If you'll find your seat, we'll
sing this morning to start out hymn number 158 from the hardback
hymnal, Come Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove. ♪ Come Holy Spirit, heavenly dove
♪ With all thy quickening powers,
Kindle a flame of sacred love. Look how we grovel here below. Fond of these earthly toys, our
souls how heavily they go. In vain we tune our formal songs. In vain we strive to rise. Hosannas languish on our tongues. And our devotion dies. At this poor dying rate Our love
so faint, so cold to Thee And Thine to us so great Come Holy
Spirit, heavenly dove With all thy quickening powers, come shed
abroad a Savior's love, and that shall kindle ours. Be seated, please. Good morning. I think me and Isaac Watts would
have got along really well. I love his hymns and that hymn
in particular expresses the frustrations that I feel with
myself over my inability to worship God as I ought and how dependent
we are that he would send the Holy Spirit in power to our cold
hearts. We're going to be in 2 Thessalonians
2 this morning. Let's ask the Lord's blessings. Our merciful heavenly Father,
Forgive us for our unbelief. Lord, warm our cold hearts. Lord, enable us by your spirit
to enter into worship. Worship that would be established
in the sure truth of your word and of your gospel and your Son,
our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, that you would enable us
by your Spirit to know these things in our hearts and to believe
them as we ought. Lord, we know that we'll never
be able to worship you as we ought as long as we're bound
to this old man. And so, increase our joy and
our hope and our anticipation for being made in thy likeness
and being satisfied when we see thee as thou art and are made
like thee. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Before we enter into our text
this morning, let us be reminded that God wrote his word for his
people. The unbeliever has no interest
in the truth of God's word. Let them who have ears to hear
hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches. So there are some sure rebukes
in our text this morning of a free will works gospel. But these rebukes are not given
to us so that we can look outside the church and have some spirit
of pride that we're not as they are because this spirit, this
spirit remains in us. The reason why we need to keep
hearing the gospel of God's free grace in the glorious person
and accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ is because
there's something in us that would constantly look somewhere
else. And so I pray that the Lord will
enable us this morning. to recognize this Antichrist
for who he is. I've titled this message The
Falling Away, The Falling Away. And we know that, I say we know,
I don't know, of a faithful gospel church that is more than a couple of generations
old in the world. Every generation of God's people
has had a witness. There have been faithful churches
all over the world in every generation. I think we might be very hard
pressed to find one anywhere in the world that is more than
a couple of generations old, which ought to speak fear to our hearts. The fact is that every faithful
gospel church has eventually fallen away. The gospel of man's
free will and of man's works have have found their way into
every gospel church. And we know that a little leaven
leavens the whole lump. And so we must be individually
and collectively on guard for anything that would be identified
here in our text as a man of sin. A man of sin is what the
Lord... This is not... Well, let's read
the chapter together and then we'll go back. Now, we beseech
you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and
by our gathering together unto him. This is our hope. and we
must be on guard against anything that would cause that not to
be. That you be not soon shaken in
mind or be troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter
as from us as that the day of Christ is at hand. Already in
the church there were There were men pretending to be spokesmen
for God that were writing letters and professing to have the Spirit
of God and going about planting seeds of doubt as to the accomplished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul said, you know, don't
be deceived by them. Let no man deceive you by any
means. For that day shall not come except
there come a falling away. And that's where the title of
this message comes from, a falling away. The word there is apostasy. Have we ever seen in the history
of the church more of a apostasy, more of a falling away than we
have today? and that the man of sin be revealed,
the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all
that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he as God
sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember you not that when I
was with you, I told you these things." Now, mind you, from
Acts chapter 17 that the Apostle Paul was only with these believers
for three weeks, but he had warned them even in those three weeks
of this eventual event. He had told them that when I
depart, as he told the elders in Ephesus in Acts chapter 20,
when I depart, grievous wolves are going to come in among you.
And they're gonna seek to draw disciples after themselves. And
there's going to be vulnerable men that will follow after them. So he's reminding them of that,
that he told them. Verse six, and now you know what
withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. God is
restraining. this falling away and not exposing
this man of sin yet until the revealed time. For the mystery of iniquity doth
already work. Only he who is now leadeth, who
now leadeth, and that word means to restrain, Who is it that is
restraining this evil? It's God. It's the Spirit of
God. He that is restraining this eventual
event will continue to restrain until that restraint is taken
out of the way. And then the full exposure of
this man of sin will be made clear to all. And verse eight, and then shall
that wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the
spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of
his coming, even him whose coming is after the working of Satan
with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish because they received
not the love of the truth that they might be saved. So the Lord
is contrasting the love of the truth and we know who that is. The Lord Jesus said, I am the
way, I am the truth and I am the life. There's no truth outside
of him. And to love Christ and to love a salvation that gives
to him all the glory. salvation that declares he did
all the work and he did it all by himself because they refused
to do that. For this cause God shall send
them strong delusion that they should believe and the little
word a there actually is the word thee Believe the lie. God sends a man a delusion, he
is deluded. And he will not be recovered
from that delusion unless the Lord removes that restraint from
him. So because they had no love for
Christ and for his work of salvation, because they wanted to sit on
the throne of God and take some credit for their salvation. Therefore, God gave them what
they wanted. He gave them the lie. He enabled
them to embrace this lie as if it was true. And they've embraced
it with all their hearts. There's no shame and there's
no restraint and there's no restriction to their their desire for this lie. What is the lie? Well, it's any
message of salvation that would deny Christ his glory and salvation. It's any message of salvation
that would add anything to the finished work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's the lie. The lie is that
man has a free will, that man can choose for himself. that
God's done his part and now it's time for you to do your part.
That salvation was an offer made by God to be accepted or rejected
by man. Now does man have a free will?
Well, yes and no. We exercise the freedom of choice
every day. Hundreds of times every day.
Maybe thousands of times, I don't know. We always choose that which
we have the greatest inclination for. We can never make a choice
against our will. That's not even, that's not possible. You can't choose against your
will. Your will is your choosing mechanism. And therein lies the
problem. Man has no desire for Christ
so he won't choose Christ, he won't desire Christ. He has no
interest in Christ. Why? Because he's been sent a
strong delusion. He's believed the lie. He's embraced
that lie. And so, he has no interest in
Christ. He won't choose, he won't come. And what did the Lord say about
those who have come? You did not choose me, I chose
you. I made you willing in the day
of my power. That's why the new birth in a
logical order, chronologically they happen simultaneously. The
new birth and faith happen at the same time. But in a logical
order, the new birth must happen before faith. God must birth us into the kingdom
of God by his spirit. That's what he said to Nicodemus.
He said, Nicodemus, you can't see the kingdom of God. You can't
perceive of it. You can't have any understanding
of it until you're born of the spirit. And the spirit's like
the wind. The Spirit has to birth you before you can believe, before
you can see. And so, what do we say? And all the Lord has to do is
leave us to ourselves because we all come into this world spiritually
dead. We all come into this world with
no desire for the things of God. The Lord doesn't have to do anything
for a man to go to hell. All he has to do is leave him
alone. The worst thing that God could ever do for you and for
me is leave us to ourselves. Lord, stop me. Lord, restrain
me. Lord, don't allow me to embrace the lie. Invade my heart. Have your way in my life. Eh. Look at verse 12, that they all
might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure
in unrighteousness. Now that doesn't mean that their
pleasure was necessarily just in indulging themselves in the
shameful, sinful behavior of the flesh. It means that they
took pleasure in their unrighteousness. They took comfort and hope in
what they did for the hope of their salvation. They had no
love for Christ and so that's what the Lord said to Nicodemus
also in John chapter 3. He said that light has come into
the world but men love darkness rather than light. Why? Because
their deeds are evil. What does light do? It exposes
men's deeds for what they are. It exposes what they think is
their righteousness, a decision that they've made for God or
a particular standard of living that they're achieving, a particular
level of obedience to the law of God that they're accomplishing.
That's their righteousness. That's the righteousness of the
natural man. And so, They have pleasure in unrighteousness. Romans chapter 10, they are ignorant
of the righteousness of God. Christ is the righteousness of
God. He's the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believe it. And because they're ignorant
of God's righteousness, they go about trying to establish
their own righteousness. And now he's saying that they
take pleasure in that unrighteousness. They boast in their accomplishments. They boast in what they've done
to earn God's favor and to be ready for that latter day when
the Lord shall appear. And we see that in what the Lord
said about the separating of the sheep and the goats. When
he said that the goats will say unto him, but Lord, but Lord,
we've done many wonderful works in thy name. Lord, we've, we've,
We've cast out demons in thy name. We've been serving you
all of our lives. And what does the Lord say? Depart
from me, you workers of iniquity. You see, what they thought would
measure up to God's requirements for salvation, the Lord calls
iniquity. They've fallen short. They don't
equal the requirements of God for salvation. That can only
be found in Christ. Verse 13. And before we move
on, let me remind you of what we said at the beginning. Is
this Pharisee not in our old man? Is this Philistine not part of
our old nature? Is this not the temptations that
we experience every day Self-righteousness, pride. Looking somewhere other than
the glorious person and accomplished work of Christ for the hope of
our salvation. Believing that somehow God is
going to have favor on us for some reason other than him. This
is why we need to hear the gospel, isn't it? because as long as
we're caring about this body of death, we're gonna have this
old man plaguing us. This is, well, how does he described
in this chapter? He's called the man of sin. He's
called the son of perdition. He says that he is God. He's called the mystery of iniquity. Now a mystery is something that
has to be revealed. And we are in constant need of
the Lord revealing to us that which is unequal to his requirements
for salvation. Lord, expose my sin. Lord, expose
my self-righteousness. David put it like this. He said,
Lord, forgive me of my presumptuous sins. So he's not talking about
just those things that are glaringly evil that were practiced in his
life. He's saying the hidden sins,
the sins that would cause me to presume upon you and to think
that somehow there's something in me that would merit your favor
outside of Christ. Lord, take that away. The mystery
of iniquity. He's called the wicked one. He's
called the one that works after the working of Satan. Oh, is
not Satan called the accuser of the brethren? What does Satan
use to accuse you of your sin? Does he not use the law? Does
he not take you back to the law? Does he not point out to you
that you couldn't be saved if you acted that way or said that
or thought that? And what is the temptation
at that point? To gin up your works. I'll do more. Rather than to
flee to Christ. What ought to be our response
to Satan when he accuses us of not keeping the law as we ought?
Oh, you haven't told half the story. I haven't kept the law ever. This is the falling away. keep me." Brethren, we are as
dependent upon God's grace now as we were before the Lord called
us and the more we grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ,
the more of this man of sin we see. This is not an individual
person, this is a spirit of works and free will. It is a message
of salvation that denies Christ his glory. Let me show you that. Turn with me to 1 John 2. 1 John 2. Now John wrote his epistles 50 years after the Apostle Paul
wrote this letter to the Thessalonians. And what did he say in the letter
to the Thessalonians? There must come a falling away
first. These messages that you've been
hearing that the Lord has already come or that there's some denial
of the gospel that these men are declaring, there must be
a falling away first. Well, 50 years later, look at
what the apostle Paul says. I mean, John, I'm sorry, in 1
John chapter two, Look with me at verse 18. Little children, it is the last
time, and as you have heard, that Antichrist shall come. Even now are there many Antichrists
whereby we know that it is the last time. So the falling away
now 50 years later has happened. And the Lord tells us here, there
are many antichrists. Antichrist is not a particular
world leader that's gonna take over the world and lead the whole
world into apostasy. Antichrist started in 100 AD. That's when John wrote this.
He says he's already among us. There's lots of antichrist. An
antichrist is anything that would deny Christ The fullness of his
glory and salvation. Anything that would add to the
finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ is anti-Christ. Anti-Christ. So this is the falling away.
And this is what the Lord is telling us to be on guard for. Don't entertain the thought. that your hope of salvation might
be found anywhere outside of the accomplished work and the
glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let the Lord increase
our love for the truth. As we grow in grace, we see more
and more of our need for grace, don't we? The Lord shows us more
and more of our sinful nature. and our need for the knowledge
of Christ. So, this man of sin, the son
of perdition, our passage tells us that he
opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that
is worshiped. If we ever think for a moment
that God needs anything from us, anything from us, we have
made him dependent upon us and set ourselves up on the throne
of God, have we not? So here's this man, here's this
sinful man, here's this son of perdition, here is the mystery of iniquity that
only those who have the Spirit of God can see. He sits in the temple of God
showing himself that he is God. Now, if you read commentators
on 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, everybody I've read without exception
has identified Rome, the Catholic Church, as this man of perdition. And I don't deny that. There's
any form, and I use this word Christianity very broadly and
very loosely, you understand that, but if there's any form
of Christianity anywhere in the world that is an unabashed, unapologetic
works of gospel, it is the Catholic Church and these things that
are identified. And she is the great whore of
Babylon, the city that's built on seven hills that's revealed
in the book of Revelation, she is that. She's the mother of
all harlots. She's got a whole lot of children.
And all the denominations of quote Christianity that were
birthed by her out of the Reformation are still holding on to parts
of what she believes. And so we see in the world today
in every form of what is called Christianity, a falling away. They've added to the finished work of Christ.
They've added to their love for the truth, their need for Christ. Christ is all and he's in all. And what I'm saying to you is
that all these forms of if there's ever been a falling away, we
live in that day. which gives me good reason to
hope and to believe that any day the trump of God will sound. Any day the dead in Christ will
be raised. Any day those of us that have
been left here on the earth will be caught together with them
and so shall we ever be with the Lord. This falling away has
taken place. Lord, don't let it take place
in my heart. and don't let it take place in our church. Lord,
keep us. Keep us looking to Christ alone
for all the hope of our salvation. He sitteth in the temple, shows
himself that he is God. He is known. by the power that
he is said to have to produce signs and lying wonders after
the working of Satan with all deceivableness of unrighteousness. Now, most of what happens in
religion is just emotionalism and smoke and mirrors when it
comes to performing miracles, but don't discount the fact that Satan
has powers to do things that are extraordinary. And what the Lord is saying,
don't be deceived by some supernatural manifestation of spiritual powers. Listen to the message. Listen
to the message. There's a lot of things that
Satan would do to prove himself to be a valid witness. The consequences of those who
follow him shall follow him in his perishing. God shall send
them a strong delusion. They shall believe the lie. They shall be damned who believe
not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. The Lord
shall consume them with the spirit of his mouth and destroy them
with the brightness of his coming. I don't want to have any part
of that. I don't want to have any part
of that. And I don't want you to have any part of that. This is a very
stern warning, isn't it? And now verse 13, but we are
bound to give thanks always to God for you brethren. Brethren, to be birthed from the same womb,
that's what that word means. It's a conjunction of two words.
And believers are birthed into the kingdom of God in the womb
of the gospel, in the womb of Christ's church. That faithful bride, who refuses to allow anything
to rob her husband of his glory in salvation. He gets all the
glory. He's done all the work. I'm resting
only in him. I got no place else to go. Beloved of the Lord, that's why
we can call, that's why we're brethren because It is the love
of God that's the first cause of our salvation. The scripture
says that he has loved us with an everlasting love. If the Lord
didn't place his love on us. This idea that God loves everybody
and God wants everybody to be saved and Christ died for it's
such a denial of the gospel. Jacob I've loved Esau I've hated.
He loves righteousness and he hates iniquity. and the judgment
of God is to get the wicked every day. Beloved of the Lord. How do I
know I'm beloved of the Lord? Because I can't find any hope
for my salvation anywhere outside of Christ and I look for it every
day. I am tempted to look constantly
somewhere else And the Lord stops me, and he restrains me, and
he reminds me, and he keeps bringing me back. And when I hear what
you're saying, pastor, I believe it. I believe it. Lord, help thou mine unbelief. Because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. You didn't have anything to do
with that. from the foundation of the earth,
from before time, before the world ever was, before the planets
were ever made, before the angels were created, when there was
nothing but God and eternity passed and a covenant of grace,
he chose a particular people in Christ. We didn't have anything
to do with that. Our salvation is all of grace. chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit. It was the Spirit of God that
opened the eyes of your understanding. It was the Spirit of God that
birthed you into the kingdom of God. It was the Spirit of
God that gave you faith to believe on Christ and to see these warnings. The mystery of iniquity is not
a mystery to you. You experience it and you've
seen it and you've been in it. You understand what's being said
here. And belief of the truth. You
believe God. You believe this is true, don't
you? You wouldn't have the Lord not made you to believe it. You'd
be just like everybody else you know. You wouldn't just be diverting
your attention away from Christ as you do. You'd be off the cliff. You'd be rejoicing in that truth. You would be taking pleasure
in your unrighteousness. You'd be trusting something that
you did for the hope of your salvation. And proudly so. You'd be doing to others what
your friends do to you. You'd be telling everybody what
you do for God and when you accepted Jesus and how you did what you
did in order for God to be able to save you. But you can't do that. Why? Because God's giving you a belief
in the truth. Where into he called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. You don't want to rob Christ
of his glory. And the longing of your soul
is to obtain the fullness of his glory. You're not having any hope of
standing before God on the day of judgment and saying, but Lord,
we did many things in your name, no. No, your hope is that the
Lord Jesus Christ will get all the glory for your acceptance
into heaven. Therefore, brethren stand fast. Here's the message. These are
the warnings and they're written only to God's people. Stand fast
in the liberty wherewith Christ has made you free and be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Don't go back to
the law. And hold the traditions. I looked up that word traditions,
the things that have been spoken that you had believed. Not traditions as we normally
think of traditions. All the apostate churches have
their traditions, don't they? This is the truth of the gospel
that you've believed and it's been declared unto you and that
you've heard. Which you have been taught, whether
by word or by epistle, Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself and
God and even our Father which hath loved us and hath given
us an everlasting consolation and good hope. An everlasting
consolation. Now you remember everlasting
doesn't mean it starts now and lasts forever. Everlasting means
it goes from everlasting to everlasting. That's what the word everlasting
means. And consolation means comfort. So when God says he's
given you an everlasting consolation, the comfort of your hope is founded
in a gospel that goes from eternity past to eternity future and Christ
gets all the glory. That's your hope. And it's a
good hope. Because if there's any part of
your salvation that's dependent upon anything else, You have
reason not to be comforted unless you're lying to yourself. You
have reason to be afraid that you didn't do enough, you didn't
do it right. But this everlasting consolation
and this good hope is through grace. Grace. We didn't do anything to earn
grace, it is a free gift. Comfort your hearts and establish
you in every good work and word. And that's what comfort does.
Comfort establishes us, causes us to desire to follow after
Christ, to love him. Let's take a break.