be characterized by destruction. And he will be the embodiment of sin. And he will also be the son of

destruction, which is the very opposite of salvation. So instead of him being someone who comes in and brings salvation, he will be one who comes in and brings destruction. And his ultimate end will be destruction. We often refer to this guy as the Antichrist. As a matter of fact, there's a handful of verses I would like for you to take note of. I'm just going to have you reference these,

so you might write them in the margin of your Bible. We won't turn there this week. Daniel chapter 9. Daniel gives that 70-week prophecy, where he says 70 sets of seven are set up for the nation of Israel after the first 69 sets of seven, or the first 69 sets of seven years. The Messiah will come, and he will be cut off. But at the beginning of the 70th week, one will make a covenant with the people, a covenant with

the many. And in the middle of the week, he will establish himself in the temple, and on the wings of abomination will be one who brings desolation. And he will put an end to the daily sacrifice, that's that Antichrist that's being spoken of. To add a little bit more understanding to that, in Matthew chapter 24, verse 15, Jesus tells them that these are the things that you'll be looking for, the signs of the times that will be coming. But for the Jewish people, those who will still

be here during that time, he says, when you see the abomination of desolation that is spoken of by the prophet Daniel, then you'd better run, because things just got real. So he warns them about that. It's kind of interesting, because in John chapter 5, verse 43, Jesus gives another warning. He says, I came in the name of the Father, and you don't receive me. But one will come in his own name,

and him you will receive, speaking of that coming Antichrist. Now, he's described for us in what he's going to do just a little bit more in verse 4. It says, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called God or object of worship. So that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. So the first thing he does is he opposes and exalts himself against every so-called God, which is why I believe at

that point in time there will be an apostasy that takes place, because he has found a place of one-world religion, and then makes himself the head of the one-world religion. Because the second thing he will do is he will establish himself in the temple, literally the inner sanctuary of the temple, and be exalted. god now i hope you're asking yourself a question if this antichrist is supposed to establish himself in the temple and be worshipped as god what is the one thing that there really needs to be for that there really needs to be a temple well there is no temple in jerusalem right now there is no temple in israel right now all of the plans are there for the temple everything's ready

for the temple to be built they've even been training priests for when the temple is built there is no daily sacrifice right now so what's going to have to be established a temple in jerusalem what's holding that back right now strife between the muslims and the jews because they both believe that the one location is their holy site then there's constant war over who's going to be in charge of the temple mount well this antichrist will establish a covenant of peace for one week you know what the three major issues in our world are right now there's no religious peace there's no political peace and there's no economic peace what is he going to be able to come in and do it's going to be a war between the muslims and the jews and the

called the three-legged stool you should just google it sometimes kind of an interesting look it's called the three-legged stool so what's he going to do well he's going to come in and first of all bring political peace because he'll sign a peace treaty he'll bring economic peace because trust me once the church disappears there's gonna be a major need for that the third he's gonna bring religious peace he's going to be able to bring everybody together and establish this peace therefore he can build a temple because now there's peace between the Jews and the Muslims and on that temple there in that temple is where he will establish himself as God the abomination of desolation all that

will take place during that seven-year period that we call the tribulation now I want to point one thing out to you there are some who don't believe in a rapture and there are some who don't believe in a tribulation but I want to ask you a question if there is no tribulation and there is no rapture what would you do? why would they be shaken that they might be living in the tribulation because they'd missed the rapture it's probably because Paul had taught them about a tribulation and it's probably because Paul had taught them about a rapture interesting things to think about so this is the revealing of this man of lawlessness but now he's going to go on this is now where we get into new

material now he goes on to tell them what is restraining this man of lawlessness right now he says Do you not remember verse 5 that while I was still with you I was telling you these things and you know what restrains him now so that in his time he will be revealed for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work only he who restrains now will do so until he is taken out of the way so something is restraining this Antichrist right now why is there not the apostasy and why do we take our sermons after Christ in order to deliver him through Adam and Eve

and after we don't use this to serveWould the hand which we an together and bring him back three days a day No reason will this be, the hand to whom we stairs then we steer in this life of desires withoutíamos to treasure O Team and Tosらい is in the end we cannot hand in these its labors. why are we not seeing the revealing of this man of lawlessness yet? Because something is restraining. So what is restraining?

Well, what we know is it's a what and it's a who, right? Because what is now restraining and he who now is restraining? Well, the he is very easy to figure out. That's the Holy Spirit. Often throughout scripture, the Holy Spirit, that third person of the triune Godhead is referred to in that masculine tone with that pronoun he, right? He is now restraining it.

So we know that that's the Holy Spirit. The question is, what is the what, right? And that question alone will get you into any court of law, I feel like. What is that? Well, I believe that it could reference the Holy Spirit, but I think that's not the fullest understanding of what he intends there. I think what he fully intends there is that it is the working of the Holy Spirit

through the church. We are the what. We are part of what's restraining right now. Why? Well, two reasons. Number one, Matthew chapter five, verses 13 and 14. Again, you might write that in the margin of your Bible. Tells us that you are the salt of the earth. And it tells us that you are the light of the world. This is Jesus speaking to disciples in the Sermon on the Mount.

Well, do you know what salt is good for? Sure, it flavors our food. That's one thing. But that's not the main thing that it was good for at the time that Paul was, that Jesus, would have spoken that. Salt was necessary for life at that point in time for a couple of reasons. Number one, salt allowed you to absorb water. Do you know that that's true of salt? If you don't have enough salt in your system,

you can't actually absorb water. It'll just flow right through you and you'll actually end up dehydrating because of it, which is why Gatorade was really important when they developed it down in Florida. You know that's why it's called Gatorade, right? Because it was developed by the Florida Gators. That's neither here nor there, but it puts salt in your system

so that you can absorb water. And so it's interesting because we as the salt of the earth, we allow people through our presence to understand taking in the living water of Jesus Christ. But salt was also used for something else really important at the time when Jesus spoke that. Is that Mr. President? Anyway, they didn't have refrigeration like what we have today,

and so the only way that they could preserve meat was to pack it in salt. And so salt was a preserving influence for their groceries because it allowed the meat to stay good so that it wouldn't spoil immediately after they butchered it. That's what you are. You are the salt of the earth. You are a preserving influence in this world. You say, Ryan, I don't know.

The church isn't doing really great right now. We're not like the early church that was the greatest church ever. Let me tell you a little story about the early church. Everybody goes, we should have the faith like the early church has. We should have the prayer life like the early church has. You know what happened one time in the book of Acts? Peter, one of the pillars of the church,

one of the pillars of the church, one of the pillars of the early church gets arrested and gets put into prison. They think he's gonna be killed because James had already been killed. They're like, oh great, Peter's gonna be killed. We should have a prayer meeting. Great idea. Prayer of the early church. And they believed that God was gonna set him free, right?

They had prayer, they had faith, and they're urgently interceding for Peter. Well, an angel goes and lets Peter out of prison, and Peter sort of bebops down the way and shows up to the house where they're all praying, and he goes, and some girl comes to the door, and she's like, who is it? And he's like, it's Peter. I got out of prison. An angel set me free.

Let me in. She goes, hold on, let me tell the adults. And so she goes, you're never gonna guess what happened. Peter got set free from prison by an angel, and he's outside the door now. And they're like, that's impossible. Peter's in prison. It's probably his ghost. Pipe down. We're trying to pray that Peter will get set free. Maybe we're not doing as bad as we think we are, right?

Like we're still a preserving influence in the world today because we still have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of us. Could we be doing better? Always. But that's who we are. But it also tells us that you are the light of the world. Now, what does light do? Well, light's main purpose is to dispel darkness, right? And there's two main things that happens when you dispel darkness.

Number one, it protects you because it reveals potential pitfalls, right? It reveals potential walls that you could run into, chairs you could trip over, everything, right? It reveals things. It reveals the dangers. But it also leads you to safety. And that's what we are. That's why when he says, what is now restraining? Well, it's the Holy Spirit at work through the church

as the church is the light of the world and the salt of the earth. You know why? Because 1 Corinthians 3, verse 16 says, you are the temple of the Holy Spirit. In other words, the Holy Spirit dwells in you. So what is restraining this antichrist, right? What is restraining this from taking place? The presence of the Holy Spirit through the church on the earth.

He says in verse six, and we know what restrains him now so that in his time he will be revealed. Verse seven, for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. The word mystery here doesn't speak of like a who did it, sort of a figure out the crime sort of a situation. The idea of mystery, the mystery here is something that has previously been concealed that later will be revealed.

He says the mystery is already at work. Now remember, Paul wrote this 2,000 years ago and there was already this mystery of lawlessness at work, this sinful influence at work. Satan trying to destroy the work of Jesus Christ was already going on. As a matter of fact, John in his first epistle, we call it 1 John because we're not creative, in his first epistle said, and the spirit of antichrist is already at work and there are many antichrists, not the one specific, but many who are trying to thwart the work of God.

That mystery is already at work and we can see it today, right? We can see that mystery of lawlessness at work today and every now and then you're like, what's the one thing holding it back? You are. The witness of the church with the power of the Holy Spirit is what's holding it back because notice what he says. For the mystery of lawlessness, verse seven, is already at work.

Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. That phrase taken out of the way means to be removed, only it means to be removed forcefully and to be removed without one's consent. Picture if you will, you're driving a car down the street and a two-year-old runs out in front of you and you're like, oh no, and a parent reaches down and removes them, takes them out of the way so that you don't hit them. That's the idea of the word here.

The idea is taken out of the way. So when he who now is restraining is taken out of the way, then the man of lawlessness will be revealed. Now, I believe based on my study of scripture that once the church is removed, the Holy Spirit will still be at work but he will be at work in the way that he was in the Old Testament. He will be with, he will not be in because right now, the day that you come to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, he comes to make his home inside of you, that's one of the mysterious truths of being a member of the church.

So he will still be at work but he will not be at work in the way that he is in New Testament times. And so that which restrains will be removed. I believe that's the rapture and then he, meaning the Antichrist, will be revealed. And then notice what it says. So we've seen the revealing, we've seen the restraining, and now it comes to the defeating. And then notice what it says, verse eight.

Verse eight. The lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of his mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of his coming. Go with me one other place in scripture. Go to Revelation chapter 19. All the way at the end of the Bible, if you hit the concordance, you went too far. Revelation chapter 19.

And I want you to look at verse 11. Revelation 19, 11 says this. And I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he who sat on it is called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems and he has a name written on him which no one knows except himself and he is clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name is called the word of God.

From all those descriptions, we know that that's Jesus. And the armies which are in heaven clothed, clothed in linen, which I believe is the church, white and clean, were following him on white horses. And from his mouth comes a sharp sword so that with it he may strike down the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron and he treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty, and on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Right?

That feels like one of those drop the mic moments. Everything is just awesome. Now I don't know how you picture this, but in 1 Thessalonians it tells us he, or in 2 Thessalonians it tells us he will, he will defeat this antichrist with the breath, he was slain with the breath of his mouth. Now I don't know how you always picture these things, but I like to picture them in my brain, right?

Because I'm an imaginative sort of a guy and that helps me understand the Bible just a little bit better. So let's paint this picture real quick, shall we? Now I want you to imagine, if you will, out from heaven comes this white horse and someone's on with a robe that's flowing and it's Jesus, only he's not the European Jesus, like most of the pictures that we see. This is a Jewish Jesus, right?

Picture a little darker skin. I don't know if I'm allowed to say that or not. Like y'all just look at me like, man, you're getting canceled tomorrow. Right, he's a Jewish guy, right? And so he comes riding on this horse just, right, just cruising as he goes riding on this horse and on his thigh he's got this tattoo that says faithful and true, right? And he comes cruising down out of heaven

and the rest of us are all clothed in white riding horses. I'll probably be on the Pop-Tart donkey just, just glad I'm there, right? Jesus comes down and he lands on earth like, behold, and the antichrist just absolutely gets wiped out and all of his armies because he does it with the breath of his mouth. Superhero movies have ruined us for this, I think, right?

What happens at the end of every superhero movie? At the end of every superhero movie, the superhero can barely stand anymore, right? He's like beaten and bloody, like he's, the entire town has been destroyed by the bad guy throwing him all over town and every tall building is absolutely wiped out by his body, right? And he can barely stand anymore but he finally gets himself up, beaten, bloody, bruised and he finally kills the bad guy and we think that's probably what it's gonna be like.

No, Jesus is gonna be like, behold, right? And everything's done, game over, because he has slain him with the breath of his mouth and we'll all be like, it's gonna be amazing, victory will be won. And that's what Jesus is gonna do. We have to remember that because brothers and sisters, when we see all of the evil happening to us, when we see all of the evil happening in the world today, we need to remember one thing, we win.

With everything happening in the world today, we always have to remember, we win in the end. There's gonna be battles to be fought between now and then, there's gonna be hardships that we deal with between now and then, but we can deal with all of them because we know we win. Can you imagine what a word this is for these Thessalonian people who are facing affliction and they're facing persecution and life is so hard because they think they've missed everything. They've missed everything good and now they're going through everything bad and every day is hard for them.

And so as Paul tells them, don't worry. When the man of lawlessness is revealed, Jesus will slay him by the breath of his mouth. Can you imagine that they're just going, you mean it's gonna be over and we win? It's like, yeah, one day it's gonna be over and we win. Because however you feel about all the rest of eschatology, everyone agrees. Everyone always comes back together

in Revelation chapter 19 when it says, Jesus wins because he does. And we can find peace and hope in that knowledge. Death will be defeated, evil will be defeated, sin will be defeated, and we will rule and reign with him. Amen? Back to second Thessalonians.

And you're welcome for that mental image all day long. Now he goes on to describe a little bit more the deception, that this antichrist will bring. He says in verse nine, that is, speaking of the antichrist, the one who's coming is in accord with the activity of Satan with all power and signs and false wonders, with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason, God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.

This deception, first of all, he tells us about lying signs and wonders. He says he will first of all come with the power of Satan. And you might write Revelation 13 in the margin of your Bible there, because in Revelation 13, it describes how the dragon, which is Satan in Revelation, gives the beast, or the antichrist, his power. So everything that takes place with that is satanic in nature.

And Satan. And so he gives him all of his power, so he has this satanic backing behind him. But through this satanic backing, I want you to notice what he's able to do. He is able to perform, he is able to have power and signs and false wonders. Now, let me give you an image of what this probably will look like. If you go all the way back into Exodus, you don't have to right now, but in your brain,

go all the way back to Exodus, remember? Moses goes to Pharaoh and he's all like let my people go. Right? To let the people go, and as Moses tells him that, he says no, and so God gave him a series of signs that he was supposed to perform. The first of those signs is he was supposed to take his staff, he was supposed to throw his staff down. He said when you throw your staff down,

it'll turn into a serpent. And so he threw his staff down and his staff turned into a serpent. And Pharaoh, with all of his sorcerers all around him, says that's no problem, boys. And so they throw their staffs down and they turn into serpents. And he's able to perform some of the same signs. But listen, the signs that they're able to perform are a counterfeit.

Of the original. It's something that the enemy is able to counterfeit off of God. And there's something amazing that happens in the story about Moses. Moses' staff goes on to swallow all of the other serpents of the sorcerers because God will not stand with counterfeits. And he picks this serpent back up and it turns back into a staff. And they go on to perform other signs.

He turns the water to blood, and they turn the water to blood, morons. And then they produce frogs and they say we can produce frogs. I don't know why they would want to do that, but that's what they did. They're lying signs and wonders. And that's what the enemy is gonna do with this antichrist. He'll be able to perform miracles. He'll be able to do things and everybody will go,

oh my gosh, isn't he great? Look at the signs that we saw. Look at the miracles that we saw. And that brings me to a really interesting point. We have to be careful about always looking for signs. Because sometimes the enemy can counterfeit signs. Sometimes he can counterfeit miracles. And too many people are out looking for a sign. And what did Jesus say? An adulterous generation seeks after a sign.

There was this girl that used to be a part of my college ministry a long time ago, over 20 years ago. And she was someone who was always looking for a sign for things. And she was in a relationship she wasn't supposed to be in. And she knew she was supposed to break up. And so she prayed, Lord, if I'm supposed to break up with this guy, show me a rainbow. And two weeks later it rained and she saw a rainbow.

And she knew it was time to break up. And I'm like, that's not a sign, that's nature, right? Like this is what happens. Stop looking for signs. If you know you're supposed to do it, just do it. And sometimes that's what we have to do. We have to do what God's told us to do instead of looking for the sign for what he's told us to do. And so he says, with lying signs and wonders,

he will show himself. And verse 10, with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. You see, because people will refuse to believe the truth, because people will refuse to give themselves over to the truth. They will refuse to love the truth. They will fall into the deception, and they won't be saved.

And they'll have to deal with that wickedness. And that brings me to a little bit of a challenging question. And a couple of these challenges are what we'll wrap up soon with, not yet, hang in there. Do you love the truth? Or is the truth just something you can identify? Is the truth something you love in your heart, or is it just something that you know? Because there is a difference between the two.

Because we're told that. Demons know the truth, but they're not saved. Many will come to me in that day, he says, and will say to me, Lord, Lord, didn't we do amazing signs in your name? Didn't we do great works in your name? And he says, depart from me, I don't know you. Because they knew about the truth, but the truth didn't change them. Because the truth was not something that they loved.

You see, when you love something, you give yourself completely to it. When you love something, it changes who you are. When you love something, it changes the fabric of your being at that point in time. Because you become a different person based on the things that you love. Because the things that you love are the things that you follow, and the things that you follow

are the things that you worship. And too many people don't receive the love of the truth. And I know I'm talking to the church right now, but I'm here to tell you right now, there's gonna come a day when a whole bunch of people will find themselves sitting in a church on a Sunday morning, when the rest of the church is gone. And they're gonna go, but I went to church every Sunday.

But I own a Bible. But I was a part of a Bible study. Yes, but the truth never changed you. You never truly committed yourself to following your Savior. He says, with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish because they did not love the truth. Notice what happens. And for this reason, because they didn't love the truth, God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false in order that they will be

judged who did not believe the truth but took pleasure in wickedness. Now, that's a hard pill to swallow. Can we all agree with that? That there will come a point in time where because people refuse to believe the truth, God will send upon them a deluding influence. I think some of your translations probably say a strong delusion. And the idea actually, again, takes us back to the book of Exodus. If we went all the way back to the book

of Exodus, we would find that every time Moses showed up to tell the truth, God would send upon them a deluding influence. He would tell Pharaoh, you should let my people go. And he would say no. And then one of the plagues would happen. And then he would go, oh my gosh, I want the plague to end. Okay, fine, you guys can go. But then he would change his heart. And the first, I think, four times, it says, and Pharaoh

hardened his heart. And then something interesting happens on the fifth time. On the fifth time, it says, and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart. See, brothers and sisters, we have to realize something about the world around us. Every time they're presented with the truth, and they reject the truth, it becomes harder for them to believe the truth. Because every time you reject it, you create a hardened shell on the outside of you.

And eventually, God will say, if that's what you want, then that's what you can have. If that's what you want, if you want to be opposed to me, then I will give you what you want. And he will send that strong deluding influence. And he will send that strong deluding influence. And he will send that strong deluding influence. And he will send that strong deluding influence. And during the last

days, when the Antichrist is there, that influence, that deluding influence will be even stronger. I used to ask myself the question, how on earth is an entire globe going to follow one guy, right? Like, you can't get everybody to decide what they want for dinner. Like, how is everybody going to be like, that's the guy we should follow, and fawn over him, and do all those things. And I

said, I saw a small glimpse of it in an election in the early 2000s, where one political candidate had a lot of people fainting over him, and all these different kinds of things. And I started going, okay, now I see it. Now I see where we're going here. And when you realize that people can have that kind of power in their speech, coupled with God's judgment of sending them a strong delusion, then it's not hard to understand why people could end up falling into the trap of something like the Antichrist. Now, brothers and sisters, I don't think any of us as believers are

going to be here for that. But it also begs the question, do you love the truth? Is the truth in you? Has it changed you? Has it changed who you are? He goes on to say, in order that they may all be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. I believe there's three main reasons we ever study anything about the end times. And it's not just so that we can argue about it and prove our point about it. I

think there's three main reasons why we study end time stuff. Number one, because it kind of gets us a little bit excited about that, right? Number two, it reminds us how much God loves us because Jesus said, a master doesn't tell his slaves what he's going to do, but I no longer call you slaves, I call you my friends. And a friend does tell his friends what's going on. And so we're reminded

that because Jesus told us this, it's a good reminder of how much he loves us and that he can consider us his friends. But there's a third really important reason why we study prophecy. And it's because it has a purifying effect on us. Because when we truly know the end, when we truly know what's coming, we truly look at the finish line, it kind of purifies us.

And it makes us think about the reality of these things. And we, as believers in Jesus Christ, need to know, do I love the truth or do I take pleasure in wickedness? And I've heard that story lots of times. And it's always a warning to me too, as much as it is to anybody else. But there was a pastor I used to serve alongside about 22 years ago. We did camps

together. And he came to a point where he didn't love the truth anymore. He took pleasure in wickedness. And it wasn't just a moment of falling into some sin. It was a wholesale abandoning of the faith. Because he stood up in front of his church one Sunday and said, I don't believe in the Bible. I don't believe in God. I don't believe in God. I don't believe in God. I don't believe in

God. I don't believe in God. I don't believe in God. I don't believe in God. I don't believe in God. I don't believe in God. I don't believe in God. I don't believe in God. I don't believe in God. I don't believe in God. I don't believe in God. I don't believe in God. I'm leading my wife and I'm marrying my secretary. This is my last Sunday. I know this guy personally. I told this story last

year at a conference. It's the first time anybody's ever come up to me and said, and gave me the name. I'm like, you are the only human being that's ever known that guy. And he said, I do. And he's still walking in disobedience. Brothers and sisters, let it purify us. Let it be the thing that's willed to be done. that creates in us the desire to run from anything

that is sin and run to everything that is God, to run from anything that could keep us from knowing God and run towards everything that will bring us closer to Jesus. Because in the end, we win, but in the end, he comes back. And when he comes back, he comes back with judgment. Because the first time he came as the suffering savior, the second time he's coming as the victorious warrior, and you're either on his side or you're not on his side.

And you've got to make decisions. And I wouldn't be a good pastor if I didn't also warn you sometimes and say, you need to know where your heart really is, that you really love the truth. I want you to be secure in who you are in Christ. I want you to rest in who you are in Christ. But I also want you to know beyond a shadow of a doubt, I love the truth. It's a part of everything of who I am.

Because brothers and sisters, the end is near. I believe it with my whole heart. Now, what's near? I don't know. But Jesus is coming. Amen? Let's all stand. And if you'd bow with me.

Father, we come to you now. And Lord, we praise you for who you are. Lord, I thank you that you have seen us as your friends, that you want to know the things that are coming so that we're not taken by surprise, so that we're not caught off guard, so that we don't have to be shaken, so that we don't have to be disturbed, and so that we won't be deceived. And so, Lord, I pray that you would give us hearts that are focused on you.

Father, I lift up every person in this room, everyone watching online. And Lord, I want to pray for those who don't know you, because I know that every room I ever talk to, there's gonna be someone who has not yet made that decision to give their heart to you. And Lord, I pray that today would be that day of their salvation. Lord, I want to lift up those that do know you, but man, they're kind of like that pastor.

They're starting to struggle with that pleasure of wickedness. And the truth is beginning to wane in their heart. And so, Lord, I pray that you would bring that conviction. Lord, I love that your word says that if we confess our sin, that you are faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. And so, Lord, as we sing this last song, may this be a song of confession for them.

May it be a time to lay out their hearts before you. May their afternoon, their evening, their time in your word be a time to confess sin to you that needs to be confessed. And Lord, may we pursue you with all of our hearts. Father, may we be the men and women of Christ who abandon the things of the world and pursue you. Father, as it says in the book of Hebrews,

that we would lay aside the weight and the sin which so easily ensnares, and that we would, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, run the race that is set before us. We love you and we praise you, in Jesus' name, amen. Be blessed.

Amen.

have is a house fit for a king except for a lord god just thank you for what you've done for us lord for the new life that we have in you lord and lord for the victory over sin and death lord god we know that you're coming again soon in victory so lord just help us to be ready ready for your for your return help us to live expectantly of that my praise is we leave here today lord your holy spirit go with us and continue to minister to our hearts father we love you we praise you in jesus name amen you guys have a wonderful week god bless you