Thank you, Katie. I'd like to invite you to turn your Bibles today to 2 Thessalonians, Chapter 2. I'm not preaching a Memorial Day message today. I have just today and next Sunday before we take off to Singapore and China, and I wanted to finish 2 Thessalonians before we go, Lord willing. So we're We've been going through Paul's epistles on Sunday morning, and in 1st and 2nd Thessalonians we've been dealing with a lot of prophecy issues, and we're looking at that this morning. This morning we come to one of the most debatable chapters in 1st and 2nd Thessalonians as far as how to interpret certain parts of it. We've said before that If you believe the Bible, you believe that Jesus Christ is coming again. We may differ about some of the details. And certainly when people come to this chapter, there are some differences of how it is to be interpreted. But the fact of his second coming and the events that are mentioned here, in one way or another, are to be fulfilled. The occasion of this letter, it seems like the first chapter was more of an introduction of Second Thessalonians. The heart of the letter is here. Through some kind of communication to this church at Thessalonica. Interesting that one of our missionaries, the brewers, were just in Thessalonica, if you read their missionary letter. That's where the Winchester ladies would be going. Same city. They were there for medical treatment. But the church there in Thessalonica had received false information, deceptive information through various means. We'll see those in a moment. That the day of the Lord, they were already in the day of the Lord. And they received this information in the name of Paul. They were deceived. So he is writing this now to tell them, you know, you didn't hear that from me. And it is a constant reminder to us that there is always deception in the world. Always. We have a lot of deception in the world in which we live. We find it throughout the Bible where Satan, who is our great enemy, tries to get us off track. through deception, making things look like something which it really is not. We have a movement known today as the Emerging Church. It's a very deceptive movement because it comes to us in the name of Christianity. Brian McLaren, who's one of the leaders of that group, has targeted Christians who believe Jesus Christ is coming back again, suggesting that this type of Christian is the reason there's no peace in the Middle East. He says that what these end-time believing Christians are doing is, quote, terrible, deadly, and distorted. The Emergent Church is a very rationalistic movement within so-called Christianity that picks and chooses what it wishes and what it doesn't like, it leaves behind. Another deceiver who calls himself a Christian is Tony Campolo. In his book, Speaking My Mind, he says that rigid Christians who believe in the possibility of Jesus' soon return. Did you get that? Rigid Christians that believe in the possibility of Jesus' soon return are the real problem for the whole world. So if you this morning believe in the possibility that Jesus might return soon, you are the problem. Although Jesus said over and over again, be ready. You don't know when he's going to come. Does that mean there's a possibility that he could come? Certainly it does. So these are the kind of things and there are many, many more we can look at. We need to be very careful what we listen to. We need to be very careful about being students of the Bible. So that when we hear things, whether it's from this pulpit or on the radio, wherever, that are contrary to truth, we know what we believe because we studied the Bible, personally. So, with all that in mind, let's look at this chapter again. These people are being faced with this kind of thing. And he's writing to them to explain some things. He's teaching them how to stand fast. How to really stand where you ought to stay and stand. in a time of deception as we wait for the coming of the Lord. We don't know when he's going to come. He could come today. The Bible is very plain about that. He could come a thousand years from now. We don't know. But Jesus over and over said, be ready. How can we be in the right place? Well, number one, Roman number one, you have an outline in your bulletin. I would encourage you to follow along. Don't be deceived about the timing of the Lord's coming. And we have another great deceiver today that has already set the date in 2011 when Jesus will come. He's all over the radio. He was wrong once before. He will be wrong again. But this has happened all through the years. When anybody says they know that, you know, they're false. They're deceivers. We should not listen to them, should not follow them. He says in this first verse, now brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter as if from us, as though the day of Christ or the day of the Lord had come. Let no one deceive you. by any means. For that day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin or the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things. The tense of the verb there. I was telling you these things. He was teaching them. They were aware of these things. The deception has come. He's reminding them what he had taught them. Verse 6, And now you know what is restraining that he, that is, this son of perdition, may be revealed in his own time. What is holding him back from being revealed? Verse 7, 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. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders. and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason, God will send them strong delusion that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. I think as we have read those first 12 verses, you can understand why there's a lot of stuff here, okay? A lot of different things. We want to try to get at least the meat of this out of here this morning. We've read the word deceived a couple of times here, so that's one of the first things we need to keep in mind. Let's not be deceived. Let's know what the Bible has to say. They were troubled because they'd gotten false information. And he said, don't be troubled, don't be changing your minds so quickly. Deception had come through those supposedly ministering by the Spirit. Perhaps, you know, in those days, this is one of the first books written in the New Testament, there were supernatural gifts of giving out, teaching from God. We now have a completed scripture, that's another sermon in itself, Those supernatural gifts are no longer with us because we have the completed revelation of God. But whether it is through the Spirit or through some kind of false teaching or prophesying or even said by letters. That's why Paul always signed his letters with his own hand so that they would know that this you recognize my handwriting. But they had sent false letters supposedly from him Again, we have this kind of deception all over the place today through cults, through radio preachers, TV preachers, not that all of them are bad, I'm not saying that, but many of them we have to be careful of, and people standing in pulpits of churches. The deception was that the tribulation was already here. Because these people were going through great suffering. Just as a lot of people in the name of Christ are simply because they're Christians right now in this world are dying and being persecuted and we cannot forget them. And certainly they can look at their circumstances and say, could the tribulation be any worse than this? Now we know that it will be, because the Bible tells us that the seven-year tribulation period coming on the earth will be a far greater time of trouble and persecution than ever before on the face of the earth. But these people were being terribly persecuted. And someone had come along and said, well, you're already in the tribulation, that's why. You're already in the day of the Lord. Paul then goes into things that must happen. He's trying to show them that, no, you're not in the day of the Lord. You're not in the tribulation period yet, because there are certain things that have to happen before the terrible judgment of God is going to be poured out in the tribulation period. He lists three things that must happen before the day of the Lord really gets going. First of all, point number A, there will be the falling away first. There's an article there. There will be the falling away first. Now, we live in a day of great apostasy. I've already read to you people who are writing and saying things in the name of Christianity who are false teachers. The New Testament warns us about false teachers over and over. There are many false teachers standing in Baptist pulpits today, Presbyterian pulpits, any church you want to name. There are lots of false teachers who very outwardly deny fundamentals of the Christian faith, and yet they're still standing in the pulpits. So we call that apostasy, a departure from the faith. Apostasy began very early. John writes about it in the epistles of John. But we're talking about the apostasy. There is coming even a greater day of a departure from truth. Whether this is some type of great apostasy right before Jesus Christ returns, something far greater than we've ever seen, or perhaps some kind of departure from the Lord by Judaism in the beginning of the tribulation period. You know, there are discussions about this, but he's simply saying, whatever it is, this great apostasy has to come before you're going to be in the judgment period of the great tribulation. The second thing that has to happen, and he's saying these things haven't happened yet. That's how he's comforting them and saying, you're not in the tribulation because these things haven't come to pass yet, or at least the great, the second part of the tribulation. Again, there's a lot of Background we kind of have to have an understanding the first part of the tribulation period first three and a half years will be a peaceful time but Israel will be deceived all through that time as well as most people on the earth and Then the second half will be a great time of sorrow and destruction great hordes of humanity dying difficulties he says no, that's not happening falling away must come first and And then also the man of sin or the man of lawlessness will be revealed. We're talking about the Antichrist here. He's not called the Antichrist here, but in other places he is. We don't have time to go there this morning. Here he is called the son of perdition. The one who is a destroyer. The one who himself will be destroyed. And he will be destroyed, we'll see in a moment, by the Lord Jesus Christ. We're looking there at verse 3. Let no one deceive you by any means for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of sin or the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition. It also tells us in verse 4 that he exalts himself above God or anything to do with any deity. Verse 4, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. The Antichrist, who is a manifestation of Satan, wants to be worshipped. He wants to be worshipped as God. And that will be the cause of much of the sorrow and bloodshed in the tribulation. When people refuse that, they'll be killed. But here he stands as God, claiming to be God. He is the true Antichrist. Point number three, he claims to be God. And we're skipping now to verse eight. We're putting all the descriptions of this man, this Antichrist, together here. The Lord will easily consume and destroy him. Verse 8, then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy him with the brightness of his coming. We're talking about the second coming of Christ in glory at the end of the tribulation period. He will come back. God has no problem with anybody. He's the creator. Everything else is creature. We do not have to fear Satan, though he is great and powerful, and has many demons that are powerful, but we do not have to fear him. God is creator. Just with the voice of his mouth, he can destroy, and he will destroy, finally, the works of Satan one of these days. Why do things go the way they go and how that plan works out, why it does, I don't know. But I'm not willing to question God and to think that I could do it any better. God has his plan. He is all wise, all powerful, all knowing. We will trust him. But one thing for sure, he has no problem with Satan and all of his powers. He tells us also that this lawless one, this Antichrist, is empowered by Satan and works like Satan. Verse 9, the coming of the lawless one is according to the workings of Satan. The working of Satan. With, how does he work? With all power, signs, and lying wonders. The word power there is a word that's used to refer to miracles. powers in the sense of great things that we see. He's not all powerful in that sense, but he can do miracles. He will deceive people by the great things that he does. People are led astray today. They're in religious movements, Christian movements. They're there because they think they see miracles. They think they see signs. He uses signs that will make people think that he is God. and many are already being led astray, they're following after certain groups because of what they see. They're not willing to test those groups with the written word of God. They go on what they can see, what things appear to be. Also, it tells us that he uses lying wonders. These things will cause people to be dazzled by him. to be deceived by these wonders, these miracles, these powerful things that he is doing. And of course, all this is wrapped around deception. By lying wonders, deceiving wonders, verse 10, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish. So this is how he works. And this is powerful deception. And we need to understand again how careful we need to be to study our scriptures and to stay close to our God. It goes on to say that with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. So he is destroying those who perish. Alright, that's that's your blank there those that did not receive the love of the truth. I Was standing in line at the Chinese consulate this Thursday, thank you for praying I you know, I was turned down when my visa the first time they wanted to interview me because I'm clergy going to China so I the previous Thursday I went in and turned in my paperwork and I She looked it over and said, come back next Thursday for your visa. So I didn't ask any questions. I didn't remind her that you need to interview me. So I was wondering though, maybe I would be invited to a side room with some guys with tattoos on them or something this past Thursday for an interview. But she said $130, please. By the way, it's $30 for everybody else in the world, wherever you come from. But from America, $130 to go to China. That's what they say on their website. They get their money from us, right? As if they needed it. But I was standing in line this past Thursday and there was a rather talkative gentleman behind me. He was a man that reminds me of the world in which we live in general. that everything is fine. It doesn't really matter what it is. You know, bowing before Buddha or going to a Christian church. We're just, you know, we just got to flow with whatever comes along. And, you know, he hardly had any really idea what was in the Bible, though he has grown up around it. And, you know, it's very easy to be deceived if we really don't know truth, if we really are not immersed in the Word of God, God's revelation. I had a good opportunity to witness to him. So, they did not receive the love of the truth. They rejected the truth. That's why they were deceived. And the more we reject the truth, the more we can be deceived. Point number C, those who experience God's judgment in the hardening of their minds. As we reject God's truth, our minds are hardened against the truth that He has. They did not believe the truth because they had pleasure in unrighteousness. Their choice and the choice of many today is, I'm looking for pleasure. I'm looking for what I want. I don't want the truth of God because it interferes with my life. That's the way it will be in that generation. That's the way it is today. We might be that generation. So he's saying three things have to happen. The falling away first. The great departure from the faith. Secondly, the man of sin must be revealed. Third, the restrainer must be taken out of the way. We're back in verse six. And now you know what is restraining that he, that is the man of sin, may be revealed in his time, 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, and then the lawless one will be revealed." Now, they knew who the restrainer was. I wish we knew. I wish he would have said, the restrainer, the Holy Spirit who indwells the church. That would have made it real easy, right? But he doesn't. He says, you know, but he's simply saying there is a restrainer here who is holding back things and he's got to be taken out of the way, or whatever this restraining thing is, must be taken out of the way before this manner of sin can be revealed and before you will know that you're in the Great Tribulation. Now, I personally believe, and many do, that He is referring to the Holy Spirit. If what we believe is true, as a church, we believe in a pre-tribulation rapture of the church, that the Lord is going to come and take the church out of here. On the day of Pentecost, when the church was formed, the Holy Spirit came in a way to indwell His people that He never had before. And it's very reasonable that when he comes to take his church out of here, that kind of indwelling of the Spirit will be taken out as well. Really, the seven-year tribulation period is the final week of Daniel's prophecy, which has to do with Israel. Revelation chapters 5 through 19 never mentions the church anywhere. It is a Jewish time. It's describing in great detail what we're talking about now, the tribulation period. So I believe that he's saying the man of sin cannot be revealed until the Holy Spirit who is holding back all this through his people, through his presence in the church, until he is gone. Until he is gone in that manner this can't happen. Now during the tribulation he will be here like he was in the Old Testament. He will be here, he will be working, but not in the sense in which he indwelled the New Testament church. So yes, I believe that's who this is talking about. Only then can this Great Tribulation period begin and the man of sin be revealed. So he's telling these people these things have not happened yet, and they must happen before you'll be in the Great Tribulation. Number one, don't be deceived about the timing of the Lord's coming. Number two, he's saying to them, how can you really stand fast? Believe that God has chosen you to salvation, not to wrath. This is what he has been teaching them. God has chosen you to salvation for deliverance, not to undergo the wrath of God. He's talking about those who have placed their trust in Christ, God's plan of salvation. Verse 13, but we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord. Paul saying this about the Thessalonian Christians. This is not the first time he said this. He was one who preached there, started the church there. These people, as they grew and began to preach the gospel themselves and seeing many saved throughout that part of the world, they were great blessings to him. And again, he says, I'm bound to give thanks to God for you, what I see in your life, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation, chose you for salvation, not wrath, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth to which he called you by our gospel for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. These are very wonderful words. Again, these folks were always a source of thanksgiving for Paul because God chose them to salvation. Salvation rather than wrath is God's purpose for his people. Again, this is an area where we deal with another big issue as we come to things, and that is the matter of God's election, His choosing of people. And again, that's a topic that we can take a lot of messages on. I personally believe, as I study the Scripture, that He chooses to save those who come to Him on His terms. That is, through Jesus Christ. He has chosen to save those who are in Christ. He tells us that plainly in Hebrews 1, 4, I'm sorry, Ephesians 1, 4, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. The question is, the big question is, how do you get into Christ? And the New Testament is absolutely plain about that over and over and over again. We get into Christ. We are in Christ. By believing in Christ, we believe in him as our Savior in response to the conviction of the Holy Spirit in our lives. John chapter 16, verse 8, when he has come, the Holy Spirit, he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. As you hear the word of God today, If you're an unsaved person, if you have no assurance that you're going to go to heaven when you die, God, the Holy Spirit, will use his word to do at least three things to convict us of sin. I'm a sinner. I know I'm a sinner before God. He convicts me of righteousness. I don't have the kind of righteousness that it takes to go to heaven. There's no sin in heaven. I'm a sinner. I don't have the righteousness that I need. The gospel, the good news is, Jesus gave me His righteousness. Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. He made Him to be sin for us that we might be the righteousness of God. Jesus gave up His righteousness that we might have it. He took our sins upon Him and paid the penalty for our sins. That's the good news of the gospel. The Holy Spirit convicts us of that and convicts us of our sin, of our need of righteousness, and the fact that we're going to stand before God someday. Therefore, my heart ought to cry out to God, be merciful to me, a sinner, on the basis of what Jesus has done for me. Whoever will call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Romans 10, 13. Saved from the penalty of my sin. And I would just say this, no matter what our system of theology is, there's always a matter of mystery here when we try to talk about God's work of His Spirit in our heart and our responsibility to believe upon Him. It is through the sanctification of the Spirit that this takes place. The work of the Spirit, we've already read about that in John 16, verse 8, as He works in my heart, And then it is through belief in the truth. That's your responsibility. That's my responsibility. Are we able to believe? Yes, we are, as God works in our hearts by his word. As many as received him, to them gave he the right to become the children of God. to those who believe in his name. Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he sent. John chapter nine, Jesus heard that they had cast him out, the blind man that Jesus healed. And when he found him, he said to him, Do you believe in the Son of God? He answered and said, who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him? Jesus revealed that he is the one. Jesus said to Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even if he dies. Jesus says, while you have the light, believe in the light. so that you might become sons of the light." On and on and on we could go. Our response to the gospel is to believe. Believe in the name of Jesus Christ, for alone and in Him is their salvation. So, we are to be careful not to be deceived if we're going to stand fast as we ought to. Be careful about deception. Believe that God has chosen us to salvation, not to wrath. And number three, Roman number three, hold on to what you've been taught. We're looking at verse 15. Now, you know, as we study the Bible, we need to be asking, you know, OK, what does this mean to me? I understand he's writing these things to the Thessalonians. Well, they should mean the same things to us. We begin to apply these to our lives. Let's not be deceived. Let's keep our mind on the fact of what God has in store for us in the future, lest we be troubled. And let us hold on to what we've been taught through His Word. Therefore, brethren, verse 15, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle. He doesn't use the word tradition here in the sense that we use it, of man-made things to have been passed down. He's talking about truth coming from an apostle, an appointed apostle of Jesus Christ, that now is inscripturated what he taught them and what he wrote to them. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. God used the apostles to give that truth. So he's saying, stand by what God has revealed, is what he's saying. In the book of Ephesians, Paul wrote, he says the same thing in the sense that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro. carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting." Isn't that an interesting verse? I mean, we're talking about deception. And he wrote to the Ephesians that you need to be no longer children, become grown up in your Christian faith, mature, become strong, knowledgeable, study your Bibles, lest you be tossed through and fro, carried about by every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men, and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. It can't be much clearer than that. That's what we're up against, and we need to be very careful about it. Stand fast. Hold. Hold on to them. Grasp them firmly. The things you were taught as Christians, as we learn these things in the scripture, that's what we hold on to. We don't hold on to things that men write in their books if they're contrary to the Word of God. Only what is here. This is truth. Therefore, I'm saying be an active student of the Word and hold on to what it says. And finally, Rome numeral four. The fourth thing to do is rest in the comfort. R-E-S-T. Rest in the comfort and strength of our God. Verse 16, Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and our God and Father who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and has given us good hope by grace comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. The only comfort and real strength in life comes from our personal relationship to God. It doesn't come any other way. It comes through my personal daily prayer communication with Him, hearing from Him in the Word, knowing God better and better. That's the privilege He's given us. We can pick up our Bibles. We can read our Bibles, hear from God, pour our hearts out to God, That's where real stability comes from. That's where comfort comes from. That's where strength comes from in the midst of great problems and deception and even persecution. We rest in the things he has given us in this relationship. He spells out here his love. He has loved us. He continues to love us. He will continue to pour out his love upon us all throughout eternity. Why? I don't know. But he does. He loves us. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. He has given us everlasting consolation, eternal comfort, eternal comfort, not just now. He has given us good hope, a hope that is beneficial and well-founded, and is all by grace. These are some of the gifts that the Father has given us in Christ. We talk about that we believe in grace, a grace-centered faith. We're talking about a faith that comes by God's gifts to us. We don't earn it. We don't work for it. These are His gifts. And we thank Him for all that He does. Comfort and strength from our personal relationship to God, things He has given us, comfort in trials, to comfort you in every good word and work, and to strengthen us when we are weak. Comfort and strength are given that we might speak and work out His good will. It is not just for us to be happy and have a wonderful life. God gives us the comfort and strength in our lives that we might minister to others. I really challenge you along that line. Let us not become introspective. Let us not become self-centered. Let us not just be always looking at what I can get, but to say, I want it because I want to give it. I want to minister to other people. There are a lot of hurting people in this world. They have no idea what's going on, what the future is, how to face that future. A Christian knows, not because we're any better, but simply because hopefully we're studying our Bibles and having a fellowship with our God. Yes, comfort and strength that we might speak, that our words and our work might be used of God. Stand in the light of all these things, he's saying. Watch for deception. Keep in mind God's eternal plan. Hold on the scriptural truth and rest above all in the person of our God, who he is, what his attitude is toward us. Let's pray together.