2 Thessalonians 1

Take your Bibles and turn with me to 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1.

2 Thessalonians chapter 1. Boy, the Lord is doing some exciting things. We just took part in an excellent leadership conference in Omaha, Nebraska. Several of the Calvary chapels in the area. And it was an exciting, refreshing time. Good fellowship. We've been watching the Lord do some tremendous things. And it's exciting. And I pray that you're seeing some of this stuff.

I pray that you're making yourself a part of what the Lord's doing. And not just standing on the periphery looking in. God wants you to be a part of it. Look with me as we begin reading. Let's start with verse 5. Just to kind of keep some of this in context. Paul had been saying, answering their question concerning the coming of the day of the Lord. And the revealing of the man of lawlessness.

And he says in verse 5, Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? Refreshing their memory that this wasn't anything new. That he was now telling them. Verse 6. And now you know what is holding him back. This man of lawlessness. 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's taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed. Whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth. And destroy by the splendor of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan. Displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs, and wonders.

And in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved. And for this reason God sends them a powerful delusion. So that they will believe the lie. And so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth. But have delighted in wickedness. You know there is something specific about the lie that we'll point out in this section.

But the lie and the truth. Are not simply last days phenomena. They have been around since the creation of the world. You and I are exposed to them every day. To the effects of the lie and the truth. And we choose to believe either one or the other. Now even as Christians if you have embraced the truth. You are still susceptible to being deceived by the lie.

And thus the battle that we have in our Christian walk. Which we face each day as believers. Satan continues to want to deceive us. To neutralize us. But there is a time coming when the fullness of the lie. Will be exposed against the fullness of the truth. And that's what we seek to talk about today. There's an article in this, well actually two articles in this past week's Traveler.

On Wednesday the 28th and I don't know if you saw them or not. They were inside and the interesting thing about them is both articles deal with youth. In the one article there were a couple of boys 11 and 12. Who? Who evidently repeatedly beat and sexually abused a 40 year old retarded lady. Over and over until they were finally caught. In the other article there was an 11 year old boy who was sent home from school.

And when he got home he shaved his head, put on a monk's robe. Got his dad's .22 rifle and went on an hour long robbery and shooting spree in San Diego. These are kids 11 and 12 years old. I mean it used to be, you know it was the terrible teens. After the terrible twos. You know you kind of survive from 2 to 13. And then once they hit the teens. Boy the glands and the hormones are racing.

And now we're in lots of trouble. But it's happening younger and younger. That we see this kind of violence. And it's every generation has its rebelliousness. But this is different than the rebellion of the 60s. Because it's more violent. The theme of the 60s was non-violence. Non-violent rebellion. But this is hey rebellion at any cost. We don't stand under any authority.

We're going to resist any truth for the sake of our own benefit. And so we see these. Things happening with ever increasing intensity. But one of the things I want to remind you of. Is that it's still being restrained. This stuff is still being restrained. As we saw last time. The spirit of lawlessness. The spirit of the one who is coming. Is still at work.

That secret power of lawlessness. Verse 7. Is already at work. In preparation. Preparing attitudes. Preparing hearts. Just like the Holy Spirit. Seeks to prepare hearts to receive Christ. So the spirit behind this lawless one. That's to be revealed. Is already at work. Preparing for the revealing of this lawless one. And that's the result of the stuff that we're seeing.

Is all of this activity by the spirit of this lawless one. But the day of the Lord. Remember. Will not happen until two things happen. Verse 3. First of all there has to be the apostasy. The falling away. The people turning away blatantly from the truth. Which I believe corresponds to the departure. Which is also another meaning for that word of apostasy. Of the church.

The church being taken out. Then this great. Falling away in mass. From the truth. To believe the lie. And it's at that time. Then the second thing happens. Verse 3. That this man of sin. This man of lawlessness is revealed. Comes onto the scene in the world in his fullness. But until that time he is being restrained. He is being restrained. And we saw last time that that restrainer.

In essence. Is the spirit of God. Dwelling within his church. You are what is restraining the world from just going into total evil. Into the wickedness of. Lawlessness. It's the Holy Spirit. Restraining that. In and through his church. In and through you. As a believer. Now we come down to the end of this dissertation. That Paul is talking to them about. About this revealing of the wicked one.

And Paul just can't leave it at that. I mean he has to bring about the truth. That there's not only going to be the final revealing of wickedness. But there's going to be the final revealing of truth. In the coming of Christ. Who's going to ultimately destroy all of this wickedness. And that's the hope that we have as Christians. Verse 8. Paul says. And then the lawless one will be revealed.

And then the lawless one will be revealed. That phrase and then is again just another emphasis. That it's not until the restrainer is removed. That this guy can be revealed. That's why I believe dogmatically. That the church is going out. Before all of this happens. The restrainer is going to be removed. And then this guy is going to be revealed. Isn't it interesting?

It's interesting to me. That as believers. We are never told the truth. Look for this guy. I mean there's nowhere that I read. Where it says. Watch for this deceiver. You know. And this is what he's going to look like. When he comes on the scene. Now somebody may say. Well in Matthew 24. Jesus warns to watch for the abomination that causes desolation. When he sets himself up in the temple.

But if you go back and read Matthew 24 in context. Jesus is literally answering questions concerning Jerusalem. And concerning the Jews. The disciples had just walked out. They just walked by the temple. The structure was massive. It had been expanded by Herod. It had. It had been added to. And was gorgeous. The reports are that you could see it for miles. As the sun would reflect off of the gold.

And the marble. The stuff that was there. And it would just literally glow. From its peak. And you could see the temple from a huge distance. And so they just walked by the structure. And they were commenting on it. And Jesus said. I tell you the truth. That the time is coming. When there's not going to be one stone left on top of another. And that they're all going to be thrown down.

The disciples are looking at each other. And they walk on out through the gate. Through the east gate. And down across the Kidron Valley. And up on the Mount of Olives. And they sit down. And the disciples asked. When are these things going to be? And what will be the sign of your coming? And of the end of the age? They asked him three questions. Pertaining to them as Israel.

When will these things be? What things? When is this temple going to be torn down? And what will be the sign of your coming? Again. And of the end of the age? And Jesus began to answer them in Matthew 24. As answering the nation of Israel. And he's telling the nation of Israel. Who will. Who will be deceived. Who will fall into deception of this guy. That when you finally see.

This abomination that causes desolation. Set himself up in the temple. Run. Flee. Don't go back for anything else. Come off your rooftops and flee. Now I don't know how many of you are living on your roof. But that doesn't happen in most western cultures. It does in Israel. Still today. There are people who live on their rooftops. This is Jesus talking to the Jews.

When he says. When you see the abomination that causes desolation. Then run. But to the believer. There's never ever an admonition to look for the deceiver. To watch for the antichrist. We are always admonished. To look for the glorious appearing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Who waits for the glorious appearing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As we wait for the hope of glory.

The coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That's what we're looking for. That's what we're waiting for. That's what we're anticipating. Could happen at any moment. And so. Once that. Happens. And then the lawless one. Verse 8. Will be revealed. Whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth. And destroy by the splendor of his coming. Now this is exciting.

Look at that again. Whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth. And destroy by the splendor of his coming. Different Greek scholars that I read. Bring out that the connotation of the Greek there. Is so remarkable. Because it indicates. That the Antichrist is literally going to be destroyed. By the Lord doing absolutely nothing. I mean here we watch this.

And we've gone through Revelation. And we've seen the magnitude of the coming of the lawless one. We've seen that he's going to be empowered by Satan. That he is going to bring wickedness and evil on the earth. There's going to be death like never has been before. As a result of his coming. He is commanding power and authority. And yet when Jesus comes again.

It's going to be an effortless destruction of this guy. By our Lord. Get that into perspective. Especially in whatever area of life you're having a problem. And it just seems like it's a problem that just is overwhelming. And there will never. There's never any way I can come out of this one. You have the power of Almighty God on your side. As a believer in Jesus Christ.

You have that strength and that source of power. That can and will overcome whatever it is that you're facing. He will bring you through it. He will destroy by the splendor of his coming. Overthrow with the breath of his mouth. Literally you know. I don't. What you've had in mind as far as the second coming. Now this is after the rapture. This is the rapture happens.

The lawless one is revealed. And he goes through his thing that we saw in Revelation. And then Jesus comes back. And he destroys this guy by the breath of his mouth. And overthrows him by the breath of his mouth. And destroys him by the splendor of his coming. I don't know how you picture that. But the last great battle. The battle of Armageddon. Is literally going to be a battle that happens in the valley of Megiddo in Israel.

The valley of Megiddo called Armageddon. The forces of Armageddon. The forces of Armageddon. The forces of Antichrist will gather. And the forces from the kings of the east and of the south will gather together. And there will be a remarkable battle. And whether or not it goes nuclear we don't know. But it's going to be a tremendous battle. A tremendous loss of life.

People die there. The blood's going to flow measurably as the Bible says up to the horse's bridle. And then all of a sudden Jesus is going to return. And the sky is going to open up. And it's going to be brilliant. And every eye is going to see him. All the cameras are going to turn on him. That are there. You know CNN is going to be there. Like the guy's probably still going to be there that was in Baghdad.

You know here we are now. Paul Arnett back in the valley of Armageddon. Maybe the guy's saved. I don't know. I'm sorry. Maybe he'll be with us. But somebody's going to be there from CNN. And they're going to be covering this. And all of a sudden the cameras are going to turn up. And the forces of the Antichrist and the forces of the kings of the east are going to see this.

And instead of shooting each other they're going to turn their guns up. You know. Because both of them are going to think this is the other side with a surprise attack. And what's Jesus going to do? I don't know if you've had the idea. If he's drawing a sword. And we're coming with him. So we'll all draw our swords. You know. Like in some of the movies that you see today.

Everybody draws a sword. And that's so impressive. Camelot. You know. And all they draw their swords. And they're just. Wow. Lee. That's not how it's going to be. Whom he overthrows with the breath of his mouth. Jesus is going to go. Done. It's over. No battle. You know. It's done. That's it. Now whether. The sword of the spirit. We see him in Revelation. And the picture that John gives us is a vision of him.

And out of his mouth comes a sword. A double edged sword of the spirit. Which is the word of God. So. Whether. He does just go poof. Or over. Or ixnay. Or out of the pool. Or whatever. It's. It just is that easy. And it's done. It's over. There is. No. Major. Battle. At the end. And that's why this is so exciting. Whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth.

And destroy. By the splendor of his coming. Now the word splendor there in the Greek. Is the word epiphany. Epiphany. And it means literally the shining forth. The shining forth. Our God is a holy consuming fire. That means that. You can't. You know. You can't just walk up to these grass fires. And just walk up and stand there. Because you get about 20 feet away.

And depending on the size of the grass fire. Even. Even back several yards. And you can feel the heat. Rolling off of that grass fire. So you can no more just walk up and stand next to a grass fire. Any more than you can walk into the presence of God. Because our God is a consuming fire. His holiness. He is so pure. You look into a pure cut diamond. It's white.

It's just a brilliant white. Showing forth the purity. There's no little. Brown flecks in the cuts of the diamond. It's just pure. It's white. It's brilliant. You almost can't look at it through that little thing very long. Well that's the way our Lord is. Our Lord is. He is so pure and holy. That he is so brilliant. It's just such a brilliant pureness of light.

That it's a consuming fire. And it will consume anything in its presence that isn't holy as well. That's why we can't go into his presence apart from Christ. There's no flesh that can inherit the kingdom of God. Our flesh can't inherit. We couldn't. Even if God said boy I really like you Mark. I'd like for you to come up here. But you can't. The minute you would you'd be gone.

Vaporized. Nothing left. Because in my flesh dwells no other thing. In my flesh it's corruptible and sin. My flesh has to be transformed. It has to put on immortality for me to see God in my body. I have to be transformed. Now when we come to Christ. When you come to Christ. When Jesus makes himself plain to you. The Holy Spirit's prepared your heart. And you come to that point where you say yes to the Lord.

He gives you. He imparts to you himself. His very. Nature. And the person of the Holy Spirit. You have God dwelling in you. So your spirit is made alive. You are made holy. Made righteous. Your spirit can dwell in the presence of his spirit. But our flesh is still corruptible. That's why we're waiting for that time when the Lord calls us. And we're transformed in the moment.

In the twinkling of an eye. When this mortal puts on immortality. Because we can then dwell in his presence. Until that time our flesh can't do that. It has to be changed. Now this is one of the things. That's exciting to me. About our Christian walk. And about understanding what this means. As far as overthrowing this guy. With the splendor of his coming. God didn't give you today.

Just so you could go out today. And go you know. Well what do I have to do today? I can go for a picnic. Or I can go for a walk. Or I can go home and fret about my bills. Or I can go home and fight with the family. Or I can go watch the grass grow. There isn't any more. Any grass. It's all burned up. I can go watch the dirt blow across the road. You know whatever.

He didn't give you today for that reason. He gave you today for two reasons though. One is to get to know him better. And draw closer to him. And two is to tell other people about him. Those are the two reasons he gave you today. To get to know him better. And to tell other people about him. To live your relationship with him. Before other people. Now in getting to know him better.

An exciting thing happens. You and I are being transformed. Second Corinthians chapter 3. Tells us that day from day to day. As we behold him with faces unveiled. We reflect the Lord's glory. And are being transformed into his likeness. With ever increasing glory. Which comes from the Lord who is spirit. Let me translate. I mean even though that's in NIV English.

It's still huh. Every day the closer you and I get to the Lord. The more we learn about him. It increases that desire to know more about him. To be with him. It increases our understanding of his desire to be with us. He becomes more real than just some figure in the Bible. That is unapproachable. The more you learn of him. The more your mind is conformed into his image.

The more you learn of him. The more you're realizing he's coming into relationship with you. The more he does that. The more you yield to him your life. To the person of the Holy Spirit. The more you do that. He in essence is burning off the edges. He's burning off the unholiness. It's like an artisan who takes a piece of clay. Or who takes some metal that needs to be hardened.

Let's take the potter who has some clay. He doesn't just stick it into a 1200 degree oven. He puts it in and he begins to build. He builds up the heat. And gradually builds up the heat on that piece of pottery. So that it gradually begins to strengthen. If he stuck it into a 1200 degree oven all at once it would explode. It couldn't take the heat. First Corinthians chapter 3 tells us that there's a time coming when you and I as believers

will stand before the Bema Seat of God. We'll stand before his judgment seat. Now not to be judged as to whether or not we stay in heaven or go to hell. Because that's been determined through our faith in Christ. But now we'll stand before the Bema Seat to receive rewards as to whatever's done in the world. What's done in the body. And how does that testing happen?

How does that determine? Well first Corinthians 3 says it will be as will be tried by fire. Our works are going to be tried by fire. Now Isaac Erfraid is a comedy group that was back several years and they had a real neat skit on their tape where you could hear it in the background and it's sweeping up the dust. And maybe that's an idea of how you have is how God's going to test your works.

Let me give you another one. You are described as his vessel. He is the potter. We are the clay and he's molding us and making us. Now as you come to that understanding as a believer from that point on you have an opportunity to yield yourself to the potter. And as you yield yourself to the potter day by day in your walk you're in essence letting him bring you gradually into his presence.

Letting him bring you along and turn the heat up a little bit here and mold you and let this sit and harden. And bringing you a little further and the heat goes up and it chips off some of these edges over here. And brings you a little further and you're yielding to him and he works this in and he begins to put this design on and it begins to get a little harder and he brings you a little further a little closer to him and you get to know him more and the pain is there but it really doesn't bother you anymore because you're coming closer and closer to him and he's burning off the rough edges so that finally when he says mark up my presence you're standing in his presence you don't just go you know it's that final stuff burns off this final

flesh burns off. You're standing there in his presence thank you Lord man I've been waiting for this I've been I've been going through that day by day as your glory increases in me you're burning off those edges and when we're there the transition is not going to be that great but there are some who came to Christ and go thank you Lord you know and then boom I'm off back into the world and occasionally I come back and go howdy God you know a partner upstairs and all that stuff and then you go back into the world and you're just heaping on the dung of the world and there's going to be an instance when God goes into my presence and you're going to be in the all-consuming fire presence of God and you're going to go and you're going

to go not much left and you're going to be there as first Corinthians says first Corinthians three says though they'll get there but there'll be the smell of smoke it's like there's not a whole lot left you made it but there's not a whole lot there to lay before the Lord and thank him for doing that work in your life see that's what we as believers have an opportunity to do if you'll take it God's given you today for that opportunity to draw closer to him and to let him live in your life. Live through you into the lives of others and to draw a little closer to that holiness because one of these days you and I are going to stand in his presence and this is how he's going to overthrow this may be the one of the reasons why the Antichrist and all his

armies aren't going to be doing anything you'd be able to do anything because the heavens are going to open and Jesus is going to be there and his brilliance is going to shine forth and back in chapter 1 verse 10 we saw that on the day that he comes to be glorified in his holy people remember if you remember if you were here with us on that one we talked about that that that doesn't mean we're just going to be glorified in his holy people we're just going to reflect his glory but it's actually going to fill us and we're going to be like the filament of a light bulb and we're going to be glowing with that glory I mean you will not believe the spectacle that's going to be in the sky yes every eye

is going to see it it's going to be megawatt bulbs up there man arc light you know and they're going to go you're going to be nothing left as the splendor of God reveals himself that's exciting that's exciting gives you a desire to want to move closer to him today you know Lord I just want to be closer and I want to draw near burn off the junk so it doesn't explode. When I'm in your presence so that I have this life to lay at your feet at that time and say thank you God verse 9 the coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles and signs and wonders now we've just had this example of the Lord's coming now this is contrasting with here comes the coming

of the lawless one first this this one who is coming it says in accordance with the work of Satan. That means this guy this lawless. When once the church is removed this guy is going to be revealed in the way that Satan operates Satan's MO Satan's modus operandi which he is a liar he's been a liar from the beginning he's deceitful he he bases everything that he does on on the spectacular because he was the anointed angel that covered God's glory he was the angel that stood in the presence of God's glory before he was booted out of heaven. And so there's three terms used here that I want you to notice as far as is in effect with this.

Revealing of the lawless one in verse 9 he's going to be he's going to come in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles signs and wonders miracles signs and wonders the word miracles there denotes the cause of the miracle the power behind it so it's going to come and it's going to look good but the power behind it is going to be the power of Satan. The word signs there points to the significance that lies behind the miracle you see God used miracles to identify and so the sign the signs that will be used at this particular time are going to seek to identify this guy as Messiah this is the one this is the guy that you've been waiting for now we all sit here and we know this is coming we think how

could people be deceived hey look at our country look at the people in office in our country look at who we've elected the lead us and the direction they're leading us we're going down the tubes we're going away from biblical Christianity in our country so some guy coming up and saying all these kinds of things and doing tremendous demonstrations of power even though they're inherently from Satan are going to give signs that this guy knows what he's doing watch him then the word wonders the word wonders indicates an abnormal nature and the astonishment they produce people are going to go wow man you that have seen David Copperfield ain't seen nothing yet I mean David Copperfield can make the space shuttle

disappear this guy can make entire entire continents disappear he's got things coming that are going to just mystify the world. The world. Now the reason this is important to look at miracles signs and wonders is because those are the same three terms used in Acts chapter 2 verse 22 to point to the miracles of Christ who came in miracles and signs and wonders it's the same three terms that are used in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 4 to designate the fact that the church has been established with many signs and wonders and miracles wrought by the hands of the apostles you see miracles alone never prove that a man is sent from God and there's going to be a lot more stuff coming on the scene.

You're a future even before this guy comes as part of the preparation and you're going to hear of things but miracles alone never prove that a man is sent from God Warren Wiersbe says that a man's message and his character must also be considered a man's message and his character must also be considered character is supposedly going to be a big issue in this election I hope it is I hope people follow that John the Baptist was a man sent from God John chapter 1 verse 6 and yet John did no miracle John 10 41. Nicodemus. Nicodemus came to Jesus in the middle of the night and one of the first things he said to Jesus was we know that you are from God because no man could do what you do except

he come from God in other words he was saying the miracles the signs the wonders no man could do any of that except he come from God and Jesus didn't go yeah I know the miracle man he said hey unless a man's born again he'll never see the kingdom of God forget that stuff God said you must be born again that's the important thing and then he engaged him in the conversation about how that happened. You see miracles and signs and wonders you may be praying for a miracle to happen you may be praying for a healing or praying for something and that's great we are to do that but God is God whether you see it or not God is all powerful whether he demonstrates that to you in the form of a miracle or not and whether he does or not the importance of our

life is that we need to be drawing closer and closer to him letting him set us and burn off the edges as we're coming closer and closer into his presence because these people are going to be deceived. By miracles. Signs and wonders they'll have no knowledge of the word of God they'll have no knowledge of the things that God has spoken they're just going by what they see people quibble back and forth about whether these in NIV it says counterfeit miracles people quibble back and forth about whether these miracles are going to be real in other words will this guy be able to heal or will it just be phony hey who knows it's going to fool everybody he's going to deceive who's he going to deceive verse 10 every sort of evil that deceives

those who are perishing. Those who are perishing are the ones that are going to be deceived and why are they perishing it goes on to say because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Hold your finger here go back with me to John chapter 3 for just a minute John chapter 3 is where we're going but in John's gospel Jesus calls Satan the father of lies the father of lies and I want to ask you this morning as you're turning and you may be a Christian be a strong Christian. But are you living in areas of lies in your own life is there any area in your own life that you are being deceptive into others because you really don't want them to know about this particular part of your life.

We're supposed to walk in truth we're supposed to be able to walk in the abundance of life that God has given to us and if we don't I mean if we're deceptive if we're walking in deception if we are propagating a lie then we've grabbed on to the lie. Jesus says here that or Paul says that these who are perishing are those who refuse to love the truth and so be saved John 3 you know verse 16 but let's read it again anyhow. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not be perishing is literally the verb tense but shall be having eternal life for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him whoever is believing in him is not condemned.

So if you're believing in him you don't stand condemned. But whoever is not believing in him or is not believing in him is not condemned. So if you're believing in him you don't stand condemned. But whoever is not believing in him right now stands condemned already because he is not believed in the name of God's one and only son. So we're not waiting for death.

We're not waiting for some curtain to come down or go up and finally decide who is and who isn't you know if you are believing you are saved you have eternal life. If you have not believed if you are not currently believing in him then you are perishing and who is going to be back in 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 deceived by these miracles and signs that's. perishing, who refuse to love the truth and so be saved. Now who sends this delusion? There's God's

going to send the delusion. I just said it. They perish because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason, verse 11, God sends them a powerful delusion. There's a great delusion coming. The perpetrator of the lie, who's going to set up the man of lawlessness. And people are going to be deceived because they are going to believe a great delusion that is sent by God.

Now you can read this and go, wow, God sends evil? Listen, you go back to the Old Testament, you find that there are several times where God sent a spirit to torment Saul. God sent a lying spirit to deceive the king of Judah and the king of Israel into going into battle, in a battle against Assyria that they shouldn't have gone into. Does God have lying spirits up here and deceiving spirits? And he goes, hey, deceiving spirit down there. Is God a harborer of good

and evil at the same time? No. Go back to Job and we get that example of the angels of God came before God and Satan came along with them. This has the idea of the evil angels came before God to present to God what they'd been doing. Now, whether or not they do that literally in a practical sense or whether or not God with his omniscience, he just knows and he's doing it in the spiritual realm in a way

that we could never conceive of. We don't know. But he's revealed to us that there is a way that they have to present themselves to him. And they want to do things. Satan wanted to do stuff to Job and God said, huh? Satan said, you got a hedge about him. You're protecting him. But I'd like to do this. And God said, huh? This far, no further. Can't do any more

than that. So God is restraining. So see it this way. Is God restraining? God is literally restraining this delusion. He's holding it back. But there's a point in time coming when he's going to say, OK, go ahead. He's going to release it and literally send into the world the delusion so that the people will believe a lie. You see, if you refuse God long enough, God is

bringing the truth before you. And yet if you refuse God long enough, he'll give you what you want. It'll destroy you, but he'll give you what you want. You see, there's I don't know if you've ever known this or not. One of the first words you need to teach your kids is no, please do. See, in all kinds of disobedient kids out in the world. And it's a sad testimony to the church when

kids run and do whatever they want to do and parents let them do it. So teach your kids some disobedience, but teach them the proper understanding of the word no. See, there's two meanings to the word no. I don't know if you knew that or not. There's God says to us, no, and he's not doing that to condemn us. He's not doing that to condemn us. He's not doing that to condemn us.

He's saying, you don't need this. This will hurt you. So no. Oh, please, God, please, please. I want to have a God. Please, please. I need, I need her. I need him. I need it. I need that. And God says, no, because it'll hurt you. That's one side of no. Other side of no is found in the book of James. No good thing will he withhold from those who walk with him. So when God says no to this,

he's not holding back anything that you need. You don't need it because no good thing will he withhold from you. If you're walking with him, you can trust that you can know that. So teach your kids the meaning of the word no, as hopefully you will. Learn it yourself. Me too. But there is a point in time where when God says, no, no, I'm holding it back. I'm holding it back. And we keep saying, I want it. I want it. I want it.

That God finally goes, okay. And he releases it. Chuck Smith, in one of his tapes, I've heard him say several times that one of the ways that God punishes adulterers is to give them each other. You know, they think, oh boy, I want this person. I want them. God's going, okay. Who sends them a powerful delusion, verse 11, so that they will believe the lie, so that they will

believe the lie. So that they will believe the lie. So that they will believe the lie. So that they go back to Genesis chapter three, Eve standing there at the tree to which she's been lured by the serpent. And the serpent in effect tells her, you can't trust God. Yea, half God said, God does not really love you. If God loved you, he'd give you X, whatever. God, you must not love me. You know,

I've been praying and praying for this house, or I've been praying and praying for this money, or I've been praying and praying for this husband or wife. You just must not love me. And that's the lie that Satan used on Eve. Well, half God said, no, God knows. The day that you eat of this tree, you'll be like him. You'll be able to know good from evil. God knows that if you do this thing, that you get your own choices. You are God. You can

determine your own future. That's the lie. God does not really love you enough. So you got to take matters into your own hands. You have to settle the situation. That's the lie. You deserve it. You are your own God. You shape your own destiny. This God out here, he doesn't exist. He really doesn't love you. You can do it. God within you, come forth and go claim these things. That's the lie. It's perpetrated by the

father of lies who was booted out of heaven for wanting to be God. And now he's come to earth and he's deceiving others, telling them that they in turn can be God. You see in that God appeals to our own flesh. He appeals to our own pride. He appeals to our own ego. Paul says in Romans chapter one, verse 25, that those who follow after that exchange the truth of God for the lie. And

they worshiped and served the creation of God. And they worshiped and served the creation of God. Rather than the creator. And God will use the very evil that man desires. He will use that as an instrument to punish them for their sins. Just like Pastor Chuck said in that statement. Proverbs chapter five, verse 22 says that the evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him and the cords of his

sin hold him fast. If you're involved in anything that you know you shouldn't be in, if you are in an area where you are being deceptive or lying, you are ensnared by that. It has you bound. And Jesus came that you might have life. And you might have life. And you might have life. And you might have that more abundantly. That those cords be burned off as you come into his presence. A brother

shared with me in between services when we had talked at first service about the consuming power of God and drawing near to God burns off the edges. How that's exampled in Daniel with the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who are thrown into the fiery furnace heated seven times hotter than it normally was. And they looked in and these guys were dancing around. They came out and the only thing that had been burnt off was their bonds. The things that had them bound. A picture

of the fire of the presence of God. The only thing that you lose is the bondage when you come into his presence. Our evil deeds have us bound. They hold us fast. That's the lie. The lie here also probably refers back to verse four where this guy is going to sit himself in the temple proclaim himself to be God. That's the ultimate manifestation of the lie that we talked about earlier. Satan in

the flesh. Like Jesus. Like God in the flesh. Satan is going to seat himself in this personage on the throne in God's temple and say, I am God. That is the lie. And he will at that point blame God's people for all the things that are going wrong in the world and seek to incarcerate and to destroy them. Israel and the believers in Jesus Christ at that time. And the plans for that are already being prepared. The areas where it is really God and

the lovers of God who are causing all the problems. This is already the mindset becoming the mindset of people in our culture in this country. You know, it's interesting that they label the terrorists who blow up stuff as fundamentalists. They label the terrorists who blow up stuff as fundamentalists so they can tie it back to their religion. And so this destruction was done by

Islamic fundamentalists. And the reason they did that is because of their faith. It's what they believe. Well, there's a whole lot of Muslims who aren't tied to that. But there's militant Muslims who do that kind of thing. But it's interesting that they use the idea of fundamentalists to tie it back to their faith because now you're hearing that in terms of Christians in this country. Who

shot that abortion doctor? Oh, it was Christian fundamentalists. Pat Buchanan is a fundamentalist. You're going to hear that this election. Tied to religion as being a bad kind of thing. It's interesting that in our federal government, and this has been in the paper already, so it's nothing coming from wacko world. This is stuff that's already been in print. The federal government,

the federal enforcement agencies, because of the shooting of the abortionists and the Waco and the Oklahoma City bombing and the militias that are out there, they're having, you know, the big thing is stop this before it happens. Well, how do we stop it? Well, we've got to find out who these people are. So they don't do this kind of thing. Well, how do we find out who these people are? Well, we've

got to define what a terrorist is and what a cult is. Well, this is actually what they're hammering out in our federal government as defines a cult, a religious cult. Here's four main definitions of a religious cult. Follow this. Number one, excessive preoccupation with the Bible. Talk about the Bible all the time. Live by the Bible. Carry a Bible with them wherever they go. Excessive preoccupation

with the Bible. Number two, excessive preoccupation with the second coming of Christ. Preoccupied with that. Looking for it all the time. Third, they homeschool their children. Fourth, they believe that Pastor Eddin is just around the corner. Hey, welcome to Calvary Chapel. We are politically incorrect. Somebody shared with me that there's actually a bookstore in the area that doesn't

like to stock second coming and rapture type books because they don't like to talk about it. They don't, you know, they want to keep their focus off of it. They wanted to go to a church that doesn't emphasize the coming of Christ. Listen, you can't go through the New Testament without that's on every page. You can't go through our study in Thessalonians. It's in every chapter.

It's on every page. We're looking for the glorious appearing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He's coming back. That's the hope. That's the hope that I have. I mean, is there a revival coming? Praise God, I hope so. It just means we get more of the message out to people before the Lord comes back. But my hope is in the soon appearing of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And I live by that. When tragedy strikes, I go, thank you, Lord. This isn't going to go on much longer. Soon we're going to be in your presence. When I'm in pain, it's got to either take it away or take me home. I want to be in your presence. I'm longing for that. I'm not psycho. This isn't a cult. That's how that spirit of lawlessness is setting the preparations for all of this that's happening.

That's the lie that's coming. The truth, of course, is Jesus Christ. He is the truth. He is the way. He is the life. Those who do not believe, his own gospel says, John's gospel says, they're condemned already because they haven't believed. Listen, if you haven't committed your life to Christ, then you are really set up for the lie. And the intensity of its preparation are going to be more and more in the coming weeks and months until the Lord comes.

I urge you. I encourage you. Don't wait. Commit your life to him so that you can start drawing closer to him now and let him burn off some of those edges so that when he does call you into his presence, you don't just go. Let him shine through you so that as you're around other people, they'll see that glory of God in you and they'll glorify your father who's in heaven.

Let's stand again.