You often heard me say that I
hope these Bible studies are more than just a Bible study. I hope and pray the Lord will
speak to us. This is his word. This is his
power. This is how he translates people
from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear
son. This needs to be far more than
an interesting message because it's an urgent message. The title,
the subject, the text is The Coming Christ and Antichrist. If I would announce that text
publicly or that subject publicly, we'd get a full house. People
would come from far away to hear about this. The sad thing is,
the tragic thing is that most people are right now under the
dominion of antichrist. So, this is not just a Bible
study. This is how the Lord takes people
out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear
Son. It's just that urgent. You cannot believe that every
person in this room has been delivered. But this is how the
Lord does it. 2 Thessalonians. 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. Now this chapter
is full of warnings and promises. My pastor used to say that, and
I say it often because the scriptures are probably 50-50. Scriptures probably are, I'm
quite sure, are 50-50. 50% the holiness and the justice
and the wrath of God, and 50% the mercy, the love, the grace,
salvation of God. 50% warnings, warnings, warnings. Why? Because mankind is in danger of judgment. And 50% promises, promises, promises
that there is salvation, but it's in one place, one person. Warnings here throughout this
chapter, it's the job of a watchman to not only feed, but to warn
and to spot the wolf and cry wolf. And wolves are not easily
perceived by sheep. They're dressed in sheep's clothing. Paul, in his farewell to the
Ephesians, he said this, Acts 20, let me read it to you. I
ceased not to warn you, day and night, with tears." For the space
of three years, with tears. He said, because, after my departing,
grievous wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock
of your own selves, shall men arrive. So, our Lord said that,
didn't He? Our Lord said that. He said,
many, in the last day, many false prophets shall arise and deceive
many. Am I right? Throughout this chapter,
there are warnings of deceit, deception, and here's the thing
about deception. It's not obvious. It's hidden
or it wouldn't be deceiving. Evil men and seducers wax worse
and worse, deceiving and being deceived. They're so deceived.
and deceitful, they've deceived themselves. And the great deceiver
is behind it all. The woman was deceived. A greater, a better woman than
any woman in His time, any man. She was deceived. Do you see
how dangerous it is? The warnings throughout this
chapter of apostasy, falling away from the truth, Iniquity,
our Lord said, because iniquity will abound, the love of men
shall wax cold. The wicked one, the god of this
world, and damnation, it ends. Warning, but promises that God
has an elect people. That's where it starts. Because
in this chapter, verse 13, we're bound to get... Look at it, verse
13. Let's go ahead and get to the
good news first. Alright? Paul, when he thinks about all
the deception, all the apostasy, and all the wickedness in the
world, and the world full of anti-Christ, he said, Oh, but
we're bound to give thanks always to God for you. Didn't he say
that in the first chapter? Because it's only the sovereign
electing love and mercy and grace of God that we are not in bondage
even as others, that we are not in darkness even as others, that
we're not still in false religion as others, that we're not in
the captivity to the God of this world. But God sent the Deliverer
to take captivity captive. There's the good news. Let's
start with that. God hath from the beginning,
verse 13, chosen you to save you through sanctification of
the Spirit. He does that through the truth. Our Lord said that, didn't He?
Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy Word is truth. This is how. But up in verses 10 and 11, He
said false religion, Satan, anti-Christ religion, with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness, and them that perish because they receive
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for
this cause, because they reject the truth, God sends strong deludement, that they should believe a lie. Just say this at the outset,
unrighteousness is not just murder and robbery and all of that. Self-righteousness is unrighteousness. Right? There's only one true
righteousness. And you understand that. All
right. Now, verses 1 and 2, he says,
we beseech you by the coming and gathering of our Lord. Right
here is what separates or sanctifies God's people. They're looking
forward to His coming. God's people want Him to come.
You remember in chapter 1 He says He'll come to be glorified
and admired in His people. They say, even so, come Lord
Jesus. All of God's people are anxiously
awaiting and looking forward to His coming. Like a bride and
her husband. A woman doesn't love her husband
if she doesn't look forward to him coming home. But the world doesn't want Christ
to come. They like this world just fine.
Right? God's people do. So He said,
we beseech you by His coming. He is coming. Paul keeps saying
that over and over again. And so do we. The trump shall
sound and the dead in Christ shall rise first. That's 1 Thessalonians. So we beseech you by the coming.
Christ came. You know He did. You know He
lives, and He lives in you, to God's people. Brethren, see?
Brethren. By the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ and our gathering together with Him. Who's He going to gather?
His elect. Well, who believes in election? The elected. They love it because
they know if He hadn't chosen us, we wouldn't have chosen Him.
If He doesn't gather us, we wouldn't be gathered. They all know that. Isn't that how the first letter
began? Brethren, we know your election
of God. That's how it began. Because our gospel came unto
you. Well, so we beseech you by the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, our gathering together unto Him, that you be not soon
shaken. Am I not troubled by spirit,
that is a preacher? Because there's either a good
spirit or a bad spirit, there's no in between. A man is either
sent by God or he's not. A man is either led by the spirit
of God or he's led by another spirit. There's no gray area
here. All right. Nor by word, that
is a word of mouth or something you've heard, or by letter, a
false Bible. or false letter, or false pamphlets,
or whatever doctrine goes at it. There's a lot of that going
around in it. They come to your door constantly, don't you? In
magazines, billboards, it's everywhere. As though it was from us. There's
a group called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
It's a cult, it's a false, it's anti-Christ. They have another
Bible. They have another revelation.
That's what they call it. The Book of Mormon is called
another revelation of Jesus Christ. Do you know how many people follow
that? Well, it said, don't be shaken
in mind or trouble that the day of Christ is at hand. It goes
on to say, let no man deceive you. And this is who will deceive
you, these ministers of Satan. They're clothed in sheep's clothing,
these wolves, ministers of righteousness, not gods, not Christ, but man. And they'll deceive you. But
there must come, verse 3, a falling away first, and the man of sin
be revealed, son of perdition, which we call antichrist. I've never really addressed this. We've looked at this many times,
but I've never really addressed why would believers be shaken
or troubled at the thought of Christ's coming. They ought to be overjoyed. Don't
be shaken or troubled that the day of Christ is soon. He said
don't be shaken or troubled by what you're hearing. It must
be falling away. A couple thousand years at least
from the time this was written that most things must be fulfilled. Why would these believers, these
brethren, be shaken or troubled at the thought of Christ coming?
It's a good question. Because we have doubts and fears
like everybody else. Don't we? We have worries. We have doubts
and fears about ourselves. There are times when every believer
doubts his own salvation and fears that he might be cast away. David, throughout the Psalms,
kept saying that, Oh Lord, cast me not away from thy prison. Right? Anybody in here, any believer
in here that doesn't go through doubts and fears and worries,
and you're troubled by your own corruption and sinfulness, a
plague of your own heart, and you think, Lord, I'm not going
to be one of His, when He comes to gather His people, I'm probably
not going to be one of them. Anybody? We, they, like us, worry about
our lost loved ones. In that sense, we hope he doesn't
come back until he saves the ones we want saved. Now false prophets, false professors
that is, have neither. They don't have any worries or
doubts about themselves. They don't have any worries about
Christ coming. He loves everybody. It's going
to be okay. That's not what this is all saying.
You read with me in the first chapter when the Lord will come
in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that don't know God and
don't believe the gospel, let alone all the murderers and thieves. And you all know that this is
for people who tremble at the Word of God. They hear this Word. Here's the thing about it. God's
people who know God, who know Christ, who know the truth, who
fear God, who love God, love His truth, who receive the love
of the truth, when they hear words of warning and conviction,
it goes straight to their hearts. And really, they're not the ones
who need it, but they heed it. You understand what I'm saying? They're not the ones that are
lost, the ones that don't know God. They're the ones that need
this warning. But God's people, they take it. While those that need it the
most don't hear a word of it. It's just a sermon. Right? Isn't that so? So we get full of doubts and
fears and worries, and I hope through these words it will comfort
us. It will warn someone, but yet comfort God's people, the
brethren. All right. He talks about deceit,
verse 3. Let no man deceive you. There
will come a falling away first. Before Christ comes, there will
come a falling away. Now that's talking about apostasy. Now you don't, you, read on. It says, the man of sin be revealed,
the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all
is called God, or is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in
the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember, you
lot, that when I was with you, I told you these things? So Paul
was constantly telling them these things, preaching these things,
warning them these things, wasn't he? come a falling away. Now, you
don't fall away from lies, you fall away from truth. Right? Adam and Eve had the truth in
the garden. See, everything started with
the truth. God. Christ said, I am the truth. Right? When God said to Noah,
the whole earth had corrupted my way, meaning, turn away the
ears from the truth. The truth, everything began with
the truth. Through deceits and lies, men
began to follow and listen to lies and fell from the truth. Adam and Eve had the truth. But Satan, the great deceiver,
the father of lies, presented falsehood and lies to the woman. Now, is this significant? Look
at 1 Timothy 2, just turn over one page. Adam and Eve knew the
truth, but the great deceiver deceived the woman. Is this significant? The vast majority of women in
the United States would, at this point, grow very angry and turn
their ears away from what I'm about to say. Look at 1 Timothy
2. It says in verse 11, Let the
woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not
a woman to teach or to usurp authority over the man, but to
be in silence. 4. Adam was first born, then
Eve. Adam was not deceived. But the
woman being deceived was in the transgression. What does that
mean? And there's another place, 1
Corinthians 14 will not turn to. See, it all started with
Satan deceiving the woman. He perpetrated his lies to a
woman. How did he do it? Flattery. Beauty. Deceit. He presented something to her,
look, in this beautiful, you have free will, you can be like
God. He questions God's word, first
thing. Hath God said, is that what he
really meant? Dead, die, is that what God really,
this is Satan's lie. Oh no, you'll not die. God loves
you. He knows you'll be like him.
You have free choice, free will. You're a God. Isn't that what
he said? To the woman. She said, I like
that. I want to be in charge of my
own destiny. I do have free will, don't I?
You know, that was the only time man did have free will. But as soon as she said, I will,
Adam, as soon as Adam did, because he's the federal head. Adam did
it just rebelliously. The woman was deceived. All right? But she took the fruit. And what
it was is not important, but I kind of think, I don't think
it was an apple, I think it was a fig. And I think they tried to cover
themselves with fig leaves. Because that's the only tree
the Lord cursed when He was on this earth. Well, let me go on
here. The woman. It all started Satan
perpetrating his lies to the woman and it's perpetuated or
continued through a woman. And the Scriptures calls her,
throughout the Scriptures, the great whore. Now that's Bible language, the
great harlot. Daniel, Proverbs 7, all through
Daniel, the Revelation 17 and 18, on and on. Read it before
you sit. And you know how in these last
days, who is beginning to lead religion. And they don't see
anything wrong with it. Nothing wrong with it. But God
expressly says, Forbidden. Significant? Well, it says in chapter 4, verse 1,
now the Holy Spirit speaketh expressly. Who does He speak
to? Who does the Spirit teach and
lead in God's people? Whom Christ sent His Holy Spirit
to His people, and He teaches them expressly. very plainly. They understand. They have an
understanding, like Abigail in our next message, a woman of
good understanding. God's bride, His people are of
good understanding. Why? The Spirit of God opens
their understanding. Then in the latter days, verse
1, some shall depart from the faith. You see that? It's a departure
from the truth. It's an apostasy. giving heed
to seducing spirit and doctrines of devil, speaking lies and hypocrisy."
Hypocrisy. Hypocrisy. What is hypocrisy? Our Lord said of the Pharisees
and the scribes and the Sadducees, He said, they're hypocrites.
What does that mean? Well, the word means actor. They're playing
a part. And they're very good at it.
It started with Satan, who was very good at deception, The woman
thinks he was beautiful. He was beautiful. His words were
good words, fair words, deceiving the hearts of the Symphons. Talk of good things. Deception,
flattery, flattery. It's a seducing spirit. You see
that? You men, when you began to date
your wife, I bet you to say you were nicer than you've ever been
in your life. Right? Why? You're seducing her. You want her to love you. Right? Guilty as charged. Satan. Seducing. Read it for yourself sometime.
In Daniel 11, let me just read it to you. I had it marked. Yeah,
there it is. It says, it talks about Antichrist
is many. I'm going to look at that in
just a minute. Not just one. Not one man. Many. Alright, so it says that
they that do wickedness, it says they will speak against the covenant
and corrupt by flatteries. Keep saying that. It says that
many shall cleave to them with Flatteries. God loves you. Church can't be church without
you. Peace, peace. There's no peace. Flatteries, flatteries. Revelation
17 and 18. Just jot that down and read it
for yourself. Read the whole everything about it. It says
she decks herself with beauty. She's beautiful to look at. False
religion, beautiful. She has all of these fleshly
enticements. All of these things that appeal
to the... Look, it's so beautiful. Even John, when he beheld the
beauty of Babylon, even John said, I admired her beauty. Look
at what she... Look, it's beautiful. Deceit,
flattery. The Ark. I'm talking about the
ark in the tabernacle in the wilderness, wherein was the ark.
It was not a gorgeous thing to look at, was it? Huh? It was a brown-skinned tent in
the wilderness, and everybody, Jebusites and Hivites, all of
them drove by, and they looked, rode by, and they said, ah, that's
awful. Well, come to our beautiful temple.
It's drawing everybody from everywhere by its beauty. That tabernacle
represents Christ crucified, which was an ugly thing, an awful
thing that represented wrath, sin, judgment, and yet, but if
you go on the inside, go on the inside, you'll see glory, you'll
see pearls, gold and silver and precious stone, but it starts
because it's a bloody thing, a violent act of Christ on the
cross in an ugly world of sin. We don't present the gospel first
as, oh no, God's anguish, fear and judgment and wrath, but for
all who repent, All who see the danger and all who see their
own ugliness, He says, look, see that bloody sacrifice there? That's the way. Well, how can
a bloody man... What's that all about? Because
that's you! If God didn't do that to Him,
He'd have to do it to you! Right? And so religion is deceived by
all this beauty and flattery and love and kindness. And look, surely this is of God. It's just so sweet. That's Satan. That's how he started. And he's
perpetuated those lies from the beginning. And as the last days go by, the
truth is going to become so foreign, so archaic, so old-fashioned,
so ugly. What's all this talk? Let me
go on here. Go back to our text. Now, verses 3 and 4, it talks
about a man of sin, son of perdition. He called Judas that, didn't
he? Didn't he? Was he the antichrist? He's just part of it. A man is
not talking about one person. He's talking about a whole head
of false religion. It's clear, it's plain, to God's
people anyway, that verse 4 is speaking of potpourri in it.
A man sitting, as it were, as God in the temple of God, I can
forgive sin. They call him Holy Father. That's
Pope. Papa. He's never fathered anybody
unless it's illegitimate children, which I'm quite sure he has. But he is not our father. We have one father. That's why
Christ said, don't call any man father. So what are people all
over the world doing? Papa. Pope. That's clear to us
that he is clearly in this thing of anti-Christ religion. He's
part of it. He's a head. But so is every
Episcopalian priest, every Southern Baptist free will preacher, every
Methodist preacherette, and increasingly becoming women. Every false preacher,
it's a head. How easy would it be? Well, Satan
is not stupid. All right, he's going to bring
out this man and he's going to have 666 on his head. Duh. That's what everybody's looking
for. I love Brother Joe Terrell is
such a clever fellow. He said, the Antichrist is leading
the search for the Antichrist. You know the old, you remember
where a thief comes back to the scene of the crime? He went that
away. That's the thief. So everybody's looking for one
fella. He's been around for years. It, the system, this head, this... Look, 1 John, go over to 1 John.
This is what God's Word clearly tells His people and yet blind
people don't see it. Deaf people don't hear it. 1
John 2, you have it, verse 18, "'Little children, it is the
last time. And as you have heard that Antichrist shall come, even
now there are many Antichrists.'" Is that what it said? And then in chapter 4, he says,
"'Little children, you've overcome them.'" You've overcome them. How? By Christ revealing Himself
to you. The true Christ. True religion.
Truth. All right? Hmm. I knew this would happen. Roman Catholicism is just part
of Antichrist religion. So is free will. Free will religion. Free will Southern Baptist religion.
Antichrist. Anything that exalts itself,
that exalts man, that exalts, and this is what Daniel said,
the Revelation said, he exalted himself, he exalted himself,
he exalted himself. Satan said to the woman, you
will be exalted. Adam liked the idea. Satan is
the one that said, I will, I will, I will, I will. In the beginning,
God said, my will will be done. He put him down. And Adam and
Eve said, I will, yes, my will. And so now, man, under the bondage
of this anti-Christ religion which is free will. And you know it's that. And man
exalts himself. And preachers get up and exalt
man. And exalt man's will, man's worth, man's works, man's wisdom. When the Scriptures says about
all those things, Filthy rag. They're an abomination to God.
That man is not worthy, he's unworthy. That Christ alone is
worthy. Any religion that talks about
anyone's worth but Jesus Christ is false anti-Christ religion. Any religion that talks about
man's will and not God's will is false religion. Any religion
that talks about man's works and man being accepted by his
work is anti-Christ religion. That's what the stuff is. And verse 6, now you know what
withholded that he might be revealed in his time. A mystery of iniquity
doth already work, only he who now betteth. Who's he talking
about? Who lets? Who does the letting? What does religion say about
God today? Well, they say, let go and let God. Don't they? You know what they
say? Let God. He wants to save you if you'll
let Him. Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? They're all looking
at that. Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian.
It doesn't matter. Across the board, they all say,
God wants to, God can't, God tried, can't do it. Let Him. Oh, He's clearly revealed to
us, Isaiah 43, that God will work and who shall let Him. It's
God's will. I work all things under the counsel
of my will. And who lets this happen? Who lets Satan? Satan can't do
what he will. God lets him. And people when
they hear that, well, you're making God to be a monster. You're
making God to be the author of sin. You mean God's responsible?
Hang on now. All Paul would say to people
that would argue like that, who are you to reply against God?
Shall a thing formed say to him that formed it? You can't do
that. Fact of the matter is, sin is
here and it wouldn't be here if God hadn't let it. And nothing
would happen unless God let it. And nothing will take place unless
God purposed it. God is not a bystander. God's
not standing back and hoping everything turns out all right.
The scripture says, known unto God are all his works from the
foundation of the world. He said, I've spoken it. I will
do it. I have purposed it. It'll come
to pass. God hath created, Proverbs 16,
4, God hath created all things for himself, even the wicked,
for the day of evil. That's the God of the Bible.
Amen. When they hear that, it's very
plain, it's very clear. They say, I just don't believe
God's like that. Well, I'm here to tell you, He
is like that. Well, if He is, like a woman
told my wife one time, I hate you, God. I hate that God. And there were some in here that
hated it too. Do you see that if it weren't for God's sovereign
electing grace, you'd still hate the truth. But now you hate yourself. Now you hate sin. You hate this world. You even
hate your own life. And you love the truth. You love
God. You love His will. You love His
right, don't you? You love His work. You love He's
worthy. You see clearly. Your eyes, your
blind eyes have been opened to see all the deception, all the
lies. And you say, let God be true. And every man a liar. So this one truth, and it's the
religion of Christ, that Christ is all. Well, go on with me, just real
quickly. It says, he's going to be revealed,
verse 8, when the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his
mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming. You know, this
may have been a somewhat simplistic message. Shall we expose the mystery of
iniquity in 30 minutes? Can that be done? Can the mystery
of the gospel be declared in all its fullness, all its glory,
all its beauty in 30 minutes? And I'm trying to sum this thing
up here. Here it is. It's not one man.
It's not one person. Everybody's looking for that.
It's a whole system of false religion, headed up by Satan
himself. And his ministers are angels
of light. This is what Paul said, is that
correct? Angels of light transformed themselves into ministers of
righteousness. Everybody thinks they're sweet
and kind and good. They look good just like Satan
did to the woman. And this can't be a lie because
it's so sweet. So let's cover up. Let's not
talk about all this wrath of God and bloodshed. And let's
not talk about, you know, the ugliness of sin and wrath and
judgment. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Let's
just... We don't need to do that. It's covered up. That's what
that Robert Shuler, that false prophet Robert Shuler said. Here's exactly what he said.
He said the first reformation was brought about by preaching
of sin and wrath and judgment. He said the second one is going
to be brought out by preaching God loves you and Jesus died
for you. So the message has changed. Meddle not with them giving a
chance. The message had jammed. So he said, we're bound to give
thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit, set you apart, brought you out of religion, plucked
you as a brand for the burning. Through sanctification of the
Spirit, belief of the truth. There in that very chapter it
says they didn't receive the love of the truth. So God sends
them strong delusion. Withholds troubles and problems. This has got to be true. We don't
have any problem. Everybody believes it. It's got
to be so. If everybody believes it, that's certain it's not so.
God hath chosen you. through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth whereunto He called you, by our
gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You see His glory. You see His beauty. You see your
need of Him. You see that Christ is all and
everything and everyone is nothing at all, beginning with yourself. And he goes on to say that Comfort
one another with these words. If you love the truth, you've
received that love. You didn't decide to love it.
God gave you love for it. God gave you this faith. And God leaves people alone.
I hate that truth, okay? Go on now in your obstinacy.
But those he chose, he breaks, he reveals, he gives love to
the truth, and they love the truth, and they hate every false
way. And they're not going to be deceived. Here's comfort.
God's people are not going to be deceived. Our Lord said, a
stranger they will not hear. My sheep hear my voice. And what
is it? It's all about Him. The Spirit
of God takes the things that Christ shows you. It's not you.
It's not the church. It's not your worth. It's Christ. And all of God's people say,
yay and amen. Chosen. Chosen. Q. Thank you, sir.