I fear a measure of, or I feel
a measure of fearfulness in the title of this message. I've entitled
this message Antichrist Religion. Antichrist Religion. We just had it described to us
in Daniel chapter 8. Many look at the Antichrist as
a single person who will be an adversary of Christ in the end
times. And if you read 2 Thessalonians
2, I can see where someone would think that. It does speak of
the man of sin, but turn with me for a moment to 1 John 4 or
1 John 2. Verse 18, John writing 2,000
years ago, little children, it is the last time. And as you
have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now there are many
Antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time. The prefix anti means not against,
but in the stead of. In the stead of. Yes, he is against
the Lord Jesus Christ, but his way of operation is trying to
be in the stead of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, anti-Christ religion
has been around for a long time. It started in the garden. In
1 Thessalonians chapter two, when we read about this man of
sin, verse three, let no man deceive you by any means for
that day shall not come except there come a falling away first
and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition who opposeth
and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is
worshiped so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing
himself that he is God. He tries to be in the place of
God. And I want you to think about
Satan's temptation with Eve. You'll be equal to God. You'll
be like God. If you eat this fruit, you'll
be like God. Antichrist religion was carried
on by Cain when he sought to bring a sacrifice in the stead
of the blood sacrifice. And it's been strong ever since. And it's very alive today. Look
in 1 John 4. Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits, whether they are of God. Because many
false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the
Spirit of God, every spirit, without exception, that confesseth,
this is a public declaration, that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh, is of God. And every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God, and
this is that spirit of Antichrist. whereof you've heard that it
should come and even now already it is in the world. Now the spirit
of Antichrist does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in
the flesh. Now what is meant by that? Somebody says that seems
awful simplistic. Well, it is simplistic. That's
what's so glorious about it. Jesus Christ was before He came
in the flesh. He is the eternal Son of God. Unto us a child is born. Unto us the Son is given. And
He is the eternal, uncreated Son of God, the sovereign of
the universe. And He came in the flesh. The
Word was made flesh. God was made flesh. He, the eternal
God, took upon Himself flesh, and He's a man. And not only
was He before He came, not only did He come in the flesh, He
did what He came to do. And that's so important. He did
what He came to do. That's what called His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. Now, anybody
that doesn't confess that, they're Antichrist. Is that too hard? It's what John says. Anybody
who doesn't confess what is in that simple, glorious statement,
He came in the flesh. He was before he came. He's the
eternal creator, the God of glory. He came in the flesh. He became
man. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested
in the flesh and he did what he came to do. He completely
saved his people from their sins. That's what he came to do. That's
what he did. And someone that doesn't confess
that is anti-Christ. Now Daniel 8 gives us a picture
of Antichrist religion. Now this is a prophetic chapter. It was written somewhere but
in the mid 5th century BC. And what is interesting is the
last Old Testament book was Malachi and it was written about 400
years before the birth of Christ. So you have a 400 year period
where there is no word from God. But in this prophecy, Daniel
tells us what's going to take place during that 400-year period. Now, everything took place exactly
as God said it would. Look in verse 19 of this chapter.
I love this verse. Chapter 8, verse 19. And he said,
Behold, I'll make thee know what shall be in the last end of the
indignation. For at the time appointed, the
end shall be. God reigns, He rules, His will
is always done. Now let's look in verse 1. In the third year of the reign
of King Belshazzar, A vision appeared unto me, even unto me
Daniel after that, which appeared unto me at the first, talking
about what he saw in chapter seven. And I saw in a vision
and it came to pass when I saw that I was at Shushan in the
palace, which is in the province of Elam. Now, what I think is
very interesting about that is this had not yet happened. Shushan,
he was not in control yet. You can read about that in Esther,
but when he gives this prophecy, he sees himself in that palace
that had not yet begun. And I saw in a vision, I was
by the river Ulai. Then I lifted up my eyes and
saw, and behold, there stood before the river a ram, which
had two horns, and the two horns were high, but one was higher
than the other, and the higher came up last. And I saw the ram
pushing, westward, northward and southward. He was conquering
so that no beast might stand before him. Neither was there
any that could deliver out of his hand, but he did according
to his will and became great. Now would you look in verse 7. Verse 20, we know who this ram
is. The ram which thou sawest having
two horns are the kings of Media and Persia. That's who that represents. And let's go on reading verse
5. And I was considering, and behold,
a he-goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth,
and touched not the ground. And the goat had a notable horn
between his eyes. And he came to the ram that had
two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran under
him in the fury of his power. And I saw him come close unto
the ram, and he was moved with color, anger against him, and
smote the ram, and break his two horns. And there was no power
in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground,
and stamped upon him, and there was none that could deliver out
of his hand. Therefore the he goat waxed very
great, and when he was strong, the great horn was broken up,
for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds." Now look
at verse 21. This he goat, this rough goat, is the king of Greece. And the great horn that's between
his eyes is the first king. Now, he's talking about Alexander
the Great. And this happened during that
period. I remember when I was a kid reading about Alexander
the Great, and I was always fascinated with him. By the time he was
30 years old, he'd conquered the world. And then he died at
33 years old, but he brought all the world under Greek influence,
and all the world was speaking Greek at this time through his
conquests. Verse nine, and out of heaven
there came forth a little horn. which waxed exceeding great toward
the south and toward the east and toward the pleasant land,
and it waxed great even to the host of heaven, and it cast down
some of the host of the stars to the ground and stamped upon
them. Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host.
And by him," here's what took place, the daily sacrifice, the
morning and evening sacrifice in the temple was taken away. And the place of his sanctuary,
was cast down. And a host was given him against
the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast
down the truth to the ground, and it practiced, and it prospered."
Now, this is speaking of a literal man. His name, and it's known
in history, was Antiochus, I don't know how to pronounce the last
name, E.P. something. But this is, he's in history
books, and he did this literally. He had Zeus, a statue of Zeus,
set up in the temple during the Psalm. And he made all the sacrifices
to cease. He wouldn't allow anybody to
offer any sacrifices. And the daily sacrifices were
taken away. And in this man, we see anti-Christ
religion. How? What's the temple represent? Christ himself. He is the temple
of God. What does the daily sacrifice,
the continual sacrifice represent? The work of Christ. the person
and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what Antichrist
religion does, and this man represents Antichrist, and we're gonna see
that more at the end of the chapter, what Antichrist religion does,
it always seeks to make Christ less than who he is. And it always
makes the sacrifice of Christ less than what it is. And it
always casts truth to the ground. Truth is not needed. Truth is
not essential. And that is the basic fiber of
Antichrist religion. Now the sanctuary, the temple,
is the person of Christ. He is the temple of God. in his
body. An antichrist religion always
presents him as less than he is. Now, may I be enabled by
the Spirit of God to describe who Christ is according to the
scriptures? Oh, I'd love to be able to do
that. He's God. He's not like God. He is God. Unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders.
He controls everything. His name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. Somebody
just explain that. I'm not even going to try to,
but the Lord did say he that seen me has seen the Father,
didn't he? He that seen me has seen the Father, the mighty God,
the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. In Him dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead. All that God is, He is. Fullness of omnipotence, fullness
of sovereignty, fullness of Independence, fullness of immutability, fullness
of eternality, just whatever attribute God has, he has. Somebody says, well, what about
omnipresence if he's in a body? Well, he said, he said, no one
has seen God at any time, save the Son of Man, which came down
from heaven. Who's in heaven? He said, he's there both places
at the same time, John chapter three. Explain that? I wouldn't
dare try. I don't need to though. This
is who he is. He's man. The man Christ Jesus. God manifest
in the flesh. And antichrist religion will
always make him out to be less. Now the one I described, can
he possibly fail? Is there any way his will is
not always done? Is there any way that he's not
in absolute control? Yet anti-Christ religion will
always present him as less than that. Less than the absolute
Lord of glory. They'll present him wanting to
do things and trying to do things. They present a false Christ.
They make him out to be less than he is. Anything less than
the Christ of the Bible is anti-Christ religion. This one that I'm speaking of
that is so high and holy and glorious, he's completely approachable. Now this is very important. He's
completely Approachable. I love that scripture. This man
receiveth sinners and eateth with them. Now, Antichrist religion
is always going to try to put something between the sinner
coming to Christ. Here's an example. Repent of
your sins and believe the gospel. Very subtle. Very subtle. First, I'd like to ask that person,
what do you mean by repent of sins? What exactly do you mean
by that? Explain the terms. And you know
the Bible, not one time uses the phrase repent of sins. Not
once, it's not in there. Now repentance, yes, a change
of mind about God, a change of mind about myself, a change of
mind about sin. No doubt, but to say you need to repent of
your sins and believe on Christ, or you need to turn from your
sins and believe on Christ, that's putting something between the
sinner and Christ. There's something you need to
do before you can get to Him. That is anti-Christ religion. It's putting something between
the Savior and the sinner that the sinner needs to do before
he can approach the Son of God. Now Christ Jesus is, there's
no way I can preach him high enough, and there's no way I
can preach him approachable enough. He said, come unto me, all ye. that are weary and heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. I'm meek and lowly in heart.
You'll find rest for your souls." Now, anti-Christ religion, it's
going to make him less than he is in the scriptures, and it's
going to take away his immediate approachability by the sinner
to himself. There's always going to be a
question mark there. Verse 11, Yea, he magnified himself
even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice
was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down,
and a host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason
of transgression. God was in control of this, and
this was a judgment of God, and it cast down the truth to the
ground, and it practiced, and it prospered. Now, Antichrist
religion has no need for the truth. God can save you with
the truth, without the truth, in error. He can use anything.
That's anti-cross religion, whereas the religion of the gospel only
uses the truth, nothing else. If somebody's preaching a message
that puts salvation in the sinner's hands, no one is saved by that
message. God only uses the truth. And in anti-Christ religion,
the truth is cast to the ground, it's practiced, and it prospered.
Verse 13. Then I heard one saint speaking,
and another saint said unto that certain saint, which spake, How
long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice and the transgression
of desolation to give both the sanctuary and the host to be
trodden underfoot? How long is this going to last? And this
did actually happen. They were not allowed to sacrifice. Zeus was put up in the temple.
Truth was thrown to the ground. The sanctuary was thrown down.
How long is this going to happen? Verse 14, and he said unto me,
2,300 days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. Now that is an actual
time. I think it's six years and three
months. And that is actually how long this man reigned. for
six years and three months, causing the person of Christ to be cast
down, taking away from the meaning of the daily sacrifice. What
did Christ, two things. Number one, it's perfect and
successful and accomplished, what he intended for it to do.
And number two is daily. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us daily, present, active, from all sin. Yes, I need its past power, but
I need its power today, too. The daily continual sacrifice.
And Antichrist religion is always going to muddy the waters there. But it's not going to last. Verse
15. And it came to pass when I, even
Daniel, had seen the vision and sought for the meaning, then
behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man. And
I had no doubt this was the Lord Jesus. And I heard a man's voice
between the banks of Uli, which called and said, Gabriel, make
this man to understand the vision. You know, the only way me and
you are going to understand this book is if he makes it known.
The Bible is a closed book. There's no understanding apart
from Revelation. And there's no way that he's
going to understand this vision unless God makes it known. Make known to Daniel this vision,
how dependent we are on Revelation. Verse 17, So he came near where
I stood, and when he came, I was afraid and fell upon my face. But he said unto me, Understand,
O son of man, for the time of the end shall be The vision,
now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep and on
my face toward the ground, but he touched me and set me upright
and said, behold, I'll make thee to know what shall be in the
last end of the Indian nation. For the time appointed, the end
shall be the ram, which thou sawst having two horns are the
kings of Medea and Persia. And Daniel served under both
of those. Verse 21, and the rough goat
is the king of Greece. The Lord used Alexander the Great
to make Greek the common language, Koine Greek. And that is the
language that God had intended for the gospel to be. He didn't
intend it, he decreed it. I should never say God intended
anything, he decreed it. This was his will that his gospel
be communicated through the Greek language, the most exact language
there is. And then after that, the Romans
came and The Lord had decreed that his son was going to die
on a cross. If Rome wasn't in control, that would have never
happened. The Roman infrastructure made it to where the gospel could
be spread. You can see the Lord's hand in all of this, in all this
period where there was no word from God, no revelation in this
400-year period until John the Baptist came preaching the gospel. The rough goat is the king of
Grecia, and the great horn that's between his eyes is the first
king. Now that being broken, whereas four stood up, four kingdoms
shall stand up in our nation, but not in his power." Now, when
Alexander died, remember he was controlling the whole earth,
four different generals took over and the kingdoms were divided
into four different kings. And one notable one had more
power and he shall stand. But I love the way it says he
shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power. Everything
he's doing is under the control of God. God's will is always
being done. He's letting his causing his
purpose to come to pass. Verse 23. And the latter time
of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king
of fierce countenance and understanding. dark sentences shall stand up,
and this once again is Antichrist, and his power shall be mighty,
but not by his own power. Don't you love that? You know,
even the Antichrist belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's on
his under his thumb, doing his will, doing his purpose. He doesn't
know it, but he is. He's under his control. The power
he has didn't come from him. He shall destroy wonderfully
and he shall prosper and practice and shall destroy the mighty
and the holy people. This is the power he's gonna
have. And through his policy also, he shall cause crafts,
craft to prosper in his hand. People are gonna make money off
this. He shall magnify himself in his heart. Remember, he's
going to exalt himself above all that's called God. He shall
magnify himself in his heart and by peace, by peace, peace, peace, when there is no
peace. through his message of peace.
You've done what you need to do. You've made it right with
God. You've made your peace with God. You've accepted Christ as
your personal savior. You've repented of your sins.
You've changed. You're going to have peace, peace,
peace. When there is no peace, that's
his message. He also shall stand up. Here's
his doom. He also shall stand up against
the prince of princes. but he shall be broken. He shall
be crushed without hand, simply by the will of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Hold your finger there and turn
to 2 Thessalonians 2. Verse 3, let no man deceive you
by any means, for that day shall not come except there come a
falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son
of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that's
called God, or that is worshiped, so that he as God sitteth in
the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember, you
know, that when I was with you, I told you these things. And
now you know what withholdeth. It's God that's withholding him
right now, the Lord God, that he might be revealed in his time.
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work. Only he who now
lets will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall
that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume. with
the spirit of his mouth, simply by a word, and shall destroy
with the brightness of his coming, even him whose coming is after
the working of Satan, with all powers and signs and lying wonders,
and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that
perish, because they receive not the love of the truth, that
they might be saved. And for this cause, because they
receive not the love of the truth, God shall send them strong delusion,
that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned
who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But we're bound to give thanks
to God always for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief in the truth. And turn back to Daniel
8. and the vision in the evening
and the morning, which was told as true. Wherefore, shut thou
up the vision, for it shall be for many days. And I, Daniel,
fainted and was sick certain days. He was upset about everything
he saw, about the power these men would have and what they
would do. And I rose up and did the king's business, I went about
my job. I went ahead and when it's all about the king's business,
it's talking about the earthly king. It's not talking about
the Lord Jesus. He's talking about the earthly king. I was
I was sick, but I went about my job and I rose up and I was
astonished at the vision, but none understood it. Let me give you. In closing. Six statements regarding
Antichrist religion and the religion of the gospel. One, Antichrist
religion always exalts man. He exalted himself. It always
makes out man to be more than he is and to have more ability
than he does. ability to save yourself, really. Your free will, your efforts. Antichrist religion exalts man. The gospel presents man as he
is, dead in sins, completely wicked. There's not one good
thing about him, totally dependent upon the sovereign grace of God. Secondly, antichrist religion
always presents Christ as less than he really is. Always. The gospel presents him as he
is. In him, oh, I love this scripture. I never get tired of quoting
it. In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead in a body. And you are complete in him.
There's the God man, all the fullness of God in a body. And
to Christ's religion, always makes the sacrifice of Christ
to be less than it is. It made salvation available.
It's offered to you. It can help you if you'll just
accept it. It doesn't present the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ as it is. By one offering, by that one
sacrifice, He hath perfected forever, them that are sanctified."
Oh, the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what His
sacrifice did. And you're weakening His sacrifice
if you don't say this. His sacrifice made everybody
He died for to be without guilt, justified, without sin. I don't have anything to feel
guilty about. Antichrist religion always casts
truth to the ground. It uses that which is not true
in its preaching. The gospel never uses anything
but the truth. All the time, only. Antichrist religion destroys
many with a false peace, but the gospel gives true peace. Having made peace by the blood
of his cross, by him to reconcile all things to himself, by him
I say, Whether they be things in earth or things in heaven,
and you that were before time enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh to present
you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. It
only gives the peace of Christ. He is our peace. And lastly,
Antichrist religions can be destroyed. The gospel. is eternal. Let's pray. Lord, deliver us from antichrist
religion because we'll be a part of it if you don't prevent it.
Lord, give us such a love to your son that we can't bear anything
that's contrary to him. Give us such confidence in his
glorious sacrifice that we can't bear anything that takes away
from that. Lord, we ask that you would enable
us by your grace to preach your gospel in this generation in
simplicity, in meekness, in humility, but in boldness. Lord, we thank
you. for the revelation of your son,
and for the perfection of his sacrifice, and that we're complete
in him. We give thanks. In Christ's name
we pray. Amen.