TONIGHT AT FIRST LOVE CHURCH THE MAN OF SIN REVEALED / 2 THESSALONIANS 2:1-4 PASTOR PETE CROPSEY / FIRST LOVE CHURCH 5/5/13 In 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 Paul addresses fears in the church that the rapture might exclude the believers who had died. Paul comforts them with these words; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words. Now the church in Thessalonica was under severe persecution and the hardships caused by that persecution opened the door for some false teaching to spring up. Let’s look at verses 1 and 2 of chapter 2 in 2nd Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 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 had come. It is important that we make a distinction here between the expression gathering together in him and the the day of Christ as being two separate events. The gathering together refers to the rapture. It is interesting that the word gathering is the Greek word episynagoge, epi-syn-a-gogay Synagoge is the word for assembly and out of that comes the word synagogue for meeting place but when you use the prefix epi which means upon it means a gathering that is put upon us. Not that we planned to assemble together at a given time but that we were assembled together by God in His time. 1 Corinthians 15:50-52 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed So the expression gathering together in Him is talking about the rapture and subsequently the the day of Christ refers to the second coming of the Lord at the end of the tribulation period when Jesus will defeat the antichrist, the false prophet and Satan cast them into the pit and establish the millennial reign. Revelation 19:11-17 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. Revelation 20:1-3 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while. So what Paul is saying, well let’s read those two verse in our chapter again. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, 2 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 had come. First he is saying that they must understand the distinction of these two events which are separated by seven years of tribulation and second he is saying don’t let anyone deceive you, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us. This holds so true for us today in that there are so many false teachers and false prophets who claim to be following what is taught in scripture but in fact are twisting it to capitalize their own agendas. 1 Timothy 4:1-2 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron. It is so important that we are in churches where the governing influence over our beliefs and our behaviors is the Word Of God and that is taught properly and accurately. The Spirit of God cannot speak to us in a manner we can grasp if the Bible isn’t the center piece of the church service. I mean the manifest presence of God’s glory is what we are seeking here but that cannot dwell here if His Word is not held precious and taught accurately. 1 John 2:5-6 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. Let’s move down to verse 3 and 4. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 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 is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Let no on deceive you by any means! I just want to hammer on this one more time. To allow ourselves to be deceived is to open the door on spiritual poverty, weakness and a losing position in the spiritual battle that is raging around us. Have you ever been on line or in a magazine or newspaper and seen photographs of people who have been defeated? Maybe in a refugee camp or just under the control of some invading forces. Man that is not what God has for us, God does not want us in spiritual poverty He wants us spiritually rich and walking as conquerors, Romans 8:37-39 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The only way you can be deceived is if you are uninformed. All you need to convince an uninformed person of a deception being true is a sincere face and the gift of gab. There are so many people with a sincere face and the gift of gab running rampant throughout our culture it is astounding. They play on people’s ignorance and their apathy They play and they prey on people who don’t know and really don’t care that they don’t know. Stand for something or fall for anything. Back to our text; 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 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 is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. So we have separated the gathering together, the rapture, from the day of the Lord which is the coming of Christ to judge those who have stood against Him. But Paul is saying that there is nothing random about this event and that it is scheduled according to a carefully laid out timetable. In a moment we will look at the book of Daniel where we first read of the abomination of desolation, this day that the man of sin is revealed and positions himself as a god to be worshipped. But it is easy to see why he would think that he might succeed. First he has entered the scene as a hero, a gifted statesman, able to bring peace on a global level, alleviate hunger and poverty. Secondly the world is full of sin and self centeredness. Matthew 24:10-13 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. When Paul says having a form of godliness it is just this form of godliness based in idolatry that is exactly what the antichrist is hoping for. It is what gives him the idea that his success is imminent. He is what you would call a megalomaniac suffering from delusions of grandeur. Jude predicts the prevalence of these apostate men rebelling against God. Jude 14-19 Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, 15 to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” 16 These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. 17 But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: 18 how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. 19 These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit. So what does it look like, this falling away and the revelation of the man of sin the son of perdition. Well first the falling away. When the true church is raptured there will be much of the organized church left behind and sadly when you would thing that everyone would say, “Oh man I have been left behind what can I do to get right?”, and then fall down and worship God in hopes of a tribulation restoration actually the opposite is true. They will either curse God and plunge into abominable sin or they will align themselves with the antichrist’s one world religion. When the church is raptured the world will be happy to see us go. The liberals will be glad to be rid of us. There will be rejoicing but they don’t yet realize how hard it is going to be for them, they are heading into the tribulation that for the first three and a half years is disguised as a time of great prosperity. So after the falling away the second thing is the man of sin is revealed. When he is revealed the great tribulation period is just beginning. Here he is called the man of sin. He is the antichrist. He is going to be Satan’s primary agent to bring about his agenda on earth. He is going to become a world dictator but at the beginning he will seem totally benevolent. But when he does all these things to show how great he is it is at that point, three and a half years after the rapture and midway through the tribulation he will declare himself as god. One of the greatest accomplishments he will do will be the making of peace between Israel and the Arab states and the arrangement for Israel to rebuild the temple and reinstitute temple sacrifice and worship In Daniel’s seventy week prophecy one week represents a seven year time frame. Daniel 9:27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.” Daniel 11:31-32 And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation. Daniel 11:36-38 Then the king shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished; for what has been determined shall be done. 37 He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all. So next week we will continue with the story and it only gets more and more interesting but for now let’s pray.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Jun 2013 19:48:41 +0000
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