Glad you're here. And as you can see, I am practicing social distancing. I am probably 25 feet from you, right? Well, I'm glad that you're here. Looking forward to this time that we have together as we share in the word of God and we share in our worship time. And so as we do that, let's go ahead and open up with a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for this morning. Thank you for bringing us here today. Thank you for letting us come today. It's been pretty difficult being at home and doing everything by streaming and video. It's wonderful to be able to be in person and to have more people right here together. And so we pray now, Father, as we have this time together, that your blessing would be on it and Lord, that you would bless everyone in here and Lord, that you would Just give us a wonderful time together as we seek to worship You in song and worship You, Father, in the preaching of Your Word. Lord, guide us in everything that we do today so that You can get that glory, You can get the honor. Empty us of ourselves so that, Father, that we can worship You. Purge our minds, make our minds clean. And Lord, we just pray, make us ready to receive what You have for us today. We just pray about everything that's going on in our world We pray, Father, that very soon that businesses can open back up, that have been closed all this time, and we can get back to some kind of normal. So we ask all this today in the name of Jesus, and we pray this. And all God's people said, Amen. Why don't you grab your hymn book and turn to page 379, and let's stand. I haven't said that in about a month. We have met to worship and adore the Lord our God. Will you pray with all your power while we try to preach the word? All is vain unless the spirit of the Holy One comes down. Brethren, pray and holy manna Will be showered all around Brethren, see poor sinners round you Slumbering on the brink of woe Death is coming, hell is moving Can you bear to let them go? Our fathers and our mothers and our children sinking down Dread, dread, prey and holy manna will be showered all around ♪ Sisters, will you join and help us? ♪ Moses' sister, ain't it him? ♪ Will you help the trembling mourners ♪ Who are struggling hard with sin? ♪ Tell them all about the Savior ♪ Tell them that He will be Sisters pray and holy manna will be showered all around Let us love our God supremely Let us love each other too Let us love and pray for sinners Till our God takes all things new Then He'll call us home to Heaven At His table we'll sit down Christ will gird Himself and serve us with sweet manna all around. Amen. You can be seated. Turn over to page 140. Down at the cross where my Savior died, Down where from cleansing from sin I cried, There to my heart the blood was applied, Glory to His name. Down at the cross where my Savior died Down where from cleansing from sin I cried There to my heart was the blood of life Glory to His name Glory to His name There to my heart was the blood of life. Glory to His name. I am so wondrously saved from sin. Jesus so sweetly abides within. There at the cross where He took me in. Glory to His name. Glory to His name Glory to His name There to my heart was the blood of life Glory to His name Hold to this fountain so rich and sweet. Cast thy poor soul at the Savior's feet. Plunge in today and be made complete. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. There to my heart was the blood of life Glory to His name Glory to His name Glory to His name There to my heart was the blood of life Glory to His name Page 110, because He lives, I can face tomorrow. Amen? And I think that's a very applicable song for today with everything that's been going on. God sent His Son ♪ They called him Jesus ♪ He came to love ♪ Heal and forgive ♪ He bled and died ♪ To buy my pardon ♪ An empty grave is there to prove ♪ My Savior lives Because He lives, I can face tomorrow Because He lives, all fear is gone Because I know, He holds the future the living just because he lives. And then one day, I'll cross that river, I'll fight life's fight, oh war with pain. And then as dead, ♪ His way to victory ♪ I'll see the lights of glory ♪ And I'll know He reigns ♪ Because He lives ♪ I can face tomorrow ♪ Because He lives All fear is gone Because I know He holds the future And life is worth the living Just because He lives And life is worth the living Just because He lives Amen. Take your Bible and turn to 1st John, chapter 2. 1st John, chapter 2. That's where our scripture reading is going to be this morning. I apologize, it's pretty small on the screen, so I'm not even sure you can read that. Originally when I put that together, it was put together for video, and therefore it would be large enough on the screen. So 1st John, chapter 2. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, and he himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. By this, we know that we have come to know him. If we keep his commandments, the one who says I have come to know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar. and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in him. The one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked. Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you've had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard, On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you which is true in him and in you because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. The one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in darkness until now. The one who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where He is going because the darkness has blinded His eyes. I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you for His name's sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I've written to you young men because you are strong and the Word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one. Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away and also its lusts. But the one who does the will of God lives forever. Children, it is the last hour, and just as you've heard that Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have appeared. From this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us. For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But they went out so that it would be shown that they all are not of us. but you have an anointing from the Holy One and you all know. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ, this is the Antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either. The one who confesses the Son has the Father also. As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. This is the promise which He Himself made to us, eternal life. These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. As for you, the anointing which you receive from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things, and it is true, and it is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. Now, little children, abide in Him so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him. Hebrews 13 in verse 8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And before we went on our little hiatus, we were memorizing this passage, so I chose to bring it back just to bring it back to your minds. So we'll sing it together, and of course those of you visiting with us, this will be something for you to learn this morning. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today. And forever, Hebrews 13a. And forever, Hebrews 13a. And forever, Hebrews 13a. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today. And forever, Hebrews 13 Amen. Well, we're going to do something a little different this time than we normally would, and that would be how we take our offering. And if you haven't already dropped it in the basket, I want to give you an opportunity to do that if you just kind of go one at a time. But before we do that, let's pray. And normally we would pass this around, but just so that we're not touching things after each other. Hopefully this will only be for a temporary time. But let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, as we have this opportunity to give back to you this morning, we thank you for the privilege to do just that. You're God who provides for us. We thank you for doing that too. And we thank you, Lord, that you have provided for each one of us in so many specific ways. Lord, you've shown yourself as a great provider and even as a great physician, Lord, as many people that have gotten sick with this virus have recovered from it. And I wish that we would hear more about that instead of the people who haven't. Lord, we pray, Father, for our country. We pray, Father, that you would heal our country, and not just physically, Lord, but spiritually. There's so many in our country that hate you, so many in our country that hate the church and hate Christianity. And we really know why, because of our morality, because the morality of the gospel, the morality of the Word of God, that when you save us, you call us to holy living, And therefore, we can't live any way that we choose. But the way that we choose now as being your children is to live righteously, is to live for you, is to bring glory and honor and praise to you. And so, Lord, as we receive this offering this morning, may Lord, each person giving receive the blessing that comes with obedience, that comes with honoring you at this moment. So again, thank you for what you're doing. Thank you for this time. Thank you for letting us meet today. And Lord, I pray that as we've sang these songs that we have salt with all of our heart to worship you through them. And Lord, as you prepare us now for the time. In the word of God, as we study the word together, we pray the same that you prepare us, open our heart, open our understanding. Help us to understand the truth, especially in light of the events that we see happening in our world. We pray all of this in Jesus name. Amen. In the beginning was the Word, was the Word. In the beginning was the Word, was the Word. In the beginning was the Word, was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. In the beginning was the Word, was the Word. In the beginning was the Word, was the Word. In the beginning was the Word, was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. Amen. Well, let me invite you to take your Bible now and turn to 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians. If you caught the live stream last week, I took us into 2 Thessalonians and I asked a question, is this the end? In light of what's going on in our world and we're seeing the shutdown of businesses, we're hearing people be told to stay home. Some had been arrested for walking out in their backyard. Yes. Easter service, there were two states that sent police officers to churches that were meeting. They were doing drive-through services where they were in their parking lot, people were in their cars, and the pastor was, of course, the head of everything and doing the service. And so the troopers came in, recorded tag numbers. And they also told people that they would have to practice a two week quarantine. The good thing about that is the governor, not the governor, but the federal court knocked all of that down and did not allow that to continue. So churches are meeting. Now I know that there are still churches meeting online and In our situation, because we are a small church, we're able to spread out. And whereas in my friend's church, where they have about 150 people, it's a little harder to do that. So we're doing everything that we can to make everyone feel comfortable and feel safe and things like that. But we still are left with the question, with what's going on in the world today. How does this fit in prophetic events? Because I've had people ask me questions like that. I've had people ask me about things in the book of Revelation. Is Jesus coming back right now? Of course, we don't really know that. But I would just say this, Jesus' return is not signless, meaning that it's not without any kind of sign. that the Scripture gives to us. In Matthew 24 when the disciples were asking him, what will be the sign of your coming, of your presence? And then he gave them a list of things. Last week I took you into 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 with that same understanding. And I want to pick up there in verse 3 as we look at it this morning, but I'm going to begin reading at verse 1 and I'm going to just carry it I'm gonna carry it down to around verse 12. So 2 Thessalonians, I think I said three, it's actually chapter two, sorry about that. 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. If you remember, Paul is correcting an error that the Thessalonians had regarding the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the day of the Lord. You might have the day of Christ in your translation. A better rendering of that is the day of the Lord. It is a prophetic event in the future timetable in prophecy. And we saw there In the first part of this, the first verse, as he's talking about the presence or the coming of Christ and our gathering together to them, and our gathering together would be a reference to the rapture of the church, that he didn't want them to be shaken by this, as if this information came from them, whether it was a word or a letter or what have you. Because see, there were some that had been told that Jesus and the day of the Lord had already occurred. And this was creating panic. To be honest with you, a worldwide panic shouldn't necessarily be over a virus. I'm not minimizing that, but it would be over something like this. Did Jesus already come? Is he still coming? Is this the end? Is it now? Is he coming right now? How much time do we have left? And if you notice in verse 3, and that's where I want to spend some more time this morning, is that he tells them that there are some things that have to happen before Christ returns, before the day of the Lord. He says in verse 3, the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed. That's two things that have to happen. The third thing that has to happen is in verse 6, and that is the removal of the restrainer, who is restraining the appearance of Antichrist, who is restraining the end of everything. Once these three events occur, then the Lord will come, gather His saints, and then the day of the Lord's wrath will begin. One commentator says that the falling away indicates a tragic movement within the sphere of professed Christendom, the treason of the avowed friends of Christ, while the public manifestation of the man of sin in the arena of history marks the personal culmination of the hostility of the avowed enemies of Christ. You've heard me say before that Before Christ comes, things will get pretty bad. They'll get worse, and some obviously believe that what's been going on in our world today has been pretty bad. Well, anytime that there's death, that's bad, right? And if there's any time that government can take any control, it is over the fear of death. If you'll notice that in what has happened in the last month, because of the fear of death, that we have given up our rights. We've given up our constitutional rights. That's just like when 9-11 occurred. We were quick to give up certain rights to protect us from what? From death. And literally what we've been seeing in what has happened in our world is certainly attributed to the fear There is a lot of fear in our world. And that fear, of course, when you have media that touches from one spectrum to another and can get information out to you. The media can create information. It can create panic. In fact, when information started coming out very early in the beginning, it was a little sooner than was planned. But it began to create some panic. Now, again, the panic, that's going to take place when things get really bad is the panic of all kinds of chaos in the world. Right now, things have been pretty orderly, right? We hear little pockets of resistance, of course. People are tired of being cooped up. People want to go out. Small businesses want to get back to their work. People need their hair cut, things like that. I mean, all this is going on. But for the most part, a lot of businesses have actually been open. If you've tried to go get something that you needed, whether it went to Walmart or to Lowe's or to Dollar General or to a grocery store, or even you didn't want to cook and you wanted to get some food that was already cooked for you, all these things were readily accessible to you, and they still are. And so in a lot of ways, things that would have interrupted our life haven't interrupted our life because these things have stayed open, these things have been accessible. Now, some of us may have beards that go down to our you know, stomach. And we may have hair that goes down the middle of our back after all this is over with because these type of places had been closed. Or maybe we can't buff it up, you know, and go to the gym, you know. And to be honest with you, I'm okay with that, okay? But what about in the time of the end? I mean, if there are some things that have to happen Before Jesus comes and raptures his church, I've mentioned to you in the past there are four different views of the rapture. There is a pre-tribulational rapture, there is a mid-tribulational rapture, there's post-tribulational rapture, and there's pre-wrath rapture. So there's actually four views that are out there that tell us when is the rapture going to occur, when is the tribulation that's coming on all the world going to occur, when is the Antichrist going to be revealed, when is Israel going to build their temple, return back to the sacrifices, when is all this going to take place? And for many in the views, of course, it's easy to take a view that's comfortable. Pre-tribulational rapture is a comfortable view because it removes you before any chaos occurs. Mid-tribulational rapture leaves you in some of the chaos and definitely post-tribulational rapture leaves you through all of it. But what about pre-wrath rapture? Well, I think a lot of it has to do as you view the 70th week of Daniel, because that's what the seven-year tribulation is. It's the 70th week in Daniel's prophecy. And in that 70th week, it's broken up into two parts. First half is 1260 days. Second half is 1260 days. There's a midpoint in it. First half of it, if you read Revelation chapter 6, compare it to Matthew chapter 24, the first half of it is marked by a period of peace. And guess where that peace occurs? That peace occurs where peace has not occurred, at least in our lifetime, and that is with Israel and its neighbors. I mean, we always turn on the news and we hear something going on over there, and we hear about rockets flying into Israel, and we hear about Israel defending themselves and firing things back, and this has been going on for forever. But there will be one individual that will be able to sign a peace treaty with Israel and his neighbors. And when that treaty is signed, that's when we know that there is a definitive amount of time before Jesus comes. Because that treaty that He signs is a seven-year treaty. But He will not keep the treaty. He will only keep three and a half years of it. And then, as Matthew 24 tells us, the Great Tribulation will occur. That's the last three and a half years. And if it wasn't for the elect, and the time being shortened, no one would survive it. But this is a very disturbing time. Revelation 8 and following talks about the bowl and trumpet judgments. That is what is unleashed during the Great Tribulation. The wrath to come, that 1 Thessalonians mentions a couple times, is referring to the day of the Lord. Now you notice the day of the Lord was mentioned here in the end of verse 2, because they were really disturbed in thinking, number 1, they missed the rapture, and number 2, the day of the Lord had already started. But let me just ask you this, in the day of the Lord it's going to be cosmic disturbances. I mean, you read what Peter said in Acts chapter 2. And as he says, the things that happened before the coming of the day of the Lord, even in Acts chapter 2 and what was going on with the coming of the Holy Spirit, what he mentions there, only part of that was fulfilled in explaining the coming of the Holy Spirit. The rest of it hadn't been fulfilled yet. The blood, the moon turned to blood. That hasn't occurred. Now, we talk about blood moons and we've had them, but have we seen half the stars that light up the sky fall and roll up like a scroll? Have we seen any of this? We haven't seen any of this. We haven't seen any of the opening of the seals that are mentioned in Revelation chapter 6. We haven't seen this political figure who is a genius, military genius, political genius, We haven't seen this individual come on the scene and to be able to secure a peace treaty with Israel. And I know in America, all past presidents have tried to secure some kind of peace with Israel. And I know with President Trump, he was able actually to move the embassy, the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, which was something of a feat. But that's not really what marks all of this. There is literally a seven-year treaty. And so keep your eyes on the Middle East. Keep your eyes on what's going on there. In fact, this political figure will rule all nations. He will rule over America because we are part of the all nations. This, of course, first, has to have a falling away, a worldwide departure from the faith, a defection of Christianity, a defection from the gospel. Now in our lifetime we've seen people make a profession of faith in Christ, stay maybe a month, week, or even a year, and all of a sudden they disappear. And we find out with a little bit of investigation that they went back to what they were doing before they supposedly made a confession of Christ. And my understanding of that, because people say, well, did they lose their salvation when they did that? No, I don't think they ever had it. I'm not saying as a Christian you'll never sin. You'll never hear me say that. I'm a sinner. And I would agree with Paul, I'm the chief of sinners. I look at things in my life, I don't like what I see. You look at things in your life, you don't like what you see. We still deal with sin, right? So we haven't been eradicated from that. But during this period that we're talking about, there are going to be people that will actually deny Christ. They will defect. They will not follow Him any further. And for whatever reason that they were following Him to begin with undercuts all of that. Maybe they went to a revival and at a moment of emotion they made some kind of commitment to Christ. And maybe they had all good motives and all good intentions. But when all the dust settled, they didn't stay. The Bible says, he who endures to the end. Well, they haven't even endured a few months. So there has to be this falling away, this tragic movement within the sphere of Christianity. And it's a treason. Those who have made professions of faith in Christ, those who said that they were disciples of Christ, those who said that they were followers of Christ have defected. And this will be public. This will be worldwide. This will be seen. We haven't seen any of that, have we? Like I said, we've seen people leave the faith. You probably know some people that have left the faith. And then, of course, the rising up or the revealing of the man of lawlessness, end of verse 3, that 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 is this man of lawlessness? What is he like? When will he be revealed? You heard me read in 1 John chapter 2 and verse 18 this morning where John mentions the Antichrist. That's usually the term that we know him by. Scripture uses other terms. In a few moments we'll look at those terms that are found in Revelation 13. But notice his description beginning at verse 3. This coming world ruler is referred to as the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction. Wow, son of destruction. And then, of course, in verse 8, he's described as the lawless one. Verse 9, he's described as one whose comings is in accord with the activity of Satan. This is what you have as the unholy trinity, because you have the false prophet, you have the Antichrist, and then you have Satan. That's the unholy trinity. And it says here that they will work within the power of Satan. His coming is in accord with the activity of Satan. Go back to verse 3. Notice again the man of lawlessness. This is a Hebrew expression meaning a man in imminent wickedness, one who is distinguished for his depravity. Now we talk about we are totally depraved sinners, but we're not as bad as we could be. We don't always manifest the height of our depravity. Some do and that's why we have prisons and things like that, but this man will not hide it. This man will be the epitome of wickedness. Sin will have such an absolute domination over him that he seems to be the very embodiment of it. And really calling him the man of lawlessness, it literally means that he is without law. He will be the consummate lawless one. He will be a blasphemous sinner. He will live in open defiance of God's law. And of all the sins of godless, evil, lawless sinners in human history, his evil influence will be greater than any other, any before him. I mean, when we think about in history wicked men like Hitler, and I was doing some reading yesterday about Hitler and the things that he was involved in and the demonic society that he was part of, the hollow society. They believed that in the center of the earth it was hollow and that it was full of demons and they were trying to get to this place. And they said when Hitler would speak, he spoke in a different voice. It wasn't his voice and many said it was a voice of demons. This man, this man of sin, this anti-Christ will be far worse than Hitler. Hitler annihilated the Jews. He was a wicked, wicked, wicked man. This man will do far greater than Hitler ever did. Even in the end times when lawlessness is increased, Matthew 24, 12, this Satan-energized leader will stand out as the one who was depraved, who was wicked, His lawless leadership will sweep over the whole world with influence never before seen. And just as we look back at past presidential elections and primaries and conventions of the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and so forth, and I don't know if you remember some years ago that in the Democratic platform, they literally voted in their convention to remove God from their platform. This will be far greater than that. This man, again, will be the epitome of wickedness. As righteousness is found in the embodiment, its embodiment in Christ, sin will have its embodiment in this man, the man of lawlessness. Paul describes him also as the son of destruction. This is talking about his certain doom. And that word destruction, or you may have perdition, it refers to the loss of well-being. It's not referring to the loss of being or the loss of extinction. And as the very opposite of all that's implied in salvation, it points to an everlasting state of torment, an everlasting state of death. It's a destruction which consists in the loss of eternal life, eternal misery, a lot of those excluded from the kingdom of God. And here, this man is simply that. When we're told in the book of Revelation that he is cast into the lake of fire, he's cast alive into the lake of fire. It also tells us in the book of Revelation that at some point, he will receive a mortal wound. He will actually die, but then he will resurrect. And the false prophet will get all the world to worship him. The false prophet will cause the entire world in order to function, in order to buy and sell, to receive a mark either on their hand or on their forehead. The Bible tells us that only those who will do that are those whose names were not written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world. In other words, true Christians will not do that. They will not take the mark. Why the forehead? Why the hand? Because in any climate, those two areas are accessible, right? You eventually pull your hands out of your pocket. I was working yesterday with some gloves on, but there was something I couldn't do with the gloves. I had to pull my gloves off so I could do it. You're in a cold climate. Your gloves are going to come off for something. You're in a store. You pull them off. You know, you've got to pay for something. But in this case, we already know that the technology is there. They're already practicing implants You know, under the skin, they've been doing it for animals for a long time. They're doing it for humans now. And they're saying with that information, you could put your entire medical record and have it implanted right under your skin. Or think about this, if you're going through a scanner and you just ran your hand across the scanner to pay for your food. Did you hear during this process in the last month of what's been going on with the coronavirus is that there's been a call for a one world government? Well, there's been a call for that for a long time. There's been a call again for a cashless society because they believe that if this virus can be, you know, duplicated or passed on by things that it's on, like packages or money or things like that, then let's do away with it. And there's been a call for that. There's been a call for a global vaccine, something Bill Gates is calling for, where everyone would have to do this. And they may withhold from you certain things that you need to get you to do this. Just like in order to buy or sell, in order to have food, in order to take care of your home, take care of your family, if you don't have this mark on your hand or on your forehead, which is the mark of the Antichrist, then you cannot buy or sell. You can't go to the grocery store. You cannot have any food. That is buy any. That's what's coming. Are we there? No. If anything, we learn by what's been going on in our world today is how quickly things can change, right? Look how fast things change. And I'll tell you right now, when government takes something, they don't give it back. They never give it back. When you give up some freedoms, they take those and they keep them. And as we've already been hearing, and I don't know if you've heard it, I've heard it several times, is that when things finally do open back up, there'll be many things that will not be the same. Now, there'll be some things that are good changes. I did a couple doctor's visits through a Zoom app on my phone, and that was pretty cool. You know, I didn't have to go, they didn't have to you know, examine me for anything. They just ask me medical questions. And because I have, you know, blood pressure cup and all that, I can tell them what my BP is. I can tell them other things that I can do myself that I don't have to go down there and do it. But, of course, there are some things you can't do. You got to go, right? So there's some good with that. We did an appointment for my son the same way. And it was fine. because it's a lot of detail, a lot involved to get our son to take him to the doctor because of his disability. But as we look at all of these things and we look at this individual, only one other individual in Scripture shares the same dubious title, Son of Destruction. You know who that was? Judas. Judas, in John 17, 12, is called the Son of Destruction or the Son of Perdition. So this title then is reserved for the two vilest people in human history. And both of these individuals controlled by Satan and guilty of the two most heinous acts of apostasy. Judas lived and ministered intimately with the incarnate Son of God for more than three years, a privilege that was granted only to the 11 others. And yet after observing Jesus's sinless life and hearing his wisdom and experiencing his divine power and experiencing his gracious love, Judas betrayed him. He was so much a son of destruction that the glories of Christ that softened the 11 hardened him. Notice the revelation of the Antichrist in verse 3 also. It says, the coming of Christ in the day of the Lord's wrath will not happen unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed. Revealed. The word revealed is used in the Aorist tense and it's referring to a definite time when this man will appear. Which would also from the Aorist tense imply his prior existence on earth. It's very possible he's living right now. If we are where we are in the prophetic timetable, he would be alive today. He would be born sometime. He would grow up somewhere. So he will have been living many years before his manifestation as the man of sin. But he will suddenly be manifested just as false apostles pose as angels of light. I want you to notice verse 4. Verse 4 identifies his activity. Paul says that he will do two things. He will oppose and exalt himself. displaying himself as being God. When he breaks the treaty with Israel, how he will break that treaty is he will go into the temple, take his seat in the temple, and declare himself to be God. And the place that he goes in the temple is not the outer court, it's in the temple. You had an outer court that went around the temple, and then the actual temple itself, you had an outer part where the altar of incense was, and then you had a veil, and behind the veil was the Ark of the Covenant. And that's where the high priest would go in once a year to offer the sacrifice for atonement. He's gonna go in there, and by the way, there were no seats in there. But He's going to go in there and take up residence. He's going to go in there and set Himself up and declare Himself to be God. That is what Scripture calls the abomination of desolation. Let me have you go to Revelation chapter 13. Revelation 13. Paul says he opposes and exalts himself above every so-called God or object of worship. So he's energized by Satan. He's aided by the false prophet. He'll have immense power to successfully demand that the world worship him. And the false prophet will have power to call people to worship him. Notice chapter 13. It says, and the dragon, the dragon is the devil, as mentioned in chapter 12 and verse 9. The dragon stood on the sand of the seashore, and then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, or crowns, and on his head were blasphemous names. This is the Antichrist. And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion, and the dragon gave him its power and his throne and great authority. I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound were healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast. They worshiped the dragon, that is they worshiped Satan, because he gave his authority to the beast, to the Antichrist. Saying, who is like the beast and who is able to wage war with him? There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies and authority to act for 42 months was given to him. That is 1260 days. That's the last three and a half years of the Great Tribulation. See, everything has been appointed. Everyone has an appointed time to live and to die. You have an appointed way in which you're going to die. People that have died from this coronavirus, that is how they were appointed to die. I don't know if you've considered that thought. But how we die is how it has been ordained before the foundation of the world we would die. I may die of another heart attack or I may not. I may die by getting run over by a car. I may die some other way. The point is that we all have an appointed time. We have a number of days on this earth. Our life, as James calls it, is like a vapor. Like a mist, you see that little pot on the stove and it's pushing up steam from it and you see it one second, next minute that you don't. James uses that illustration to describe the brevity of life. It's here one minute, the next minute it's gone. This Antichrist, this beast, will have a time, 1260 days, 42 months, that had been given to him to speak these arrogant words and blasphemy to have this authority to act. Who gave him this authority? God did. Who gave the devil his authority? God did. Sometimes people think the devil is more powerful than God or as powerful as God. And if anything, read the book of Job, Job 1 and 2. The devil can't do anything unless God allows it, right? Nothing can happen in your life or my life unless God allows it, unless God ordains it. Verse 6, And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. So here he is blaspheming God. Verse 7, He makes war with the saints. It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. So this is martyrdom. And authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. His authority over everyone. God granted him this temporary authority, 1260 days. All who dwell on the earth will do what? Worship Him. Everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. Let me correct something that has been erroneously taught in many churches. People and preachers are saying that when you get saved at that very moment, God writes your name in the Lamb's book of life. I'm sorry, it sounds good, but that's not true. It says here in verse 8, those who worship the beast, those who worship the Antichrist, are those whose names have not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the lamb who had been slain. As much as this hurts to take in or to understand I take it more as worship to God is that God has decided before He created the world who He would save. Okay, I said it. Ephesians 1.4, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. You say, well, what about faith? What about repentance? Yes, He calls you to repent. Yes, He calls you to believe. But if you want to take it even further, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is what? The gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Or how about 2 Timothy 2.24, where it says that the bondservant of the Lord, he's talking about a pastor, should not quarrel. He says, lest perhaps God grant them repentance. Or how about Philippians 1.29? It has not only been granted to us to suffer for His name, but also to believe. And the word granted means graciously granted. And it's used equally with suffering. God has graciously granted us to suffer for Him and equally graciously granted us to believe in Him. And the context is He's speaking to believers. Or how about when Paul was speaking to the Jews And he said, now I'm turning to the Gentiles. I think it was Acts 13. And it says in the text, as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. We don't like verses like that because it takes away our control. We don't have control over our destiny. But in one aspect, you can say you do. It's what we call a paradox in scripture. I'll give you another paradox. Was Jesus 100% man? Yes. Was he 100% God? Yes. You can't have 200% of something. Or how about when Paul says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. Who's living your Christian life? You or Christ? Paul was talking about 100% of himself and talking about 100% of Christ living through him. So we call people to repent. We call people to believe the gospel. Besides, that's how he calls the elect. That's how he calls people to himself. So all who dwell on the earth, they're going to worship the Antichrist. They're going to worship this individual who blasphemes God, who makes war with Christians. And these people that worship him are going to finally think, we finally got rid of Christians. We finally got rid of the Christian church. It's now the church of Satan. Church of the Antichrist. Anti, against, or in place of. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes. If anyone kills with a sword, with a sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints. Verse 10 is telling us God has chosen some to be persecuted and some to be killed. It doesn't mean everyone is going to be killed that way. It doesn't mean everyone is going to be persecuted for their faith in Christ. But God has ordained who will and how we all will die. Now, practically speaking, some of us never experience any persecution for faith in Christ because we never talk about Christ. And that's dangerous itself. Because Jesus said, if you deny me before men, I will deny you before my Father in heaven. These are those who claim Lord, Lord. They're the ones that are shocked at the judgment in Matthew 7, 21. Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? Have we not done many wonders in your name? Have we not cast out demons in your name? And Jesus says, and then I will profess to them, I never knew you, you who practice lawlessness. The habit of their life was sin. The habit of their life was lawlessness. Living as if God didn't have a law or as if God didn't exist. Just like the Antichrist here. He is a law to himself. Look at verse 11. There's another beast. I saw another beast coming up out of the earth and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon. This is the false prophet. Two horns like a lamb? Not threatening. spoke as a dragon, well who's the dragon? Satan. He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence and he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose fatal wound was healed. He performs great signs so that even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. So he's able to call fire down. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life. And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed. And He causes all, the small, the great, the rich, and the poor, and the free men, and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, and He provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man, and his number is 666. So this false prophet, he's going to deceive the world. He's going to cause everyone in the world, those whose names are not in the Lamb's Book of Life, to fall down and worship the beast. He's going to erect an image to the beast. He's going to cause the image to speak. He's going to cause the whole world to marvel. And he's going to cause the entire world to receive a mark. on their forehand or their forehead. Without it, they will not be able to buy or sell. Going back to 2 Thessalonians, to say that the Antichrist opposes is to characterize him as the opponent or the adversary of Christ. He keeps up his opposition to all that is called God or is worshipped. He will attack every church, every true church. He will attack the objects of worship. He will attack the temple, all the objects of worship in the temple, the priesthood, the garments, all of it. He embodies not merely an anti-Christian, but an anti-theistic revolt. In a very haughty fashion, he'll seek to abolish all existing forms of worship by seeking to replace them. Every so-called God will be deposed in favor of himself. He exalts himself by lifting himself above them all. Daniel 11 and 36 says, then the king will do as he pleases, and magnify himself above every god, and will speak monstrous things against the god of gods. And he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done. He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers, or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god, for he will magnify himself above them all." It's very possible, in the fact that he has no desire for women, that he may be a homosexual. Very possible. And that phrase in verse 4 says, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God, again brings this picture of self-deification to its awful climax. Takes his seat is also used in the Aorist tense, and it's talking about a definite act of taking his seat in the temple of God. As I mentioned earlier, the inner sanctuary. This is what Matthew 24, 15 calls the abomination of desolation. Jesus said, therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, let the reader understand that those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get things at or in his house. Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak, but woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days. But pray that your flight will not be in the winter or on a Sabbath, for then there will be a great tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will be. That's him breaking that treaty. That's three-and-a-half years into that seven-year treaty. He breaks that treaty. The peace is now gone. He exalts himself as God. He blasphemes God. He shows his true colors. And Paul said in verse 5, he told them all this when he was with them the first time. Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? And then he mentions the restrainer. Look at verse 6. What is holding back the man of sin from being revealed? Well, it mentions here that there is a restrainer. There is one who restrains him now, verse 6. You know what restrains him now so that in his time he will be revealed. They knew what would restrain him. And the word restrain means to hold back, to hold down, to suppress. There's been different views as to who this restrainer is or what this restrainer is over the years. Some have believed that it was preaching the gospel. Eventually they argue that the gospel will be fully proclaimed and this restraint will be removed. Others suggest that the restrainer includes the nation of Israel. The alleged binding of Satan by believers is a third view that is out there. Fourth view is the church's influence as salt and light in the world. Another view is human government restraining. Another view is the general principle of law and morality. Some even say that the Roman Empire was the restraint. And some have went as far as to say that Michael the Archangel is the one who is restraining. But none of that is satisfactory. The most significant problem with all of them is that they're human forces, except for the last one. Humans preach the Gospels, humans make up the nation of Israel, humans attempt to bind Satan, humans comprise the church, humans run the world's government, humans agree on principles of law and morality, and humans made up the Roman Empire. But human power, ingenuity, institutions cannot restrain the supernatural power of Satan that seeks to release Antichrist. And the one supernatural person in the list, Michael, does not have the power to restrain Satan, according to Jude verse 9. The most logical of those choices, the church has never been able to restrain even human evil. They do so to some extent in the lives of its members, but outside, the outside world continues to grow worse and worse, a situation that will especially characterize the end times. So if no human or angelic power restrains, that leaves only the power of God to hold back the purpose of Satan for his Antichrist. And God is the one who does the restraining so that in his time, he will be revealed. Satan, of course, doesn't want to operate on God's timetable. If he could, he would have revealed Antichrist long ago. He longs for false messiahs through whom he can rule the earth. But nothing, not even the purposes of hell, operate independently of God's sovereign timetable. Job said this in Job 42 in verse 2, I know that you can do all things, speaking of God, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. In Isaiah 46.10, God declares my purpose will be established and I will accomplish all my good pleasure. So the man of lawlessness will not appear until the time predetermined by God, and though the Antichrist may be restrained, evil will not be restrained. In fact, the mystery of lawlessness, as he says right there, is already at work. The mysterion, the mystery, it describes something that's been kept secret from long ages in the past, and it's incapable of being known unless it's revealed by God. And according to 1 John 3.4, The character of lawlessness is already at work. In 1 John 2.18, 1 John 4.3, even now many antichrists have appeared. If you deny Jesus, you're antichrist. That's the spirit of antichrist. That's the evil of antichrist. But the figure, the person, he's not going to be revealed until the Holy Spirit is moved out of the way. Notice that he says there, verse 6, what restrains him? Into verse 7, he who now restrains him? We went from neuter to masculine in gender. And even the word spirit, if you were to look at the word spirit, pneuma, it's neuter. But when you go to places like John 14, 26 or John 15, 26, when the neuter of spirit is used, it's also used with masculine pronouns. When Jesus describes the Holy Spirit, He describes Him as a He, Him. In John 14-26, John 15-26, John 16-13, He uses masculine pronouns with that neuter noun. So He is the only one who has the supernatural power to hold Satan in check. He has the supernatural power to hold you in check, right? I mean, you read the scripture, you at times will read where someone was restrained from doing evil. God can stop you from doing evil. God can stop the Antichrist from doing evil. Thomas Manton says, the doctrine of Antichrist is a profitable doctrine and a point very necessary to be preached and known. Why? Because he will soon be revealed and we need to be ready. Now, I realize that what I've shared with you as to the timing of the rapture, the revealing of the Antichrist, the four views of the pre-tribulational rapture, that we're going to have some points of disagreement. That's fine, because it's very hard to be dogmatic on some of these issues. But we can agree with this. Jesus is coming, right? He is coming. We can agree with this. There will be a worldwide falling away from the faith. The Antichrist will be revealed. He will rule all the nations. He will make a treaty with Israel. He will break that peace treaty. There will be great tribulation on the world. Those things we can be dogmatic on because Scripture is very dogmatic on. But as I said, The return of Christ is not signless. You remember in Acts chapter 1 when Jesus was caught up in the clouds and the disciples are standing there staring? And two angels appeared. And they said to the disciples that he will come back in like manner. What does Revelation 1-7 say? Behold, he comes with clouds. Every eye will see him. We have the capability and the technology today for that to happen. everyone to see it, and especially if CNN is around during that time. They will be around during that time, right? They will be playing and replaying, just like when the two witnesses that are mentioned in Revelation, when they will preach and nothing will be able to harm them, and if you try to harm them, fire will come out of their mouth and consume those who tried to harm them. Well, there will come a point in time when they will be killed. And they will have hated them so much and hated their message that they will not even bury them. They'll leave them in the streets to rot. And they will practice exchanging gifts like at Christmas. Happy Dead Witnesses Day. You mark it. It'll be a holiday. because they will have hated those two witnesses so much. And really, again, what do I say that really marks the difference between a true and a false Christian? What marks the difference between a true church and a false church? In the gospel of Christ, what are we told to forsake? Our sin. Right? We're told to repent of our sin. And people who oppose the gospel, people who oppose Christ, people who oppose churches that preach that message, don't want to give up their sin. John 3, men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. So during this time of what's going on in our world today, we have a lot we can say. We have a lot that we can point people to in terms of future, We also have an opportunity to demonstrate in front of them the trust that we have in a sovereign God, right? Let's not be like some have been, panicking. The Bible says in Philippians 4, 6, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. And if you continue to read the passage, it tells you in verse 8 what to think on. Things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely. He says meditate on these things. Meditate on these things. If you do, if you meditate on this and you do what, and receive what Paul has given to them, the God of peace is going to be with you. You've got to meditate on the truth. Stay in the Word of God. Let that be your hope. Because really, that is our hope. That's all we have, right? Father, we thank you so much for this time and for this day, and we praise you for your grace and mercy today. We thank you for all that you have done. We thank you for bringing us together on this day. We thank you for our guests that are here with us today, too. We pray that they have been edified by your Word. And pray, Lord Jesus, this message that we have here of the gospel, that we will preach it everywhere, and that we will help people that are in a panic, people that are without understanding. Help them to understand what is coming. This is nothing in comparison to what is coming. Help us to continue the work of Christ in calling people to Christ. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.