2 Thessalonians 2:1-12

We are okay. We're on a good path. But we will be in 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 1-12 will be our text this morning. I'll go ahead and let you know on the front end.

This is probably one of the most difficult texts in either 1 or 2 Thessalonians. One that causes many people to ask a number of questions. If we had to do a count on a topic that I'm asked about more than any other in our Q&A times, it would fall within the realm of these verses.

I'll let you know that because when we read it, you're probably going to be like, oh great, pastor's going to answer every one of my questions. Full transparency, no I will not because the text doesn't answer every one of our questions because we are really good about coming up with questions as it pertains to end times.

And it is very difficult. We're going to do our best to understand it within the context that it is found. That is, understand it in the context of 2 Thessalonians and exactly what Paul is trying to do for the church at Thessalonica there.

But also, trying to understand it in its entirety found within the pages of Scripture. There will be some questions left unanswered and that's okay. Anytime we go to Scripture, we need to go with the realization that not every question is going to find an answer because it is at times very deep.

If the Word of God was not deep and it did not cause us to search and to try and to mine, if you will, into the depths of it, then we would read it once and be done with it and leave it setting for the remainder of our life.

But yet we go to it over and over again, seeking to know not only just the meaning of the Word, but the author of the Word who is the Lord God Almighty. So if you are physically able and desire to do so, would you join with me this morning as we stand together and we read from 2 Thessalonians 2, starting in verse 1.

We'll read down to verse 12 and then we will pray. Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.

Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called God or object of worship so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.

Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? And you know what restrains him now so that in his time he will be revealed.

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will slay with the breath of his mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of his coming.

That is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.

For this reason, God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth but took pleasure in wickedness.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for your word. And now we come before you and we say, Oh God, we want to understand what it is you're trying to tell us through your word.

Give us wisdom. But give us a heart to receive that wisdom and a life to be willing to live it out for your glory and your honor. Lord, we do not come before you just trying to gain information so that we can say we understand it.

And we want to gain knowledge of you. So Father, as we have read your word and we pray that you would speak to us through your word, may it draw us closer to you and to one another as the outcome of it.

And we ask it all in Christ's name. Amen. You may be seated. As we have said with the writings of both 1 and 2 Thessalonians, there is at least an illusion, if not an outright declaration, as it pertains to the second coming of Christ found in each and every chapter.

Both in the 1 Thessalonians and in 2 Thessalonians, it is a theme that is always in the forefront of Paul's writing. These two letters are two of the earliest writings of Paul preceded only possibly by the book of Galatians.

It is his early writings in which he is living with an anticipation of the coming of Jesus Christ, his Lord and Savior. And he is laboring with that in mind.

And as he encourages the church and Thessalonica, he is ever encouraging them to remain faithful in light of his soon return. Now we realize we are thousands of years removed from the writing of this book.

And we would be prone to say, well, Paul had it wrong. Paul must have misunderstood or at least misconstrued the revelations that were coming to him. I would not think that Paul was wrong in any matter.

Rather, that Paul was using the revelations given to him in a very helpful way. That is the reality that at any day Christ could come. That at any day the Lord could appear.

And that on that day he would then be united with his Lord to give an account of how he had lived up until that day. There is nothing wrong with living with an anticipation of his soon coming.

There is nothing wrong with living as if he may show up today or tomorrow. And therefore we ought to live as we should today and tomorrow and each and every day.

There is a great danger when believers begin to live as if Christ is not coming back. And they begin to live as if this world is all their hope and all their anticipation and all their reward.

They begin to neglect the soon coming day of the Lord in which they will give an account. And they get caught up in the worldly affairs by the joys and the pleasures and the cares and concerns of this life.

The third soil, by the way. Not necessarily by the bad things. Not necessarily by the thorns or Satan taking the word away from them. But the pleasures and the concerns.

Because they forget. There is an impetus upon them because Christ is coming again. But there is also another extreme in which Paul will refer to later on in this book, in the third chapter.

That we say, well if he's coming, then I'm just going to sit here and wait and not do anything about it. Because he's coming. If this world is going to all pass away by fire, then let's throw caution to the wind.

And let's not care about the world. And let's live however we want to. And as a matter of fact, let's just stop doing whatever we want to do. And let's just sit right here and wait on him to come. There has to be a balance between the two.

There has to be the reality that he could come. But then also the certainty that as long as he does not come, we have something to do. Paul is writing this letter so that the people of the church would be encouraged to continue in good works.

He is writing them that they may be confident that they can labor effectively. That they can labor intentionally. Not that they would grow lazy.

Not that they would grow tired of doing what Christ had asked them to do. But rather that they would be encouraged to continue to do that. We find that in verses 16 and 17 of this second chapter.

That their hearts would be strengthened for every good work and every word. And part of strengthening the heart would be that they would live with the confidence of a settled mind.

That they would live with the confidence of a settled mind. Probably the number one question that we get asked in Q&A time. And the number one question that most pastors would be asked.

And even most students of scripture would be asked. Would be a question that in some way or some manner pertains to the end times. Something that takes place of, well, what about the tribulation period?

Or the judgment? Or the rapture of the church? Or when is Jesus coming back? And much energy has been given to trying to discern and to figure out these matters.

Which at times are hidden from us. In today's time, there are whole conferences established upon the end time events. That people would gather together and listen to prophetic teaching of end time scenarios.

That churches are completely and totally established upon their doctrinal teaching of end time matters. And yet we are spending really an unbalanced amount of time considering what's going to take place when these are matters that, if we're going to be honest, are intentionally hidden from us.

Man wants to desperately know. We want to have it figured out. We want to be able to pinpoint it so that in doing so, we would be able to be prepared for when it is going to take place.

But here's something that Paul wants us to understand. We do not need to know every detail to be prepared. We just need to know the fact to live prepared.

There are some matters which are not going to be answered for us. There are some matters I think we could find clarity within our text. But I would think that sometimes the things that we make major issues are not the major issue.

Because if we were to read this text and we were to go through it again, I'm sure the astounding thing that would come to your mind, who is this lawless one? Where will his throne be established?

When will the Antichrist appear? Where is the church in all of this? But I do not think that's the focus of the passage. Because these matters do not give us confidence of having a settled mind.

Do not give us the confidence that would encourage our hearts to do the work and to give the word. But rather within this passage, we find a number of things that are assuring to us.

A number of things that are not only comforting to us, but give us confidence even in the unknown. The first of those that we see is the presence that we will know.

During the end times, it is a presence that is the focus of the matter. And it is a presence that will be known by the people of God.

He writes, now we request you, brethren. Friend, listen to me. Eschatology, which is the study of the end times, is a church matter. It's a matter for the redeemed.

You're not going to scare anybody into heaven. So we don't use it as an evangelistic tool. Right? We don't say, well, Jesus is coming back and you better get ready.

Because when he comes back, he's going to have eyes of flame and fire and cast you into hell. That's not salvation. What we say is, look at the glories of Jesus Christ. Why don't you fall in love with him now and serve him for the remainder of your days?

Heaven is the reward. It's not the goal. The goal is to be in love with Jesus Christ, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and all your strength. And when you love him that way, and when you love him to that end, and he is the goal, then heaven is just where you happen to live it out for all of eternity.

Eschatology or the end times, that's a church matter. That's for the brethren. That's for the brethren. Because the confidence and the comfort come to the brethren, to the believers in Jesus Christ.

And he says, listen, I do not want you to be disturbed. I don't want you to be upset. That with regard to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The word coming that is repeated throughout this passage literally means the presence of Christ. He said, we're going to talk about the presence of Christ. His physical manifested presence in the world of Christ.

And our gathering together to him. Now, just for context, more than likely what had happened is that when Paul was caught away very quickly from the church at Thessalonica, because of the disruptions that were going on within the city, that some false teachers came in behind him.

And the false teachers came in declaring that the day of the Lord had already come. And since the day of the Lord had already come, they were living through the tribulation period, the day of God's judgment.

Now, for Jewish individuals, this would have been kind of understandable. Because if you think about when Paul was writing this, Jerusalem was going to fall just about five to six years later to the Roman Empire.

There was confusion going on in Jerusalem. The temple was about to be ransacked. The Romans were running crazy. There had been all these desecrations of their holy things. And all of their focus had been on temple worship.

And yet now it was beginning to crumble. The foundation was crumbling within them. And so the day of the Lord in their eyes had already come. Now, that disrupts the church. That disrupts the church.

I remember many years ago, I was pastor in the church. And we had had an Easter event there, much like here. We had had a Sunday morning breakfast. And then we have Easter egg hunting.

And it would be, we would go to Sunday school class. And I remember after the breakfast, I was walking through the sanctuary. My wife happened to be up there. And I looked around. And in the sanctuary, there were clothes laying everywhere.

I mean, there were little kids' clothes just everywhere, all over the place. And I looked at her and I said, one of two things have happened. Either the rapture has taken place and I got left behind. Or we had a whole bunch of kids get out of their clothes and get into their Sunday, go to meet and close.

Right? We understand one of the two have happened. But there's clothes everywhere. And it's a discerning or a disturbing reality to think the day of the Lord has already come.

Did I get left behind? Am I really his? But notice what the word of God says. As the word of God says, it is a presence that we will know. Because Paul says that his coming is in accord with his gathering us together to him.

He will call us together to him. Jesus said it this way. That where the sun is, you will be also. We don't have to wonder if he has already come.

It is the assurance of salvation that when he does come, we will know it because we will be in his presence. If you do not know anything else about the coming of Jesus Christ, understand this.

The moment he comes will be the moment he gathers. It is a promise from the word of God. It's not that he's just going to show up somewhere in the Middle East and we not know about it.

He says that where the sun is, the saints will be too. We will be called to meet him in the air and so we will always be with the Lord. It says in 1 Corinthians 15.

We will be gathered together. It will be the manifestation of his presence as we are in his presence. It is a presence that we will know.

We will see him as he is. And we will be as he is. Paul would say, I'm not yet what I should be, but I'll press on so that on that day when I am made as he is, I will see him face to face.

Do not lose sight of that reality. That when the King of kings and Lord of lords comes again, he calls his people to himself. It is a presence that we will know and we will enjoy and we will stand in wonder thereof.

We won't have to seek him. He will call us. Salvation is not about finding Christ. It's about being found by Christ and responding to his call.

And when the trumpet is blown, we don't have to go. Well, I wonder if I should go there. Because it says we will be caught up together with him. We will be in his presence.

And so we shall always be with the Lord. It is a presence that we will enjoy. And because of that, we can have peace in the waiting.

Because look at what he says. He says, do not let your minds or your composure be shaken. He says, so that you may not be quickly shaken from your composure.

That is literally your own mind. Or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. There are many assumptions as it regards the day of the Lord.

You can read different opinions. You can read different teachings. And they will sound so authoritative. But let me just encourage you with this. Restrict yourself to the interpretation of the day of the Lord to what the Bible says.

Now commentators are great. Teachers are good. But don't go chasing down rabbit trails. To see if you can figure out exactly what it means.

Do a word study on the day of the Lord. And just confine yourselves to what the word of God says. Because you will get disturbed. You will get distraught. You will be shaken.

Because there are so many winding paths that you can take. I promise. I've been down them all. And you will be upset thinking, well did I miss something? Am I wrong? Well will I be there?

Will I not be there? Will I go through the tribulation? Will I not? I'm living as if I will not. I believe in the pre-tribulation rapture of the church. I'm living as if he's going to call me home. I'll show you why in just a moment. But if for some reason I'm wrong and he leaves me in the midst of the tribulation.

Then I'm also living with the reality that while I'm in the midst of the tribulation. I'm not the one being judged for the judgment of me has already fallen on my savior. And I'm just waiting on the white horse to come and I'm going to join him in the battle.

So I don't care how I'm there. I don't care what takes place. I'm either in heaven glorifying and worshiping him. Or I'm on earth waiting on him so that I can win the battle with him. Either way.

Tribulation period. The judgment period is not about me. For my sins have been cast upon my savior. He has paid it in full. And we have so many disturbing things.

But when we understand this. That what we're talking about is the coming of our lord and savior. There's peace. There's peace.

Sure he's coming as judge. As ruler. As destroyer. But friend if you know him. As your lord and savior. Then he's coming. As your lord and savior. He's coming.

To redeem. He's coming to restore. He's coming to renew. He's coming to make whole. And he's coming. For you. And it's a matter of peace.

It's living with the peace. That he who is coming again. Is not coming to judge me. Listen. The judgment of Christ has already fallen. And it's the matter in which we live now.

That gives us. Jesus says. I give you. Or I leave you. My peace. Peace that passes understanding. Can I understand everything that's going to take place in the day of the lord?

No. But do I have peace in the midst of it? Yes. When I read the book of revelations. Is much of it disturbing? Absolutely. I mean I can't even wrap my mind around some of the creatures there in the book of revelation.

But I have peace. I don't care if there's fire coming out of their nostrils. And flames out of their tails. I don't care what all is happening. I know the prince of peace.

And there's peace for that moment. We don't want to lose sight of the peace that takes place in the waiting. But I want to give you one more assurance that we need to hold on to.

That this entire thing. And we see it in our text here. Is according to the purposes and plan of God. Why don't we spend so much energy and time trying to figure it out?

It's because man just wants to know. I mean I just want to know. Why? What power is there in knowledge? Well let me ask you a biblical question.

Let me ask you this way. When Jacob wrestled with the angel of the Lord. Before his name was changed to Israel. And he was prevailing against him. And he would not let him go.

And he said tell me your name. Remember that? He's there and the angel touched him in the hip socket. And he was limping. He limped from that day forward. That's why they no longer are at the senior around the hip socket. You remember that? He's holding on to him. And he says tell me your name.

Tell me your name. Tell me your name. And the angel of the Lord says what? I will not tell you my name seeing that it is wonderful. And so the angel of the Lord capital A. Which I believe is the Christophany. It's a picture of Christ in the Old Testament.

So it's a manifestation of Christ in the Old Testament. We call that the pre-incarnate manifestation of Christ. That is before he became flesh. And so he wants to know. He said tell me your name. He said I won't tell you my name. Why wouldn't the angel tell him his name?

You ever thought about that? Because to know the name was to be able to control the person. Every time God gives a name is because he wants you to know something else about him.

He wants you to know a little bit more of his character. Think about all the revelations. This is why the names of God are important. This is why when you say and there they called upon the name of the Lord and his name was doom. And there they called upon this. And it's revealing something else.

So to reveal the name is to reveal that you know something about me. Therefore you have the authority or the power not over me but in me. And you are one with me.

I was walking around the War Trace yard sale a couple weeks ago or whenever it was. And I was there. I walked by a gentleman who has known me my whole life. And some of you have.

You've known me my whole life. And I don't see him that often. I walked by and go, hey Joe how are you doing? He said man I'm doing great. How are you doing? And we had a great talk there. Many of you would not walk up to me and say, hey Joe how are you doing?

Some of you might walk up to me and go, hey Billy how are you doing? No offense. But if you say, hey Billy how are you doing? I know you don't know much about me. Because my name is not Billy.

My name is Billy Joe. You say, wait a minute pastor. But I can call you Joe but I can't call you Billy. Yes. Why? Because only my closest family called me Joe.

My dad started calling me Joe when I was, I don't know why. He's the one who named me. And he started calling me, left off the first half. I don't know why. Started calling me Joe. And then those older people who knew me started calling me Joe.

Now, I've told you this before and I don't, don't you ever do this again. If you ever walk up to me and go, hey fat boy how are you doing? You better be one of my best friends of all time. Because that was my name in high school.

I was skinnier then than I am now. So it's okay. It's no offense there. Okay. But I was thicker than every one of my friends. When I go have my quote old man breakfast about once a month and I sit down, those men can say, hey fat boy how are you doing?

I say, I'm doing great. How are y'all? Anybody else walks up to me and says, hey fat boy how are you doing? We're going to have words. Because you don't know me like that. You may wrestle with me and I may sit on you and you may call me fat boy then.

But it's not a term of endearment. It's not a term of knowing something about me, right? When I get a phone call and they say, is this William? Then I know it's either somebody wanting money or somebody from the insurance or something like that because that's my legal name.

Well it could be William. It might not be. Who do you want to talk to? So understand this. Your name means something. Each of us have that. And why do we want to know?

Because we want to know so that we can say, well I have some authoritative power over that or I can control that. Why do we want to know what happens in the end times? So that we can feel like we have it under control.

If I know what's going to happen, then I'm not going to be surprised when it does happen. And I have it under control. And here's the reality. God wants you to do this.

God says, I got this. That's not for you to worry about. And we have this reference to this man of lawlessness who appears and puts himself above every so-called God and sits upon the throne of God and even wants to be worshipped as God.

And we can see that in the book of Daniel. Daniel chapter 7. Daniel chapter 9. It's alluded to also in Daniel chapter 11. We can see it all throughout the book of Revelations that this is the Antichrist. We know who that is. It tells us in our text that he comes in accord with the work of Satan.

So it's not Satan, but it's the Antichrist, and it's the redistribution, repotraying of the Trinity. It's the anti-Trinity. We know that. You say, well, where is he going to be?

I don't know. Where is he going to position himself? Is he going to be in the temple of Jerusalem? I don't think so because it's not going to be rebuilt. So where is he going to be? I don't know. But I do know this. It says that he will come.

Notice where our text says, in his day. God has a day for him to show up. He will be revealed in his time.

That's not for us to determine when it will be. There's a lot of people that have been said, that's the Antichrist throughout church history and throughout world history. That has to be the Antichrist. But we're still here. Right?

I haven't been gathered together with Christ, so it hasn't come yet. But I do know that the word of God says, it is in his time. Who is the author of time? That is the Almighty.

God has a time for him to show up. It's not for us to know. But I want you to know this. Live with confident assurance and your mind settled that God has appointed today even for the Antichrist to show up.

That even when he puts himself up as God, he's only there because that's the time that the true God gave him to do it. He is working according to the plans of God.

And it's according to the purpose. And he may be pushing back against God. He may be rebelling against God. But it's all according to the plan of God.

And it's his purposes. Now, when we get to this, he who restrains him when the one that is restrained is taken out of the way. I want to address that just because it's in the text because it's part of the plan of God.

The question is, who's restraining him? Well, we have to ask ourselves, who is being restrained? The one being restrained is the lawless one or the Antichrist. Okay? Now, it's absurd to think, some people have said this, that Satan is the one restraining him.

Satan would never restrain the Antichrist because Satan's job is to promote the Antichrist. Because I don't know if you know the adversary that well, but I've never met an adversary that said, Well, I'm just going to wait a minute and I don't want to wreak havoc quite yet.

I mean, he's not restraining the Antichrist because it tells us that the lawless one is already at work. And we can say amen there. His work's already taken place. But something's restraining him now.

Jesus spoke of this, that the only one that can restrain the strong man is a stronger man. Remember that? And Jesus is the stronger man. He has the authority and the power to restrain. Now, we on our own flesh are not stronger than Satan, so we cannot restrain the Antichrist.

But I believe what we find here, by the way, and you can kind of put this down, that it is Christ restraining the work of the Antichrist through his church.

It is the Holy Spirit empowerment of the church that is restraining the work of the Antichrist. And why do I think that?

Because it says that when he is taken away, then his time has come. Now, can you think of anything in your understanding of end times when the church may be taken away?

We refer to that as the rapture. That when Christ calls his... I like to say it like this. I know we have kids' presents, but it's okay. I'm saying this in a good way. Okay, kids, don't run home and say, well, the pastor said this, so I can say it.

Now, let's just say it the right way. That when Jesus calls his church home, all hell breaks loose on the face of the earth. Because the restraining power has been removed.

Because who pushes back darkness now? The church. And the gates of hell will not prevail against it. But the moment we're taken out of the way, the Antichrist comes.

Which, as a church, ought to give you confidence. Again, I have to be removed. Because greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. So, therefore, Satan has no authoritative power to work while I'm present.

We have the ability. This is a little... Rock your world a little bit, Baptist. You can't walk into a place in the presence of Christ with the mind of Christ and the people of Christ and declare that Satan has no room there.

Because we have the authority of Christ. And so, therefore, how can he be manifested when we're still here? We have to be taken out of the way.

Some of us take ourselves out of the game by our own sins and shortcomings and stumbling. Some of us, walking faithfully with him, God calls us home. And we are taken out of the way.

All of this according to the plan that God ordains. One more thing. Because that plan comes with a promise. And the promise is here.

It's a two-fold promise. And it is here that I believe is one of the scariest portions of all scripture. And I'll make it as quick as I can. It says in verse 8, Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord...

By the way, that lawless one has all this power. I love this. ...whom the Lord will slay with the breath of his mouth. There is your interpretation. You want to know what the sword of the Lord is coming out of the mouth of the Savior in the book of Revelations?

It is the breath of his mouth that literally means the word of his mouth. So the one who's going to create such havoc... Christ is going to show up and say, Be gone. And he's gone. He's going to slay him with the breath coming out of the word of his mouth.

Whose work, it says, is in accord with Satan. Verse 9. That is, the one who's coming is in accord with the activity of Satan. With all power and signs and wonders. That's what he's going to do. Here's the scary part, starting in verse 10.

And with all the deceptions of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason, God will send upon them a deluding influence, so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.

Friend, if you don't hear anything else, and I'm closing. This is why we ought to take pleasure in the truth, as unto salvation.

Because you have the ability to hear the truth now. My understanding of scripture, is that once the Antichrist comes, and the church is called home, and the restraint has been removed, you cannot say, Well, this is a good time to give my life to Jesus Christ, because it cannot happen.

And this is the proof text for that. Literally, what the word of God says is, If you've had the ability to receive the truth, and you've rejected the truth, that on that day, God will keep his promise, and he will give you over to believe the lie, so as not to be saved.

Why? So that they will go into judgment, and you say, God's just concerned about judgment. No, God is concerned about righteousness. And the promise of Christ, is that whosoever comes to me, will be saved.

But if you don't come, and you don't desire anything to do with the truth, and you don't want it, by the time he's preparing the world for his second coming, it's too late. This whole idea that in the end, everybody makes it to heaven, is a mockery to the Almighty.

God is too just and righteous for that. Because if everybody makes it to heaven, then why give our lives for his glory? Why give our lives for his sake?

But if they don't all make it to the end, if God will give them over to believe the lie, so as to be persuaded, and then therefore enter into the due judgment, that they have earned, then why not pursue the truth now?

Why not give our lives completely, and totally over to him? Why not surrender and say, yes, Lord, you are worthy of my adoration now, so that your promise will be kept on that day? We cannot wait until the end time to say, well, I need to follow Christ now, because at that time, it's too late.

Now, do I believe that there will be people coming to Christ during the tribulation? Yes. But there will be people who had never heard the gospel. Friend, if we've heard the gospel, that's our opportunity.

That's the invitation. And that's found on the assurance of Christ's promise. He will not be mocked, and he will keep his word. And we can have the confidence of a settled mind to strengthen our hearts to be used for his glory.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day. We thank you for allowing us to gather together. We thank you for the privilege of fellowship. And Lord, we pray now that you would continue to speak truth into our hearts and minds.

May we be given for your glory and yours alone. And we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.