2 Thessalonians chapter 2. The title of our lesson this
morning is looking for his return. Now, one thing that believers
of every age from the beginning of time from Adam and Eve, every
believer has always been looking for the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Primarily, the Old Testament
saints looked for his first coming. That's what Eve said when she
said, I've gotten the man from the Lord. She was looking for
the first coming of the Messiah. But you know, in the Old Testament,
we read of believers, Job is an example, looking forward to
even the second coming of our Lord. And certainly ever since
the Savior ascended back on high, the church has been looking for
his return, expecting him to return, and with good reason. And that's so good reason, because
he said he's going to return. So we're looking for him to do
what he said he'd do. But, you know, he also told us
that before he returns, there's going to be great tribulation
like the world has never seen before. And false prophets had
come to Thessalonica and they told them that the day of the
Lord's return was very, very near. It was easy for them to
convince the Thessalonians of that, because remember, they
were under great trial. Remember, there was the riot
that started in the city because Paul was there preaching. Paul
and Silas had to had to get out of town in the night. But these
Thessalonians, they had to stay there in that riot under that
persecution. They are being greatly persecuted.
So it was easy for somebody to convince them the Lord is going
to return very soon. He said there's going to be great
tribulation before he returns. And they thought, well, our suffering
is a sign. that the Lord is indeed going
to return very soon. And since they were convinced
that the Lord's return was imminent, many of them quit their jobs,
they sold their houses, and they quit doing the things that needed
to be done here. And that was a real problem because
the Lord wasn't going to return in their lifetime, was he? Now,
we looked at this last week. There's no reason for a believer
to be overly troubled by the death of these bodies or by the
return of our Lord. Those are all good for the believer. We have every reason to look
forward to those things. But these brethren in Thessalonica
were troubled by the things that they had heard. Well, why would
these believers be so troubled about being told that the Lord's
going to return? Well, I'm sure there are several
reasons, The first thing that came to my mind is they were
troubled because they got caught up in what and when. They got caught up in what's
going to happen when the Lord returned. They got caught up
in what are the signs of his coming. And they got caught up
in when he's going to return instead of constantly being taken
up with who is going to return. And secondly, if you look over
Second Timothy chapter two, I think this could be part part of the
thing that troubled them so much. is false prophets had told them,
or at least told some people, I don't know if they just reached
Thessalonica or not, but false prophets had told some people
at this time that the resurrection had already taken place. Second
Timothy chapter two, verse 16, but shun profane and vain babblings
for they will increase into more ungodliness. and their word will
eat as doth a canker, as a cancer, of whom is hymenis and phyletis,
who concerning the truth have erred, and this is their error,
saying that the resurrection is past already, and overthrow
the faith of some." Now, that would be very troubling if you
think that the resurrection, the rapture, after the resurrection,
those who believe will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
Well, if you think that's already taken place, you're still here
on earth, you think, well, I must not be saved. I must go into
big Dan because. If the rapture is already taking
place and I'm still here, where does that leave me? And that
would be very troubling. That would cause some alarm.
We'd understand that. So Paul writes this letter to
correct some attitudes and some behaviors about the Lord's second
coming. I want to show you a few things.
I think there's four things about the Lord's second coming. And
the first one is this. First thing we ought to know
about the Lord's coming is he is coming again. Look in verse
one of 2 Thessalonians 2. 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
at the day of Christ is at hand. Now, the Lord is coming again.
We know that. That's our comfort. That's our
hope. That's our expectation. We're looking for him to come
again. But don't bother trying to figure out when he's coming
again, because we won't be able to figure it out. So just don't
even try. Our Savior himself said no man knows the day and
the hour of his return except the father. So we don't look
for for signs and wonders that would seem to indicate exactly
when the Lord is going to return, because we'll be wrong if we
try to figure those things out. We can't figure out when the
Lord is going to return. And if we begin looking at signs,
we begin looking for indications that the Lord could return. The
next few weeks or a few months or years or whatever, we will
become distracted from the real issue. What's the real issue? The real issue is not when Christ
will return. The issue is who's coming. The
issue is the savior, the king who is returning. Christ is the
issue. So the believer is to live on
this earth in faith, looking for Christ's return, expecting
him to return at any moment because he said he's going to return.
You live every day looking for his return. But we're also to
live serving the Lord like he's not going to return in our lifetime.
And if we live like that, we'll live in faith and our lives will
be much more useful to God's people. Live like he could, like
he is going to return today, expecting him to return, but
live serving him like he's not going to return in our lifetime.
And like I said, every generation since the Lord has ascended was
convinced the Lord was going to return in their time. You
read the old writers, John Gill thought the Lord would return
in his lifetime. Matthew Henry thought the Lord would return
in his lifetime. And today's no different. People today think
the Lord's going to return in our lifetime. And certainly the
Lord's return is closer today than it was when Paul wrote this
letter, wasn't it? Much closer. And I understand
I'm in the minority on this. While I don't have, try to imagine
a day or time when the Lord will return, I don't happen to think
he's going to return in my lifetime. And mostly I think that because
everybody, everywhere is expecting him to return at any time. Everybody's
expecting the world to end very, very, very soon. And Peter, under
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said the Lord will return like
a thief in the night when nobody's expecting it. Nobody's expecting
him. I mean, I don't know when he's
going to return, but either way, It doesn't matter, does it? Whether
he is going to return shortly or whether it's not going to
be for the next thousand years, it shouldn't matter. That shouldn't
change the way we're living either way, should it? And I tell you
what, I don't know when the Lord is going to return, but he's
going to return for me in my lifetime. At the end of my lifetime,
he's going to return for me one way or another. And that's true
of all of us, isn't it? So we ought to live our lives
faithfully, serving him and expecting his return. And we're never to
look for signs and wonders. And I'll show you the thing about
signs and wonders. Those are wicked. That's wickedness. Looking for signs and wonders,
trying to figure out when the Lord will return, or following
a religion, following a religious leader because he's able to perform
signs and wonders. Those things are wicked. Don't
look for them. We're only to look for Christ.
We're only to look to him who will return. But Scripture tells
us before the Savior does return, there are several things that
must happen. He said they must happen. Now,
don't look for these things as a sign that the Lord's going
to return soon. Because if you do, you're going to get off track.
You'll quit looking to Christ alone. But also don't be alarmed
when they do happen, because the Savior said they must happen.
So here's the second thing about our Lord's return. Before Christ
returns, there will be a time of great apostasy. Verse three,
let no man deceive you by any means. For that day, the day
of the Lord's return, shall not come except there come a falling
away first. Now apostasy is falling away. Apostasy, this falling away,
is to abandon what you once claimed to believe. Now, an apostate
is not someone who's fallen away from being in the grace of our
God. An apostate is not someone who once believed in Christ,
who was once in Christ, but fell away from Christ. That's not
an apostate. You cannot fall away from what
you never had. You cannot fall away from Christ
because he said no man's able to pluck them from my hand. apostate,
a person who's an apostate, it's fallen away from what they once
professed to believe. They didn't really believe it,
but they fell away. They quit believing what they
once professed to believe. They simply went out from us. They fell away from claiming
to believe in grace alone. They quit believing in Christ
alone. And they did that because they
never were in Christ in the first place. They never were in his
grace in the first place. All they had was an outward profession
and they'd fallen away from it. They changed their profession.
They changed what they believed. And that's very sad. We've seen
that happen. And unfortunately, we'll see
it again. It's very sad when that happens.
But Paul tells us that before the Lord returns, This is going
to happen. There'll be a great falling away.
There'll be many will quit claiming to believe the truth of the gospel.
Many will quit claiming to believe the truth of salvation in Christ
alone. We hate it when it happens, but
don't be surprised when it does. Don't be dismayed when it does,
because the Lord said it must happen. Now, these apostates. when they fall away, when they
become apostate. They're not going to fall away
because they quit being religious. They're not going to fall away
and go into some horrible life of sin. They're going to fall
away from the gospel because they follow a false gospel. This
is the third thing about our Lord's return. Before Christ
returns, the Antichrist will be revealed. Look here at the
end of verse 3. And that man of sin be revealed,
the son of perdition. who opposeth and exalted himself
above all that's 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 yet with you, I told you these things? Now this son of
perdition, the one who opposeth and exalted himself above all
that's called God, is the Antichrist. And the Antichrist is not one
person. The Antichrist is not somebody
that's got 666 written on his forehead and he looks like this
horrible monster. That's not the Antichrist. The
Antichrist is a religion. It's a religious attitude. The
Antichrist is the religion of man's free will. Free will religion
is the Antichrist. The religion of man's free will
opposes God at every turn. Free will religion opposes the
truth that Christ alone is to be worshipped. Now I'll show
you how. Free will religion makes man
out to be God. That's right. Free will religion
says you're the one who's in control of salvation. God's not
in control of it. You're in control of it. Because
they say you've got to decide whether to accept Jesus or not.
If a man accepts Jesus and he's saved, who gets the credit for
it? Or in free wheelers, he does,
because he made a decision. And if a man rejects Jesus, he
will not accept him. He'll not let him into his heart.
And he's going to go to hell is what they say, which is true.
But they'll say, well, that's such a shame that he didn't make
his decision for Jesus. He's wasted the blood of Christ
that was shed to atone for his sin. You listen to me. That's a lie. That is a lie that
opposes the person and the work of Christ. It's a lie that opposes
the glory of Christ and salvation. Free will religion, which is
the Antichrist, exalts man above God. The religion of Antichrist
is anti the glory of Christ because it wants to give the glory to
man. If that were true, you would get the glory. You know, if this
free will religion business is right and you've got to make
a decision for Jesus and you do, well, then you're more important
than Christ in this matter of salvation. Isn't that right?
If salvation is up to you, up to you to have to make this decision,
then you get some glory in this thing. And we can all say we're
so proud of you for making this decision. Now, we're very thankful
If someone wants to confess Christ, we're very thankful. Never are
we proud of them. We're always thankful for God's
mercy and grace. Here's one of his people that
he redeemed. He chose him. He sent his son
to die for him. And now he's reached down and
given him life, but never proud of him. And you know that that
has to be a lie. Because scripture says Christ
is all. Now if you get some credit for
making this decision, then you've done something and Christ is
not all. But scripture says Christ is all. Scripture says it pleased
the Father that in Christ should all fullness dwell. Not us contributing
to it. All fullness is already in Him. It pleased the Father that Christ
get all the glory. Not us and Christ, but Christ
alone. So free will religion is the
anti-Christ. It's anti-God. Because it makes
the omnipotent God to be omnipotent. Or impotent. He can't save whom
he will. He doesn't have the power to
take over your heart if he wants. It makes the omnipotent God to
be impotent. And it makes impotent man to
be omnipotent. It all depends on man. It all
depends on his decision. It's anti-Christ. They've got
everything upside down. It's anti. It's opposed to Christ. It's anti the truth. And the
result of this is so sad. You know, we get angry at that
at that religion. We get angry at those false prophets
who who press these things on people, who press these things
on our loved ones. And we've all got loved ones
who follow this awful, horrible religion of Antichrist that makes
us mad, doesn't it? It just makes us mad. But it's
so sad. It's heartbreaking because the
result of this Antichrist, this religion that's Antichrist, is
damnation. Paul says it's the son of perdition
to be revealed. Perdition is damnation. It's
the son of damnation. They're not preaching the son
of God in whom is salvation. No, it's the son of perdition.
The result of it is damnation. Man's religion is not a good
thing. There's no good in it. I have
people say, well, you know, they've got some good things. Somebody's
better off, you know, going to this false religion and then
they are, you know, staying home on Sunday or going fishing or
whatever. No, they're not. Really, they're not. False religion,
man's religion is not, well, You know, men are better off
there because at least they get some some righteousness showing
this world. No, they don't. It's unrighteousness. Look at
verse 10. With all deceivableness of unrighteousness
in them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth
that they might be saved. Our Lord called those religious
people whose hope was in their own works. Lord, we've done many
wonderful works of your name. We've cast out devils. We've
gone preaching. We've supported missionaries.
We've done all these things. What our Lord called workers
of iniquity, not people who had some good works, but they weren't
good enough. No, he said they're workers of iniquity. They're
not good works. They're evil works. The only
righteousness that there is is the righteousness of Christ.
The only good work there is, is the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. But Paul says they reject that.
They reject that. It's not that they haven't heard
the truth. It's that they've heard it and rejected it. They
hate it because they're anti-Christ. The truth is all Christ and they
hate it because they're anti-Christ. Man's religion is not where we
learn some true things, you know, that are good for us, even though
other things might not be so good. You know, at least it's
good we're hearing some good things. No, it's not. No. This is an example I heard Brother
Henry use one time. I love it. He said there might
be some good food in the garbage can, but I'm not going to eat
it. You get sick eating out of the garbage can. That's what
you get. False religion is the garbage
can. It's the dung heap. Maybe there is some good food
there, some morsel of something good, but I'm not going to eat
it. It makes you sick. Eating out of the garbage can
will make you sick. Eating from this religion, free will religion
that's anti-Christ will damn you. There's no good in it. Look
here at verse 11. For this cause, because they've
rejected the truth, they won't receive it. For this cause, God
will 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. They reject the truth. They refuse
to receive it. So God sends them a strong delusion
so that they'll believe that lie more strongly. And they'll
be damned for it. They'll be damned because they
had pleasure in unrighteousness. And notice the context. Pleasure
in unrighteousness is not spending your time down there at the crack
house. Having pleasure in unrighteousness
is not in all the sexual sins and the fleshly, horrible, awful
things of this world. Having pleasure in unrighteousness
is having pleasure in your own works. Having pleasure in unrighteousness
is finding pleasure in the message of man's free will, which is
opposed to Christ. And Paul says, they'll be damned
for it. Now that's apostasy. That's the end of apostasy. Wow, that's a frightening thought.
Apostasy scares believers to death. Will I be deceived? Will I? Will I leave Christ and
his gospel? I will if God lets me. If God
leaves me alone, I will. I know that. But Peter says,
or Paul said, now, brethren, don't you be shaken by this.
Don't you be troubled by this. God's elect are secure. They're
not going to follow after this because God's going to keep them.
Look at verse six. He says, now you know what withholdeth
that he might be revealed in his time. That word withholdeth
means restrained. God restrains the Antichrist.
He's restraining him right now, just for a moment, so he doesn't
take over the whole world. The Antichrist is being restrained
from deceiving God's people. He's not going to be able to
deceive God's people. God's going to protect them.
He says here in verse 13, here's how they're protected. But we're
bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God had from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. God's given you faith to believe
Christ, so you're not going to follow this religion that's anti-Christ. It's anti-your Savior. And yes,
without question, the spirit of anti-Christ is very strong
in our day. The spirit of Antichrist is frightening,
but don't be shaken by it. Don't be shaken. Be sad about
it. Be sad it's so strong in this
world, but don't be shaken because the elect will not be deceived. And don't get too caught up in
this Antichrist because God's going to destroy the spirit of
Antichrist when he returns. Look at verse seven. He says,
for the mystery of iniquity doth already work. Only he who now
letteth, who restrains, will let, until he be taken out of
the way. The Antichrist, like I said,
it's not one individual person. I promise you we will not elect
the Antichrist in November. I promise you we won't. Because
the Antichrist is not one person. The Antichrist was already at
work at Paul's day, so it can't be somebody that's living today.
The Antichrist is a religion. It's man's free will religion
where man has some input in this matter of salvation. And one
day, God's going to take it out of the way. He's going to remove
it. So don't be overly troubled by it. Before the Lord returns,
there must be this spirit of Antichrist across the whole world.
And then fourthly, here's the fourth thing I want us to see
about the Lord's return. Before Christ returns, Satan
is going to be set loose, 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.
Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all
power and signs and lying wonders. Now, when Paul says Satan's going
to be revealed, he means he's going to be set loose. Now, he
doesn't mean Satan's going to be running around, you know,
this pitchfork and sticking people with his pitchfork, you know,
and sticking them and cast them into hell. He doesn't be running
around torturing people with his pitchfork, you know. No,
when Satan is set loose, he operates in false religion. The religion
of Satan is the religion of Antichrist, because Satan is opposed to Christ
in every way. Satan doesn't have to worry about
people living all this wild, fleshly sin. Where he deals is
in the pulpit. He deals in religious circles,
getting people to look at anything other than Christ alone. And
he's got power when he does it. God's given him power to operate
in this world right now. In the book of Ephesians, Paul
called Satan the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience. He got great
power working in these children of disobedience. And he uses
that power to deceive people in religion. You know, he doesn't
appear looking like what you, you know, the drawings of Satan,
somebody with a long tail with some sort of point on it, you
know, and pointy ears and a red outfit and a pitchfork. Now,
that'd scare people to death. They'd run from that, wouldn't
they? So he appears in religion as a minister of light. He appears
to people as a preacher who's got great power. He's got great
power of persuasion. He's got power to perform miracles.
He's got these these traits about him that draw this large following
and his ministry seems to be talking about righteousness and
holiness and good things, you know. That's how Satan works. And he does enable these fellas
to perform some sort of miracles and signs and wonders. And people
see to it, they see that, those wonders and signs. Oh, they just
flock to it. But that's the religion of Antichrist. You beware of somebody with these
signs and wonders and miracles. Paul said. With lying wonders,
they're not wonders that reveal Christ, they're not wonders that
reveal that God's with them and the spirits with them. The apostles
had that in the day of the apostles. They had that ability to work
signs and wonders and miracles. But they only had that so that
people would know God was with them. They needed that at that
time because the New Testament was still being written, wasn't
it? Here Paul's writing the New Testament. Today you don't need
those signs. Somebody doesn't need signs to
be able to perform miracles to prove to you that the Spirit's
with them. How do you know that a man's telling the truth? How
do you know he's a servant of God? He speaks according to the
Word of God. Nobody can perform miracles today
to prove God's with them. If they're performing wonders
and signs and miracles, they're lying wonders. They're not an
indication that God's with them. It's really, it's evidence that
Satan's with them. They're lying wonders. But whatever
it is that they use, whether it's miracles, whether it's signs,
whether it's trying to tell you how to live a better life on
this earth, whatever it is, the religion of Antichrist always
focuses on anything. I don't care what it is. anything
but Christ alone. They focus on these miracles
and gifts, but not Christ. Well, when you see that, you
steer clear of it. They focus on righteousness,
don't they? Talk a lot about righteousness
and holiness, but it's all self-righteousness. It's what you've got to do to
be whole. Not Christ, our righteousness, not Jehovah Sid Kinnon. Then
you steer clear of that when you hear it. They focus on self-help. Not salvation, where Christ stoops
down and lifts the beggar from the dungeon. When you hear that,
you steer clear of it. They focus on self-improvement
instead of total depravity of the flesh that cannot be improved.
But rather, we need a new birth. There's no self-improvement possible
with us. We must be born again. All of
that is of Satan. So you steer clear of it. and
you can recognize it easily because the issue is always something
other than Christ alone. And when we think of Satan, Paul's
writing to him, now don't be troubled, don't be shaken in
this. Satan's very frightened. I'm
not saying otherwise, Satan's very frightened. I don't want
anything to do with that roaring lion walking about seeking whom
he may devour. If he finds me, I'll be a mid-afternoon
snack for him, just nothing. Believer, don't be shaken, don't
be troubled by the existence of Satan. Why not? Because God's going to destroy
him with the spirit of his mouth, with the brightness of his coming.
Well, who's that? Christ. The brightness of his
coming, the spirit of his mouth. I don't have to fear Satan because
Christ is going to destroy him when he returns. I don't have
to fear the coming of Christ. There may be all these fantastic
events and things, I don't have any idea. But I know this, I
don't have to fear Christ's return. Because when He returns, He's
going to destroy the adversary. Christ is the Savior. He's not
the adversary. Any event surrounding His return
is not going to harm a believer. He's the Savior. His return will
destroy the adversary. Christ's delight always dispels
darkness. When He returns, there's not
going to be any more darkness. There's no reason to fear that.
Don't don't be overly troubled. Don't be easily shaken by these
things. Always remember, when we talk
about these things and we see all these different things happen,
just remember this. The issue is not those things.
The issue is Christ. So set your affection, set your
attention on Christ, not these other religions, not these other
people, not these other events. You set your affection on Christ,
your focus on him. and you won't be soon shaken
and your heart won't be troubled. And we'll just keep doing that
by God's grace till he returns, won't we? All right, the Lord
bless you.