(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Alright, we're in 2 Thessalonians 2. Sorry it's taking me so long to get back to this, but anyway, here we are. The title of the sermon tonight is, Let No Man Deceive You. Let No Man Deceive You. Let's start out in chapter number 2 there, verse number 1. My first point is, we're going to look at the coming of the Son of God. Look at verse number 1, the Bible says, Now we beseech you brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him. So that word, beseech, is kind of like a word like, they're strongly urging you by what? By the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto him. So the Apostle Paul is trying to get the attention of the reader of this epistle here, the people of the Church of the Thessalonians, and he says, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now what coming do you think it's talking about right here? Do you think it's when he came in the manger when he was a baby? What coming do you think it would be talking about? The second coming, right? Now dispensationalists and basically every other Christian denomination at this point pretty much will say that Jesus is coming before the tribulation in a secret rapture that nobody's going to see. And there's been lots of Hollywood even movies made about this where Kirk Cameron and Nicholas Cage star in them and whoever else, Kevin Sorbo or whatever, and there's a pile of clothes on the ground and then everybody's gone up in the rapture, right? And you know, it's just not biblical folks. It's not true. And the Apostle Paul, it's funny, he appeals a lot to the teachings of Jesus. And when you compare like Matthew chapter 24, Luke 17, Mark 13, you're going to see that when Paul is teaching his end times doctrine that it matches up perfectly with those chapters in the Bible. But yet you'll have people will teach the rapture out of these verses, out of the verses of Thessalonians and the rapture is in there, but see, they're wrong about the timing. And I'm going to get into kind of the, you know, like I wouldn't break fellowship with people that don't believe in the post-trib pre-wrath rapture, which is what we believe at this church. And why do we believe that? Well, because that's what the Bible teaches. That's why. So when Paul's saying the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, he's talking about the next time Jesus comes, which is going to be every eye shall see him and everybody is going to see that happen. It's going to be a huge event and it's going to be at the right proper time and it's going to be after the tribulation. That's what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 24, Luke 17, Mark 13. So now there's three things here. The coming of the Lord that he's beseeching us by and it's the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and he is the Lord and our gathering together unto him. So it's talking about one specific thing. It's talking about the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the time that we gather together unto him. Right? In verse two it says that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as that the day of Christ is at hand. What is Paul saying here? He's saying, I don't want you to be shaken in your mind that some people are telling you that the day of Christ is at hand, that it's here. It's going to happen at any moment. That is what, see even our independent Baptist brethren will say that the day of Christ could happen at any moment. And so there is a difference between the day of Christ and the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord is after we're raptured up then the punishments of God's wrath upon this world are going to be poured out upon the world. And so that is not the tribulation. The tribulation is the tribulation of the saints before we're taken up by the Lord Jesus Christ. So what's Paul saying here? He's saying, I don't want, when this event happens, I don't want you to be fooled by anybody or shaken in your mind where you're like, did it already happen? Is it about to happen? In my sermon on Sunday I talked about how end time cults, one of the things that they like to do is they like to tell people that the end times are going to happen any moment. Or they predict some time when they're about to happen. See we're not going to predict, I'm never going to get up and tell you Jesus is coming back on this date, on this hour, or anything like that. That's never going to happen. But see the Jehovah's Witnesses have done it multiple times. The Jehovah's Witnesses are closely tied to the Seventh Day Adventists. And they've picked dates. And you know what happens when you pick a date and you're wrong? What does that make you? Yeah, Deuteronomy chapter 18 says, don't be afraid of their prophecies because when they don't come to pass you know they're false prophets. So why would anybody ever want to join the Jehovah's Witnesses when they have just flat out missed the dates multiple times? Any church or any so-called church that's missed the dates and they didn't happen? False prophets. They're a false church. And this differentiates our church though from a lot of, and I'm not saying that independent fundamental Baptist churches that teach this are a cult, but what they believe is heresy. And you're like, well that's a strong word, Pastor Thompson. It is a strong word, but there's damnable heresy and there's heresy. Heresy just means that it's not right. It's not true, right? So and I'll get into that here in just a second, but I kind of want to just reread verse two again. It says, that ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled, neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter, as from us, even if the Apostle Paul or any of the disciples are telling them as that the day of Christ is at hand. So in other words, if you were to receive such news from anybody, don't believe it. That's what he's saying. Didn't Jesus say, don't let not your heart be troubled? That's what he said. Do you believe in God? Believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and I will receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also. So Jesus said he was going to come back for us, but he said for us not to let our hearts be troubled about these things. And the Apostle Paul, you know, he's teaching. It's funny, people say, well, do you believe the Gospel that Paul taught or the Gospel that Jesus taught? It's like, it's the same Gospel. Paul's just teaching what the Lord Jesus Christ taught him. It's not different. So turn to, go ahead and keep your finger here, though, and turn to Matthew chapter 24. And you're going to want to keep a finger there, too, because I'm going to kind of go back and forth a little bit here between Matthew chapter 24 and 2 Thessalonians 2. So right out of the gate, the Apostle Paul's saying, hey, don't be shaking a mind. The day of Christ is not at hand. And then he's going to explain to us things that have to happen first. Okay? So the consensus out there right now, the teaching that's out there right now is that he could come back at any moment. And look, because of all the stuff that's going on with Israel and Hamas right now, all the prophecy gurus are getting up and teaching all these sermons, he's coming back any time now. It could be any moment. And they're just trying to get everybody, you know, this is when Baptists get all, you know, the independent Baptists get all hot and bothered about, you know, the coming, you know, Israel's prophetic time clock and all this other stuff. And you know, they just don't want to believe what the Bible actually says. They get all carried away with Gog and Magog, which doesn't happen until after the millennial reign of Christ. They would actually study their Bible. But look at Matthew 24, verse 3. It says, And as he set upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming? What are they asking for? When are you coming back, Jesus? Right? So they're asking him, what's the sign of thy coming? He's already come once. He's there with them right now when they're asking this question. When are you going to come again, Jesus? That's the question, right? And you know, and these prophecy people, they'll say, well, Matthew 24 is about the second coming. I know. So is 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. It's about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're both the same thing. It's not coming 1.2 or something. It's not, it's not some, you know, there's nothing in the scriptures that will say that Jesus is coming back before the tribulation. There's no clear verse about it. There's no verse at all that says that. Now skip down, skip down to verse 29 and Jesus will tell us when he's coming back. He explains all this stuff and then he goes, this is when he tells them because they, when the disciples ask Jesus a question, they will, he will usually answer them plainly. He might give them, he might give them some spiritual food for thought, but then eventually he will explain the parable to them or explain what he, what he means. He says, immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. So when does he say he's coming back? Immediately after the tribulation. The tribulation is over if you go to Revelation chapter six, that seal is broken and the sun and moon are darkened in Revelation chapter number six. Revelation chapter seven is like basically the preparation for the angels to sound and then chapter eight, the angel sound and the wrath of God is poured out. Okay. Also in chapter seven, you see the people that are beheaded for the cause of Christ. Those are the people that they call those people, the tribulation saints, and they're right about that because anybody that's saved at that time, they're going to go through great tribulation and what's going to happen to, to some of those people, they're going to get their heads chopped off. And so they're waiting for the, you know, they're, they're like asking, when are you going to take revenge upon, when are you going to avenge us Lord for all these things that have been done for us? And you know, then you also have this huge number of people appear in heaven that no man can number of all kindreds of, of the tribes of the earth, all nations and tongues and so on and so forth appear in heaven. And John's like, who are all these people? He's like, sir, thou knowest, you know, these are the ones that have gone through great tribulation. And so, you know, you have in chapter six, you have the sun and moon being darkened in revelation six chapter seven, you have all these people appear in heaven. You know, obviously that's the rapture chapter eight, you have the angels begin to sound and then the doom of the earth begins to happen with the wrath of God. So back to Matthew chapter 24. At the very beginning, they asked Jesus, when are you coming back? He says, after the tribulation of those days. And then in verse 30, it says, and then shall appear the sign of the son of man in heaven. And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Does it say all the tribes shall see him? Yes, they will, right? And he shall send his angels with the great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. So here we have the same thing that's happening. Look at verse 31 again, it says, they shall gather together his elect. In second Thessalonians chapter two, verse one, it says, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto him. Aren't they talking about the same thing? They are talking about the same thing. And when they asked, when are you coming back, Jesus, he says, after the tribulation. And what is the context of the story of what we're studying tonight? It's the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto him. And Paul's warning them to not be shaken of mind or be troubled for any reason whatsoever that the day of Christ is at hand. Now wouldn't that mean that at hand means about to happen? At hand means any moment. At hand means imminent. So what is Paul saying? If someone tells you that, it's not true, isn't it? So when you have all these gurus and all these prophecy gurus around the world that are saying that he can come back at any moment, he's coming soon, and look he could be coming soon. But I'm not going to go up here and tell you, look the temple's not built. So we're at least seven years away from that happening. At least. The temple hasn't even begun to be built yet. So we can't say that we know when it's going to happen. Now I think that things are escalating quickly. I mean there's been a lot of crazy things that have happened in the last few years. I mean we pretty much had all of our freedom stripped away from us over the COVID, you know. I can't say it because I'll get in trouble. So I'll need to. But anyway, now before I go through the rest of this, I just want to define for you what heresy is. Just so you kind of get an idea of when I say that the pre-trib rapture is heresy, people will get kind of might get upset about that. But it is heresy. It's just not true. The Catholic Church has made the word heresy like that it's like, you know, put them on the rack, you know, burn them at the stake or whatever. But that's just not necessarily true because in the Bible sometimes people would say, hey that's heresy or I think heresy is going on here. And Paul's talking, you know, sending a letter to a church. But the definition of heresy is belief or opinion contrary to orthodox religious, especially Christian doctrine. So, and when I say orthodox, I don't mean the orthodox church. I'm just saying what the, I would just say this, what the Bible says. It differs from what the Bible actually says. You know, so and sometimes definitions are not exactly perfect. But my opinion of what heresy is, is just, it's not, it doesn't jive with what the Bible says. So anyway, so the pre-trib rapture and dispensational theology are heresy. I mean who would say, do you believe that the dispensational doctrines are true? Dispensationalism? I don't think anybody in this room believes that that's true. Why not? Because it's been weighed in the balance and found wanting. It's just not true. Just like the pre-trib rapture. Turn to Acts chapter 24, Acts chapter 24. Now people say that the things that we believe are heresy. But just because someone says what we believe is heresy doesn't make it so. Because again, you have to line up what you believe with what the Bible says. And if what you believe isn't what the Bible teaches, then you have to change what you believe and believe what the Bible says. Acts chapter 24 verse 14 says, But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worshiped by the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and the prophets. So the apostle Paul said, they're saying that what I believe is heresy, but what I believe is all things that are written in the law and the prophets. So basically Paul is saying, I believe the Bible. So if you're resting what you believe on what the Bible says, then you're good. And obviously people can twist the Bible and make it say what they want and a lot of different things, but the Pharisees have a different belief of what heresy is, but they're wrong, aren't they? What saith Paul? Paul says he believes what the Bible says. And that's what we would say. That's exactly what we believe. So what is heresy? Well, I would say something that someone believes or teaches that isn't biblical or based on the Bible. Real simple, right? And it's like the Jehovah's Witnesses with the 144,000. Like you can read that story and maybe you don't fully understand it, but what you do know for sure is it doesn't say 144,000 sealed Jehovah's Witnesses are going to heaven. It doesn't say that. It actually says the 12 tribes of Israel is pretty much I think what it says there, right? So they're sealed and God sends them to earth to preach the gospel, right? So that being said, just because someone believes or teaches heresy, it doesn't make them unsaved devils. If someone teaches heresy, it doesn't make them an unsaved devil. So my belief is that if they believe or teach damnable heresy, then that separates them into an unsaved damnable heretic category. You follow what I'm saying? So if someone teaches damnable heresy, that changes them into another category with me. If someone's just teaching something that's not true, that can be fixed. There's things that I believe when I first got saved and things even after I got saved that I've gotten fixed since then. And I'm like, wow, I can't believe that. I believe that. There's even things that I was taught in an independent Baptist church that after taking a long look at it later on, I'm like, why did I believe that? Because it was just taught. It was just brought forth and you hear something just said a lot. It's like people saying, repent of your sins from the pulpit, like pastors saying that. And people in the crowd will repeat that, but that might not be what they really mean. You know what I mean? Is that heresy? Absolutely. When you're talking about salvation, yes, it is. It's heresy. And if you really mean that you have to repent of your sins to go to heaven or you can't be saved, then it is damnable heresy at that point. But if they just mean that you have to admit you're a sinner and they just have bad verbiage, then that separates them into a different category. So again, my belief is that if someone goes off into the damnable heresy category, then that separates them. So also just because someone believes a damnable heresy, it doesn't mean they're unable to be saved. So sometimes people can believe something, like people that don't believe in eternal security. Are they saved? No, they're not. But if we can change their mind into, now I do believe that it's eternal security, then they are able to be saved, right? Because they believe in eternal security, right? So just because they believe in a damnable heresy doesn't mean that you can't change your mind and get them saved. But if someone is teaching damnable heresy on salvation, eternal security, hell, the Trinity, the deity of Christ, a lot of those people are probably reprobates. And especially if they're a prophet of their religion. Like if they're a bishop of the Mormon church, or they're a badge that says elder, and they're like 19 years old with pimples all over their face telling you that they're an elder or whatever, they're coming to your door preaching another gospel. God says not to even bid them Godspeed or allow them into your home. And I don't know how many people, who's tried to give the Mormons the gospel at the door when they come to your house? Anybody? Anybody else? Who tells them to go to hell? Yeah. Well, I mean, I used to try to be nice to them, but you know how many I've got saved? Zero. You know how many I've got saved at the door? Zero. You know how many got saved on the street? Zero. You know how many years I've been sowing? A long time. So if they're a false prophet, they're a false prophet, I'm not going to waste my time with them. But my point is, is that there are different camps of heresy, okay? So if someone is teaching damnable heresy and they are wearing the Catholic robes or whatever, I'm pretty sure that person is a reprobate. Now obviously the exception proves the rule, but in most cases you're dealing with a reprobate. So I don't put people that teach wrong on the rapture or end times in the damnable heresy camp. Like the pre-trib rapture, for instance, it's dumb. It's not true. There's zero verses that teach it and there's zero verses to back it up, but there will be a reckoning for teaching it though. There is going to be, you know, pastors just don't get to say, well my Bible college taught me that and that's why I kept teaching that even though I saw Pastor Anderson's video after the tribulation. You know what I mean? It's like even though I came across these verses in my Bible reading, I know that that's not what it was saying, but yet I still went along with it so I could still play golf with my buddies on the weekends. You know what I mean? So the pastors that blindly teach it or follow it will be held accountable for it, but it is not damnable heresy and therefore I won't put them in the unsaved heretic camp for teaching or believing this. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 18. I'm kind of taking a pause from everything, but I just wanted to kind of flesh this out real quick and I'll jump back into the main text here in a few minutes here. 1 Corinthians 11 18 says, first of all, for first of all, when you come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you and I partly believe it, for there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be manifest among you. When you come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's Supper, for in eating everyone taketh before other his own supper and one is hungry and another is drunken. So what's Paul saying? He's correcting the way that they're doing the Lord's Supper. They're doing it wrong and he's saying, hey, you're doing it wrong. And so he's saying, there's divisions among you and there's also heresies. Now if someone does the Lord's Supper wrong, that is heresy, isn't it? Isn't that what he's saying? And what does Paul say at the very beginning? He said, follow me as I follow Christ. And then Paul, he straightens them out on the doctrine and says, this is how Jesus did it with his disciples. I'm telling you this is how you're supposed to do it. Now I mentioned this last week also that he doesn't tell us what brand of grape juice to buy. He doesn't give us the recipe for the matzah. He doesn't do all that, but there is a specific way that he wants it done. And that specific way, he quotes the Lord Jesus Christ later on in this chapter and tells them how to do it right. So the point is, is that Paul says there must be heresies among you. So when there's divisions in the church and some people are believing one thing and some people are believing the other, then that means that somebody's wrong. And so heresy, what, is wrong? So turn to Galatians chapter 5 verse 19. Galatians 5 verse 19, I'm just going to begin reading as you turn there. Galatians 5 19 says, now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these. So what are they? The works of the flesh, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies. So heresy is what? False doctrine. Now turn to 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 1, 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 1. So why am I driving this point home? Because I just want you to understand there's differences within the heresy, within realms of heresy. Just because someone says, that's heresy, brother, doesn't mean that they're saying that you're an unsaved devil and you need to burn at the stake, right? But the Catholic church would probably mean that. So I think a heretic under any Catholic, maybe I'm wrong about that, I guess I'm not a Catholic theologian, but I think when they called somebody a heretic, the burning's coming, right? So 2 Peter chapter 2 verse 1, the Bible says, So see the difference? There's damnable heresies. With feigned words, make merchandise of you, whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not and their damnation slumbereth not. What's the end of these people that bring in these damnable heresies? They're going to hell. Look at what it says in verse 4. So false prophets that bring in damnable heresies, their end is to be burned. They're done. The chapter is about false prophets creeping in and what God thinks about them. And he says, just like there was false prophets back in the day, there's going to be false teachers among you. So we always have to have our guard about us over things like this. And when someone brings up something really weird to you, and it's just you and them, you might want to bring that to the pastor and let them know they're teaching something really weird, okay? And we're not in prison, folks. So you're not going to get stabbed or something if you tell on somebody for preaching something weird. And maybe they just need to be straightened out with something, but that's the time to tell me somebody can actually do something about it, that someone's teaching something weird. Turn to Matthew 5.19. We'll move on after this. Matthew 5.19. Matthew 5.19. So what do I mean by people are going to be held accountable for this? And basically why I got into this is because there's so many people teaching that it's a pre-trib rapture and that Jesus can come back at any moment. But what does the Bible say? That he can't come back at any moment. So there's millions of people that believe a lie because people keep preaching this from the pulpits. And more people think that we're weird on what we believe and that we're heretics, but they don't have the Bible on their side. Matthew 5.19 says, Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least of the kingdom of heaven, but whosoever shall do them and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. So there are going to be people that teach men contrary to what the word of God says and they are still saved. So I'm not saying that someone teaches that Jesus can come back at any moment and is not saved. There are people that teach that that aren't saved, but you know, and there's people that they make a lot of money off of teaching this kind of stuff. There's people that that's just kind of their niche, their prophecy, like I keep saying prophecy gurus, but there's a lot of people that prophecy is their main thing. And you know, they just can't wait for something else to happen in Israel so they can write another book about it. So they can make another YouTube video about it that has millions of views. I just saw that there was a book coming out. I forgot, I know who wrote it, but it's funny they use Luke chapter 17 as you know, as their prop up for the pre-tribulational rapture, a verse in the pre-tribulational rapture. But then those same people will say, well, you can't use those verses because that's written to Israel. So which one is it? Why do you keep trying to use Matthew chapter 24 in Luke chapter 17 and Mark chapter 13 to prop up the pre-tribulational rapture? Because I think the verse was, as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man. And so basically they're taking something that is meant for what they would call the second coming and using it for rapture verses. So they're breaking their own rules. But we believe that that's just the real, the second coming, because that's what it actually is, right? But anyway, let's move on to verse number three in our text. So point number two, so first we saw the coming of the Son of God, now we're going to look at the coming of the man of sin, which is the antichrist in verse number three. And hopefully you still kept your place in Matthew, but if not, we can always just run back over there. But second Thessalonians chapter two, verse three, the Bible says, let no man deceive you by any means. Do you think Paul, what does Paul mean by that? Let no man deceive you by any means, by letter, by word, by spirit, by epistle, and he even says even by us. And the apostles were pretty, we look upon them and we go, those guys are great men. So fast forward to 2023, there's some guys that you would say, these guys are great teachers of the Bible, these guys are great men, or there's people out there that would say that they are, and wouldn't that apply to them too? Let no man deceive them. Let no man deceive you. Doesn't matter how good a man they are, doesn't matter how good of a Bible teacher they are, or how eloquent they wax from the pulpit, doesn't matter what they say, it matters what the Bible says, and the Bible says, let no man deceive you by any means, for that day, what day? The day of Christ shall not come except. So what does that accept me? That it's not going to happen except something else has to happen first. What is it? There come a falling away first, number one, and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition. So what has to happen before the day comes? The falling away has to happen first, and the man of sin needs to be revealed the son of perdition. Well who's the man of sin? That is the antichrist. That is, when it says the son of perdition, it's talking about the antichrist. I preached a whole series about types of antichrists, and Judas Iscariot was a type of antichrist. He was indwelt literally by Satan after he dipped the sop, and as soon as he dipped the sop and he went out, Satan entered into Judas, and he went and betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ. He was called the son of perdition. So when it says the son of perdition, obviously we know that Judas hanged himself and he is dead in hell for all eternity, but the son of perdition that it's talking about here is the one who's going to be wounded with a wound, and then he's going to be brought back to life, and Satan is also going to enter into him, and then he's going to declare himself to be God in the temple. So Paul's warning us here, don't let no man deceive you by any means. Now this is very important because there's a lot of deception about this specific subject, and so I think that Paul's telling us this because he doesn't want anybody to deceive us. He doesn't want you to look at these verses and pass it on and go, oh well, and it's so funny these pre-trib people, they're like, they'll take these verses and then they'll just act like they don't exist or something. It's like, no, the day of Christ, in context, it's talking about the rapture. The day of Christ is the rapture. But they'll say in their little footnotes and stuff, if you have a study bible or something, you might even have, who has a bible that has like cliff notes or something, does anybody have one of those in here that might have a reference to another scripture next to those? If you have one, in verse two, it might say that it means day of the Lord. Because they want it to say the day of the Lord because then they can say that, oh no, that's the start, this is talking about the second coming when Jesus comes back in Revelation chapter 19. That's what they are saying, but hopefully that makes sense to you. So they'll try to say that it means the day of the Lord, and Jesus Christ is the Lord, I get that, but the day of the Lord is mentioned in the last chapter, but the day of Christ is mentioned here. And it is differentiated in scripture. But they want you to think that this is not the rapture, but this is the rapture. The first two verses explain that very carefully and very easily for us to understand. A babe in Christ should be able to understand that. So what does he mean? Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. By any means, like bible charts, books, preaching, bible studies, popular opinion, pastor opinion, Bible college, study bible, an angel from heaven, the apostles themselves, your favorite teacher, yes, any means. Don't let anybody deceive you on this. That what? The things that have to happen or what? The falling away. What is the falling away? It's a spiritual departure from the truth on a global level. There's going to be a one world government, folks. And then also, the man of sin must be revealed first, the son of perdition. When does that happen? We know when that happens. When does that happen? At the halfway point of the final seven years. Three and a half years, 42 months into the final seven years of Daniel's 70th week. That's when it happens. So turn to, keep your finger here, turn to Matthew chapter 24. So doesn't that destroy the imminent return of Christ as a false doctrine and heresy, doesn't it? Because unless they have their little, it means the day of the Lord, no it doesn't. And it's funny, these guys that talk about not wanting to correct the King James, but they'll correct the King James and say it means day of the Lord. No, it's the day of Christ. The Greek word there is the Greek word for Christ. And I'm not going back to the Greek, I'm just saying that you can actually look at the Greek and the English next to each other, and you can see the word for Christ and the word for the Greek word for Christ and the English word for Christ, and they're the same. It doesn't say, it doesn't say Lord there, it says Christ. So anyway, Matthew chapter 24 verse 4 says, And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. That's interesting, isn't that what Paul said too? So is Paul following in the footsteps of Jesus and just teaching them exactly the same things that he taught them in Matthew chapter 24? Sounds like he is. Take heed that no man deceive you. What's Paul say? Let no man deceive you by any means. Sounds like the same thing, right? So what are the two things that have to happen first again? The falling away and the man of sin being revealed first. Look at verse 11 in Matthew chapter 24. And many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many. So we're talking about a massive scale of deception in the whole world. And then not only that, it's going to come to pass where everybody is not just going to have their own separate religion of Hinduism and Buddhism and all this other stuff. They're going to have to worship the devil. If you want to get that mark where you can eat and work and buy food and all that kind of stuff, you must take the mark and you must worship the dragon. You must worship the beast. You must bow down to the image. Or you can't and you must take the mark. Or you're not going to buy, sell, eat, or do anything. Look at verse 15. When you therefore see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, whoso readeth, let him understand. That's you. You're reading that right now. That when you see these things happen, that's the abomination of desolation. That's when the man of sin is revealed. That's when the son of perdition is revealed. And that's when we know for sure that Jesus is coming soon after that. Obviously you've got the great tribulation that happens after that. And Jesus says for people to run. That's when we run. That's when you hide. Obviously, you do whatever you want. You hide, you run out, preach the gospel, whatever you're going to do. But if you're going to build a bunker, that would probably be the time, all right? But obviously, people can do whatever they want. I'll take the martyr's death. Just chop my head off and get it over with quickly. I don't want any molestation happening to me. I don't want any fags messing with me. I'll be like Saul. I'll just fall on my sword or whatever. I don't want these abominations touching me after I'm dead. Or before I'm dead, for that matter. Especially before I'm dead. Anyway, let's look back at our text in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. So I'm kind of going back and forth here to show you. Obviously I could be showing you multiple different passages in the Bible. I'm just trying to show you through Matthew 24 and 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Paul and Jesus are teaching the same thing. And you know what they're not teaching? They're not teaching a pre-tribulational rapture. Look at verse 4. Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. So this is what the antichrist is going to do. Now turn to Revelation chapter 13, and we'll see why he does this. And why I think that he's a Jewish, that he's a Jew, is because he's going to walk into that temple, and nobody's going to try to stop him. The Bible says in John chapter 1 that he came to his own and his own received him not. And he said, and I don't know if I have, I can't get it off the top of my head, who knows where that verse is? John chapter 1? Huh? Yeah, one shall come in his own name and him shall they receive. So they didn't want to receive Jesus when he came as their Messiah, but when the antichrist comes, they will receive him. So they're going to be like, come on in antichrist. And then they're going to realize how wrong they really were when he stands up and does this in Revelation chapter 3, verse 13, or 13 verse 3, excuse me, it says, and I saw one of the heads as it were wounded to death, and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast. And they worshiped the beast, saying, who's like unto the beast, who's able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth and blasphemed me against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and power was given unto him over all kindreds and tongues and nations. So notice this is forty-two months, right? So this is happening right when he reveals himself, okay, because that's the halfway point, right? And it says in verse 8, and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. So they're worshiping him, so we know the falling away has happened, and he has revealed himself, so we know that those two parameters for Jesus coming back have happened. But then the great tribulation is also going to happen, and we know that has to happen for a short time. Skip down to verse 15, it says, and he had power to give life unto the image of the beast. So this is the abomination of desolation, that image set up in the temple, and it says, the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. So it has, you know, the false prophet has power to bring this image to life that it's kind of alive. I don't know if you realize how fast AI has moved since, I remember the first time I preached a sermon like this, thinking it could be some kind of AI thing, and now we're like, at the point where people are having AI on their phones, telling them how to build stuff, and you know, it's gotten pretty crazy, but you know, I mean, is it beyond the realm of possibility that they could give some power to this image, that it would be able to enact some kind of crazy stuff like this? I mean, they've been making movies about stuff like this, like Terminator, and like all kinds of other stuff that would fulfill these types of things. But anyway, it says that, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed, and he causeth all both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand and in their foreheads, and that no man might buy or sell save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here's wisdom, let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast, for as the number of a man his number is six hundred threescore and six, so that's the 666. So you know, what do we have happening before Christ can come? The falling away, the beast being revealed, then of course you have the great tribulation where he's able to make war with the saints, he's blaspheming, he's ruling, but he's ruling in a kingdom of darkness. So what also is going on at the same time is that God is pouring his wrath out upon the earth. So while he's ruling simultaneously, the earth is being destroyed, and you know, it's just like a hellscape on earth, basically. So basically the falling away is a massive departure from biblical Christianity to the one world religion, and then number two, the man of sin, the son of perdition, is revealed. So let's go back to our text in 2 Thessalonians chapter two verse five, and look at verse number five there, it says, Remember ye not, when I was with you I told you these things. So here it's going to get into some verbiage, it's kind of tricky, there's a lot of opinions about this, and I don't know that I'm even going to necessarily give my opinion about some of this stuff, but just read over it and you can kind of make your own determination I guess, but it says, Remember ye not, when I was with you I told you these things. So Paul is saying, I told you these things already before. This shouldn't be a real big mystery, it's not a big, you know, but he hasn't told us these things before. So we're reading it here, you know, obviously Paul's taught these concepts in other, you know, other Bible chapters before, but not quite like this. This is where he really nails it down, that's why the book of Thess, first and second Thessalonians are really, you know, they kind of go hand in hand with the book of Revelation. They're really, you know, they really teach a lot of deep end times theology. But it says, now here's where it kind of gets tricky, it says, And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. So I mean, I can't help but think that the he is referring back to the Antichrist as the antecedent, but you know that he that withholdeth that he might be revealed at his time. I mean, it was talking about the Antichrist being revealed, so, but it says, For the mystery of iniquity doth already work, only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. There's another trick, tricky passage here, just the verbiage is kind of different, right? But the mystery of iniquity doth already work, it kind of makes me think about like, you know, mystery Babylon or something. So there is some kind of wickedness that's traveled through the ages and taken over whole countries and taken over the world, basically, and multiple different kingdoms like Babylon and the Medes and the Persians and the Roman Empire and so on and so forth. But this wickedness has traveled even to our time now. But it says, He that for the mystery of iniquity doth already work, and I'm guessing that that's that Antichrist spirit that's been in the world, only he who now letteth will let. So when you see that word letteth, I mean, to me, that means that he who now allows will allow. Like letting, kind of see, you know, that's kind of what it means to me, I don't know. But he who now letteth will let, he who is allowing will allow it until he be taken out of the way. So again, some people will say, and this is a lot of pre-Tribbers will say this, so I kind of take this with a grain of salt, that they'll say that, well, once the rapture happens, then the Holy Spirit will be taken off the earth, and then there'll be nothing stopping the Antichrist from doing what he wants to do. Well, the problem is, is that the Holy Spirit isn't mentioned in this passage. So it'd be kind of weird to just assume that it's talking about the Holy Spirit here when the Holy Spirit has not been mentioned to this point. So it is kind of tricky word-wise, but he who letteth will let until he be taken out of the way. So I don't know who's letting, maybe it's just God just, you know, not allowing him to be revealed until the time that he's supposed to be revealed. But you know, God's not going to be taken out of the way. So it is a tricky passage, I'm not going to say that I completely understand that verse, but you know, I'm just kind of throwing that out there. If you have an explanation, I'd be glad to hear it, but a lot of people have argued over this passage quite a bit, but I'll definitely not say that I think it's the Holy Spirit because, you know, I just don't see. But you know, you have that word he there, until he be taken out of the way. So I don't, again, it has he in verse six also, which I think is referencing back to the man of sin. So until the man of sin is taken out of the way. But anyway, look at verse eight, it says, and then, then shall that wicked be revealed. So now that wicked, obviously, he doesn't really fully become the beast until he becomes, you know, indwelt by the spirit of Satan. When Satan indwells him, that's when he becomes that wicked. You know, it's just like when Judas Iscariot was indwelt by Satan. That's when he went and betrayed Jesus Christ for, you know, for 30 pieces of silver, whatever. So you have that wicked being revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. Even him whose working, his coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. So it's obviously talking about the man of sin, the son of perdition. It already alluded to the son of perdition, so it's connecting you with Judas Iscariot. And then it's talking about the working of Satan. You talk about the work of the Holy Spirit, well, the working of Satan is indwelling the body of the Antichrist whose deadly wound is healed, right, and he comes back to life. Because it's talking about with all power and signs and lying wonders. It says, and with all deceivableness and unrighteousness and then that perish because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. So ultimately, you know, there's just people that just won't get saved. They receive not the love of the truth. And that's the sad thing about going soul wanting is that when you go soul wanting there's just some people, and some of those people you beg them practically to get saved. And you know, I heard in Seattle there's three people that just didn't want to pray for whatever reason. And sometimes I just think that they either don't believe it or they don't want it or maybe they'll go pray later. You just never know. But like to a soul winner, that's like one of the worst things you can do to a soul winner because you're just like, what happened? You know, you just don't know. And we'll know someday, but there are just some people that will not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. And it says, and for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie. So isn't that interesting that people say, well, God never gives up on anybody. God never hates anybody. God never would stop anybody from getting saved. God is not, you know, they want to make him out to be puppy dog Jesus, rainbow Jesus, you know, cookies and candy Jesus, sweet lemonade and sweet tea, pink shirt Jesus that never sends anybody to hell. But the thing is, is that God shall send them strong delusion. Who? The people that receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. The people that reject his love. The people that reject the free gift of salvation that they might be saved, that God sends them a strong delusion that they should believe a lie. He allows them to believe a lie. Why would, you're like, well, why would God do that? I thought God just loved everybody and just everybody has a million zillion chances to get saved even on their deathbed. What happened to that Jesus? Well, maybe Jesus isn't the Jesus that you think he is. Maybe God isn't the God you think he is. God does love people. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Well, let me tell you something. Do you think God knows more than we do? Of course he does. And he knows that that person will never get saved no matter how many soul winners go to his door, no matter how many people pray for him every day, no matter how many people beg and beg and plead for that person to get saved. They're never going to get saved. And so God is like, okay, well, you know, since you hate me so much, because that's what that proves, right, is that they hate him. And the Bible says that God will repay those people that hate him to their face. And so it says that he's going to allow them to believe a lie that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. So some people just don't want to get saved because they'd rather live in unrighteousness. They'd rather just live in darkness. Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Their ways are evil. They just would rather be wicked and evil and live the rest of their pathetic life on this earth and then die and go to hell. You know, I tend to think that, you know, sometimes I think, well, maybe if they just realized that hell was real, they would not make that decision. But sometimes it seems like they do know, though. But they just don't want to love the God that would put them in hell or put grandma in hell or put whatever family member in hell or whatever, you know, that their dog's not going to heaven with them. You know, their cats, their 16 cats aren't going to heaven with them or whatever. Whatever it is, it's a big task that we have as soul winners and as a soul winning church. And that's why it hurts soul winners to see people not make the decision to believe the truth. It hurts. It really does. And there's some people that are just like, you know, they're just right there and they're right on the cusp and you can see that they understand. You can see that they believe it. And you can see like, you know, they're at like a crossroads in their mind and in their heart right at that moment and then they just choose not, they choose not, they choose not to do it. And it's like, how much would their life had changed had they chosen to receive the truth instead of being given strong delusion to believe a lie? And you know, people get really upset about the reprobate doctrine but that's what's being taught right here, isn't it? That God says, you're done. And instead of just keep giving them chances over and over again, He allows them to be damned and He actually sends them the delusion so that they be damned. And in John chapter 12, He actually says that although He did all these miracles before them yet they would not believe. And you know, that Isaiah the prophet said, I'm not going to quote it right, but that He blinded their minds and hardened their hearts that they might not believe, you know. And so even those Pharisees that blasting the name of the Lord, they blasting the Holy Ghost, you know, they were done. Their chances are over. If you mess with Scripture, if you change, you know, badger skin to porpoise skin, you're going to the lake of fire, folks. You know, I mean to use a very obscure thing that people try to change in the Bible, yeah, you know, you want to change it to dolphin skin, well you're going to roast in hell for all eternity for that. You want to make it manatee skins, same thing. It's not a badger. The King James says badger. Anyway, I'm still on the badger kick. So let's move on to the last point. It's just a real quick one here. We'll be out of here. But you know, just make no mistake about this though. The coming of the Lord is going to be after the tribulation. And we're not supposed to listen to anybody that would try to deceive us into thinking that He could come at any minute or that His coming is at hand. And it is heresy. It's not damnable heresy, but it is heresy to teach that Jesus could come back at any moment that it flies in the face of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 1 through 3. It flies in the face of that and it flies in the face of Matthew chapter 24, Luke 17, Mark 13. So point number 3 is give thanks because you're chosen. I meant to preach this Tuesday when I canceled church when I was sick, but I still think it bears saying that we should be thankful for the fact that we're chosen. Because these people, God sent them the word of God, but they refused to receive it. But us that are saved, us that, you know, this small group of people here meeting tonight, those that are saved in here, look at verse 13, we should be thankful for the fact that we are saved. Look at verse 13, but we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. See they wouldn't believe the truth, but we did believe the truth. So that's just the difference between us and the unsaved. We believe the truth, they don't believe the truth. And when it says that God's chosen us from the beginning, Calvinists will get ahold of this and they'll just say, well, see, God chose you from the beginning. That's just all there is to it and he chose those people to hell. Well again, God's foreknowledge knows the beginning from the end. He knows who's going to choose salvation. So he chose us from the beginning because he knew we were going to choose him. That's how it works. So we don't have that ability of foresight like that. But it says where unto he called you. So he knew we were going to get saved, so he's going to call you, but he draws every man unto him. That's the truth. He would be unjust if he didn't give everybody a chance to be saved. But he does. But he also knows who will receive it and he will send people across our path. And you're here today and everybody else, everybody in here has a story of how they got saved. And it's unique, but the one thing that's not unique about it is that you believe in Jesus and then you got saved. But how you came to that point, whether it's some crazy story or whether someone just knocked on your door and told you, it doesn't matter. It's still a miracle that we get saved and we should be thankful for it. It says where unto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which have been taught, whether by word or our pistol. So traditions aren't always bad, folks. People say, well, that's just the traditions of men. Well, Paul says hold the traditions which have been taught by word. So the traditions that you see that are done in the Bible, those things are right, aren't they? And not all traditions are even bad. People want to get down on Christmas and Thanksgiving and they're pagan and all this stuff and the yuletide and they were doing this before the Christianity, whatever. Look, I celebrate the birth of Christ, the first coming of Jesus. And the Bible says let no man judge you in respect of the holy day. So that would be whether I don't celebrate it or whether I do. And I just really don't think that it's a big deal that I would celebrate the birth of my Savior. Somehow I just don't think God's very mad about that. How dare you celebrate the birth of my son who saved your soul? Why would he be mad about that? You're like, well, you have a Christmas tree. Okay, I can't remember the last time I worshiped my Christmas tree where I bowed down to the candy cane. I bowed down and picked one up and ate it. But you know, and again, like everybody has their own beliefs about that stuff, whatever. But you know, not all traditions are bad is all I'm saying. Getting together with family and friends and sharing a meal and telling the Lord what you're thankful for, nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with just hanging out with family and friends and just having a good time. Just read the book of Ecclesiastes, it talks about it a lot. And God had all these feast days for a reason, because he just knows how we are. He knew instinctively that you'd be Baptist later on, and that food would be a very important part of your life. So anyway, it says, therefore, brethren, stand fast. I mean, just stand fast, just stick with what you've got. Not only are you saved, but stay where you're at. Do well. Hold the traditions which you've been taught. By word and epistles, follow what the Bible says. Follow the good traditions that you find in the Bible. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace. I love that verse. Everlasting consolation. You know, you think of that word consolation, you think of consolation prize, like everybody gets a trophy. And it's true. We all get a trophy that's everlasting life. We all get the consolation prize, but consolation is also like a comforting of someone, because life on earth is tough. We're all going to lose everybody that we've ever loved. We're going to lose everything we've ever earned. We're going to lose all of our stamp collections and our comic books and our video games and our favorite clothes. Our best jeans are going to wear out. Our favorite shoes are going to wear out. Your favorite dresses, whatever it is, your knickknacks that you collected over the years, the spoons that you have in the case or whatever from different countries, you know, whatever it is that you have, all that stuff's going to go away someday. You know? But what's our consolation? Everlasting. It's an everlasting consolation. It's an everlasting prize and it's good hope through grace. And it says, comfort your hearts, establish you in every good word and work. And so, you know, there's some negative stuff in this sermon. There's also a lot of positive things. And I like how Paul kind of wraps this chapter up with a lot of positive things to be said that, you know, even all this wicked stuff's going to happen and all these hard times are going to come across for us and all these hard things are going to, you know, people that we love are going to die and go to hell. People that we love are going to be caught up in the system of the beast and the false prophet and the one world religion. Our families are going to turn against us. Even perhaps our own immediate family members and, you know, there's nothing we can do to stop that. But you know what, you know, sometimes it might seem selfish, but sometimes it's nice to be able to say, well, I'm glad I'm saved. You know, people give Hezekiah a lot of crap about what he said when he said, well, at least it's going to be peace in my time. And it's kind of like, you know, you can't make people's decisions for them. You really can't. You can love them with all your heart, but, and you can pray for them and you can try to reach them, but you can't make them believe. You just can't. And sometimes you got to say, well, you know, ask for me in my house. We're going to serve the Lord and you got to take care of your immediate family. So number one, I talked about the coming of the Lord is a comfort because we know when it will be. We know that it's not going to be any moment and nobody's going to be able to deceive us if we believe the Bible and trust in what the Bible says. Number two, the Antichrist is coming first. People like to criticize us for saying that, but he is coming first. The Bible says he's coming first. That's what the Bible teaches. And the great falling away must happen first. Jesus cannot come back at any moment. It says, except. That means that there's something has to happen first. Number three, take great comfort in the fact that you can't be deceived and that you are saved and following the truth and be thankful for the fact that you can never be damned, but have an everlasting consolation and a good hope of grace to come. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for the scriptures tonight and thank you so much for this people who come out on a Thursday night and all the people that went soul-wanting today. Thank you for the people that got saved. Thank you for, just Lord, all the hard workers in this church and all the people that love one another here and just pray that you just continue to bless this church in a mighty way, Lord. Help all those that have been sick and pray that you just lift those up that are not able to be here for whatever reason and that, Lord, you bless us as we go our separate ways tonight. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.