to 2 Thessalonians chapter number 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter number 2. We began a study on Sunday night looking at what's on the horizon for our world. And you're going to find that the Thessalonian believers, this young church, they had gotten a case of headline hysteria. I mean, they were facing some things in their day, some trials, some persecution, some hardship. Someone had come along with a false doctrine, a false view of end time events and had deceived them and made them think that they had missed the next event on God's prophetic calendar, the rapture. and thought that they were right then in the events of the tribulation period. They were telling them the end of the world had come. And of course, the Bible said in verse 2, they were shaken in mind and they were troubled. That word troubled means that they were in a continual state of panic. in their own life. And you know what? I believe that there are those that in our day are all the time watching the headlines, trying to find some aberration or something that happens in our world or in America, and then they want to cherry pick a verse here, or cherry pick a verse there, and they want to attach something to it and claim the end of the world is coming, or this is a sign of this, or a sign of that, and really have very little biblical basis for it. And as a result of that, it shakes people up spiritually, it troubles them, and many times moves them away from a sure foundation of teaching in the Word of God. Paul had already taught them the truth, but yet someone had come along claiming to have a letter from Paul that things were different than what they had heard, and it troubled them, and as a result of that, they had been moved away from the truth. Paul writes to them with a word of love and caution and correction as he tries to help them to settle their hearts and to solidify their lives on the sure foundation of the teachings of the Word of God. Notice if you would chapter 2 verse 1. Paul said, Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him. that you be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, somebody claiming that they had received a spiritual utterance, nor by word, sometimes a word of prophecy, nor by letter, somebody claiming to have written a portion of Scripture and put Paul's name to it, as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come. except there come a falling away first. And that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalted 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." Remember you not, do you not remember that when I was yet with you, I told you these things? He said, don't forget What have taught you? And you know what? Sometimes when things happen that shakes up our world, we forget what God has taught us. I want to talk to you a little bit tonight about what's next. Let's pray and ask God to help us. Father, thank You for Your Word tonight. Thank You for how You spoke to us, blessed us through song, and Lord, through prayer, and Lord, distant fellowship together as the people of God. Lord, our hearts united in prayer to You. And Lord, You heard us and I thank You for that. Now Lord, I pray You'll bless Your Word. God, I pray You'll speak to our hearts tonight. I pray, Father, that we would settle ourselves upon the sure foundation of Your truth. And Father, that it would strengthen us and bless us and help us in such a time as this. And we'll thank You for it. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Well, I mentioned that these folks had been shook up. They were troubled. They were in a panic. And Paul said, let me calm your heart. Let me share some things that you already know, and I just want to remind you of it, because once you grasp it and you anchor yourself to it, it's going to settle your mind, it's going to calm your heart, and it's going to give you a right perspective about life. And you know what? That's what we need in a time like this. We need to get a right outlook. We want to get a right perspective so far as what God is doing in our world. And what God's going to do in our world as it relates to mankind in general, the people of God in particular. And God doesn't want you to be shook up. He doesn't want you to be panicked. God wants you to be calmly settled upon the truth, the solid rock of the Word of God. And so Paul's going to tell them what's next. And we learn in verse number 1 that very next event on God's prophetic calendar is what you and I understand as the rapture of the church. We know that. And can I just tell you, the rapture, friend, is not the end of the world. It's not. It's not some kind of apocalyptic day. As a matter of fact, it's just a wonderful event to take place in the future for the children of God. Friend, listen. You know what? Listen, when Jesus comes, we'll be saying, what a day that will be when my Jesus... Friend, that song will become a reality in our lives. Faith will become sight in that moment. And listen, that ought not... panic us, that ought to bless us and encourage us and motivate us to be the right kind of people in our day. Notice what Paul said. He said, Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto Him. That's not two events. That's two ways of talking about the same event when the Lord comes for us and we'll be forever with Him. Well, I've heard people say, Well, the word rapture is not in the Bible. Well, you know what? You're right. But the truth of the rapture is. There are a number of words that we use to describe doctrines in the Bible that that particular word may not be in the Bible, but yet the truth of the word is. And the word rapture is just a word that means to seize, it means to carry away, it means to be taken up. It has the idea of being snatched or caught away. And friend, listen, in 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul uses the very words that we use to describe the rapture when he says that we'll be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air. And so he's talking about that day. We're going to see Jesus face to face. He's going to come in the clouds, in the air. He will not touch down on this earth. And in a sudden moment of time, every born-again child of God, will be caught up to be with the Lord. The dead will be raised. The living will be changed and will forever be with the Savior. Friend, listen, what a day that's going to be when Jesus comes. What a blessing! And listen, I'm glad to report to you that there's a generation of Christians that's going to go to heaven without dying. And you know what? I hope that's our generation, don't you? We ought to be praying every day of our lives like the Apostle John, even so come, O Lord Jesus. You want an answer to what's going on in our world? You say, preacher, what is it? It's for Jesus to come. And so the apostle reminds them, as well as I, that this event is imminent. It's an event that could happen in a moment. I Corinthians 15, 51 and 52 tells us that, in a moment. And it could happen at any moment. That doesn't mean, you know, nowhere did the Lord say, I'm coming soon. He said, I'm coming imminently. That means it could happen at any moment. Soon would be relative. We don't know what soon is, but we know what imminent is. Imminent means that at some point we know the Lord's going to come and it could happen at any moment. That's it. In the very next instant. We would use a phrase like this. Well, you know what? Death could be imminent for every one of us. You know what? That doesn't mean I'm going to die today. It doesn't mean you're going to die today. It doesn't mean we're going to die soon. What it means is we may live very long lives, but we know that death could happen at any moment in any person's life. And that is true of the rapture. It could happen at any moment in any person's life. There's no prophecy to be fulfilled. There are no signs that are given. where we can look out on the horizon and say, look out here and see this happening, and that's an indicator that Jesus is coming. No, friend, listen, it's imminent. There's no signs. We're not looking for signs. We're looking for the Savior. It's a blessed hope. God never told us to look for signs and struggles and heartache and heartbreak. God said, I want you to be looking for My Son. And listen, the Lord didn't say to be ready for His coming in a bad time. He said to be ready for His coming at any time and all the time, because we're to always be ready for the Lord to come. One of my prayers every day of my life is that I would put on the helmet of salvation, part of the armor of the Lord. And the helmet of salvation is the knowledge that at any moment, either by way of the grave or by way of going through the glories, I could be in the presence of the Savior. You could be in the presence of the Savior. At any moment, we ought to be ready to meet Him. Now, I want to ask you a question. Are you ready? Every Christian ought to be ready. Listen, friend, if you're unsaved today, you need to get ready. Jesus is one day going to come, and we want to be ready when He comes. The Bible says in Titus 2.18 that we're to be looking, looking, looking for that blessed hope. You know, if I'm looking for some kind of terrible impending sign, there's no blessed hope in that. That right there is gloom and doom. I don't want gloom and doom. God didn't give us gloom and doom. He talked about a glad day ahead, and that's what we need to be looking for. I'm to be looking for the blessed hope. And that looking is a present tense. It means a continuous action. I'm to look and keep on looking. till He comes every day of our lives. We may get up in the morning and say, today will be a wonderful day for the Lord to come. He may not come tomorrow, but you know what? We get up the next day and say, Lord, today would be a wonderful day for You to come to always be looking to Him. Now, let me just give you a thought here. That does not mean that as God's people that we will not go through uncertain and difficult times just like we're going through right now. While we're going through uncertainty as a nation, regardless what you think about the situation we're in, regardless of your thoughts about it, the fact is we're here. And there are people that are panicking. There are people that are concerned. But the reality of it is, friend, we have the peace of God. But no matter what happens, God's going to take care of us. Amen? And folks, we live in a world that's been broken by sin. Our world was not broken by God. It was men that sinned. It was men that brought the curse of sin. It was men that broke God's perfect world. Hey, I'm glad God's going to take what we've broken and one day make it new. I tell you what, I'd say amen right there. Ain't that a blessing? Friend, I look forward to that day. But until then, whether it's individually, whether it's as a group of people, whether it's as a nation, there's going to be times that we go through uncertainty and difficulty. And friend, listen. I just want to give you three thoughts about that before I move to the next point. Listen, in times of heartache and heartbreak, don't get headline hysteria. We don't interpret the Bible by the headlines, what's going on around us. We interpret what's going around us by the Bible. And right now, God is saying, that as I make my way through this world, I just need to remember He's in control. Listen, He's in control. He's still on the throne. Nothing has escaped His notice. God's still in charge. He's bigger than everything going on in your life, my life, and in our world. Wouldn't we agree with that tonight? I need to remember my God's in control. Number two, He's promised to care for me." Friend, if you belong to Him tonight, He's promised to care. In the song, God, God take care of you. He'll not forsake you. Never seen the righteous forsaken, the seed begging bread. God has promised to take care of us. Listen, God will take care of us. If God's for you, who can be against it? Listen, number one, remember our God is in control. Number two, here's what I want you to do. Rest in the promises of God. Listen, whether things are going good, and the economy is exploding, and everything's wonderful around us, and there's not a care in the world, you need to remember God's still in control. I need to remember whether it's good or bad to rest in the promises of God. And then number three, I'm to always be ready for His coming. Isn't that good, sound Bible counsel in a day like today? And we'll practice those things. That'll be about as good as the 15 days that the president's asked to do some things. That's what he's saying. I want you to do physically. Let me tell you, this is what God wants you to do spiritually. Remember, He's in control. Rest in His promises and always be ready to meet Him. Isn't that important? And so we understand that the rapture is the next event on God's prophetic calendar. It's going to happen in a sudden moment of time. For it could happen at any moment. We're to always be ready. There's no signs. A virus isn't a sign. An earthquake isn't a sign. A locust plague isn't a sign. A blood moon isn't a sign. An eclipse of the sun isn't a sign. Those aren't signs. Alright? Well, these nations are getting together. So what? So what? So what? It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Friend, listen. It doesn't necessarily mean that's going to fit what God's doing in the end times. Right now, the Lord's saying, no matter what's happening in your world, you just remember I'm in control, you rest in My promises, and you be ready for My coming. Be busy about my business. But now when the rapture does take place, a chain of events will be set in motion. And that's what Paul is telling them. You're not where you think you are, Thessalonican believers. The rapture hadn't taken place. You're not in the tribulation period because these chain of events, these characteristics of that future prophetic day of the Lord, they're not happening. The very fact that You're here and I'm here. The very fact that there's no antichrist on the earth, the man of sin hadn't arrived, the Holy Spirit still at work in the world today as the Lord sent Him to do. Those very facts let me know and should let you know, Paul say, that the rapture hadn't taken place and you're not in the day of the Lord, you're not in the tribulation period, and the end of the world hadn't come. Alright? So these chain of events though, but once the rapture takes place, at a point after that, a chain of events will begin to be set in motion. And he says in verse number 3, let no man deceive you. Do you know what that means? Don't let a TV preacher, radio teacher, personality, doesn't let somebody write some books, send a blog, do a podcast. Don't let them deceive you. Stand on the promises of the Word of God. That's what he's saying. Don't let the headlines to panic you stand on the Word of God. That's what he's saying. Don't be deceived. Alright? And then he makes the next statement. For that day. What day? The day of the Lord. The tribulation period. That chain of events that people so fear. Friend, listen, if you're saved tonight, you don't have to fear it. Why, preacher? Because you're not going to be here. Amen? He said, "...that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition." Do you know the people living in the day of the Lord, the tribulation period, will know where they are in God's plan for this world based on certain characteristics revealed in the Bible. Okay? And Paul begins to talk about those certain characteristics that will be true of that day and why these Thessalonian believers in you and I tonight aren't there. Alright? That day is the coming day of the Lord. There's no mistaking that time in the world's history. Now let me just take a little rabbit trail. The rapture doesn't begin the tribulation period. It's not like the rapture takes place tomorrow and the tribulation the next day. It doesn't begin it. But the signing of a peace treaty in Daniel 9, 25, and 26 between the Antichrist that Paul's going to talk about right here and the nation of Israel. It's a seven-year peace pact between him, the Antichrist, the Western nations that he'll be over during that day, a confederation of nations, and the nation of Israel. As a matter of fact, God talks about this peace treaty. Daniel prophesied. That's when the clock begins to tick. And once the clock begins to tick, seven years of unprecedented judgment will fall on this earth. Friend, listen. We're talking about vaccinations. We're talking about medications. We're talking about some things that maybe God's already allowed man to discover to deal with this virus and all of that. You know what? When it comes time of the tribulation period, there's going to be global pandemics. There's not going to be an answer for it. There won't be a vaccination. Listen, what we're facing today is not what they're going to be facing in that day. Totally different. This is not necessarily the judgment of God because God didn't say it was. It's an allowance of God. God may not cause all things, but He does use all things. God didn't make some terrorist fly an airplane into a building on September 11, 2001. He didn't cause that. Did He allow that to happen in a broken world? Absolutely. Did God use that to get our nation's attention for a season? Yes, He did. Would God necessarily allow something to come to our shores tonight to wake us up? To bring us closer to Him? He sure did Israel of old. Why wouldn't He do us tonight? But that doesn't mean that God caused it necessarily or that God is in some type of act of judgment. God didn't say that. But in the tribulation period, He did say that. You see the difference? And that's why I want to stand on the Word of God. And I want to get what God has to say. And I'm just going to tell you, in that day, it doesn't matter what the World Health Organization, the CDC, anybody else does, in that day when it's the judgment of God, man won't stop it. I can promise you that. Aren't you glad we're not there? I sure am. So notice, if you would, that Jesus said of this time of tribulation, the day of the Lord, Matthew 24, 31, For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be. Do you know that Paul tells us to flee the wrath to come? He's not talking about hell. He's talking about tribulation period in that. He said, when we understand what God's going to bring on an unbelieving world, it ought to cause an unsaved sinner to immediately flee to the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and prepare for that day. Friend, listen. Not only is it going to save me from hell, it's going to save me from the judgments of the tribulation period. Isn't that a blessing? Now, he's going to mention the first of these characteristics and it's called rebellion. It's in verse number 3. It's in a phrase where he said, "...the day of the Lord will not come except there come a falling away first." What does that mean, preacher? A falling away. It means a removal. A removal or departure from something. Now there's a couple different views as it relates to that verse. Some people believe it speaks of a physical departure like the rapture. There are those who would believe that. And they claim, well, that's another way of saying the rapture, and that this falling away, this departure is the removal of the saints of God from the earth, which must take place prior to when the day of the Lord begins. And while that's true, that all the saved will be taken to heaven before the day of the Lord begins, there's a problem. Okay? You say, preacher, what's the problem with that view? The rapture is not a falling away. It's a taking up. There's a difference. We're not falling away from anything. We're being rescued from something. We're being taken out, caught away. The view fits neither the context of the passage nor the grammatical use of the word. This word, falling away, is always used in the New Testament as a departure from the truth of God. We would call it apostasy. An apostasy. So it is not a physical departure. It is a worldwide spiritual departure from the truth of God. Now I want you to think about something. Do you realize when the rapture takes place, there's not going to be one saved person left on planet Earth? Every one of them go. Every one of them is taken up. Now that don't mean that there's not going to be a lot of people saved in tribulation period. If you study Revelation 7 and other places, there's going to be a great ingathering of souls during that time of people coming to the Lord. But friend, listen, there won't be anybody saved before the tribulation starts that's going to go through it. They're already taken to heaven. But what is going to happen is a wholesale, because the entire world that remains is unsaved, they're going to be a full departure or falling away from the truth of God to the lie of the devil. For when they had the opportunity to believe the truth, they said no. And when they said no to the truth, there's only one thing left to believe. And that's the lie of Satan. Isn't that true? Apostasy is nothing new. There's always been Christians and churches and institutions that have departed from the truth. If you go to Harvard or Yale, do you know that one time they believed the truth of God like we believe it? Did you know at one time they trained men of God preachers in our land? Do you know they were started for the propagation of the Word of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ? If you walk in the halls of those institutions tonight, they will blaspheme the name of Jesus. They will scoff at the Word of God. They will mock the people of God because they have departed from the truth. That's an institution. There are churches. There are preachers that have done that. There are people. But that's not what Paul's talking about. This is a particular apostasy. It is a widespread, global-scale apostasy. The end times will be marked by an unprecedented time of deception and departure from God. Listen to what the Lord said in Matthew 24 and verse 12. You can jot it down. Look it up later. He said, "...and because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax." Because sin is on the rise, the love of men for the truth and the truth of God will continually wane. Isn't that something? Jesus said in Matthew 24, 24, For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect. Do you know both the Lord Jesus and the Apostle Paul are talking about the great rebellion, the wholesale departure of the truth from the truth of God that will culminate in or give rise into the next characteristic of the day of the Lord? Because watch this. There's rapture, next event. Rapture, once that peace treaty is signed, tribulation begins. A chain of events begin to be set in motion. There is a great worldwide rebellion and apostasy against God. that will culminate in a revelation, number three. What's next? Revelation. Notice what verse three says. For that day, the day of the Lord, shall not come, you're not there, except these things be true, there come a falling away first, rebellion, and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition. The Antichrist. That word reveal literally means an unveiling. An unveiling. It's the same word used of the revelation or the unveiling of Jesus Christ. You know, there's coming time when God's going to reveal or unveil His Son to the world. He came the first time and He veiled His glory. I'm here to tell you, He comes a second time. Every eye is going to see His glory. And let me just tell you, the devil is going to unveil His Son. Paul calls him in our passage in verse 3, the man of sin. A diabolical world leader that will emerge on the world scene during the tribulation period and is mentioned no less than a hundred times in the Word of God. Daniel calls him the little horn. the Prince that shall come, the Desolator, the King of fierce countenance. We read about Him in Revelation as the rider on the white horse of Revelation chapter 6. He's the one that will at some point proclaim Himself to be God and demand the world to worship Him. None of that's happened. That's not going on in our world today. We're not in the tribulation period. There's not been a wholesale rebellion. Friend, listen, there's revival. You go to the Philippines, there's revival in the Philippines tonight. There's other places around the world where the gospel is making wonderful inroads, and there are people coming to Christ by the thousands. That's not wholesale worldwide rebellion. We're not there yet. And you know, on top of all that, we're still here. We're still here. And so the rapture hadn't taken place. John in Revelation 13 calls Him the Beast, a man of beastly character. I John 2.18 calls Him the Antichrist. The word anta is a prefix. It means to be both opposed to. It has the idea of being opposed to. He's the special adversary of the Son of God. Look down at verse number 4, alright? "...who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God." or that is worshipped so that he as God... I'm going to talk about that in a minute, what he's going to do. That prefix also carries the meaning of, instead of, or in the place of. See, Satan is a great counterfeiter. He counterfeits the gospel. He counterfeits the Bible. He counterfeits the church. He counterfeits everything that God has done. Hey, you know he's never had original fault in his life. other than the sin of pride that made the devil the devil. He never had original thoughts. He's a liar and the father of it. He's the originator of the lie. And he's a counterfeiter. That means he's all the time wanting to give people a substitute. All the time. And see, the world for over 2,000 years has said no to God's Son. I don't want Him. I don't want to have this man rule over me. So the devil said, okay, let me give you a substitute. And the Bible said all the world's going to wonder and worship that man. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? They'll reject God's Son, but they'll accept the devil's son. You see, this great apostate rebellion against God will set the stage for the coming antichrist who is against the Lord's Christ to be worshipped by the world instead of the Lord Jesus. You say, preacher, who is he? There's all kinds of people. There's books been written about who he is. Judas Iscariot, Hitler, Mussolini, JFK. Those of you that you're my age, you know these names I'm talking about. Mikhail Gorbachev. Even today there's books out that he's a Muslim. The Muslim Messiah, the Mahadi, all of that. Let me tell you the truth. Some people believe He's the Pope. This president, that president, whoever. Let me tell you the truth. You say, Preacher, what's the truth? I don't know who He is. And you don't know who He is. And nobody else knows who He is. You say, Preacher, how do you know that? Because God tells me nobody knows who He is. You see, the good news is that his identity is not made known until the church is gone, will be in heaven when this man steps on the scene. If Jesus were to come tomorrow, he's alive today, but he doesn't even know who he is at that point and that juncture. Look what the Bible says in verse 3. For that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed." That means up until this moment right here in verse 3 in God's prophetic plan, nobody knows the identity of this man. Nobody knows it. The Bible doesn't name the antichrist, but it sure does give some details about who he is. So that those who are alive on the earth during this time will know who he is. They'll see the lie and they'll have the opportunity to say no. Did you know that? God has never programmed anybody to say no to him or yes to the devil. Never has. Those are man's choices. Do you know that man today has a choice of whether or not he wants to be saved? You have that choice. Everybody has that choice. They can say yes to God or they can say no to God. Do you know the same will be true of the Antichrist? They don't have to believe. Now God's going to spring strong delusions because of those who've rejected His Son outright. They will believe Him, but the vast majority of the world has never had a clear presentation of the gospel. They don't know how to be saved. And they're going to have an opportunity to know the truth. There's going to be evangelists during that day. 144,000 Jewish evangelists that will do in seven years what the church hadn't accomplished in 2,000 years. They're going to preach the gospel to every creature. Everybody has an opportunity to be saved. They can reject this man and receive God's Son. But if they reject God's Son, they'll receive this man. I want you to notice quickly with me tonight, and we won't finish everything. I want you to understand something about this person. There are 25 different titles given to this sinister individual in Scripture. Paul uses three of them in this chapter, and we're only going to look at those, okay? Number one, he's called the man of sin in verse number three. That means he's literally full of sin. He is the embodiment of wickedness, sin, and evil. Now, if you walked up to him, you wouldn't know that. Matter of fact, you see, the devil never comes to you like the devil. The devil ain't going to come to church on Sunday with a red suit, horns, pitchfork, and pointed tail. He's not going to do that. He's not going to walk down this aisle like the hideous serpent that he is. No, he's going to be suave and debonair. He's going to have words that just flow out of his mouth. And matter of fact, just like Eve in the garden, you'll be drawn to him. You'd be drawn to him if you didn't know who he was. Okay? But inwardly, we know the devil's rotten to the core, isn't he? And so will his son be, this man right here, the Antichrist. This future individual will head up Satan's system of evil. He'll embark on a career of sin that will lead the entire world into rebellion against God. He's called the son of perdition. Look at verse number 3 again. He said, and that last part of it, that man of sin be revealed, the son of... Perdition. That title is given to only two individuals in the Scripture, Judas Iscariot and the Antichrist. And that doesn't mean that Judas Iscariot is the Antichrist. Judas Iscariot died and he went to hell. Alright? Judas Iscariot, if he didn't trust the Lord, and chances are he didn't, alright? I'm not any man's judge, but he rejected and betrayed the Lord Jesus, and unless he was saved, he went to hell. He's there and he's not getting out, just like nobody else gets out. Alright? The Antichrist is a totally separate individual, but both of them are the sons of perdition. That word perdition, which would give me the indication that Judas died lost, is used of a person literally meaning son of destruction. Not that he's the destroyer, but that God's going to destroy him. Do you know the Antichrist is never mentioned in Scripture without his judgment mentioned in Scripture? Did you know that? God is assuring us that this man, as wicked and vile and powerful as he is, will never accomplish all that he wants to do because God's going to destroy him. That's what it's saying. It really tells us something of his parentage. He's Satan's son. He's the devil incarnate. He's the visible expression of the invisible devil. This phrase carries the idea of one who is now abandoned, one who is utterly lost and given over to evil. That perdition is not so much a term of identity as it is doom. And then notice he's called wicked. Look at verse 8. and then shall that wicked..." Notice that's capitalized. "...wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming." He's the lawless one. He's the sum total of wickedness and lawlessness because he deliberately ignores and violates God's will. He's going to exalt himself and oppose everything that is called God. He's against God and everything about God. And the Bible says that he's going to try to be God. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? But yet, here's what... You say, preacher, how do you end a message like that, preacher? How do you end that? Well, I'm going to end it like this because, see, God always ends on a high note. You ever notice that? God always ends on a high note. You say, preacher, what's good about that? I mean, how are you going to end that on a high note? The Lord's the winner. This man's going to embark on a career that seems like he's unstoppable. That he's going to control the world, going to turn the world into a concentration camp. He's going to set himself up as God. He's going to stamp out everything about God. He's going to make war with the saints of God during that day. And God said, I've got a time limit. I've got your number. You're going to claim to be Me. And I'm going to show you who I really am. You see, I'm going to end on this high note right here. Dear child of God, listen, whether it's right now in this age of grace where God's dealing with men in grace, or whether it's in the future judgment of the tribulation period after we're in glory, if you're saved, you're on the winning side. Isn't that a blessing? Friend, those who know the Lord in this day, the day of the Lord, they're on the winning side. And I just want to tell you tonight, no matter what you're facing, whatever you're going through, whatever's going on in your life, you may say, preacher, this virus thing is the smallest thing in my... I've got things going on in my life you can't even imagine right now. And you know what? You're probably right. But I'm going to tell you what God's touched by what touches His children. He loves you tonight. He cares about you. And I just want to leave you with this thought right here. You are on the winning side. Isn't that a blessing? So I tell you what, let's act like it. Let's be busy about the Lord's business. Let's share the greatest news anybody can ever know, and that's how to know Jesus Christ as Savior, how to live their lives for Him, how to be the person that God wants them to be. There's nothing greater than knowing God, His Son, and being and doing what God has called us to be and do in this age. In Calvary Baptist Church, that's what God wants for us. That's what God wants for our community. That's what God wants for our world. And I just want to leave you with this thought tonight. We are on the winning side. What's next, preacher? Friend, listen, glory is next for the children of God.