Let us turn to God's Word again,
and I want to turn to the portion we were considering last Thursday
in 2 Thessalonians, the second epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians,
chapter 2. And I'll read the first 12 verses
of this chapter, 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. Now we beseech you, brethren,
by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering
together unto him, that ye 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 their
comer 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 worshipped, so that he as God
sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Remember ye not that, when I was with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth
that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of
iniquity doth already work, only he who now letteth will let,
until he be taken out of the way. 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 receive
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for
this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should
believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believe not
the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. and the particular
verse that I want to dwell on and enter your attention upon
is the 8th verse here in 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 8 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. Now last time We were more particularly
taken up with what we read in verses 3 to 5. There we read of the man of sin
and the son of perdition. No man deceive you by any means,
that 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,
all that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple
of God, showing himself that he is God's. Remember ye not
that when I was with you I told you these things? And I said
that the passage is to be understood, of course, historically and prophetically,
and the Orthodox Protestant view of the verses that we've read
is that it speaks to us concerning the rise of the papacy. And that's how we considered
it in some manner last time, but I also said that there is
surely a spiritual and an experimental meaning also to what we read.
Here there's some instruction, there must be some application
to sounds, and we refer to that statement in John Newton's letters,
where he remarks that he had heard of many wicked, evil popes,
but the most wicked of all, he said, was Pope Salve. hope self and last time we were
speaking really of that great apostasy the falling away the
manifestation of the anti-christian church of Rome but I also made
some reference to spiritual apostasy and we're all prone we're all
prone to that so we observed that Paul in that very striking
and searching passage in Hebrews 6 speaks of those that fall away
those who are guilty of apostasy It's impossible, he said, for
those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly
gift and were made partakers of the
Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the powers
of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them
again unto repentance, seeing they crucified to themselves
the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame. Why is
that left there on record? Surely it's going for our instruction
that we need to examine ourselves, to prove ourselves, to know ourselves. And of times we feel that we
may be those who will apostatize and fall away. Prone to wonder,
Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the gods, I laugh. We have to confess that with
the hymn writer. We're prone to wanderings, prone
to backslidings. And so there is an application
to ourselves. But we were speaking then last
time really of that historical and that prophetic aspect. And
I remark, just to remind you briefly, that there was that
at the time that Paul wrote that was a restraint. We see it in
the words that he uses here. In verse 7 he says, the mystery
of iniquity doth already work, only he who now letteth will
let, until he be taken out of the way, to let, to hold something
back, to restrain. That's the meaning
of the word that we have there. And then again, previously in
verse 6, he says, you know what, withhold us, that he might be
revealed in his time. There is something withholding,
there's something restraining this manifestation. Now, Paul
had evidently spoken to them of these things. He'd mentioned
these things in the course of his ministry. We have that ministry
recorded in Acts chapter 17. He spent some time at Thessalonica.
And he tells them, in verse 5, Remember ye not that when I was
with you, I told you these things? Well, he might have spoken of
these things when he was present amongst them, but he's very reluctant
to write of these things. that he had spoken of so openly.
He won't put it in writing in this particular epistle. It's
strange to us because Paul had obviously, when he was amongst
them, been very faithful in declaring the gospel. He had not in any
way felt any restraints upon him. He had spoken to them so
plainly as he says there in the first epistle. In chapter 2,
verse 3, our exhortation, he says, was not of deceit, nor
of uncleanness, nor in guile, but as we were allowed of God
to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing
men, but God, which prieth our hearts. for neither at any time
use be flattering words as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness
God is witness." And faithful this man was, he would not in
any way feel that there was anything to hold him back as he sought
to bear his faithful testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ. And
yet, he does say here that he will not write of these things
at the moment. He has spoken of them, but he's
not going to record those things that he had declared verbally
in their presence. And why was that? Well, it's
because of the restraint. It's because of that that is
withholding the manifestation of this great apostate church. You know what withholdeth that
it might be revealed. He who now let us will let, until
he be taken out of the way." What is this that's got to be
taken out of the way? Well, it is a reference to all
the might and the power and the authority of imperial rule. That's what was the restraint.
Now when he was at Thessalonica in Acts 17, there was something
of an uproar and accusations were made against Paul and his
companions and the accusation was that these men were turning
the world upside down. They were turning the Roman world
upside down with this message. Paul knew, you see, there was
some danger if he was to speak openly about Imperial Rome at
some stage being taken out of the way. That's why he couldn't
speak or couldn't write as openly as he was willing to do on other
occasions. The restraint, the restraint
of the manifestation, the revelation of this great apostasy, this
apostate church, the restraint, was nothing less than imperial
Rome. And it is a fact of history,
of course, that once imperial Rome was gone, what arises in
its place is papal Rome. Papal Rome. As Imperial Rome
was a persecutor of the people of God, so in time Papal Rome
was a terrible persecutor of the people of God, not just at
the time of the Reformation, but with the Albigenses. And the Valdenses and other groups
that arose in the early centuries of the Christian era was ever
a persecuting church just as Imperial Rome had been a persecutor. But then you see there would
be in time, in God's time, the revelation of this great apostate church. That's what Paul is saying. There
would come a falling away first, he says, and that man of sin
be revealed, the son of perdition. Again, at the end of verse 6,
that he might be revealed, he says, in his time. Verse 8, then shall that wicked
be revealed. All the time would come, and
the time did come, and as I said, papal Rome begins then to fill
the place of Imperial Rome. And what was Papal Rome? Well, it was apostate Christianity. There, in that third verse, the
falling away, there there comes, he says, a falling away first. And the very word that we have
here, to fall away, is the word from which we have our English
word apostasy. It's the word apostasia, to fall
away. Apostasy is a falling away, a
departure from the truth. And that apostate Christianity
is identified with Antichrist. Remember how John, in his first
general epistle, speaks of Antichrist. He speaks of, there in chapter
2 and verse 18, 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. There were other apostates,
but all of them really eventually heading up to the great apostasy. And what is the great apostasy? It's the mystery of iniquity.
Verse 7, the mystery of iniquity does already work, he says. It's
already there, in embryo as it were, it's working. But it's
not been fully manifested. There were, even in the days
of the apostles, you see, those who had departed from the faith. There were those who had fallen
into errors. There were those who were really
heretics, even then. But these things would become
ever more manifest. But he speaks of the mystery
of Iniquity. And what is the mystery of iniquity?
It's the devil's great masterpiece. It's the devil's counterfeit
of the mystery of godliness. Doesn't the apostle speak of
that mystery of godliness? Remember in 1 Timothy chapter
3, without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness,
he says. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit,
seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in
the world, received up into glory. And he speaks of those, you see,
he's speaking of the office-bearers in the church, in this third
chapter of Timothy, 1 Timothy, verse 9, he speaks of those who
are holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. Oh,
there is a great mystery to true Christianity. It's a revealed
religion, we know that. These things have to be revealed
to us. We cannot really learn them from men. It is God who
must come and open blind eyes and give us an understanding. and work in us that remarkable
gift of saving faith. It's the mystery of godliness,
but the devil as his counterfeit, and it's called the mystery of
iniquity. It's apostate Christianity. It's
that that apes what is the truth, and it's really anti-Christianity,
as we said last time. It's anti-Christianity. Now,
John uses that expression, the Antichrist, and that word anti,
that prefix that we have there in 1 John 2.18, in the original,
it's a preposition before the proper name of Christ, and it
literally means instead of. or in the place of. That's what
anti is. It's in the place of Christ. It's in the place of
God. And that's what we have here,
of course, in verse 4. We said this last time. One of
this great apostate, anti-Christian religion, it's It's there in
this person who opposeth and exalted himself above all that
is called God or that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in
the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. And you can think
of the Pope with his triple crown, he wears a triple crown, and
what does he do? He seeks to sit in the place
of all the persons in the Trinity. The faithful papers will refer
to the Pope as the Holy Father. And that's the very name, of
course, that the Lord Himself uses in prayer to His Father. The only time in the New Testament
where that expression is used is there in John 17, as the Lord
addresses His Father, Holy Father. And the Pope, they say, is the
Holy Father. He's the Supreme Pontiff. He
is a supreme pontiff. He is set up as the supreme priest. All the Roman priests, well,
they are referred to as Father, we know that. He is the Holy
Father. He is a superior priest to all
of them. He is the chief priest. But it
is, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself who is the Great
High Priest of our profession. He will sit in the place of Christ. And then also they speak of him,
the Pope, as the vicar of Christ. And the word vicar there means
substitute, in the place of, again, the idea of someone's
substitute. Who is Christ's vicar upon the
earth? It's the Holy Ghost. Christ goes away, he sends the
Spirit. He comes as the Spirit of Christ.
He will place himself then in the position of God the Holy
Ghost. He exalts himself above all that
is called God, all that is worshipped, he sits in the temple of God
showing himself that he is God. No wonder that a man like Christopher
Wordsworth, very much an establishment man, as I said last time, he
was at one time the headmaster of Harrow School, he became in
time the Bishop of Lincoln, He was a very devout Church of England
man, and he wrote that remarkable book, is the papacy predicted
by Saint Paul, in which he opens up this whole passage. He exegetes
these verses, he expounds this part of God's Word and makes
it so abundantly clear that Paul is indeed prophesying here. It's a word of prophecy. But
we don't only have the revelation of the man of sin and the son
of perdition, the wicked one, but in the words that I want
us to turn to tonight, we read more particularly of his defeat and his destruction. And the theme I really want to
take up then is the triumph of gospel truth." That's what we
have in this verse, the triumph of gospel truth in spite of all
the oppositions of Satan, in spite of the great masterpiece
of the devil. "...We 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."
There's a two-fold destruction, a two-fold ruin that is being
spoken of, consuming with the spirit of the Lord's mouth and
destroying with the brightness of his coming. And I want to
look at those statements in reverse order. I want to, first of all,
say something with regards to how this whole system, this artificial
anti-Christian church, this apostate church, is to be destroyed at
Christ's coming. That's what it says at the end
of the verse. That His coming is to be destroyed. But what
of beforehand? Well, look at how it continues. Verse 9, 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 receive not the love of the truth, that
they might be saved. For this cause God shall send
them strong delusion that they should believe a lie. The precursor of the ultimate
destruction of this whole system of false religion, the precursor
of it is delusion. God shall send them strong delusion,
it says, that they should believe a lie. Now, Satan himself, of
course, is the father of lies. We have it there in the opening
chapters of Genesis, there in Genesis chapter 3. What does
the serpent, the instrument of Satan, say to the woman concerning
the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden? God had
said, ye shall not eat of it, in the day that ye eat thereof
ye shall surely die. That's what God says, ye shall
surely die. What does the devil say? Ye shall not surely die. Ye shall be as gods. There's
the lie, two lies. He contradicts the word of God
first of all and says although God said you
shall surely die or you shall not surely die he contradicts
God's words and then he adds to that when
he says you shall be as God's or the devil's lie The Lord speaks
of him, a murderer, he says, a murderer from the beginning.
He abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him when
he speaketh a lie. He speaketh but his own, for
he is a liar and the father of it. And that is the delusion
that is the Church of Rome. It is full of lies. It calls
itself Mother Church. It calls itself the only true
Church. It appears to be a church. But
you see, Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light, says
the apostle. It's a persecuting church, as
we've already said. What does the Lord say? When
he is speaking of his going away and the coming of the Holy Ghost
there in the 16th of John, Remember the language that we have at
the beginning of chapter 16? They shall put you out of the
synagogue. Yea, the time cometh that whosoever
killeth you will think that he doeth God's service. And these
things will they do unto you, because they have not known the
Father, nor me. And this is surely the great
mystery of iniquity, that that the cause itself, the Church
of Christ, should be the very body that is persecuting the
people of God and those who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation 17. Verse 5, upon
her forehead was the name written, Mystery. Oh, this is the mystery
of iniquity. Mystery. Babylon the Great, the
mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. And I saw the woman
drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of
the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered,
says John, with great admiration." How remarkable, what a mystery
that this body should wear out the saints of the Most High God
with persecutions. But what do we read here? Ultimately,
it will be abolished, it will be brought to naught, it will
be utterly destroyed. That is the promise, when that
wicked, 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, that's his second coming. that's
the great consummation of all things that's the great day of
judgment when the Lord is to sit and make the final separation
between sheep and goats setting the sheep on his right hand and
the goats on his left hand that fearful day when the books are
opened and all that judgment has been committed into the hands
of the Lord Jesus Christ And you see, remember the context
here. We spoke of the context last
time. Paul has been speaking of that day, the coming of Christ,
the second time. In chapter 1, verse 7, to you
who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord shall be revealed
from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance
on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ. who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory
of His power, when He shall come to be glorified in His saints,
and to be admired of all them that believe, because our testimony
among you was believed in that day, in that day of judgment. Let us turn secondly for a while
to this other the consequence of the Lord's destruction of apostasy and anti-Christianity,
whom the Lord shall consume, it says, with the spirit of his
mouth, consumed here now by the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,
being consumed by degrees even in this day of grace. It's that
spiritual, it's that more experimental aspects of the passage. What is the spirit of his mouth? We have the brightness of his
coming, that's the second coming. But what is the spirit of his
mouth? Well, remember, all scripture
is given by inspiration of God to Timothy 3.16. And the expression
that we are familiar with in our Authorized Version, given
by inspiration of God, is in fact just one word. One of those
remarkable compound words that we find in the New Testament
and literally it is simply God breathed. It's the two words
Gods and breathed joined together that we have there. All scripture given by Inspiration
of God. All Scripture is God's breath. It's the breath of God. Holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Spirit of God, says Peter. When we speak words,
we have to aspirate certain words. Well, what is the Bible? The
Bible is God's breath. It's the spirit of God's mouth. And there we see it represented
in a book like Revelation, which is such a symbolic book, of course.
It's full of signs. These things were signified unto
John. Signs, symbols are used. And we read of the Lord Jesus
here, Revelation 19.15, Out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword,
that with it he should smite the nations. That's the spirit
of his mouth. the word that proceeds from his mouth. And again we
have the same imagery in Hebrews 4.12, the Word of God. Paul says, "...is quick and powerful
and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and
is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." This
is the Word of God. What is the spirit of his mouth?
It's the Scriptures. And look what it says in the
text, "...whom the Lord, the wicked one, is to be revealed,
whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth." Now,
it's the Scriptures I say. Think of, we've seen this passage
in part already fulfilled at the time of the Reformation.
Certainly here in England, the Protestant Reformation, it very
much centered in the Bible, in the Word of God. I'm sure you're
aware of that. I mean, you think of the work
of William Tyndale, translating the Scriptures, and the Scriptures
being smuggled into England. This was a fulfillment of the
text before us. And even a man like King Henry
VIII who really died a papist, never really left the Church
of Rome himself. Although under God's sovereign
hand he was used in that great movement which we call the Protestant
Reformation and he decreed the Great Bible was to be placed
in every parish church in England. I've said before, when we think
of the Reformation in parts of Europe, Germany, we think in
terms of a man like Luther being raised up. Or we might think
of the remarkable ministry of Calvin at Geneva, or John Knox
in Scotland, but when it comes to the way in which God worked
in our own land, it was very much the Bible that was so much
to the fore. There were men raised up, but
there was no particular individual that we would associated with
the Reformation, as Luther's name is associated with what
happened there in Germany. "...whom the Lord shall consume
with the Spirit of his mouth." The Word of God, but also this. There was the preaching. There
was the preaching of the Word of God. The Reformation was very
much a preaching movement, as it's centered in the Bible. I
know there were not the men in the parishes, there were not
the clergymen who could preach, and so in England they had the
book of homilies, they could read sermons, because there was
no one to preach. But there were those who were
raised up, men like Bishop Latimer, Bishop of Worcester and also
a martyr at the time of the Reformation. The man who said concerning preaching,
this is the only office that God hath appointed to save us
by. Let us maintain this. Now the
Reformers saw the importance, the vital importance of preaching. And what was preached? What was
preached at the Reformation? It was that apostolic gospel. was that that was preached by
the apostles throughout the Acts. And it was that gospel of the
sovereign grace of God. Eternal election, effectual calling,
why we have it in this very chapter tonight. Look at what Paul says
at verse 13, We are bound to give thanks always to God for
you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the
beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth." Well, God had chosen them, but God had also predestined
the means and the way whereby they would come to experience
that salvation that they'd been chosen to. He has chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth, whereunto He called you by our Gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." So we have effectual calling
as well. He called you by our Gospel,
says the Apostle Paul. The Spirit The Spirit of Christ's
mouth is in particular associated with that calling that we have
mentioned here in verse 14. It reminds us of what we read
in the opening chapter of the first epistle to the Thessalonians. Our gospel came not unto you
says Paul in word only but in power and in the Holy Ghost and
in much assurance. Again, look at what he says here
in the previous chapter, chapter 1 and the end of verse 11, he
speaks of the work of faith with power. How did the gospel come to these
people? It came effectually, it wasn't
just the preaching of the apostle himself, it was the work of the
Spirit associated with that preaching of the gospel. and we see it
there in in 1st Thessalonians chapter
2 verse 13, for this cause also
thank we God without ceasing because when you receive the
word of God which you heard of us you receive it not as a word
of men but as it is in truth the word of God which effectually
worketh also in you that believe. It works effectually. It's the
breath of His mouth. How does faith come? Faith cometh
by hearing. Hearing by the Word of God. It's
not enough just to hear the Word in the preaching of it. We need
that that Word should be brought home and applied. That's the
work of the Spirit. That's how faith comes. It's
hearing the voice of Christ. My sheep hear my voice, says
Christ. I know them. They follow me. I give unto them eternal life.
They shall never perish. This is what we have here, you
see. This is the way God destroys
all false religion, all lies, all apostasy. It's the Word of
God, and it's the faithful proclamation of that Word of God. What is the best answer to all
the delusions of false religion, all the delusions of potpourri?
It is the preaching of the sovereign grace of God. It's the preaching
of that Gospel that exalts God in all the fullness of His glorious
triune being, the electing love of the Father, The redemptive
work of God the Son, the effectual work of God the Holy Spirit,
what the Father purposed, what the Son procured, is what the
Spirit himself must apply. But God works by and through
means, through the preaching. Or let us maintain this, said
that good Bishop of Worcester, Hugh Latimer. 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." We have much to be thankful for now in the
Day of Grace. We have this Gospel, and we have
much surely to look forward to. We might be troubled, as He says
to these Thessalonians, you who are troubled, rest with us. when
the Lord shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. Well, the Lord be pleased to
bless these truths to us. Amen.