All right, we're going to be
taking up where we left off last week. I just want to read a few
verses in the second Thessalonians chapter two, and then we're going
to be backing up to the Gospel of Matthew and then proceeding
forward to understand a concept that is inherent in this. This
set of prophetic truths that the Apostle Paul is setting forth
concerning the final days, the nature and characteristic of
tribulation, as we have been learning for several months now.
I wanna read verses seven through verse, yeah, no, let me, yeah,
I'm gonna read verses seven through verse 10, and then we'll come
back and develop it. For the mystery of iniquity is
already working, only he, that's a masculine gender there, now
restrains, that's what the word lets means, until he be taken
out of the way and when, Then shall that wicked be revealed
whom the Lord, it should be wicked one, whom the Lord shall consume
with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness
of his coming, even him. Now that little clause and pronoun
shouldn't be there. The translators thought that
it would be smoother linguistically and then it would also tie the
previous hymn to the present Even him whose coming is after
the working of Satan, that is the wicked one whose coming is
after the working of Satan with all power and signs and line
wonders. This is his calling card. When
he comes, whenever he comes, he comes with a power and signs
and line wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness
in them that perish. because they received 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,
that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but
at pleasure in unrighteousness. Let's stop right there. Last
time I was talking to you about the whole issue of binding and
loosing, the essential question was whether or not Satan is bound
and what does that mean? Or is Satan loosed and what does
that mean? And we talked last week from
a number of scriptures about the whole idea of binding and
loosing and you'll see it in your outline at the top in that
area of binding and loosing that we're going to go back to Matthew's
gospel chapter 12 and we're going to lay some foundation to what
that means. I think I articulated it in that
portion of scripture in your outline Isaiah 25 7 acts 17 I'm
going to go there but I'm going to use Matthews 12 as our context
and then we're going to build it the concept of binding and
loosing as You see it under Matthews 12 22 through 27 with the emphasis
on 29 Here's the statement that I make and I want to make it
here when there is an advancement of the gospel when the gospel
is advancing anywhere in the world Satan is bound. The advancement of paganism indicates
that Satan is loosed. Wherever the gospel spreads and
is actually making an impact in that culture, it means that
Satan is bound. Wherever the whole worldview
of paganism and secularism abounds, it means that Satan is loosed. The idea of loosening and binding
has everything to do with whether or not God has purposed the gospel
to advance in a culture. Loosening and binding has to
do with God's objective to save. So be very careful about that.
When we ask the question about loosening and binding, we are
asking the question, what is the effect of Satan being loosed? and what is the effect of Satan
being bound? That's all that you're really
asking. We're asking who does the binding and who does the
loosening? And when the binding and loosening
takes place, what is the net effect of that? Now, the reason
why I say you wanna think that way is because you want to avoid
the era of religious people and religionists and groups of wanting
to acquire or experience the idea of you having the personal
power to bind Satan. You want to avoid the notion
that somehow it's your job personally to be able to bind Satan by your
words or by your prayers or by something you do. So when we
talk about the concept of binding and loosening, I'm going to demonstrate
again through the scriptures that the binding and loosening
is a prerogative of God. And wherever it takes place,
it is manifested by either an advancement of the gospel or
a regression thereof. The two entities in the universe,
and this is our biblical worldview, that are at hostile opposition
towards one another is God and Satan, right? These two ineterable
foes, eternal foes, are seen in the effects of human beings
in the world on an individual level, on a social level, on
a global level. wherever Satan is loosed, men
and women are deceived. And men and women operate out
of a pagan notion that God is something other than he really
truly is. I'm nurturing that concept so
that you would have a biblical understanding of what binding
and loosening is about. And so that you would avoid the
pagan sort of witchcraft practice that goes on in the church whereby
you think you have the ability and power to confront Satan personally. You don't and you have never
seen it in the scriptures and even though it may inflate your
ego to be able to say, Satan, I bind you in the name of it
might make you feel good. It might make you feel good.
but you were tricked by religion once again to think that you
have more power than you do. This is not about you. This is
about the glory of God. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? And when we look at the scriptures, we'll come to understand
that the binding and loosening is God's prerogative. And where
we come in at is in our obedience to the gospel. That's what we
come in at. So I want you to go back to Matthew
chapter 12. I want you to see it. In Matthew chapter 12, we left
off here. Our Lord has come into Jewry, and I think we developed
this in a most thorough way last week, but I want to use this
as a launching pad into our further consideration. this whole business
of the binding and loosening and we're gonna see again the
thematic nature of scripture as we look at the several verses
that indicates this process that takes place in Matthew's chapter
12 as you know the Pharisees and the Sadducees are particularly
the Pharisees and the rulers of Israel were extremely jealous
of Jesus were they not and they were so envious of our Savior
that hatred had filled their heart and and they wanted to
kill him, did they not? Now, our Lord identified these
religious rulers as actually the emissaries of the devil,
did he not? This is John chapter eight, you
are of your father, the devil. So what I want you to know is
that Jesus here is God incarnate manifest in the flesh and he
is in direct opposition with Satan who is operating through
the religious rulers of the day. got the context Jesus is here
in the flesh battling against false religion who purports to
be true religion but the evidence that it's false is that it does
not submit to the revelation of God in Christ moreover the
evidence that it's false is that Jesus is successfully redeeming
sinners by the power of God in his own ministry of which he
is attributing that success to the binding of Satan. You guys
hear what I'm saying? He as the mediator between God
and man and as the representative of God's elect is telling us
that you will know that Satan is bound because the church will
have the same success that I'm having as I go about the ministry
of the gospel. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? But what you don't see Jesus doing is going about in
a personal assault or a witch hunt for the devil saying, Satan,
I bind you in the name of myself. Right? I'm just saying you do
you see that you don't see it anywhere because see Jesus is
still staying on point He's maintaining his role He is a representative
of all of us to show us how we are to walk before the father
And how do the believer walk before the father the way Jesus
did and how did Jesus do it totally depending on his father? See
he didn't even do ministry designed in a way to glorify himself.
I It wasn't designed to exalt his power or to point people
to him in such a fashion that he would be some superhero guru
that everybody would be looking at that's able to exercise individuals. In fact, it wasn't Jesus's chief
objective to do exorcisms. His chief objective was to glorify
his father and to deliver lost sinners. But as a by-product
of that objective is the necessary binding of the devil who have
men and women in his clutches by virtue of means of deception. So what's going to liberate men
and women from the bondage of the devil? True. True. And then the spirit of God or
the spirit of truth working through that truth to demolish strongholds
and false notions and the traps that men and women in under demonic
influence. It's truth that does it. Are
you guys hearing me? It's true. So now watch what
happens as the drama unfolds. And we're going to be going through
old Testament scriptures and new Testament scriptures. And
then we will finalize our observation of this in the book of revelation.
As I close out on this particular point, that the binding and loosening
of which many of us are contemplating are interested has everything
to do with the success or the failure of the gospel. And that's
God's prerogative. I'm at verse. Twenty two, I want
you to see this, Matthew's twelve, twenty two, then was brought
unto him one possessed with the devil. Do you sit? Blind and
dumb. And notice how The language puts
it and he healed him And so much that the blind and the dumb both
spake and saw And all the people were amazed and said is this
not the son of david? Do you see that? They couldn't
They couldn't correlate what jesus did with who he was Now
watch what it says, but when the pharisees heard it They said
this fellow doth not cast out devils, but by beelzebub the
prince of devils So they set up a premise that suggests that
Jesus was operating out of the power of the devil and casting
out devils, right? Now notice what Jesus says, knowing
their thoughts, he said unto them, every kingdom divided against
itself is brought to desolation in every city or house divided
against itself shall not stand. He laid down a principle now,
and that principle is this. You don't build a house by tearing
it down. You don't build a kingdom by
tearing down that kingdom. If in fact I'm operating under
the power and the authority of the devil and thus casting out
devils by the devil's authority, I am voluntarily destroying the
devil's kingdom, right? And so the logic wouldn't follow
as the Pharisees had laid it down that he's casting out devils
by Beelzebub. There is another inference in
that that's worth noting. If Jesus is operating out of
the power of the devil to cast out devils, then all Jesus is
doing is destroying Satan's kingdom and there's no kingdom of God
to be juxtaposed over against it. So the flawed syllogism of
the Pharisees that he's casting out devils, but he's casting
out devils by the prince of devils excludes them from the authentic
kingdom. They aren't even recognizing
that there is an authentic kingdom present for which Jesus is battling
against that kingdom. So Jesus starts with their flawed
reasoning to demonstrate that their flawed reasoning is both
illogical and self-contradictory. By the way, bad logic always
contradicts itself. Now notice what it goes on to
say. Here's how he argues. Verse 27. If I, by Beelzebub,
cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? See?
Therefore, They shall be your judges. For those of you who
don't know, this argument and logic on the part of our savior
was designed to expose the Pharisees for not only being flawed in
their understanding, but being impotent in their capacity to
demonstrate that they could do the same. For the Pharisees never
ever once cast out a devil. Do you see it? what he's what
Jesus is doing what the Lord Jesus is doing is begging the
question demonstrate before you charge me with a faulty method
of casting out devils that you even know anything about casting
out devils see it thirdly but if I cast out devils now here
it is watch this by the Spirit of God then the kingdom of God
has come to you see it If I cast out devils by the spirit of God,
then the kingdom of God is present among you. And this the Pharisees
knew would be the logical conclusion of the premise that this is Messiah. If this is Messiah, then the
kingdom of God is present because Satan is being bound and men
and women are being loosed from his control. And all the Jewish
culture understanding messianic prophecy in a Jewish context
in the Old Testament knew what you're going to see here in a
few moments in the scriptures, that when Messiah comes, that's
exactly what he would do. He would so clean the house that
everybody would be relieved, at least temporarily, of the
presence and control, oppression and harassment of demons so long
as Messiah is present. They all knew that when Messiah
comes, he would have such a thorough impression upon the whole nation
that no one would be able to doubt that he is present legitimately. So what the Pharisees are doing,
ladies and gentlemen, is what we call poisoning the well so
that no one would drink from it. As long as the rumor is going
around that the well is poisoned, But now if they buy into the
proposition, that is not true, that the well is poison. They're
going to die first. Let me go home. But if I cast
out devils by the spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come
unto you or else now here he comes with what we call the parable,
the lesson alongside of the reality, or else how can one enter into
a strong man's house? Do you see the metaphor? So now
who's doing the entering? Christ Into whose house Satan's
kingdom Who is the strong man? Satan Are you with me so far? So the aggression is on the part
of Christ He is the one actually plundering the kingdom of Satan
he's the one that's actually demonstrating that he's a he
has authority over the ruler of darkness or as the scripture
calls him the prince and the power of the air or else how
can one enter into a strongman's house and here it is spoil the
word is plunder his goods you know the idea of plunder means
when you bring the authority of that kingdom into subjection
to your power you take all of his citizens and make them yours
Now ladies and gentlemen, this is precisely what Jesus had said
in chapter 16 when we go there, that would occur when he told
Peter, James and John and the disciples, I give unto you the
keys of the kingdom and the gates of hell will not prevail because
I will build my church. You guys remember that? the gates
of hell will not prevail because I will build my church." Even
as he's doing now, he's in a preliminary way building his church by plundering
the kingdom of Satan that has actually taken complete control
of Jewry. Israel is under the full darkness
and power of Satan for which Jesus has plainly articulated
to the rulers, you are of your father the devil. I told you
how the methodology and strategy of the devil works. His goal
is to make it all the way to the top to become CEO and head
of the department. That's his objective. And Christ
knows if this kingdom is to be plundered, he has to bind the
strongman. Now, how does he bind the strongman?
That might be an inference or an implication that you're deriving
out of this here. Jesus is, he's doing ministry like his disciples
will do ministry. He's praying, he's preaching,
he's ministering. And what one would ask in the
more cosmological or spiritual realm, how is he binding the
strongman? Well, see, that's not the area
in which you and I need to be concerned. That is that unseen
realm, that supernatural realm where God operates. We talked
about this in our women's study last night, the distinction between
miracles and the supernatural realm. The supernatural realm
is for you and I as the children of God to experience the blessings
and the presence and the power of it. But that's God's business.
That's God's business. As it was in the gospel of Luke,
Jesus said, after he had sent out the 70, one of our brothers
delivered a good message on this about a month ago. And all the
disciples that come back rejoicing, rejoicing that the devils were
subject to them, right? Rejoicing, but they knew that
the power wasn't in them. And what Jesus had told them
to do was just go throughout all Israel and preach the gospel.
And the preaching of the gospel subdued the demonically controlled
people and brought about liberation. They came back and told Jesus,
and Jesus says, good, but don't stay fixed on that because I'm
not calling you to be exorcist. I want you to rejoice that your
name is written in heaven. See the difference? See the difference?
Don't now go out and advertise in the newspaper you cast out
devils. We have to lock you up with the Sceva brothers. Remember
them? All right, so let's keep it straight now. Here's what
he says, or else how can one enter to a strong man's house
and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man, and
then he will spoil his house. And then he gives a very serious
warning in verses 31 through 33. I'm just gonna read verse
30, and then I wanna share with you some verses surrounding this
issue of binding and loosening before we move on to the other
passages in 2 Thessalonians. Verse 30, he that is not with
me is what? And he that gathereth not with
me does what? Now see now, this is not a politically
correct bifurcation or what is called a radical dichotomy that
Jesus has established. This is not politically correct
today, because in our present generation, folk want to live
in the gray area of maybe being part of Christ or maybe not.
Or, you know, there has to be a category of people that's kind
of undecided. Well, according to Christ, there's
no undecided. Everybody is decided. Everybody's decided. There's
no such thing as undecided. This is also what makes the gospel
a very important issue in the church Either you are on the
side of christ Having come into a knowledge of the truth of the
gospel and you serve and aid in in a bet the advancement of
the gospel Or you are on the side of satan and you hinder
the gospel and you aid in a bet the advancement of paganism Am
I making some sense? There's only two sides, only
two sides. And hopefully we'll get a chance
to talk about that a little bit. I wrote a number of comments
in your outline. You can read them in your own
time, particularly down in the area of the world's condition
during the period of tribulation and apostasy prior to Christ
coming, but you can read it in your own time. Go with me now
in your Bible to Matthew chapter 16. I want you to see that language. And then I'm gonna share with
you three or four verses in the scriptures In relationship to
what second Thessalonians says Jesus the Lord Jesus will do
when the man of sin emerges and Manifests himself Matthew chapter
16 just to remind you once again the whole issue of binding and
loosening You know what occurred Jesus asked the disciples who
do men say that I am that's verse 13 and in verse 16 Simon Peter
responds and says you are the Christ the Son of of the living
God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, blessed are you, Simon
Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you,
but my father, which is in heaven. See verse 17, what Jesus is saying
to Peter is, your statement does not amount to a mere assent to
some proposition that you have been told about me from somebody
else. Your statement is not merely
the echoing or reverberating of a Christian confession that
you have read. Your statement about me is not
the consequence of a mere intellectual acumen or capacity to adduce
a reason and come to the conclusion that I'm God in the flesh. The
confession that you have just rendered, Peter, came from my
father. In other words, God himself has
to reveal to a human being who Christ is in the truth. God has
to reveal to a human being who Christ is in the truth. Now,
follow this, ladies and gentlemen, as we work this through. You
can have two people standing, speaking in the same mic. One
will say, Jesus is Lord. The other one will say, Jesus
is Lord. One is blind, one has a revelation from the Father.
Did you hear what I just said? Both can say Jesus is Lord, but
only one of them said it by the Holy Ghost. Did you hear what
I just said? This is what we warn about a
superficial confession of Christ that is merely the vocalizing
of words. What Jesus had said to Peter
was a true understanding of who I am amounts to God revealing
me to you. Because that revelation of Christ
not only is a privilege to have, but it's a responsibility to
bear. See, ladies and gentlemen, if you are going to be a Christian
in this world, you're going to be marked out by God to suffer
for his name. You guys got that? Now watch
this. And therefore, if we should open our mouths and say, I believe
that Jesus is Lord, then you are going to have to bear the
burden of that exclusive claim. That's real Christianity. Real
Christianity is men and women who have a conviction that the
word of God is true concerning Christ and are willing to die
for that conviction. Are you guys following me so
far? It's important for you to know. And it was important for
Peter to know by Christ that what Peter did in giving the
right answer was a gift from God. It was a gift from God. Peter was no better than the
other disciples. Humanly speaking he was no better than the other
people who were saying to Jesus saying about Jesus that he was
Jeremiah or that he was Elijah or that he was John the Baptist
or some other prophet. Peter was no better than them.
You and I know that, right? So how did Peter get the answer
right? God revealed it to him. Now that's going to be important
down the line as you and I talk about suffering for Christ. But
here's what I want you to mark. To call yourself a Christian
is no small deal. To call yourself a Christian
is no small deal. For you to stand for Christ, particularly
in the 21st century, is no small deal. So go with me now in your
Bible. I'm sorry, I didn't finish it.
Let me read this on through. And I say unto you, Peter, that
you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my what? Now what is the rock that he's
talking about? The confession of Christ. Confessing Christ. You better mark that down. confessing
Christ. That's the rock. The rock is
the testimony concerning Christ that the church would render
everywhere in the world that Jesus Christ is Lord exclusively. He is sovereign Lord. That's
the confession and that's the rock. the work of the Spirit
of God in revealing Christ to sinners in such a way that they
are willing to suffer hurt, harm and death for that revelation
is the rock. See, God had in his economy the
objective of taking men and women and giving them the privilege
of seeing Jesus for who he is, giving them that revelation and
then qualifying them to suffer for that name. the process of
that suffering there would be a multiplication of God's glory
in the proclamation of the gospel to those who watch the Christians
suffer for Christ you guys got that in the economy of God he
has chosen to have many women to enter into his suffering for
he suffered the same way for his father See, Christ is the
whole counsel of God, which means, as he said to his disciples,
the way I'm going is the way you're going to go, too. You're
going to go the way of the cross, just like I went the way of the
cross. Everybody does. When you stand for the gospel,
you're going to have to suffer for the gospel because you're
going to be living in a world hostile to the gospel. Are you guys following me so
far? And so this is the implication that is being laid down. Peter,
what you're saying comes from God and it has to come from God
because this is going to be the foundation upon which I build
my church. Now watch this. And the gates
of hell shall not prevail. In other words, the gates of
hell will not advance. It will not maintain its hold
on eternity bound souls. Christ will advance into the
realm and sphere of hell and deliver his elect from every
nation, kindred, tribe and tongue out of hell. And so plunder that
kingdom from every generation. Every generation where the gospel
has been designated to go by our heavenly father, it has planted
itself in a culture. It has plucked out of that culture
or reaped out of that culture, redeemed sinners chosen in Christ
By the very means by which christ himself went about doing it in
jury and that's through the preaching of the gospel Are you guys following
me so far? That amounts to the binding of satan the binding
of satan Listen to what he says in verse 19 and I will give unto
you the keys of the kingdom Of heaven and whatsoever you shall
here it is. Are you ready bind on earth?
shall be bound where And whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall
be what? Now watch this. It's very important.
I'm not going to develop the verb form here, but this is how
this goes. What we bind, ready, is already
bound in heaven. What we bind down here is already
bound in heaven. What we lose down here, It's
already loosed. Where? So that the power is not
in us, it's in heaven. The decree is from heaven. The
authority is from heaven. The only thing the church does
is echo the will of God from heaven. Are you guys following
me? We don't force the hand of heaven. Heaven does what it wills, but
it chooses to use means. when it uses those means the
net effect is God working through earthly vehicles to bring about
his will so that when it gets done what we say is God's will
was done. Am I making some sense? Not our
will, not our will, but God's will is done. By the way there
are occasions where the church in its Obedience to the gospel
has sought to plant the truth in cultures that were utterly
dominated by pagan darkness and never penetrated those cultures.
Do you know why? It wasn't God's will. And so
they had to leave those cultures and go somewhere else. What does
that mean? Did they have a lack of faith?
No. Did they have a lack of available resources from heaven? No. What
did they have? They didn't have the approbation
or favor of God in that particular context. Now, for you to know
this, all you have to do is go through the book of Acts. We're going to be having our
men's meeting in a couple of weeks on the 24th, Saturday the 24th.
from 10 to two and it's gonna be about leadership in the church
and I'm inviting all my men to come. All men are available to
come. You'd have to sign your name on the backboard if you
wanna be part of it. So I'm gonna be talking to us about the supernatural
nature of the church and how God has chosen to work through
the church to actually accomplish his purposes. And it's important
for us to understand that when we are talking about the church
and we understand it in its biblical format, we are actually talking
about the habitation of God through the spirit. And what we mean
by the habitation of God through the Spirit is that God is present
in his church doing things in relationship to his eternal counsel
and purpose that only God can do. Only God can change the heart. Only God can save a sinner. Only
God can retrieve a backsliding sinner. Only God can bring about
repentance. Only God can cause a man to confess
who Christ is. Are you guys understanding what
I'm saying? Only God can do this. Now, what we have to do as the
people of God is learn to identify God's way, God's method, God's
approach to ministry, and then wait on God to work through that
means. That's what the true church has
to do. And if you don't do that, you're going to fall prey to
a demonic delusion of which we're going to talk about down the
line, which amounts to a whole nother institution and society
that puts on a front that is doing Christianity. And in reality
is perpetuating the same paganism and darkness that prevails in
the world. And so Jesus tells the disciples here in verse,
it's interesting. Let me say this. And then I'm
going to go to go back to our, our account in second Thessalonians
and show you a picture and then we're gonna affirm that picture
in Scripture. It's interesting, Jesus only raised the question,
didn't he? Who do men say that I am, right? And what the net
effect of this whole conversation ends up being, based upon that
simple question, is this. You're gonna find yourself being
the vehicle by which I plunder hell. Just based on that simple
proposition, who do men say that I am? It's going to result in
hell being plundered. That's powerful. Isn't that powerful? The infinite God who sees hell
much better than we do and understand its eternal ramification says,
if you get who I am right, you will be a vehicle by which hell
is plundered. That's tremendous. That's tremendous. And it's important for us to
understand that in terms of God's means is just that simple. It's the truth that sets people
free. Go with me now in your Bible
back to our text. And I want to show you some 2 Thessalonians
that it says, and then we're going to look at some passages
in the Old Testament and in the book of Revelation to affirm
it. Then we're going to follow through our outline because I
want to get into the progression of 2 Thessalonians a little bit
before we close out tonight. There's a progression here that
I think is worth your seeing and mine. second Thessalonians chapter
2 verse 8 notice what it says and then shall that wicked one
be revealed whom the Lord shall now watch this consume with the
spirit of his mouth isn't that interesting language he says
I The mystery of iniquity doth already work. We've identified
the mystery of iniquity, and that is the devil's ability in
a supernatural unseen way to deceive the masses of the world.
But he's going to be restrained and limited by the purpose of
God in the salvation of sinners. But as the end time begins to
come closer to us, that restraining factor will be removed. When
it is taken out of the way the wicked one shall be what's the
word reveal? Whom the Lord shall consume with
the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of
his coming Well when when Paul uses that language the spirit
of his mouth, he's actually using Old Testament language I want
you to go with me in your Bible to Isaiah to a couple passages
Isaiah chapter 27 And then we're going to look at Isaiah chapter
11. And then we're going to go back to Revelation 19. And we're going
to ask ourselves the question, why does he use this motif? The
spirit of his mouth, Isaiah chapter 27. Notice what it says in verse
one of Isaiah 27. And it's using here again, that
oriental image of the devil in the form of a serpent. It's called Leviathan. notice
what it says are you there Isaiah 27 1 in that day Jehovah with
his sore and great and strong what sword shall punish Leviathan
the piercing serpent even Leviathan the crooked serpent and shall
slay the dragon that's in seed Paul is using this language when
he says and then shall that wicked one be revealed whom the Lord
shall consume with the what spirit of his mouth the spirit of his
mouth that Paul is using corresponds to the sword of the Lord the
spirit of his mouth corresponds to the sword of the Lord now
we know this don't we because the Bible teaches us that God's
Word is a what sword the spirit of his mouth shall consume the
dragon or the serpent or the wicked one when Christ targets
him for consumption or destruction The imagery in Isaiah 27 is of
Leviathan, or the piercing serpent, which is the same as the dragon
and the serpent in Revelation 12. You guys remember that, right?
Of which the dragon in Revelation 12 is in the air, but the serpent
is in the what? Sea. And we were talking about
this sort of metaphor or imagery that the book of Revelation paint
of peoples being represented by the seas or the masses. And the Leviathan here, or the
crooked serpent, is a figure or a symbol of Satan who has
his way in the sea. He shall slay the dragon that's
in the sea. However, in Revelation chapter
12, he's in the air. Why is the scripture changing
the the location of the of this? Oriental image why is he in the
air in revelation 12 verses in the sea in Isaiah chapter 27?
Why is he there? Well again, listen the two dimensions
in which the devil operates are among the masses of the people
and in the He is called the spirit of the what air And that is the
unseen realm in which he has authority over the masses of
the people. Not the H2, the air or the realm
in which things cannot be seen. So the image is of him having
a sort of spiritual influence over the masses of the people
in a heavenly dimension. Remember the Bible speaks of
heaven in three dimensions, right? First heavens, second heavens,
third heavens. The first heavens is the physical realm in which
you and I are in. That is this present earthly dimension with
its expanse and the hemisphere and our present solar system
and universe. This is the first heavens. The
second heavens is actually the spiritual dimension in which
Satan operates, in which there is a spiritual warfare going
on for the souls of men. That's the second heavens. He
operates as the spirit of the power of the air and he operates
part of a spiritual principality and power that cannot be seen.
That's a spiritual dimension, a spiritual realm. The third
heavens is where God is in his glory unmolested and unassaulted
by any adversaries. You guys got that? This is what
Paul called paradise in 2nd Corinthians chapter 12. Remember he says
such a one I knew whether he was in the body or not I could
not tell who was caught up to the third heavens even to paradise
in that dimension of paradise Satan has no access but he does
have access in the spiritual realm where ideas and thoughts
and and notions can be brought into captivity by his suggestions
and propositions and his agenda so that the people can be influenced
by his mouth or his blasphemies and so be controlled. That's
the realm in which we are fighting this spiritual warfare, which
means in this realm, you and I have to be careful about what
we hear, careful about what we see. Careful about what we are
exposed to because it's not merely this empirical dimension that
you and I are in that we are dealing with We are dealing with
forces behind what we see that's shaping our Impulses our ideas
our passions our drives and they work 24-7 to change your mind
from thinking God's thoughts after him and to thinking the
devil's thoughts after him. And this is why he's viewed as
being in the air. He's viewed as being in the seas because
the seas represent what? The peoples. So this dragon like
this, that old creature in the days of Job waves through the
oceans looking for men and women like the fish of the sea to swallow
them up with his deceptive powers. Isaiah 27 verse one describes
the Lord slaying the dragon that is in the sea. Now you'll see
that this is a messianic concept. Go back to Isaiah chapter 11
and mark it there. I'm giving you these verses so
that you can know that the language that Paul is using in second
Thessalonians is not new language at all with him. He's actually
using again the Old Testament Prophetic terminology with regards
to Satan describing him and the theologians of old would describe
this as the messianic age in Isaiah chapter 11 we have Description
of the messianic age and the terminology is used here to Notice
how it speaks in verses 1 through 4 and particularly verse 4 will
affirm again 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 8 and there shall
come forth a rod of the stem of Jesse that's Jesus and and
a branch shall grow out of his roots, that's Jesus, and the
spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, that's Jesus, the spirit
of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord, and shall
make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, now
watch this, and he shall not judge after the sight of the
eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of the ears, But with
righteousness shall he judge the poor and reprove with equity
for the meek of the earth Now here is the last clause watch
this and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth Do
you see? And with the breath of his lips
shall he slay the wicked Do you see how paul took this portion
of scripture? applied it to 2nd Thessalonians
2a look at 2nd Thessalonians 2a look at Isaiah 11 for he shall
smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath
of his lips shall he slay the wicked how does Paul put it in
2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 8 this is how he puts it he says
this and the Lord shall consume him
with the spirit of his what now in the Old Testament breath and
spirit are synonymous terms the Hebrew word is Rua from which
we could determine the spirit of the Lord or the breath of
the Almighty like your breath in you is your spirit not the
wind that comes out but the breath that's in you and so when Isaiah
uses the term he shall slay the wicked with the breath of his
mouth What you and I are led to understand is that the way
that Christ will destroy Satan and the ultimate eschaton or
his final coming is the way that Christ handled Satan when he
was tempted in the wilderness the first time. Remember how
our master dealt with that? When Satan came to tempt him,
who was the last Adam and the representative of his people,
all the Lord Jesus did was, quote, Scripture, right? This is a wonderful
concept that we need to grasp, that the Son of God, who assumed
a human nature and therefore was really a man like you and
me, could have exercised the prerogative of personal volition
in dealing with the devil, but had he done that, he would have
failed to model for us what it means to depend upon the power
of God's Word to overcome the temptations of the devil. He
utilized his own word in dealing with his foe, demonstrating to
us the efficacy and power of the scriptures. And in fact,
that's what he's doing here. Keep your hand here now and go
to Revelation chapter 19. I want to show you what I'm talking
about. What am I trying to do as we think through the binding
and the loosening and the ultimate confrontation between Christ
and the devil? this theme of Christ subduing
and consuming our adversary by the spirit of his mouth or by
as Isaiah put it the breath of his lips well in Revelation chapter
19 the image is as vivid as well because we read over in Revelation
19 verse 15 And this is concerning Christ.
We know this because verse 11 tells us, and I saw heaven open
and behold, a white horse. And he that sat upon him was
called faithful and true. And in righteousness, here it
is, he doth judge and make war. That's Isaiah 11 again, right?
And then it says in verse 13, and he was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood. And his name is called the what?
Word of God. Now here's the exaltation of
scripture, the logos, and watch this. And the armies which are
in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen,
white and clean. By the way, this army metaphor
has to do with the church of the living God, that's us. Somehow
you and I will play a part in the final destruction of all
of God's foes on the last day. That's the imagery here. See
the battle is between two kingdoms and thus two kings, right? Watch
the next verse. And out of his what? There it
is. of his mouth goeth a sharp sword. Do you see it? Sharp sword that
with it he should smite the what? And he shall rule them with a
rod of iron and tread the winepress of the fierceness of Almighty
God and on his vesture and on his name he had a name written
King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And the next set of verses describe
the utter slaughter of The foes of a king and his army
leaving them spread Upon the open field for the birds of the
air to consume as plunder you guys see that That's the language
that we have here and it closes out by verse 19 saying this and
I saw the beast and The kings of the earth and their armies
gathered together to make war against who? Who is the him? Christ Now watch this, that sat
on the horse and against his army. Who is his army? The church. And the beast was taken. And
with him, who? The false prophet that brought
what? Miracles before him. What was
his objective? Objective with which he deceived
them that have received the mark of the beast and them that worshiped
his image. These both were cast alive into
a lake of fire, burning with brimstone. Do you see that? So
when Christ shows up, he will handle finally and totally the
devil and his army. He describes the army of the
devil as being not only the devil. We're going to see this when
we go back to our text, because I want us to see the progression. Not only
the devil, because people focus in on, you know, whoever this
antichrist being is going to be. They kind of get wrapped
up in it again in a morbid way, like folks do in movie pictures. And we've got to be divested
from this sort of carnal notion of thinking about scripture.
I'm convinced that what the church will not be doing is spending
its time worrying about one individual. I'm convinced of that. There
will be a wholesale system that will be operating in the world
seeking to target the Christian church that's faithful to the
gospel and exterminate it. I guarantee you we will be struggling
through legislation and policies and governmental agendas advancing
the objective of completely annihilating biblical truth from the world
and particularly the claims of the gospel. We won't be dealing
with some super mega star whether he be a politician or a preacher. We won't be dealing with that.
In fact, I think that that will be one of the ultimate deceptions
for which the false church will fall But not God's elect. So I want you to follow what's
going on here when Christ comes He will destroy him with the
word of his mouth the spirit of the breath of his lips and
he says in verse 19 Verse 15 again out of his mouth goeth
a what sharp sword So now, I don't want to leave that metaphor.
You'll hear people who will disagree with my hermeneutic and disagree
with my eschatological paradigm. And they'll talk about Pastor
Jesse, you know, he spiritualizes the scriptures too much, particularly
the book of Revelation. And you can't trust his hermeneutic. Well, tell me, is this verse
of scripture here speaking literally or figuratively when it says,
and a sword shall proceed out of his mouth? Somebody help me.
Is it speaking literally? Do we expect Jesus to come back
in his ontological person as a man with a long sword coming
out of his mouth? And how long will that sword
be? All right, tell me, will it fly out of his mouth and just
wield his way around the world seeking out the devil and chop
him in pieces? But if we grasp the language
and we understand precept upon precept, line upon line, here
a little, there a little, what we are talking about is him exercising
the authority and power of his word to destroy the devil. For the word of God is alive
and sharper than any two-edged sword and is able to divide between
soul and spirit. flesh and bone are marrow, and
is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. So
powerful is the Word of God, it will be able to divide between
the elect and the non-elect, the carnal and the fleshly, the
true and the false, the demonic and the heavenly. And only the
Word of God can do that. What's being highlighted in our
language, ladies and gentlemen, is the fact that God's Word is
true. God's Word is true. And here's
why I want to make sure that I hone in on this. The real battle
in our present world with all of its philosophers and world-changing
influences and all of its ideological constructs by which people now
hold present and contemporary views about how the world got
started and who we are as human beings and where we're going
in terms of our destiny. This is all a battle against
absolute truth. What you and I are dealing with
in terms of modernity and a postmodern world of people who think the
way they do, and I'm talking about the highest echelons of
life, We are dealing with a construct of thinking that is rooted in
what the Bible warns, humanism, a man centered approach to opposing
the biblical God. A man centered agenda at opposing
the biblical God. Man is God and not God. Man can be like God against God. And man will do all that man
possibly can to destroy the biblical God. That's the battle that we
are fighting. Now, if the enemy's objective
is to destroy the influence of God in the conscience of men,
what must he do to be successful but get rid of the Word of God? Right? And if he's to get rid
of the Word of God, he must get rid of everyone who believes
in the Word of God, everyone who holds to the Word of God.
And in fact, where he wants to get rid of the Word of God is
not so much in the Bible, although he attacks that too. See, there
are many fronts with which the enemy is already just waging
massive war. The vast majority of people's
Bibles are corrupted so bad that that becomes a whole issue in
itself. Very few people have what we
call integrity whole Bibles. Most of the newer translations
are translations that are put together by publishers and scholars
who actually don't believe God and definitely despise the gospel. So in order for men and women
to never get in contact with the truth, they are given watered
down versions of the Bible that lead them away from the gospel
of Christ so that they never ever experience the potency of
God's word. the potency of that work. So
that's a battle that we're fighting. It's called textual criticism
and the multiple translations that's taking place. I talked
to you a little bit about the Wycliffe dilemma that's going
on right now with the corruptions and the changes that are going
on in the translations that are being spread around the world.
They're spreading these faulty flawed translations in cultures
that have never had a chance to have an integral Bible, a
solidly Bible that has been translated faithfully from the original
languages into the genre of that particular culture. So they will
never really know whether or not they are handling the truth,
the scripture, so that they will have to get basically a legendary
interpretation of the gospel that's rooted in turning people
away from the truth. That's a battle in itself. That's
a battle in itself, translation of the scripture. The other battle
is making sure that the word of God does not successfully
lodge in your mind and mine. So that the objective is, is
to keep your mind and my mind preoccupied with carnal things
so that we won't be rooted and grounded in the faith so that
we can stand against the wiles of the devil when they come.
These are the battles that we're fighting. These are the extreme
battles that you and I are fighting right now. It's a horrific battle
and what our lord is saying in the depiction of him actually
ultimately coming is that the the objective of the devil in
his attempt to destroy scripture When christ come it's the very
scriptures that he's going to use to destroy the devil after
all In the beginning was the word and the Word was with God
and the Word was God. And there was nothing that was
made that was not made by the Word of God. The Word of God
is the Alpha and the Omega. It is the beginning and the end. And it will be, as the Scripture
says, the ultimate Amen. And that's the battle that we're
waging here. And so for you and I, I will
say this on a practical level, so we can go back and look at
a few verses again on the binding and the loosening that's in your
outline. For you and I, be very careful, ladies and gentlemen,
that you find that you give yourselves enough time to the scriptures. Make sure that you are divulging
the scriptures. Make sure you spend time reading
the word of God. Make sure you spend time in communion
with God. Make sure you understand How
important the scriptures are in framing your understanding
of this world and establishing and informing your convictions
in this life. You and I don't have enough internal
fortitude or self-will strength to engage the battles that are
going on in this world. We need the word of God and we
need that thesis. as the premise and presupposition
of our life. We need the word of God to actually
hold us back from erring against God. We need God's truth to illuminate
us when we are subtly being drawn away by the propositions of the
flesh, the devil, and the world. Am I making some sense? It's
very important then that you do what David said in Psalm 119,
verses 109, verses 110, verses 9, 10, and 11. Thy word have I hid in my heart
that I might not sin against you. Wherewithal shall a young
man cleanse his way, but by taking heed thereto according to your
word. With my whole heart have I sought
you. Oh, let me not wonder from your commandments. Your statutes
and your judgments have been my daily delight. They are my
counselors. They are my teachers. They are
my instructors. This is what David said in Psalm
119, giving highlight to the scriptures. And after all, David
was a man of like passion, like you and I, right? Struggling. You know what kept him? The word
of God. The word of God. I was thinking about it when
I came over. David had said in Psalm 119, incline my heart unto
your statutes and not unto covetousness. Take not the word of truth utterly
out of my mouth. So shall I have wherewith to
answer him who reproaches me, because I trust in your word. You hear what he says? Thy word,
O Lord, is forever settled in heaven. I've seen an end of all
perfection, but your commandments are exceeding broad. Do you see
it? Your statutes have been my comfort
in my pilgrimage. They have been my song in the
night Do you see how david had a profound relationship with
god through his word? Even in his think about the difficult
days that david went through And you don't see it in the narrative
of scripture David reading the tanah or david reading the torah. He may not even had the torah
to read the to not to read but he had it in his heart and he
had it in his mind for that's what he says thy word have I
hid in my heart that I might not sin against you see what
I'm getting at This is the description that's being painted here. Go
back to our text. I want to share with you a few more verses on
this issue of the binding of the adversary, dealing with some
of the symbolism that's in the book of Revelation on it. And
then we're going to go to our next point. We're almost time
to close down. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, again, when it says,
for the mystery of iniquity already works, verse 7, only he who restrains
will restrain until he be what? Taken out of the way. And then
you have some interesting language around this and you see some
of this language in the book of Revelation. Turn with me in
your Bibles to Revelation chapter 20 now. Here's an interesting vision
in Revelation 20 about this. This actually happens a couple
of times in the book of Revelation, but here's one in Revelation
20 that underscores the binding. And this here will also affirm
what I meant by when Satan is bound, the gospel advances. And
when Satan is loose, the gospel is restrained. In Revelation
chapter 20, are you there? Notice what it says in verse
1 and 2. Watch this. And I saw an angel come down
from heaven. Watch this. having the key of
the what and a great chain in his hand you see now what do
you do with chain you bind things right notice what it says in
verse 2 and he laid hold on the dragon the old serpent which
is the devil and Satan and bound him what Do you see it? So now
here's the imagery that you get in verses 1 and 2 of chapter
20 of an angel. And I submit to you that this
angel is Christ. We're dealing with a symbolism here. We're
dealing with a metaphor. We're dealing with a powerful
picture of the control of the devil by God binding him for
a period of time called a thousand years, of which during this thousand
year period, and this is symbolism, by the way, the gospel advances. Where the devil is bound, the
gospel is advanced. Look at verse three. And cast
him into the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon
him that he should, what? Deceive the nations no more. Stop right there. So see, if
you were to take these three verses in Revelation chapter
20, verses one through three, and go back to Revelation chapter
12, and deal with Revelation chapter 12, one through four,
you would have what are called bookends. Watch the language. Go back to Revelation chapter
12. Keep your hand here. Notice how the language is similar
in Revelation chapter 12 concerning the devil. Let me know when you're
there. Okay, so now notice what it says
here in Revelation chapter 12 verse
7. And there was war in heaven.
You see that? Michael and his angels fought
against the dragon and the dragon fought and his angels and What
prevailed not? Neither was their place found
anymore in heaven. What happened to them? They were
cast out weren't they? Verse 9 and the dragon was cast
out that old serpent Here's the same language called the devil
and Satan which did what? deceived the whole world. Do
you see? He was cast out into the earth and his angels were
cast out with him. Verse 10. And I heard a loud voice saying
in heaven now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom
of our God and the power of his Christ for the accuser of our
brethren is what? Cast down, which accused them
before our God day and night. Look at verse 11. And they overcame
him by the what? Blood of the Lamb, and by the
word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto
the death. Now see, I want you to get it. Here's the picture.
Watch this now. This is very important to get. The depiction
is that of Satan being bound so that he no longer has the
ability to wholesale deceive the masses. And the net effect
of him being bound is the advancement of the gospel so that men and
women become saved and stand on the blood and righteousness
of Jesus Christ. What the language is not asserting
or assuming is that the binding of Satan therefore negates persecution
or suffering or sets aside any sense of opposition to the people
of God. Nothing could be further from
the truth. The objective of the gospel or the work of binding
Satan is not so that you and I can have a wonderful life down
here. The objective of binding Satan
is in order that the gospel might advance into cultures and save
men and women and give them a conviction in their heart of the blood and
righteousness of Christ. Watch this so that they can suffer
like Jesus suffered for the glory of God. That's right. See, here's the
problem with us. We are so fleshly that we are
willing to buy a notion that our salvation is such that it
means that we get to live a comfortable life and be able to live in success
and in physical prosperity because we're Christians. When what the
gospel teaches us is that when God saves you and me, he qualifies
us to suffer for his namesake. And that while we are suffering
for his namesake It's the grace of god that gives us the ability
to stand on the promises of the gospel And they love not their
lives unto the death As they stood on their testimony of christ
and by the blood of the lamb Now ladies and gentlemen what
i'm sharing with you is all of church history All church history
has ever been is believers coming to Christ, therefore having the
veil removed from their minds and hearts, seeing the glory
of God, receiving the testimony that Jesus Christ is indeed Lord,
the son of the living God, and then suffering for his name and
on the brink of suffering, standing on the truth that revealed itself
to them in the person of Christ. And so God has chosen to do. He has used the church the seed
that goes into the ground of the culture very much like Jesus
said in John chapter 12 Except the seed go into the ground and
die it abides alone but if it dies it will bring forth what
much fruit and so the idea is this Christ was the first seed
and and then the church was born out of his suffering and then
the church goes forth in the world and suffers and wherever
the church suffers the gospel spreads and men and women come
to a saving knowledge of Christ and they enter into their right
mind and maybe that culture for a season will have the life of
God's glory present in it so that they behave themselves like
human beings until God has saved his elect And then the sun starts
going down on that culture again. Are you guys following me? The
sun rises on a culture where the gospel comes in when the
gospel comes in initially because no pagan culture ever wants to
be brought into bondage by the gospel. That gospel is calling
for you and I are the people that are called to go there called
missionaries to suffer. To die. suffering for Christ
becomes a witness to the culture that there's more to life than
the carnal things at which we are grasping. This is why the
church in America is messed up. It has no witness. Are you guys
understanding what I'm saying? So here's what I'm getting at.
The notion that binding Satan amounts to living a wonderful
life in a utopian age of a millennium is nowhere found in the scripture.
Even Revelation 20 simply describes the blessing of those who faithfully
hold to the gospel being beheaded. The metaphor is beheaded for
the cause of Christ. And then Satan is loose after
that. So the whole history of the church
a history of suffering and what we find here is that the devil
is cast out he's cast out of heaven in Revelation 12 and there's
rejoicing in verse 10 and in verse 11 but then the warning
is given in verse 12 therefore rejoice you heavens and you that
dwell in them but woe unto the inhabitants of the what and of
the what For the devil has come down unto you having great wrath
because he knows that he has a short time And what we learned
is the earth and the sea is a metaphor for unregenerate man Because
true believers are heaven-bound people In fact, they're heavenly
dwellers They rejoice in that they've been delivered from this
earthly elemental realm of which everybody is grasping to save
It's interesting The whole of politics, when you start perusing
politics, politics is really all about preserving this world.
That's all politics is about. Listen to me very carefully.
Politics is nothing but preserving this world. Politics has no afterlife
theology or thesis. Politics is all about preserving
this world. This is why the church must be
very careful to know its priority. Its priority is not about preserving
this world. It's about glorifying God. And
it's about the salvation of sinners. And it's about preparing for
the world to come. to come. It's not about preserving
this world. So as we think this language
through, we need to be careful. Go back to our text. I want to
make a few more observations. Then I'm going to open the floor
for questions and then we're going to close. We'll come back here next week
because there's a number of things in our outline that we can touch
on. By the way, read your outline throughout the course of the
week. Like I said, there are a number of points in there that I make
that I think are worth resonating in your mind so that you have
an idea of what God is Presently doing and will also do when we
get back to second Thessalonians I'll touch on this one more thing
that I noticed that I thought that I should highlight as well
in your outline Way at the top. I'm gonna run down and I'm gonna
get into the punishment of Christ and Here and then we'll just
call your observation to it in your outline. There's some things
we need to know looking under Uh looking let's just start at
the top a revelation and appearing from the prophets to christ.
That's the old testament Okay from the prophets to christ sold
the false prophets to antichrist. Do you see that? From the prophets
to christ sold the false prophets to antichrist to christ that's
the That's the general tenor of this world. The Old Testament,
God sent many prophets, prophet after prophet after prophet,
and finally he sent Christ. We are in the New Testament age.
And what the New Testament depicts clearly in 1 John 2, verse 18,
is many false prophets, false prophets, false prophets to the
ultimate Antichrist, which will usher in the true Christ. You
guys got that language? Now that worldview is important
to hold. So keep your hand here and go
to 1st John chapter 2 verse 8, because I think I want to make
sure you see it with your eyes. It's important to hold. Sometimes
I wonder when I talk to Christians today,
do they believe that the vast majority of the
Christian churches today, as it was in Jesus' day, are false
churches? Sometimes I wonder do Christians
understand that that tension is relentless in the scriptures
the true church versus the false church When you listen to Christians
today, it appears that they don't have a worldview that allows
them to distinguish between true preaching and teaching and false
prophets and false teachers and that they don't even have that
category in their thinking that they should be worried about
the damnable doctrines and heresies that come out of the churches
today that don't preach the gospel. When you listen to them, they
don't even have that category in their mind. So if you were to say,
well, does he preach the gospel? And some of you guys know that
that's a fundamental that we ask, isn't that right? Well,
does he preach the gospel? Oh yeah, he preaches the gospel. And then
as soon as you listen to what they say, he says, they preach.
You say, this guy don't know the gospel. all, because such
a category doesn't lodge in their mind as a fundamental critique
to determine whether or not they are even in the ballpark of truth.
Now when our culture is that way, particularly our religious
culture, we are already in trouble. you hearing me now some of you
have probably already experienced that when you ask the question
what does he preach the gospel you already are set up for a
battle aren't you because you're judging now there you go judging
again well what else am I supposed to do the whole of Scripture
warns me against false prophets and false teachers the whole
of Scripture and in fact it teaches us as we're gonna see next week
that if I don't have as a fundamental criterion the distinguishing
between truth and error, I am not God's elect. Do you hear
me? I am not one of God's elect because
the non-elect cannot distinguish the truth from a lie. Only the elect know God's voice. Only the elect know Christ's
voice. Only the elect can discern the
truth of the gospel from the lies of false prophets and false
teachers. And that's an essential criterion
for coming to know whether you are his or not. So listen to this in 1 John chapter
1 chapter 2 verse 18. Here's what he says. This is
what John says. Little children It is the last
time. And he was talking about the
era in which John was preaching. was close toward the close of
the first century. He was talking about the end
of the Old Testament Jewish age, of which the apostles would see
the ushering in of the establishing of the New Testament age. That
is the prominence and prevalence of the gospel going into all
the world. It had not quite begun to do that yet. So John says,
little children is the last time. But when he talks about the last
time, he's talking about those components that go with it. Watch.
And as you have heard, Antichrist shall what future tense right
as you have heard Antichrist shall come see we know that Antichrist
shall come but watch what John says even now are there many many Antichrist
whereby we know it is the last time now listen to what John
said in first century Rome Jerusalem the apostolic era, false prophets
and false teachers had rushed out into the world, obtained
a secular worldview and presupposition to life and brought it back into
the church and became heretics, assaulting the church. He says,
even now, are there many antichrist gone out in to the what? world now listen to this and
here's what he says in verse 19 they went out from us right
but they were not of us see it in other words they were corporately
with us but they were not authentically of us and what john means by
that is they were not god's elect it's just that simple They went
out from us because they were not of us, for had they been
of us, they no doubt would have what? Remained with us. Do you
see it? Here's what John says. You're
going to see, as our master said in Matthew 24, many antichrists.
But draw the conclusion that the reason they've gone out into
the world is because they were never of us in the first place,
because if they had been of us, they would have continued with
us. But they went out that they might be made what manifest do
you see it yeah this is an interesting thing I want to make sure that
I close out on this and develop this just for you and we'll come
back here next week this is not a passage that is designed for
a local church to heap a set of legalistic laws upon its members
who decide they want to leave because the church keep ripping
them off they use these kind of passages
to bind the consciences of men and say if you leave our church
you're not saved right am I telling the truth so I'm just just I
love dispelling these these these crooked mishandlings of the scripture
because it has to be done because what it does if a Christian and
honest and conscientious Christian reads this portion of scripture
and they come across it and they've been abused by false churches
who've mishandled this. They have a real hard time actually
properly interpreting this passage. The us in this context is undergirded
by what we call apostolic doctrine. when john says they went out
from us what john was saying is they departed from the doctrine
of the gospel given to the apostles which god gave to them to give
to the world they went out and went away from the word of god
and went and grabbed hold to something else and became false
apostles and false prophets coming with another word. So the us
versus them is not some small church or denomination versus
another church or denomination. The us versus them is those who
were commissioned by God as stewards of the gospel called apostles
versus the people who left apostolic influence and picked up on secular
humanistic worldly ideology and pretended to be true preachers
and true prophets and true pastors of the Word of God. And all of
a sudden they're standing over against John, over against James,
over against Paul, over against Peter, watch this, over against
the Scriptures, and over against everyone who wants to hold to
the truth of the Word of God. Does that make some sense? It's
very important for you to know that. The us versus them is not
you, me, and us four against the rest of the world. It's humbling, but it's true.
What we want to do is make sure we keep it in the context. All
right, I'm actually going to wrap this up till next time.
When we come back, I want to deal with the punishment of Christ
as manifested in verses 8 through 12.