2 Thessalonians 2, 1. Now we
beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and by our gathering together unto him, 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. Let no man deceive you by any
means, for that day shall not come except there come a falling
away first, and that 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. Let's pray. Father,
bless us as we look into this, Lord. Bless our studies. Bless
this time. Be with us. Be present with us,
Lord, to teach and give light for understanding. May we see how that you are all
in all. May we praise your name for your
mercy and for the life that you have given
us to see who you are and what you've done for us. Bless us,
Lord, in Christ's name, amen. Paul says, we beseech you by the coming of our Lord Jesus
It's interesting in this passage, it seems strange maybe that Paul
would be reassuring this church by saying that Christ is not
going to be coming soon. You would think it would be the
other way around, that he would be giving comfort in the fact
that the Lord will be coming soon, but he's saying that there
are things that will have to happen that will happen before
he comes and to not be troubled by believing that that day is
immediate. So that seems very strange, but
this was necessary for one simple reason. False preachers and those
who misuse the scriptures for the sake of their own notoriety,
their own gain. You know how in our day, in my
lifetime, at least two names I could mention, have done the
same thing. They've said, oh, the Lord's
coming back on this day and everybody, you know, you need to get rid
of your, all your earthly goods and quit your job and come live
on this mountain and stare up into the sky. And Paul is reassuring
them that look, that's not scriptural. It's not advisable. It's error for their own gain
for, you know, they write books about it and make a lot of money
and they, get notoriety for their sensationalism. It's just pride
is what it is. I know, you know, this that can't
be knowable, but I know it. And as I say, we've seen this
at least a few times. These fraudsters convince people
to quit their jobs and sell all their stuff and do stupid things.
That is not the message of scripture. First of all, this deception
is repeated throughout history in spite of the clear teaching
of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's a reason why the Lord
said what he did about this, and it's typical of all blasphemy. Every lie that religion tells,
that Satan tells, is in direct contradiction to the truth. It's
just the opposite. If the Bible says it's not of
the will of man, religion says it's of the will of man. If the
Bible says that you are a captive of Satan, and deliberately uses
the word will in that statement, that you are a captive of Satan
and that you do what you do at his will, then man will say,
we have a free will. It's just exactly the opposite
of what the scripture says. And this is no exception. If
somebody says, I know the day, well, looky here. The scripture
says, no man knoweth the day. It's just exact, listen to what
the Lord said in Matthew 24, 35. Heaven and earth shall pass
away, but my words shall not pass away. Let's turn over there
with me if you would while I'm reading it, because I want to
read a fairly lengthy passage here. Verse 35 of Matthew 24,
Matthew 24, 35. Excuse me. Heaven and earth shall
pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of that day
and hour knoweth no man. No, not the angels of heaven,
but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were,
so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the
days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered
into the ark and knew not until the flood came. They didn't know
when it was coming, they didn't believe it was even coming. Same
now, same with the Lord's return. And took them all away, so shall
also the coming of the Son of Man be. Then shall two be in
the field, the one shall be taken and the other left. two women
shall be grinding at the mill, and the one shall be taken, and
the other left." Notice that the one that's taken, the one
that is the Lord's, that he redeemed on Calvary and comes to possess
that purchased possession that he purchased on Calvary with
his own precious blood, she ain't living on a mountain staring
up at the sky, she's grinding at the mill. She's doing what
she did every other day. but she's doing it with the expectation
in her heart, as we'll see when we read the rest of it, that
the Lord can come at any minute. And we look for his coming, but
not at a particular time. He said, grind at the mill, be
in the field, be out working your field, and you'll be taken. Verse 42, watch therefore, for
you know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that
if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief
would come, he would have watched and would not have suffered his
house to be broken up. If a thief calls me up and says
at 2 a.m. I'm going to be over there and
I'm going to steal all your stuff, I'm going to be up on the roof
with my pistol. He's not coming in. Therefore, be ye also ready Readiness
doesn't mean that you know when. Readiness means you don't know
when. For in such an hour as you think
not, the Son of Man cometh. And so listen to this beautiful
question in conclusion to that thought. Who then is a faithful
and wise servant whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household
to give them meat? In due season you see what our
business is as believers Feed my sheep Visit my sheep Welcome
my sheep That's serving the lord doing
something for his sheep His household is the household
of the saints It's his people his sheep Our priority is the church, his
church in this world. Preaching the gospel. That's
what sheep are fed with is the truth of Christ. He said, I am
the bread. I am the living water. So be about that business. Look
at verse 46. Blessed is that servant whom
his Lord, when he cometh, shall find on a mountaintop staring
up at the sky. No. Be about the business of
the ministry. The business that he's given,
the commission that he's given us in this world. Not blessed is the man that quits
his earthly business, but is going about that with the constant
expectation. but the Lord could come back
any minute. He's also clearly stated here
that if a man claims to know the day or the hour, he's lying
because no man knoweth. And yet, as with all blasphemy,
what does man do? Right in the face of God's plain
revelation, in defiance of God's truth, they make these blasphemous
statements for their own gain, for their own notoriety. Nobody
knew who those men were until they said, the Lord's coming
back on this day and I've got it all figured out. Look at this
scripture and that scripture and that other scripture. The
way people come up with this idiocy of predicting the day
is by taking a scripture here, a scripture there, and cobbling
together a theory of some time, cracking the secret code of the
Bible. That's not how God reveals himself or anything to sinners. The message of scripture is shouted
from every page and paragraph. It's not unclear. This book concerns
God's son, Jesus Christ. These are written that you might
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing
you might have life through his name. They're not written so
that you can crack some weird code. I'm gonna save all these
people a lot of time who are scouring the scriptures. You
know, they'll take every seventh word of every seventh page. Because
seven is the number of protection and they'll pick out those words
and say look what that says It doesn't say anything I'll save
them all the trouble. I've cracked the secret code
of Scripture and here it is This is the record that God has given
to us eternal life And this life is in his son Those who have life It was a
gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And it's
the unspeakable gift of His precious Son. God hath given to us His
Son. He's given us eternal life, and
this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life.
And he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. That's the message of this whole
book. That's the record that God has
put down on paper. And that's it. You know, I've heard people say
there's a lot more in the scriptures than Christ. Read them again
until the day star appears. Till God gives you light to see
his son. And listen, we read that this
is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this
life is in his Son, he that hath the Son hath life. He that hath
not the Son of God hath not life. You know what the next verse
says? These things have I written unto you. He wrote the Bible,
he wrote part of the Bible. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God. Why have you written them? That
you may know that you have eternal life and that you may believe
on the name of the Son of God. Wait a minute, you just said
we believe. You see what this book is? It's not a code book. You're not gonna figure out things
that God has not revealed in plain, simple, everyday language. Because in simple, plain, everyday
terms, God has revealed his son. And those that believe on his
son, you know, while we look into the word of God, that we
might believe on his son. Is that emphatic enough? From
the scripture now, this is not my opinion. Would it shock you to hear me
say that I don't care when the Lord comes back? Is that shocking? A little bit.
I have to qualify that a little bit, because I want him to come
back right now. And in that sense, I care. But
you know what's more important than that? Whenever he has purposed to come
back to this earth and receive us unto himself, whenever that
is, whenever he purposed, unless he purposed to do it now, than
what he purposed is better than now. Would you agree with that? That's why I don't care when. What matters to me and what I
want to know more about is who it is that's coming for me. That
I may know him and the power of his resurrection. What is
most precious to me about his return is his promise that when
he does, he will receive me unto himself. Not that I might have
a mansion on the hilltop, but that where he is, there may I
be also. That's glory, that's glory. And
I know he's coming. Now on that note, look back at
verse one of our text and look particularly how Paul describes
the Lord's coming. He describes it this way, our
gathering together unto him. He's gonna gather all of his
sheep into his bosom. The son of God at his coming
is gonna gather us as a hen doth gather her chicks and not one
of his sheep shall be lost. You know, we're given that as
the reason why he hasn't come back yet. Not one of his sheep
shall be lost. That's why he hasn't already
come back. He said that in 2 Peter 3 8. Turn over there with me. Let's look at this language again.
This is familiar, but listen to this in the light of our scripture
this morning. He's going to gather us all together. Those who have died in the Lord
and those who are alive and remain. all that he has ever saved. The
ancient bones of those in the Old Testament that believed on
the Savior looked for his coming then, they looked for his first
coming. And we here today look for his second coming. We all
of his sheep have always looked for him. And those bones, did
he not show Ezekiel his power in that regard? exceeding dead
dry bones, but they began to rattle and bone came upon bone
and flesh came upon those bones and he breathed into them the
breath of life. He's going to gather every one of his sheep
together in that day. And listen, why hasn't he come
back already? You think, boy, it would have
been good if he had come back, you know, listen to 2 Peter 3
8, but beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing. Those that
try to predict and, you know, there are signs and this and
that, and we're gonna predict the day. You're ignorant. Don't
be ignorant of this, among many other things, that one day is
with the Lord as a thousand years. It hasn't been a long time to
Him. He inhabiteth eternity. It's the blink of an eye to Him.
But also now, you know that song, God looks at us from a distance
or something. A thousand years is as a day. Time passes and God inhabiteth
eternity. This is already done in the mind
of God. It's already done. It's all accomplished. Everything that he's accomplishing
now is accomplished in eternity. But also every day is as a thousand
years to the Lord. He knows every minute. He's not
watching this earth from a distance. He dwells within his people.
He meets with his people when we meet together in his name.
A day, one day is as a thousand years to him because in such
minute detail he has purposed and he carries out every, what
we call coincidence, every situation, every circumstance, it's all
his providence. And so we sit here and say, well,
it's been so long since he came. We don't know what we're talking
about. Listen, verse nine. The reason that the Lord hasn't
come back yet is because he is not slack concerning his promise
as we are, as some men count slackness, but is long suffering
to usward. Who do you think usward is? Mankind? No, believers. He's talking about
the day of the Lord. He's talking about those who
are looking for the Lord. Be not ignorant of this one thing,
beloved, Brethren, he's long suffering to us, we're
not willing that any should perish. He hasn't elect people, he's
not coming back till every one of them saved. He could do that
today, he could save the last one today, all of the final ones
today if he wanted to. But he's not gonna come back
till they're saved. That's fine with me if it's today or 10 years
from now or 100 years from now. Because I kind of love some of
them. I kind of love a few of them that would perish if he came
back today. But they're all gonna come to
repentance. But look at verse 10, look how beautiful. But the
day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. This is
what we read a while ago. In the which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat. This is the rest of our text. The earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in
all holy conversation and godliness? Seeing that all of this is gonna
be dissolved, should we be living for all this? Should our purpose
in life be to gain a bunch of this that's gonna be dissolved? Or should we look to Him who
gave us everything we have? Looking for and hasting unto
the coming of the day of God. wherein the heavens being on
fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with a fervent
heat. We look for the Savior's return
because we look for the Savior, not when. We expect that he could
return any day at any time. You don't prepare for a thief
for the eventuality that a thief might break into your house because
you know when he's coming. You prepare because you don't
know when he's coming. Paul said there would be a falling
away before the Lord returns. Now we know that in Paul's day,
all of the religion of the Jews was false. The synagogues, they called that
the worship of God. They didn't know who God was
until God sent Paul to some of them and preached the gospel.
They were all anti-Christ. They despised the Son of God.
They crucified the Lord of glory. So that's not the falling away.
That was already true. You can't fall away from somewhere
you've never been to begin with. Many religious people look at
the terrible state of this godless world and they say, well, there's
been a great falling away. They say, well, the Lord must
be coming soon, because look at the falling away. Look at
Paul's day. There were just a handful that believed. That's not the
falling away. The world being the world is
not the falling away. That doesn't make sense from the scriptures. This is
talking about among the true church of God. There shall be
a falling away. That doesn't mean that any man
or woman or child that truly knows the Savior can ever fall
away because our security is not our knowledge of Him or our
profession of Him, but His love for us. And that can't be lost. His love is eternal. That begun
a good work in somebody will finish it, will perform it, the
scripture says. But among those who believe the
gospel, there will be those who claim to believe on Christ and
seem to believe on Christ and are accepted by men as believing
on Christ, but it will be revealed that they have never believed
on Christ. There'll be a falling away in the church. There's always,
there's no falling away in the world. You can't fall away from
where you've never been. There's a falling away in the
church that's coming, I believe has come. Those who have even preached
the gospel for a time have fallen away, and others will fall away. The message of who? The message of Christ so subtly
becomes the message of what and how and when. The second that it's not the
person of Christ himself anymore, that's a falling away. When we become taken up with
how, you know, and why, we know some whys that he's revealed.
There's a lot he hasn't revealed that people seem obsessed with
and how. It leads to strifes of words
and contentions and envyings and railings and evil surmisings,
according to the scripture. The minute you find yourself
hinging the whole of your belief, and this is religion to a T,
they'll find one scripture and sometimes one word and they'll
hinge their whole belief on the meaning of a single word. And
when that happens, you've missed the forest for the trees. The gospel of God's Son is shouted
in all of the scriptures as from a mountaintop. And before the Lord returns,
the Antichrist shall be revealed, the architect says. And I know
it says man there, but it's wrong to think of Antichrist as one
man only. That's clear from scriptures.
In 1 John 2.18, John wrote this, little children, It is the last
time, and as you have heard, that Antichrist shall come, singular. But even now, he said, there
are many Antichrists. Whereby we know that it is the
last time. The spirit of Antichrist is satanic. What was Satan's message in the
garden? Think about it. The message in the Garden of
Eden was this, it's not up to God, it's up to you. God said this and he's left this
up to you. God determining this, in fact,
is not fair. It's not fair for God to determine
it, everything. You can decide, you have a choice. Where do you hear that message
now? Free will, man-centered, anti-Christ,
religion. That's anti-Christ. That's what
our text is talking about. What is the message of the gospel?
Christ's person, Christ's will, Christ's work. What's the message
of your average so-called church these days? You, your will, your
works. You know, we're told that in
Revelation 13, 18. Listen to this. This is a brief one verse. Remember what we just said now. You know this is right from experience,
much less from the scriptures. The message of the gospel is
Christ, his will, and his work. The message of religion is you,
your will, and your work. You listen to it. You, you, you. Herein is wisdom. Let him that
hath understanding count the number of the beast, for it is
the number of a man. And his number is 600, three
score, and six. The number of man. What's the message of Antichrist?
man, man. That's it. You're gonna serve
God or you're gonna serve yourself. You're gonna believe on God or
you're gonna follow your heart. You're gonna resign yourself
to his will or you're gonna trust your own will. You're gonna look
to his finished work of salvation or you're gonna go about establishing
your own righteousness. It's man, man, man. Hear him that hath wisdom, understand
that. I don't pretend to know anything
about when the Lord returns, but I can say without hesitation
that there is no reason in the scriptures, which there
wouldn't be any reason that mattered apart from the scriptures, but
there's no reason why he could not return right now. Look for his coming because of
who is coming. I thought of this verse of a
song that we sing, and I think it maybe It sums it up better
than I could. I know not when my Lord may come,
at night or noonday fair, nor if I'll walk the vale with him
or meet him in the air, but I know whom, I know whom I have believed.
and I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've
delivered unto him against that day. Whenever that day is, I
know him, I know who. That's enough. Revelation 22, 20, he which testifieth
these things saith, surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus. Amen, let's pray