I invite you to turn with me
this morning to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Just hold your place
there when you've gotten it, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, and
let me make some comments. Paul told young Timothy to preach
the Word. Don't take up issues. Don't get
your soapbox on whatever it is that's irritating
you, whatever it is that's contrary to the gospel. Just don't take up these issues.
Don't go there. Don't get entangled with the
things of this world. He said, preach the word. That's
what preaching is. Preaching is not telling folks
what you feel. It's not telling folks what you
think. It's an exposition of the Word
of God. That's what preaching is. True
preaching is expository in its nature. Paul knew something about this
young man, that God had blessed this young man with two powerful
influences in his life. his mother, Eunice, and his grandmother,
Lois. And these two powerful influences
in this young man's life, Paul summed them all up by saying
this, they taught you the scriptures. from a child thou hast known
the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation. I don't have any other information
on God. I stood by a woman's bed last
night and I told her this, I don't have any other information on
God except what's written in this book. Everything else, no
matter what it is, is speculation. But I know what he says in this
book is true, and I know that it comes from God. And this book
is its own evidence. All you have to do is read it.
I mean the thousands of years that passed in 60 some different
men, all backgrounds and all ages and all dispensations and
all wrote in this book, all saying the same thing, all in harmony
with one another, that ought to be enough evidence in itself
to convince me that this is the Word of God. But not only that, all the prophecies
of this book have come to pass exactly as they were prophesied
hundreds and hundreds of years before they ever come to pass.
Paul told this young preacher that the Bible he had before
him was the Word of God. And being of God was sufficient
for doctrine. You don't have to add anything
to it. Just read them what it says. Tell them what it says.
Being of God, it's sufficient for doctrine. It's sufficient
for reproof, for instruction in righteousness, and for correction,
the Word of God. And by the grace of God, that's
what I hope to do this morning. The Lord willing, I'm going to
give you a commentary. on 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Having made his salutation and
a brief statement of the people being troubled, in chapter 2,
Paul goes straight to the problem. He goes straight to the problem.
Somebody had either written to these people or told them privately
that Paul had been teaching that they were on the very threshold
of the coming of Christ. They were, I mean, Christ could
come that afternoon. And these people were anxious
in their hearts. And the problem with this is
not so much when the Lord was coming, but the disappointment
that incurs in a church when they fully expect something to
happen and it don't. You remember that idiot that
got on TV here not too long ago, and he said, the end of the world
is coming on this date. And had a big following. Had
a big following. They was all following, all expecting.
They was all selling their stuff and doing this and doing that.
When he didn't come, all air went out. And that's why Paul's
writing to these people. He didn't want that. He didn't
want that disappointment. And he tells them here in verse
2 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, I don't believe when he
says here a letter as of us. He's not talking about somebody
sent them a letter and signed his name to it. I don't think
that's what he's saying at all. But preachers have always been
plagued with people who misapply what they hear. See, Paul preached
the sovereign grace of God. Salvation by grace, not of works
lest any man should boast. God has saved us and called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. Even so, at this present time,
there's a remnant according to the election of grace. Paul preached
the sovereign grace of God. Salvation is the gift of God. It's in his hands totally to
give or withhold. Aren't you glad he's a giving
God? He preached the sovereign grace of God. People heard him
preach the sovereign grace of God, and they said he preaches
a license to sin. Paul never preached that. He
never preached that. He didn't preach any such thing.
But that's what people said he did. You see what I'm saying? And that's what was going on
here. Paul talked about the last days. He talked about the last
day. Somebody heard him make the statement,
we were living in the last days, and they went out and told everybody,
Paul said, Jesus Christ is on the very threshold of coming.
He might come today. He might. You know, in his epistle
to the Hebrews, he said, now once in the end of the world
hath Christ appeared. to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. And he mentions the last days.
And he did often in there when he talked about the sacrifice
of Christ and the appearance of Christ. He told the church
at Rome, he said, the night is far spent, the day is at hand.
It's here. Let us, therefore, cast off the
works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. But
my friend, we've been living in the last days since Christ
was born in Bethlehem. That marked the last days, the
last days. We're living in the last day.
And we've been living in the last day since the appearance
of Christ in this world. 2 Thessalonians 2, 3, let no
man deceive you by any means. For that day, he's talking about
that end time, that day of days, that great and terrible day of
the Lord. That day shall not come except there come a falling
away first. And that man of sin be revealed,
the son of perdition. Now, lots of the old writers
believed that this was a single man. And they applied it first
to the Catholic pope. As soon as they elected a pope
and put him in Rome, they said, that's the Antichrist. This scripture's
fulfilled. There's the Antichrist. And truly,
he was an Antichrist, but he's not the Antichrist. And listen to this, verse 4,
2 Thessalonians 2. This one who's going to come,
this man of sin, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all
that is called God or that's worshipped, so that he as God
sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
Now there's a lot of Hollywood hype and speculation projected
in the movies about the coming of a man who is the incarnation
of Satan as Christ was the incarnation of God. Now that's what they
teach about this scripture. But the scriptures don't speak
of one man coming, but of the spirit of Satan possessing men
in quantity. in quantity. Turn with me to
1 John chapter 2. Antichrist is a term that means
contrary to Christ, or against Christ, or opposite of Christ. That's an antichrist. Now watch
this over here in 1 John chapter 2 verse 18. Little children,
it is the last time. And as you have heard, that Antichrist
shall come. He's coming. Now watch this.
Even now are there many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the
last time. There are many Antichrists. And
then John says this. He's talking about Antichrists
being in the world. Now watch this. They went out
from us. Who did? Who went out from him? Antichrists. These antichrists that are out
in the world, they went out from us, but they weren't of us. For had they been of us, they
no doubt would have continued with us. But they went out that
they might be made manifest that they were not of us. They didn't agree with us. in
our preaching. They were opposed to our teaching. They preached another gospel,
Paul said. He said, they're going to come
and they're going to preach another gospel to you. They'll call it
the gospel, but it'll be another gospel. And they'll preach another Jesus.
They'll call him Jesus. I've seen them singing on TV
the other day, throwing them hands, closing them eyes, swaying
with the music, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. They call him Jesus, but
he's another Jesus. And they'll have a spirit. They're
going to preach in the spirit, but it's another spirit. It's
another spirit. The spirit of God has one thing,
one business in this world. The Spirit of the living God,
He's got one business, that is to reveal the Son of God in His
elect. Now, that's what the Spirit of
God does. That's what He does. When you say the Spirit of God
has something to do with a man's walk, what He has to do with
that man's walk has to do with what that man understands about
Christ. As you have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him, rooted and grounded
in Him. Be not moved away from this hope. The Spirit of God, His business
in this world is to reveal the Son of God in the salvation of
sinners. I'm going to tell you something.
It's Satan's intent for every man and woman to make shipwreck
of their souls. You little ones better listen
to me. It's Satan's intent. Here's what he intends to do.
He got all kind of means that he uses, but here's his intent.
It's for you to make shipwreck of your soul. He wants your soul. That's what he wants. He wants
your soul. It's His design to leave you
clinging to some kind of a false hope. He don't care what it is.
He don't care if you worship a jar of peanut butter. He don't
care what you do, as long as you don't worship Christ. He
don't care what you come to. You can come to the front. He's
in that, coming to the front. Come down here. One man told
me we had this old altar in this Nazarene church I was raised
in. And I came down to that altar. He just come down to the front.
He said, there's no efficacy in this bench whatsoever. It's
just a place where men meet God. You know what I come to find
out? You find the place where a man meets God, you've got more
efficacy and you know what to do with. And it wasn't in that
bench. It's in his son. It's in his
son. This is Antichrist business.
Come into the front. Come on down. He's in there. Sign this card. Repeat after
me. Do this. Do that. That's all
Antichrist. That's what that is. His design is to leave you clinging
to some kind of a false hope, hiding in a false refuge, trusting
in anything except the Christ of God. Now listen to me. He said, this day ain't going
to come until there comes a great falling away. That's nearly 2,000
years back. I can't really say to you what
he said to them. The day is at hand. Is it going
to be tomorrow? I don't know. But everything
that Paul said needed to happen before his return is happening
right now. Right now. But even back then, Antichrist
was at work. What does Antichrist do? Well,
it says here he opposes God. He's in opposition to God. He's in opposition to God's grace. He's in opposition to God's mercy. What did our Lord tell those
Pharisees? They were practicing antichrist. What did He tell
them? He said, I won't have sacrifice. I'll have mercy. Now you go learn
what that means. I'll have mercy and not sacrifice.
For I'm not coming into the world to call the righteous. I'm coming
in the world to save sinners. He opposes God. He opposes God's
grace. He opposes God's mercy. He opposes
God's purpose. Oh, God can't have a purpose. You mean God has a purpose that
overrides men and women's purpose? I hope to tell you. His purpose
is why men and women have their being. He's in opposition to God's son,
totally against everything his son did. He's against God's spirit. He's against God's gospel. He's
against God's providence. He's against God's means, and
he's against God's messengers. He opposes himself to all that's
called God. He's in opposition to God. Secondly,
he exalteth himself above all that's called God, or that is
worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God,
showing himself that he is God. Now, I've got a couple applications
for this. First of all, the scriptures
tell us, he said, know you not that ye are the temple of God? So that when Antichrist controls
a man, he sits in that temple showing himself that he's God.
He controls that man. Now, if you don't believe that's
so, you need to read Ephesians chapter 2, the first four verses. Because that's exactly what it
says. You hath equipped them who were dead in trespasses and
sins. wherein in time past you walked
according to the course of this world. Now listen, according
to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now worketh
in the children of disobedience. Chasing after your lust, chasing
after all those things, and you were by nature the children of
wrath even as others. Exalt, he sits in the temple
of God showing himself that he is God. Is Antichrist, the spirit
or principle of Antichrist, so influenced as a man that he believes
and acts as the master of his own destiny? Does he not? Oh, this ain't up to God. This
is up to you. God's done all He can do. I'm
quoting preachers on TV right now. God's done all He can do. Now it's all up to you. Who's
sitting in that temple? Huh? Antichrist. Antichrist. He decides when and where he'll
spend eternity. He also believes he can dictate
the terms of his reconciliation to God. He don't have to listen
to God. He don't need a Bible. One man
said that to one of our members not too long ago. He said, I
don't care what that book says. He dictates his own terms of
reconciliation. He don't bring what God commands,
but what he determines himself to bring, just like Cain did. God made this reconciliation
clear way back yonder in Genesis chapter 3. And Adam's two sons
knew exactly what it was. But Cain said, well, I ain't
going to bring an old bloody lamb. Look here what I got. I
got carrots over here as big as tent stakes. I'm going to
bring these carrots and my green beans and my grapes and my apples
that I picked. I'm going to bring all this.
And I set it out here on a beautiful sheet. I won't put it on that
old altar to be burned. I'm going to put it over here
on the sheet. I'm going to put it over here on, you know, I
take old a dark, real dark navy blue sheet, and I'll lay it out
here, and I'll put all these colorful fruits out there, and
God will be impressed when He sees that. That's Antichrist. Antichrist. He doesn't bring what God commands.
He brings what He determines Himself. And then, listen to
this. He sits in the temple of God
as though He were God. This is what antichrist, this
spirit of antichrist, this is what it does. It sits in a man
so that that man himself decides the time. I can't even tell you how many
times people said to me, well, I want to be saved and I'm going
to join the church when I get ready. Huh? You need to read Proverbs chapter
1. You need to read it and memorize it. God said, you'll call on me when
you get ready. You'll call on me in your time,
and you'll call on me early, but I won't hear you. I called
on you on my time, and you didn't want to hear me. Now, you can
call all you want to. And he said, I'll mock when your
fear cometh. I'll mock. He determines the times. I'll
go here, I'll do this, I'll make my peace with God. How many times
have I heard that? He sets his own price of redemption. He decides what he's going to
sacrifice to win God's favor. He sets the price of his own
redemption. He decides to offer his own works,
his own sacrifice, his own righteousness. The strong man armed, that's
that spirit of Satan. That strong man armed sits in
his palace. Sits in his palace. He owns it.
And his goods are at peace until a stronger than he comes in.
And then he don't sit in the palace anymore in control. I'm telling you, Satan knows
what appeals to men and women, and this falling away is a falling
away from the Word of God. It's a falling away from the
Gospel of Christ. It's a falling away from the
assembling of the saints and of the worship of God and of
the Spirit of God. You've done despite, Paul said,
to the Spirit of God. The falling away of which Paul
describes in these verses is a great falling away. A great
falling away. And then secondly, there's another
application for this word temple. This word temple has to do with
the church of the living God. He tells us in Ephesians chapter
2 that when the building is fitly framed together, it groweth unto
a holy temple in the Lord. Talking about His church. And
before our Lord's return, The spirit of Antichrist shall so
possess the professing church in this world that it'll be altogether
Antichrist. Now, I don't know if you even
turn them on on your TV anymore, but you just turn one on. I don't
care who it is. Just turn it on. Turn it on randomly.
Baptist, Nazarene, Methodist, it don't matter. Turn them on. If that's not Antichrist, I don't
know God. Antichrist. Antichrist. Antichrist. Everywhere you look, everywhere
you listen. I had a note stuck in my door
this morning from some man, and I can tell you by the way the
thing looked without reading it. He's antichrist. In the book of Revelations, it
pictures these men possessed of this antichrist spirit with
the number 666 stamped in their forehead. What's that mean, preacher? Well, six is the number of man,
isn't it? That's the number of man. And what that's saying,
that in this man's mind, possessed by the Spirit of Antichrist,
it's all man, man, man. That's what they preach. That's
what they believe. That's what they glory in. Man. Man. Man is the object of their worship. You have to give him what he
wants. Have to give him what he wants,
or we won't come. You have to brag on his children. You have to recognize his wife.
You got to call on everybody there to pray. Dare not skip
anybody. It's man, man, man, man, man. That's all it is. It's antichrist. All right. Well, how's Satan
going to accomplish this? How in the world? is Satan. He'd been cast out of heaven
down into the earth. He was working in the fall of
man. He'd been working ever since, working wherever there's a believer,
Satan's there in opposition to it. Here's Job, a prime example
of the righteousness of God, of the child of God, and here's
Satan. Here's the saints gathered together
in Job's day, and here comes Satan. He's with them. Everywhere
God's people are, Satan's there working in opposition. But how will Satan accomplish
such a thing as this great falling away, drawing multitudes, whole
nations after him? How's he going to do this? He's going to do it one man at
a time, one church at a time. One country at a time. One age
at a time. And he's been working at it for
more than 2,000 years. And then secondly, listen to
this. Here's how you're going to do it. Down in verse 9. 2 Thessalonians verse 9. Even
him who's 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." Why are men and women so easily
taken into religion? Why are they so easily deceived
into believing their lies? Four things He gives us right
here. Power. That's the first thing. Power. Look at the multitudes of men
and women in these assemblies. Look at their prominent place
in society. People who are running for office,
they run to religion because they know religion has the power
to put them in office. That's why they cater to them. Power. Satan is powerful. He's powerful in his deceit and
he's powerful in his influence in this world through these deceived
men and women. Religion is the most powerful
influence in this world outside of God's kingdom. And then listen
to this. Signs. Signs. Oh, look at their success. I used to listen to that man
out in California in the Crystal Cathedral. The Crystal Cathedral. Look at
their success. I went up to Washington, D.C.
I had to back off a block and a half to get the National Cathedral,
this big Catholic monument there. I had to back off a block and
a half to get it in picture. Signs. Signs. Look at their shrines, their
temples, their cathedrals, their monuments. Look at their numbers. Look at their congregations.
Look at their schools and hospitals and shelters and orphanages.
Surely these people must be friends with God. Surely these people have the
blessings of God on them. And then listen to this. Here's
the third thing. Lying wonders. Men of high renown and celebrities
Eloquent speakers and visual aids, the inside of some of those
structures are just breathtaking. It's breathtaking. Surely this
must be of God. Singers who have absolutely heavenly
voices, just heavenly voices. And look at their dress. Come
out while you... I've seen preachers, just preachers. They're not popes or pretending
to be apostles. These are just preachers. They come out dressed like the
king of England. Got these big robes on, and they
have a train behind them. And when they walk, I don't even
know how they walk in them. I fall down. Lying wonders. And here's the
fourth thing. All deceivableness of unrighteousness
in them that perish. What in the world is a deceivableness
of unrighteousness? What's he talking about? It means
being deceived by an unrighteousness under the pretense of being a
righteousness. Paul said, you think that's a
marvel? Satan himself is transformed
into an angel of light. How much more his ministers who
are preachers of righteousness, huh? They're transformed into
preachers. They're not preaching the righteousness of God in Christ.
They're preaching self-righteousness. But they're preaching it to be
the righteousness of God. And man who preaches salvation
and justification by man's works and will is deceiving men by
an unrighteousness under the pretense of being a righteousness. And being deceived, hearing the truth and the lie,
and then giving assent to the lie. He said you would not receive
the love of the truth that you might be saved, you'll take the
lie. Take the lie. Unregenerate man,
I don't care what you, I could preach as eloquent as Timothy
or one of those men in the old, that Paul talks about. And along comes a man and he
can be talking about bananas and figs. He can be talking about
Clarabel the Clown. He could just talk about anything. Man will take that and reject
this. They received not the love of
the truth that they might be saved. They set it aside. They
called it out. They chose the lie over the truth. And for this cause, verse 11,
2 Thessalonians 2, 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 have pleasure in unrighteousness.
God doesn't preach lies to them, but he allows those lies to be
preached to them. He arranges it in his providence
just that way because they would not receive the love of the truth
that they might be saved. And I'm telling you this, this
is the sure end of any man who follows after and clings to the
Antichrist religion of our day, which seems to be almost universal
to me. I know preachers in Australia,
and I know preachers in England, and France, and way up yonder
in Alaska, and all over the place. They all say the same thing.
Everything around them is Antichrist. But now watch this, verse 13.
His influence in this world is so powerful, so powerful. Men can't resist it. They flock
into those congregations by the thousands. Businesses love them. Merchants love them. Read the
book of Revelation. You'll find out those merchants
wept when old Antichrist was exposed because they made gain
from it. But now watch this. Paul said,
But 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, whereunto He called you by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. There's only one power
in the universe more powerful and influential than Satan, and
that is the living God. And there's only one way that
any man shall ever escape the power of darkness and the influence
of antichrist religion and all its lying wonders, and that is
that God intervene on his behalf. Now, I'm telling you, if he don't,
you're a goner. I'm not going to stand up here
and preach free will to you. Man's will ain't free. It's in
bondage to his nature. He's in this little cell, and
he can just run all over the place inside that cell, but he
can't go anywhere outside of it. He run around blind in darkness. He don't have eyes to see. He's
a goner if God doesn't intervene in his life. But intervene, he
did. And he did it in the beginning
by eternal election. God has chosen some to salvation. They weren't chosen. It doesn't
say here they were chosen to the possibility of salvation. I've had that brought up. Oh,
that's not what this is. That says man was chosen to the
possibility of it. That ain't what this is. Ain't what that says. It says
he was chosen to salvation. To be chosen to salvation is
to have all that's required put into place. Huh? When was it put into place? Way
back yonder in eternity. They were chosen and a federal
head and a representative and substitute. They were chosen
to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
gospel. A preacher was assigned. He was assigned. Providence was
arranged and a new creature was born. God intervened. God intervened. God crossed that
man's path with the gospel. And when he did, he crossed that
man's path with the spirit of God and power. Paul told these
Thessalonians, here they are out there, rank idolaters, rank
idolaters. Over there where the goddess
Diana was so great, those big statues and all that idolatry,
steeped in idolatry. Paul said, I know your election
of God, brethren. He said, because when my gospel
came, it didn't come in word only. It come in power. and come
in the Holy Ghost, and you become followers of us and the Lord. That's just the way it is, folks. And the only thing opposed to
that is Antichrist. He's opposed to God's means.
He's opposed to God's messengers. He's opposed to the will of God
and the salvation of sinners. That old heart of man, once awed
by the religion of this world, now just sees it as garbage.
That's all it is. I try to listen to it so I know
how to minister these things to you, but I tell you, when
I listen to it, it sickens me. It just makes me nauseous. I
don't like it. And I don't like anything about
it. Through the work of God and the gift of faith, God's elect
have obtained the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. All the heavenly
treasure of God been revealed in His Son to them. In Him, we
see the glory of His love. Christ loved us, gave Himself
for us, died for us while we were yet sinners, died the just
for the unjust that He might bring us to God. He's our propitiation,
enabling God to be just in His justification. of all them that
believe. And seeing Him as our High Priest,
ever living to make intercession for Him, seeing Him in His glory,
in His glory, in the glory of His sovereignty, having power
over all flesh to give eternal life to as many as the Father
had given Him. So what do these believers do?
Verse 15, Therefore, brethren, stand fast,
Hold your traditions which you've been taught, that is the doctrines,
the ordinances, and the rules of conduct and behavior. And
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God, even our Father, which
hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and
good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish you
in every good work, word and work. In these days of darkness
and despair, in these days of apostasy and reprobation, let's
stand on this one foundation which God Himself has laid. Other
foundation can no man lay other than that which is laid, Christ
the Lord. And I'm telling you this, there's
no comfort, there's no consolation, there's no hope anywhere else.
That's the message of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Antichrist and the
Christ.