2 Thessalonians Chapter 2:1 the Bible reads, "Now we beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together under him that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled, neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as that the day of Christ is at hand. 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 exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."
Now these four verses are very important to tell us that the day of Christ is not at hand and not only that, but it's so important that he almost uses similar language to what he uses at the beginning of Galatians 1 when he warns them about another gospel and he says, "If any man preach any other gospel and be ..." and he says, "Though we are an angel from Heaven preach any other gospel." Look what he says here, "Don't be troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us." He's saying even if you get a letter that's seems like it's coming from us and it says that the day of Christ is at hand, Jesus can come back at any moment, he's saying do not be deceived by any means, not by a spirit, not by a word, not even by a letter that seems like it's coming from us. Should you ever be deceived as to think that the day of Christ is at hand. He says, "For that day shall not come," in Verse 3, "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 and his worship.
There are a couple of things that need to happen before the day of Christ happens. Okay? These are the things that have to happen. First of all, there has to be a falling away. Second of all, the man of sin has to be revealed. It says the one who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God showing himself that he is God.
This is who we would commonly know as the Antichrist. It is saying that the Antichrist has to be revealed and how is he going to be revealed? By sitting in the temple of God and claiming to be God. He's going to show himself that he is God unto the world. That has to happen first.
This teaching that the day of Christ can happen at any moment and that Jesus Christ can return at any moment and there will be no signs of His coming, all prophecies have been fulfilled. There's nothing left. The next event on God's prophetic timeline is the rapture. It's a false teaching because he says don't let anyone deceive you with that.
Man: That's right.
Pastor: By the way that is a deception.
Man: Yeah.
Pastor: If somebody tells you, "Hey, the day of Christ is at hand. Christ returns and ... They are a deceiver.
Congregation: That's right, yeah.
Pastor: Because the Bible says let no man deceive you with that.
Man: Yeah.
Pastor: Now, a lot of people who teach that are not trying to be deceptive. They are just repeating the deception that they've heard from someone else. They're just repeating lies that they've heard and so that are unwittingly just being a part of this deception. The Bible tells us that the day of Christ is not at hand.
Now, just to help you understand what the day of Christ is, let's look up verses that use the term "Day of Christ" in the Bible. Go to First Corinthians 1, First Corinthians 1, and while you’re turning there let me just mention to you that the modern Bible versions completely twist this passage, which shouldn't surprise us because if it's that important of a passage, of course, they're going to change it, right?
Man: Right.
Pastor: It's so important that we use the King James Bible. There's so many things that these modern versions twist where they call Joseph Jesus' father, where they remove sixteen entire verses in the New Testament alone, where they sit there and complicate salvation and make it difficult and hard when the Bible talks about it being narrow as in fewer saved, they say salvation is difficult, like you'd have to work your way into Heaven instead of just trusting Jesus Christ as your savior.
There are so many things that these modern versions do. One of the things that they do here, where the King James Bible is really clear saying, "Do not let anyone tell you that the day of Christ is at hand." That day shall not come until x, y and z happens first. You know what the new versions do? The ESV, the Abbey, they'll change it to, "Don't let anybody tell you that the day of the Lord has already happened." The King James is saying, "Hey, don't let anybody tell you that the day of Christ is at hand," meaning that it is about to happen. They change it to, "Well, just don't let anybody tell you that it's already happened." Okay, in order to make it compatible with a pre-tribulation rapture.
Now, look, if you would, at First Corinthians 1:8. It says, "Who shall also," speaking of the Lord, "Who shall also confirm you unto the end that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." Whatever the day of the Lord Jesus is it's a day where we want to be found pure on that day. Okay, flip over to First Corinthians 5:5. First Corinthians 5:5 it says, "To deliver such in one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus," so it's a day of salvation. Okay? Flip over to Second Corinthians 1:14. Second Corinthians 1:14, we're looking at every single mention of the day of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Look at Second Corinthians 1:14, "As also you have acknowledged us in part that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus."
Now, let's just look at some things we've learned from these three mentions so far. In the first mention it said that God would confirm us unto the end that we would be blameless in the day of the Lord Jesus, so that's the end of something, isn't it?
Man: Yeah.
Pastor: Confirm us unto the end so that we'll be blameless in the day of the Lord Jesus. First Corinthians 5 talked about the spirit being saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Second Corinthians 1:14 talks about we are your rejoicing. He's talking about people that he had won to Christ. He said, "We are your rejoicing even as ye also are our in the day of the Lord Jesus." Sounds like a reunion of the person who got to save with the person who got him saved and it's a day of salvation and it's a day that's the end of something. It's a day when we want to be found blameless before Him. Okay? It's sounds like we're going to see Jesus on that day. The day of Jesus Christ, the day of the Lord Jesus.
Look, if you would, at Philippians 1:6, you'll see something similar. Philippians 1:6 says, "Be confident of this very thing that he which had begun work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. When we got saved the Lord began a good work in us and he's going to perform that good work until the day of the Lord Jesus, so again, it's the end of something, isn't it? I'll tell you what it's the end of, our life on this earth.
Man: Yeah.
Pastor: He's going to continue working in our lives until the day of the Lord Jesus, because at that point we're caught up together to be with him, in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. You see? Sanctification is the good work that he has begun in us. He wants to make us holy as He is holy so He works in our lives, he chastens us and chastises us, the Bible says in Hebrews 12, that we might be partakers of His holiness, so He works in our lives, but once we are caught up together with Him and the clouds to meet the Lord there, we're going to be changed in a moment and between you and I, we don't need sanctification anymore at that point because when we see Him we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. We will, at that point, be glorified with him, so the sanctification work is complete. The good work that was begun in us, He will perform until the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. It makes perfect sense.
Flip over to Philippians 2:16, it says, "Holding forth the word of life that I may rejoice in the day of Christ. That I have not run in vain; neither labored in vain," so this day of Christ is when the Apostle Paul is going to see the fruits of his labor. On that day he's going to look back and say, "Hey, I didn't labor in vain. I didn't run in vain." He's going to see the fruits of his life of soul winning and ministry and winning people unto Jesus Christ and the evangelism that he had done. He's going to see that all come to fruition.
then, of course, we have the seventh mention which is the one that we already looked at in Second Thessalonians 2, where it says don't let anybody tell you that it's at hand. All this fits perfectly with the rapture, with Christ coming in the clouds and us being caught up together with Him. Every mention fits perfectly with that.
Now, let me say this as well, the day of Christ is the same day as the day of the Lord.
Congregation: Yeah.
Pastor: Now, a lot of people are trying to complete this and say, "Oh, there's a different day of Christ and the day of the Lord." No, Christ is the Lord, okay? The day of Christ and the day of the Lord are the same day. Two different names for the same day.
Man: Amen.
Pastor: That is why it's sometimes even called the day of the Lord Jesus. All right? The difference is that when we talk about the day of the Lord in the context of the unsaved being judged, it's usually mentioned as the day of the Lord and then when we talk about it from a perspective of somebody who's saved, it's often referred to as the day of Christ or the day of Jesus Christ because of the fact that as the saved, that's what we're looking forward to. We're looking forward to seeing Jesus Christ and meeting Jesus Christ in the clouds whereas the unsaved are looking forward to the day of the Lord's wrath being poured out upon them, so they see it from a different perspective. We’ve already talked about this in the previous weeks, but this just reinforces that.
Now, back in Second Thessalonians 2 it says, "Now, we beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto Him. Now, I already proved to you back in Thessalonians 4 that the rapture is called the coming of the Lord Jesus.
Congregation: Yeah.
Pastor: That is what it's called, the coming. Doesn't it make sense that we look to all these scriptures on the day of Christ, they all fit perfectly with Christ coming in the clouds at the rapture and us being caught up in the clouds with Him. Then he starts the chapter by saying, "Now we beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the gathering together unto Him," which is again, talking about the same event. "That you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us that as of the day of Christ 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," and on and on.
Now, this verse demolishes the idea of a pre-tribulation rapture. I mean, not to mention the fact that we have the crystal clear scriptures in Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21, that talk about the rapture being "After the tribulation." As if that were not enough, right here, this scripture alone demolishes it saying that it is a deception to say that the day of Christ is at hand and that first we're going to see these ... Look, he's setting the believer's mind at ease saying you will see these things happen first.
Congregation: That's right. Yeah.
Pastor: Don't get all worried and shaken, "Oh, it's about to happen. It's happening any moment." He said, "Look, these are the things that you're going to see." Why would he tell them about stuff that's going to happen after they're gone? Oh, don't let anybody deceive you because this other stuff is going to happen after you're gone. It makes absolutely no sense. He's telling them first, you're going to see these things happen so don't let anybody tell you it's at hand because this other stuff has to happen first that you're going to see.
First of all, there's going to be a great falling away and then you're going to see the Antichrist revealed as such declaring himself to be God and so forth, that's what you're going to see first. Because this scripture is so damning to this false doctrine of the pre-trib relation rapture which is loved by so many evangelical Christians today, you've got the Left Behind movie, the board game, the video game, the action figure and they're really attached to this doctrine. There are so many churches where this is preached, literally, almost every Sunday morning or at least once a month. "He's coming again. He's coming today; any moment." You know? This is such a big theme that people don't like you to show them this Second Thessalonians 2, so they have to find some way to answer this. Right? It's pretty hard to come up with anything because it's so open and shut. It's just so cut and dry. Just telling you that day shall not come except this other stuff happens first. How do you get around that? They're always going to come up with something, aren't they?
You're not going to believe this. Here's what they say. They say, "Oh, well, the falling away, that's the rapture." That's what people are saying. I mean, I've heard it from a whole bunch of different people that say that the falling away happens first." When they hear first they are like, "Well, whatever happens first, that's got to be the rapture, right? Because that's the next event on God's prophetic timeline, is the rapture." They literally say that the falling away is the rapture. Now, here's a little, tiny problem with that. Things usually fall down, not up.
I mean, how could you call believers being caught up into the clouds, yeah, that's the falling. How do you fall up? There is this thing called gravity that brings things down. This is just the kind of nonsense where people are just grasping at straws to try to make something fit that just doesn't fit.
Man: Right.
Pastor: They're just trying to jam that square peg into a round hole, so then they just get a drill and they just want to drill out that square hole, just shove it, just whatever they can do to make this thing work. It doesn't work. It's false. It's a lie.
Man: Right.
Pastor: They say, "No, the falling away, that's the rapture." You're like, "Well, how do you figure? How does that work?" They say, "Well, you know? If you go back to the Greek."
Congregation: Oh.
Pastor: If you go back to the Greek you go back to the geek, he'll tell you. Some Dr. Fatbottom in some university is going to tell you what the Greek sai- but here's the thing about that, we shouldn't have to go back to the Greek to get the true meaning of God's word. Whenever somebody teaches you a doctrine that relies upon going back to the Greek, that's a huge red flag right there.
Man: Yeah.
Pastor: Because the Bible here is translated into plain English. It's been translated over four hundred years ago. It's stood the test of time. It's an accurate, trustworthy translation. The King James Version, it's says the same thing in English as it says in Greek and here's what I always challenge people with and you ought to do this to, when someone comes at you with this, "Well, what does the Greek say?" Or, "Let me tell you what the Greek says." I always come at them with this, (foreign language) and the reason that I come at them with that is because they usually don't speak a lick of Greek.
Man: Right.
Pastor: Even you can just say one little sentence. You could say (foreign language) and they're just like "Huh?" They don't even know what you're saying. Then they'll try to lie to you and say, "Oh, oh, well that's Modern Greek. I speak Ancient Greek." No, you don't. You're a liar. You know how to open a Greek dictionary and look things up. These people couldn't even order food at a Greek restaurant and if Old Testi- I'm sorry, and if New Testament Greek is so different than Modern Greek then how come fifteen million people who live over in Greece today, when they look at a Bible, guess what they read? Mostly they read the Old, the actual Coin-A Greek. I mean, the Greek Orthodox Church, to this day, preaches out of the Textus Receptus. I get emails all the time from Greek people living in Greece saying, "Don't listen to these liars who tell you it's a totally different language. I go to church every Sunday and we read from the Textus Receptus and we understand it just fine." There is this fraud out there that tries to say that Modern Greek and Coin-A Greek are two completely different languages. No, you know why they lie about that? Because they don't want to expose the fact that they don't know the language.
Man: Right.
Pastor: If they admitted that it was the same language then they'd have to explain why they can't talk to Greek people.
Man: Right.
Pastor: Then, instead of being able to tell us, "Ooh, this mystical, magical going back to the Greek and we find all these hidden truths." They'd have to admit that there's fifteen million people who understand the language perfectly and that it's just like any other language. It's not some magical language. It's just like English or Spanish or anything else, but they want to put it on this pedestal so they can teach lies.
Man: Yeah.
Pastor: They can teach lies because they talk in a foreign language that nobody knows, that they don't even know, and then basically, they can deceive people that way. You've got to be careful with this stuff.
Man: Right.
Pastor: That's why I know enough Greek and Hebrew to where when these people come up to me and start talking (foreign language) I can come at them with a little bit of Hebrew and then all of a sudden they get this deer in the headlights look when I actually start using conversational Hebrew with them because they don't know the language. It's so funny how you can sit there and say, "Well, here's what the Greek really means." Like you know more than the people who translated the King James Bible because you looked it up in a dictionary or looked it up in a lexicon or you took two semesters in college. The people who translated the king James Bible, some of them literally spoke over twenty languages.
Man: Yeah.
Pastor: When they translated the Old Testament from Hebrew, they didn't just know Hebrew, they knew Aramaic and they knew Arabic which is very closely related with Hebrew. They knew all the surrounding lang- not just Hebrew, but they knew all the surrounding languages. They didn't just know Greek, they spoke fifteen languages, ten languages, I mean, these guys were in books all day. These guys were very smart men who were very educated who had read just thousands and thousands and thousands of pages in Greek, but you think that you're just going to turn all that on its edge. "Unfortunately the fifty-four genius scholars who translated the King James were wrong on this because my Strong's Concordance said this, "Blah, Blah." It's ridiculous. You couldn't even order food. You couldn't even get a taxi cab in Greece and you're going to tell us what it really means.
Anytime there's a doctrine that relies on going back to the Greek, you better run from that. Okay. Let's just compare scripture with scripture in plain English and see what falling away means. Go to Luke 8. Luke 8, but anyway, back to what I was saying about how Modern Greek and Coin-A Greek are the same language, now, I'm not saying they're identical, okay? For example, someone from Australia doesn't speak the same as someone from America, but would you say that that's a completely different language? Of course not. It's a different what?
Man: Dialect.
Pastor: Dialect of the language. Okay, what about this? Do we talk the way they talk in the King James Bible in 2015 America? No, but would you say this is a foreign language?
Man: No.
Pastor: Absolutely not. It's just a different dialect of the same language, so obviously there are differences between Coin-A Greek and Modern Greek, but they are not completely different languages. Just to illustrate it for you, I bought a box of Greek flash cards, okay. It had the thousand most commonly used words in the Greek New Testament, which is 80% of the Greek New Testament is using these thousand words, so I got the thousand most commonly used words and they're arranged in order from the most commonly used to the least commonly used. I took the hundred words that were the most commonly used in the Greek New Testament and I pulled out a Modern Greek dictionary and then I pulled out the New Testament Coin-A Greek Dictionary and then I got these flash cards and out of the first one hundred, ninety-five of them out of a hundred were identical in Modern Greek and Coin-A Greek, but you're going to tell me that's a completely different language. This is the fraud that's out there of just trying to hide behind this. The only people who teach this are people in America.
Man: Yeah.
Pastor: Because I get emails all the time from these American professors telling me, "You're totally wrong about the Greek." But I get hundreds of emails from people in Greece telling me that I'm spot on. Who should I listen to? Some guy in some Baptist cemetery or seminary or should I listen to people from Greece that are saying, "I'm a Greek Orthodox. I go to church every Sunday. You are nailing it on Greek. You're pronouncing it right. You're saying ..." and so forth.
Don't be deceived by this going back to the Greek stuff. Whenever somebody says, "Well, in the Greek ..." I just turn off. Shut them down unless their name is Papadopulos, you know what I mean, and they are just fresh on the ... Oh, unless there name is Papadopulos and they are fresh off the boat from Greece, then I'll listen to what they have to say. I'm not going to listen to some American university guy who took a couple semesters of Greek tell me.
Anyway, look at Luke 8:13, where we have another biblical usage of the term "falling away." It says in Verse 13, "They on the rock are they which when they hear receive the word with joy and these have no root which for a while believe and in time of temptation fall away." What are we talking about? A spiritual falling away. A doctrinal falling away. Okay? We're not talking about the rapture, are we? Nonsense, okay.
Now, flip over to the Book of Acts 21, because here's what's funny. They'll come at you with this thing of, "Oh, if you go back to the Greek, here's what's they say, "falling away in the Greek," they say, "is a departure." Because the Greek word here for falling away, remember this is coming from the amateur, armchair Greek scholars of America, they say, "because the word falling away in the original Greek means departure, that's sort of like the rapture because we're going to depart? Right?" Wrong, because here's what they don't tell you. They'll deceptively say, "Well, if you go back to the Greek it's departure." Here's what they forget to tell you, what the Greek word is, (foreign language) which guess what that is? It's were we get our English word apostasy, and what does apostasy mean? Departing from the faith. Turning away from the faith. Falling away from the faith. What is falling away mean when we look it up in English, what does falling away mean? Falling away from the faith. Okay. Departing from doctrine. Okay.
Now, look that word apostasy is used twice in the New Testament. Here is the other time it is used. Look at Acts 21:21, "And they're informed to thee that thou teachest all Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake," and that work forsake is that same Greek word, "forsake Moses saying that they ought not to circumcise their children neither to walk after the customs." What are they departing from here? What are they forsaking? Doctrine, customs of the Bible. Whether you read it in English or in Greek, guess what? It means the same thing. You're turning away from the fa- you're falling away from doctrine. Even of the word departure, the Bible says that in the last days some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seduce the spirits and doctrines of devils. Trying to turn falling away into the rapture is to turn the Bible on its head, to turn the English language on its head, to turn the Greek language on ... it's just to live in a fantasy land.
Man: Yeah.
Pastor: No reasonable, intelligent person thinks that the falling away is being caught up into the clouds. I think if that's what ... How can we understand anything in the Bible is the Bible is that cryptic where falling away means you go up? I mean, what nonsense.
If you would go back to Second Thessalonians 2. I'm just addressing everything that they try to pull out here. They might try to pull out the ESV and show you, "Well, it says that it already happened." You know? Form a text that is so corrupt that it's calling Joseph Jesus' father. A text that is so corrupt it's removing the blood, it's twisting salvation and somebody will say ... Or, they will come at you, "Well, you know, the falling away, that's the rapture." What in the world? No, friend, there is no way around it. The Bible's clear here. That day shall not come except the falling away comes first and watch this, and the son of man be revealed, I'm sorry, the man of sin, I'm sorry, and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition who opposeth and exhalteth himself about all that is called God or that is worshiped so that he as God, sitteth in the temple of God showing himself that he is God.
This event is commonly referred to as that abomination of desolation, okay? Now in order to understand this event and learn more about it, let's go to Revelation 13 because in Revelation 13 we see this event actually taking place. Look at Revelation 13, let's start reading Verse 1. It says, "I stood upon the sand to the sea and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns and upon his horns ten crowns and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. The beast which I saw was likened to a leopard and his feet were as the feet of a bear and his mouth was the mouth of a lion and the dragon gave him his power and his seat and his great authority. I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death and its deadly wound was healed and all the world wondered after the beast.
Now, this is written in a little bit of a cryptic language, right? A little bit symbolic and you're kind of like, you know? "The beast, the heads, the horns." Let's put our finger over in Revelations 17 because in Revelations 17 God explains it. Now, we're getting into the strong meat of the word here. This isn't exactly the easiest book of the Bible. This isn't exactly the Gospel of John. When we read Revelation it's designed to where we understand it. It's not this unattainable book. It's not a book that's impossible to understand. You just have to take a little time and study. Let's just do a little bit of comparison between Revelation 13 and Revelation 17 and see if it all comes clear, okay? Revelation 17 says this in Verse 9, "And here is the mind which hath wisdom. Seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth and there are seven kings. Five are fallen and one is and the other is not yet come and when he cometh he must continue a short space and the beast that was and is not even he is the eighth and is of this seven and goes into perdition and the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings which have received no kingdom as yet, but received power as kings one hour with the beast."
If we look at the scripture in Revelation 17 we see that the seven heads of the beast are seven kings and then when we see the ten horns, the ten horns are ten kings as well. Obviously, this is without the scope of this sermon to sit here and go into every detail of Revelation 13 and we go back to Daniel and look at the beast and all these different things, but just to break it down to you in a simple way, the beast that rised out of the sea having the seven heads and ten horns, it is basically a great kingdom or a governing body or a world government that's going to rule over the whole world and these horns and heads represent different people in that system and in that kingdom. Okay, so we see here that the Bible is defining itself. It's telling you, "Hey, there's seven heads here. They represent seven mountains, but then the seven heads also represent seven kings. The ten horns represent ten other kings and these are ten leaders or kings that will give all of their power unto the beast. Okay? Unto one man.
Let's go back to Revelation 13 with that in mind. Keep your finger on Revelation 17 because we're going to be back there. When it talked about him seeing this great beast with the seven heads and ten horns, that represents the whole system; the whole governing structure. We already see this world government in progress in the form of the United Nations. That's the embryonic world government. Okay?
Now, in chapter 13 here it says, "And I saw one of its heads as it were wounded to death." Now, what are these heads again? These are kings, right? These are leaders. As soon as it says one of its heads as it were wounded to death and his deadly wound was healed and all the world wondered after the beast, so the term the beast is referring to both the whole system and also to the individual man, the Antichrist. He is also referred to as the beast.
Now, what does it mean here when it says he received a deadly wound, his deadly wound is healed and all the world wondered after the beast. Look at Revelation 17 for the answer, again. Verse 8, it says this, "The beast that thou sawest was and is not." Now, what does that mean, is not? In the Bible the term is not is used to refer to someone who is dead. For example, when they thought that Joseph had died in the book of Genesis, they said, "Joseph is not." Okay? It says here, "The beast that thou sawest was," meaning he was alive, "and is not." He was alive, now he's dead. "And shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder," remember we saw that in Revelation 13, they all wondered? Wondered means that they were amazed by it. It says, "they shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundations of the world when they behold the beast that was and is not and yet is."
Now, what does that mean? He was, meaning he was alive. He was not, meaning he's dead, but yet he still is. What does that mean? He is not, but yet he is. What? Because he is what we would call undead. All right? To use kind of a crass term there, undead. Meaning basically that he died and came back.
Now, who is someone else who died and came back, but here's the thing, Jesus wouldn't be described as is not because Jesus is alive. Jesus Christ died, he said, "I was dead and behold I am alive for evermore." Amen and I have the keys of hell and of death. This guy is not alive. This guy is not, yet he is. What this is is a counterfeit resurrection. You see, the real resurrection was Jesus. He was alive, he died, he was dead for three days and three nights and then he rose again and he said, "I am he that liveth and was dead and behold, I'm alive forever more." This guy is not alive. This guy just is. After he already died and he still is not in a sense. Okay? He's dead, but he's there talking, acting and so forth.
Now, you say, "What in the world?" It's a counterfeit of the resurrection. See, the devil is a great counterfeiter. The devil, in order to have the Antichrist, is going to have a counterfeit of the death, burial and resurrection. This guy is going to die, one of these world leaders, this great man, he's going to die and the devil is going to bring him back, but it's not really him because he's dead. Okay? What does that Bible say here? In Verse 8, "The beast that I sawest was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit." What's the bottomless pit?
Congregation: Hell.
Pastor: Hell, okay, so the beast, Antichrist, is coming out of hell. Okay? Does everybody understand that? He died. I don't want you to misunderstand in Revelation 13 when it says he received a deadly wound and a deadly wound was healed, a lot of people would just read that as, "Oh, he got a deadly wound that would have killed him, but he miraculously survived. Listen, the whole world wouldn't wonder about that.
Man: That's right.
Pastor: I mean, there's a congressman down in Tucson that was shot in the face at point blank range and everybody was just amazed that she survived because it was a deadly wound and yet it was healed, but here's the thing, the whole world is not wondering about that. They are not worshiping her and saying, "Who is like unto Kathy Giffords?" You know? "Who is able to make war with her?" What? When somebody actually died and then comes back, say, three days later. Yeah, people are going to wonder at that, aren't they. They are going to say, "Jesus, it's the second coming of Jesus Christ." That's what they're going to say. That's what the whole goal of the Antichrist is.
The term Antichrist is found in the books of First John and Second John. A lot of people misunderstand the word Antichrist. The prefix anti, we think of anti as being against something, but in this case, actually, Antichrist, the anti means in the place of Christ. It's a different use of the prefix anti. It's a different prefix. It's a Greek prefix, in the place of. What we have here is a counterfeit of the resurrection.
Now, go back to Revelation 13. Revelation 13 it says, "And I saw one of its heads," Verse 3, "as it were wounded to death and its deadly wound was healed and all the world wondered after the beast and they worshiped the dragon." Who is the dragon? Satan, so they worshiped Satan. They worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast. What's powering this undead beast? You know, this undead man? It's Satan. It says that hey worshiped the dragon which gave power to the beast and they worshiped the beast saying, "Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?" There was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemes and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. He opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle and then to dwell in Heaven. It was given unto him to make war with the saints," and, you know, all the people that are already gone according to the pre-trib of rapture.
Who are the saints that he's making war with if supposedly they've all been taken out? Makes no sense, does it? No, but it makes perfect sense if you realize that this happens first, before the rapture. Okay. That's why he's making war with the saints, because they're still here. It says, "It was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them and power was given him over all kindred." You say, "Well, where do you get this one world government thing?" What's the Bible say? "Power was given to him over all kindred and tongue and nation." Is that not a one world government?
Congregation: Yeah.
Pastor: If you have one guy reigning over all kindred, all tongue, tongues are languages, and all nations, that's a one world government. Where did he get this power? In Revelations 17 it says it was from ten kings who gave their power and strength to the beast. These are ten great world leaders that relinquish their sovereignty unto this one guy and they give him their power and they put him in power over the entire world. You can't just do that without first having the infrastructure in place of a world government, world currency. That's why we're moving toward that right now and then it's all going to be ready, the stage will be set for the Antichrist to come on the scene, for the world to already be consolidated to where ten people can just sign that document and just put this guy in power and the infrastructure is already in place for him to rule over the entire world.
Then, it says that not only that, Verse 8, "All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him." Remember this guy is exalting himself about all that is called God or that is worshiped so that he is as God, sitteth in the temple of God showing himself that he is God." We see that here that he is being worshiped by the entire world. It says, "Whose names are not written in the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. It says in Verse 11, "I behold another beast coming up out of the earth and he had two horns like a lamb and he spake as a dragon and he exercises all the power of the first beast before him and causeth the earth and them which dwell there to worship the first beast who's deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders so he maketh fire come down from Heaven on the earth in the sight of mean and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast which have the wound by a sword and did live and he had power to give life unto the image of the beast.
Now, this isn't really that farfetched to give life unto an image of the beast. This could be some kind of a hologram. I mean, who knows what this is, but the technology is there to create a lot of images that are alive and speak and so forth. It says that he gave life to the image of the beast and it say that he would cause, Verse 15, it says that the image of beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed and he causes all those small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads and that no man might buy or sell save that had the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name. Hear his wisdom. Let him that has understanding count the number of the beast, for it is a man and his number is six hundred three score and six.
With all that background let's go to Second Thessalonians now. Second Thessalonians 2, when we say that there is going to be a one world religion, what are we talking about? Everybody in the world worshiping the beast. That's a world religion. Not every single person because obviously the saints aren't worshiping the beast. That's why he's going after the saints, but here's the thing, Buddhism is going to accept the beast. They are going to accept the Antichrist. Hinduism will accept the Antichrist. Islam will accept the Antichrist and Apophatic Christianity is a false Christianity. Look, Roman Catholicism folks, and other false branches will embrace the Antichrist and worship him. It is only the saved, okay, amongst Christians who are not going to be deceived. The elect will not be deceived according to Matthew 24.What we see here is one world religion, one world government reigning over all the nations, controlling the money and so forth, and a one world, you know, financial system. We can see that already being put in place right now.
Let's go to Second Thessalonians 2 with that in mind because remember those who believe in this pre-trib rapture, or a rapture that comes before the tribulation, it could happen at any moment, they grasp at straws. One of their favorite verses to use to prove beyond any shadow of a doubt their pre-trib rapture, you say, "Show me a clear verse on it." They say, "I got a clear verse for you, Second Thessalonians 2:7."
Now, what's funny about this is that they pick the verse that is three verses after he just told us, Let no man deceive you this can't happen at any moment, this other stuff has to happen first. I guess when they show people they kind of have to cover up the Bible. "Don't look at Verse 1-4. What are you doing? I said Verse 7. Look at Verses 6 and 7. Don't let Verses 1-4 confuse you that tell you over and over again it can't happen any moment." Here is their clear verse, Verse 7, "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work; only he who now letteth will now let until he be taken out of the way. I mean, case closed. It's right there. Pre-trib rapture. It says right there, "Before the tribulation the rapture is going to happen." Jesus is going to come back at any moment. Does everybody see it? Oh, you don't have a Scofeld Reference Bible. That's the problem. Yeah, you have to have a Scofeld Reference Bible. You have to have this Bible with all these notes and commentaries that will explain it to you, friend. No, I wouldn't ... Would you base a doctrine on that verse? Would you base any doctrine on that verse and say, "Oh, this verse I'm going to hat as a clear ..." Look, that's not a clear verse about anything. Now, it's a wonderful verse. I mean, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and it's powerful for doctrine, but not every verse is a clear verse, is it? This is not a clear verse. This is a cryptic verse. This is a verse that's hard to understand because it uses pronouns, he, and you have to wonder what do the he's refer to. This isn't some crystal clear verse that they make it out to be.
Once you understand the verse it makes sense, but it's not an easily understood verse. The Bible says that there are things in Paul's Epistles that are hard to be understood. Look what the Bible says, let's back up to Verse 5. He just finished telling us, "Don't let anybody tell you that this can happen at any moment." First, the Antichrist is going to be revealed. He's going to be sitting in the temple of God saying he's God. Okay? That's the context. Look at Verse 5, "Remember ye not that when I was yet with you I told you these things and now you know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time for the mystery of iniquity that's already work, only he who now letteth will let until he be taken out of the way and then shall that wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of it's coming, even him who's coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness and them that parish because they receive not the love to the truth that they might be saved."
Now, let's look at this and let's figure out who the he's are. He is a pronoun and a pronoun has an antecedent. Do you remember this in English class? The antecedent is the word that goes before the pronoun that tells you what the pronoun is. It'd be like if I just walked into a room and without saying anything else said, "He is a piano player. He is a piano player." It's like, "Well, who?" You can't just come out with he when you haven't stated who it ... You always have to state who it is once and then after that you can refer to him as he. I can say, "Matt Adams is sitting in the front row. He is a piano player. His wife is named [Sheena 00:43:00]. I don't have to keep saying like, "Matt Adams is in the front row. Matt Adams is a piano player. Matt Adams has a wife named She- The who purpose of pronouns is to not have to keep restating who you're talking about because we already know who you're talking about because of the antecedent and the ante in antecedent means before, so something that comes before the pronoun to tell us who we're talking about.
When we see the word he in the Bible, we can't just insert whoever we want. Just pick somebody that you want to insert and just stick it in there. No, no, no, we look for the antecedent. Okay? Now, look at Verse 6 first of all because we have a he in Verse 6 where it says that he might be revealed in his time and then we have a he in Verse 7, he who not letteth will let until he be taken out of the way. Okay? Now, first of all let's deal with Verse 6 because that's a little easier, isn't it? It says, "And now you know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time."
Now, who's being revealed? Go back to Verse 3, "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 are we talking about being revealed here? Okay, and how is the man of sin revealed? He's revealed by sitting in the temple of God, exalting himself as God, showing himself as God. That's how he's revealed, meaning this, we will not know who the Antichrist is until he does that. You know, you've got seven guys here, you got ten guys here. How do we know who the Antichrist is? It's the guy who receives a deadly wound, the deadly wound is healed and he's declared to be God in the flesh. He's declared to be the second coming of Jesus Christ. He's declared to be the Messiah of the Jews. Think about it. That's how he's revealed. I mean, we're not going to know him when he's a teenager. You know, "Oh, this guy is going to be the Antichrist someday. Let's watch him grow up." No, that's not what ... He's revealed when he does what the Antichrist does.
Man: Yeah.
Pastor: That's why the Bible says how he's revealed. It explains how he's revealed in Verses 3 and 4. It's says, "Now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time." Something is stopping the Antichrist from being revealed. He's going to be revealed when that person is taken out of the way. Okay? In Verse 7 it says, "For the mystery of inequity doth already work only he who now letteth will let until he be taken out of the way, then shall that wicked be revealed. Who's that wicked? Antichrist, okay? Basically, if we study this that he that's being revealed is clearly the Antichrist. I don't think anybody would dispute that. That's pretty obvious. The question is, who is taken out of the way so that the man of sin can be revealed as Antichrist? Who is being taken out of the way? Now, those who believe in the pre-trib of rapture, they think this is like a mad lib where you just insert a noun. Who knows what mad libs are? You know, you just give me a verb, give me a noun, give me an adjective. They think they can just put whatever noun they want in he. Give me a noun. The Holy Spirit, that is what they say.
Now, here's the problem with putting the Holy Spirit there. Number one, the Holy Spirit is not mentioned anywhere in this passage, anywhere near this passage, so how can you say the he is referring to the Holy Spirit when the Holy Spirit has not been mentioned whatsoever? That's ridiculo- I mean, you might as well put Mickey Mouse in there if you're just going to put people in that aren't even mentioned in the passage. Okay, but here's the other problem with that, number two, is that the Holy Spirit is God, so you can't just take him out of the way. I mean, think about how ridiculous that is. "Yeah, let's just get the Holy Spirit out of the way." How do you get him out of the way? He's God. I mean, it's blasphemous to say you're going to take Him out of the way. He's God; He's everywhere. Wither shall I flee from thy spirit if I ascend into Heaven behold thy art there. If I make my bed in hell behold thy art there. God's spirit is everywhere, so to say he's going to be removed, and here's what they say, "Well, the Holy Spirit is going to be taken out," and if the Holy Spirit's taken out, since the Holy Spirit dwells in believers that means all the believers are going to be taken out, so therefore this is the rapture. I mean, it's a lot of logic leaps ...
Man: Yeah.
Pastor: ... to say, "Well the he is the Holy Spirit." "Well, is there an antecedent?" "No, but just shut up and believe it because I said so." Anyway, the Holy Spirit is the he and since the Holy Spirit is inside the believers, well, then, you know, we can't say if the Holy Spirit is God. Look, I'm telling you. I've sat in a pre-trib church for five years, where the pastor said about once a month, literally, "When the Holy Spirit's taken out I'm taken out." That was pretty much the only teaching he gave on the pre-trib rapture. He never could prove from the Bible that it's pre-trib. He'd just say, "You know, if you're calling Jesus a liar because he said it can happen at any moment and when the Holy Spirit's gone I'm gone. Amen. Amen." It was just always like when the Holy Spirit is taken out I'm going to be taken out, so this is their big text right here, "He who now letteth will let until he be taken out of the way." He said, "Well, he who letteth," that's who allows things to happen. That is not what let means. Let means to hinder. This isn't the 2015 texting language definition of let. Okay? Where you let someone do something. No, no, this is actually letteth, which is an older definition, which still exists today, but let means to hinder and it's parallel with the withholding.
Now, ye know what withholdeth, you know, he who now letteth will let until he's taken out of the way. He's no longer hindering anything because he's taken out of the way, whoever his is, so they say, "Well, it's the Holy Spirit." If you look up the Scofield Reference Bible it says, "This can be none other than the Holy Spirit being removed and he dwells in the church, so when the church is removed in the rapture the Holy Spirit is being removed." Here's the problem with that, number one, the Holy Spirit is not mentioned. Number two, the Holy Spirit is God, so you don't just remove Him, and number three, if removing the believers somehow removes the Holy Spirit, okay, well, what about all the people that they claim are going to be saved after the rapture that they call the tribulation saints? How are these people getting saved without the Holy Spirit? Can somebody explain that to me?
Man: Right.
Pastor: When the Holy Spirit is necessary for you to be saved.
Man: Right.
Pastor: The Holy Spirit is the one who quickens you and saves you. No one can be saved without the Holy Spirit, so ...
Man: Right.
Pastor: ... to sit there and say the Holy Spirit is removed from this earth, well, how can anyone be saved? Yet they claim that all these people are going to be saved and you know what? Here's the thing, there will be people saved after the rapture. After the rapture there's going to be the hundred and forty-four thousand, the two witnesses and people will be saved through the power of the Holy Spirit, the only way anybody has ever gotten saved; through the Holy Spirit who works through the word of God. This teaching is ridiculous to say it's the Holy Spirit and it's borderline blasphemous. Like you're just going to take God out of the way. Yeah, get Him out of the way. God doesn't just get taken out of the way. I mean, if God does something he chooses to do something. Somebody else doesn't get Him out of the way as it were. That's a really weird way to talk about God.
Anyway, you say, "Okay, who is the he referring to then? Huh? If it's not the Holy Spirit, well, who is it?" Pretty much any explanation makes more sense than the Holy Spirit. Here's the thing, even if I didn't give you an explanation, it's still not the Holy Spirit. That doesn't just make it the Holy Spirit because I don't have an ex- but I do have an explanation because I believe this is talking about someone who is actually mentioned in the passage, believe it or not. That the passage is actually referring to an antecedent. Because think about it. Who is it? Just stop and think about it. We read Revelation 13. We read Revelation 17. Okay? Who has to be taken out of the way before the man of sin can be revealed as the Antichrist and can rule and reign over the whole world? Here's who had to be taken out of the way, the human being, the man of sin himself.
Man: Right.
Pastor: Because that's who's going to be killed so that the other can take over. Think about it.
Man: Mm hm (affirmative).
Pastor: Because if you look at, let's look at some scripture to kind of understand this. Flip over to Luke 22. Because remember the Antichrist is called the son of perdition. Now, the reason that that makes sense is because the man of sin is mentioned in the passage, so it makes sense to mention the man of sin and then say he about the man. That's an antecedent for your pronoun, but here's why I believe that the he who now letteth will let shall be taken out of the way is referring to the human being, the man of sin himself, so that someone else can, another spirit from hell, can take over his body because remember, he is not. Right? He's dead, but he's still actioning and functioning and really ... It's not really him anymore, folks. He didn't really rise from the dead. What it is is that this guy is going to receive the wound of a sword, he's going to die. Right? His body is going to be revivified with a spirit from hell. A spirit that ascends out of the bottomless pit, the spirit of Antichrist is going to indwell this guy and control his body and this guy is going to live and breathe and function by the power of Satan. I don't believe that Satan can resurrect life. Satan is not all powerful. If you go back to Exodus you'll see that when the plaques are being done water is turned into blood.
Pharaoh's sorcerers, through the power of Satan, were able to turn water into blood. Moses threw down his rod and became a serpent. Pharaoh's sorcerers were also able to throw their rods and make them into serpents. Of course, Moses rod ate their serpent, you know, but they were able to duplicate it, but when it came to creating life, when it came to the point where Moses took the dust of the earth and sprinkled it and it became lice, lice is what? A living thing. Okay, they couldn't do it and they said, "This is the finger of God."
You see, God can form of the dust of the earth man and breathe into his nostrils and he becomes a living soul. God can take dust and turn it into creatures, lice. The devil can't do that. The devil had no power to create lice. I don't think that the devil can give life to somebody who's already died. Okay? It's a fraud; it's not a resurrection in the sense of he's coming back to life. It's just an evil spirit taking control of this guy's body and everybody thinks he's resurrected. Look, the real guy, the real soul, is gone. He's out of the way, folks. He's taken out of the way. He's killed. He's murdered. It's a false flag. You know what I mean? He's killed. They kill him. Take him out of the way so that they can use his body, do you understand? Use his body to be the vessel of the Antichrist which is not the same person because that guy's dead. Now, it's the spirit from the bottomless pit that has entered this guy and now he's the Antichrist. Okay?
Now, if you would, look at Luke 22:3. It says, "Then entered Satan into Judas, surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. Now, the reason this is interesting is because Judas Iscariot is referred to as the son of perdition. Two people in the Bible are called the son of perdition. Judas Iscariot and the Antichrist. Isn't it interesting that when Judas betrayed Jesus the Bible says that Satan entered him and prompted him to do that, so he was what we would commonly refer to as demon possessed. Okay? Then, over in John 13:27 it says something very similar, "And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, that thou doest do quickly. You don't have to turn to there, but in Matthew 27:3, afterwards he comes to his senses. Judas Iscariot and he brings the money back. He gives the money back and says "I've betrayed the innocent blood." They say, "Phew, what is that to us? See [thou 00:55:17] to that and then Judas goes and hangs himself. Right? Because he's still a human being. He felt bad about what he'd done, but he did it because he was being controlled by Satan. That's what the Bible says; Satan entered into him.
Now, he was already a bad guy. I'm not saying he's a good guy, okay? He was a bad guy. He was stealing money from Jesus, the whole ministry. He had the bag and stole from it. The Bible says he believe not from the beginning. You know? A Christian person who's a believer in Christ, Satan's not going to enter and take over their body, okay? This is a bad guy, but he was still a human, okay? He still had feeling of repentance there in Matthew 27:3. He died and went to hell because he was an unbeliever, but we see that when he betrayed Jesus, Satan was controlling him. Satan entered into him. I mean, I just showed you in two different places.
Now, you say, "Okay, well, then why does this other guy have to die? Why does he have to be taken out of the way in Revelation 13?" Number one, because the job that the Antichrist has to do is a much bigger job than Judas Iscariot has to do. Judas Iscariot, all he had to do was just betray Jesus. Just, you know, go to the Pharisees, make a deal, give Jesus a kiss, done, pretty simple task. Right? Pretty easy to do. The Antichrist is going to be ruling over the entire world for forty-two months. That's a pretty big job not to just give to a person, but rather that the devil is going to make sure that he's got full control of this guy. Okay, by basically taking over his body with this evil spirit that's under his control. Okay? That's why all of his workings are through the power of Satan, but number two, the reason the guy has to die and to come back is because that's the only way to get the whole world to worship him. Because that miracle has to take place that will amaze the whole world, where even the atheist, who say, "Well, if you show me proof, I'll believe it." Even they'll be convinced when they see this guy die, deadly wound of the sword, and he's healed and he's back to life. "Life" they think he's back to life. He's really undead. Okay?
That's what the Bible's teaching. I hope I'm making sense to you tonight, but if you study Revelation 13 and Revelation 17, I don't see how you can come to any other conclusion but that this guy is dead and then a spirit from the bottomless pit takes over his body. That makes sense when you think about the fact that somebody's got to be taken out of the way so that this guy can take over. You know, this evil spirit from hell.
Now, go back to Second Thessalonians 2, and this is where people get confused. They get confused by this part where it says, in Verse 7, "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work only he who now letteth will let until he be taken out of the way." The now there, I don't believe it's the Apostle Paul saying now as in 1st Century AD, I think he's telling the story, okay, about that and he's saying now as in at this point in the story. Like, "Okay, the Antichrist is now revealed when this, that happens. See, a lot of times the Bible will use the present tense about things in the past and future because it's story telling. For example, it says in Revelation 13, "He causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond to receive a mark in their right hand. It speaks about in the present because you're in the story. Okay? There's a lot of places where we could show that grammatical example. It says, "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work," meaning at this point in the story, but he who now letteth will let until he be taken out of the way, then shall the wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming."
Now, that doesn't happen right away. That happen forty-two months later, because power is given unto him to continue forty and two months or three and a half years. After three and a half years the Lord is going to consume him with the spirit of his mouth and destroy him with the brightness of his coming. Even him who's coming is after the work of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. Those are the wonders that the false prophet does where he brings fire down and so forth from Heaven. Then it says, "With all deceivableness of unrighteousness will then perish because they received not the love of truth that they might be saved. For this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned to believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Okay, now, there are other theories here about the he who now letteth will let because not everybody buys into this crazy Holy Spirit and dwelling the believers being taken out thing. Some people have put forth the theory that says, "Hey, the he who now letteth will let is Michael the Archangel, okay? Which I think that that's actually a legitimate theory. You know? There's scripture to support that when you compare Daniel to Revelation, different things. Michael's part in the end times. I can see that theory. Okay?
One of the big problems I have with that is that he's not mentioned in the passage.
Man: Right.
Pastor: No antecedent. Okay, but at least that theory makes sense, so if somebody has that theory I wouldn't criticize that theory because I can see that scriptural support for it. I believe that it makes more sense, though, that the he who now letteth will let is the man of sin, the human being ...
Man: Right.
Pastor: ... so that the beast could be revealed. So that the Antichrist could be revealed which is a spirit from hell and is not a human being because the human being is taken out of the way, frankly, so that this guy can take over the reins of the world government, but it says here that they will believe a lie and it says in Verse 10, because they receive not the love of the truth. Now, what does it mean when it says they didn't receive the love of the truth? What it means is that there are people who love the truth and people who don't love the truth. There are some people who don't care what the truth is. You can show people the truth until you're blue in the face and they just won't accept it. They don't even care. They just want to believe a lie. They want to believe that which is false. Then, there are other people who love the truth and they just want the truth. They don't really care what the truth is, they just want to know what it is and believe it and when you show them that they're wrong they're willing to change because they love the truth. Whatever the truth is, they want to know it. They love it.
There are people who receive not the love of the truth and they believe not the gospel. The Bible says, in Verse 11, "For this cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie." Now, this is nothing new in the Bible. There are all kinds of places in the Bible where God hardens people's heart. God darkens their eyes, blinds their minds. There are all kinds of scriptures where it gets too late for people to be saved and they become what the Bible calls a reprobate. People don't want to accept this doctrine today, but it's all through the Bible, tons of places. Here God is sending people a strong delusion.
Now, it's not that God just hates people for no reason and just sends them a delusion and just damns them to hell just for no reason. No, these are people who receive not the love of the truth. These are people who have already rejected the truth, so he sends them a strong delusion that they believe the lies of the Antichrist. Basically, when the Antichrist comes along you say, "Well, how's the whole world going to believe on him?" Because God's going to send a strong delusion on the people who did not believe the truth and who received not the love of the truth and had pleasure in unrighteousness. God will send them a strong delusion that they will believe a lie. That is what the Bible says. That they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. They didn't love the truth. They took pleasure in lies. They took pleasure in that which is wrong. That which is false. That which is wicked. It says, but, Verse 13, "We're bound to give thanks always to God for you brethren beloved of the Lord. Because God, from the beginning, chosen you to salvation trough sanctification and belief of the truth where unto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore brethren stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught whether by word or our epistle."
Now, our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God, even our father which have loved us and has given us everlasting consultation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.
I'm running out of time, but let me just point out a few things about these verses. First of all, the Bible says here, in Verse 14, "Where unto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." That reminds me of literally, just about an hour and a half ago, when I was out, knocking doors [soul winning 01:03:55] we talked to this guy and he was saved, he gave us the right testimony of salvation through faith. He said he believed on Christ and that he didn't believe you could lose your salvation. He didn't believe it was by works. He thought it was all finished by the blood of Jesus on the cross, but he had this attitude of, "Well, whoever is going to get saved is going to get saved no matter what we do." He kept focusing on that, "Well, you know God calls people. God's doing the drawing and God draws people unto him, and so you can go out and knock all these doors," he said, "but at the end of the day the same amount of people are going to get saved whether you go out and do it or not."
Man: Wow.
Pastor: I told him, I said, "Well, I wouldn't even be here then. Why would I?" He said, "Well, you do it out of obedience." I am thinking to myself, "Yeah, when was the last time you knocked a door, buddy?" He's going to some big mega church fund center. This guy is not out knocking doors. He's talking to me about obedience, to the great commission of go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. I said, "Look, if I didn't think I was making a difference I'd go out and do the minimum." I'd just go out, do a little [soul winning 01:04:54], knock some doors, chock it up that I preached the gospel and then enjoy life. You know? I'd do the minimum, but when we think about the fact that souls are in the balance and that people are dying and going to hell, the Bible says, "And others save with fear calling them out of the fire. Hating even the garment spotted by the flesh." You know when I go out [soul winning 01:05:17] I believe I'm pulling people out of the fire.
Man: Amen.
Pastor: Paul said, "I become all things to all men that I might by all means save some." He's not just going through the motions. He's trying to pull these people out of the fire. He's trying to get people saved. This guy, you know, "Oh, God does the calling, God does the drawing." To point out this verse where Jesus said in John, you know? "No man can come unto me except the father drawn." You know what's funny is they never like to talk about the verses a few chapters later where Jesus said, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me."
Man: Amen.
Pastor: They said, "Well, nobody can come with us unless father drawn." "If I'll be lifted up from the earth I'll draw all men unto me," he said, "All men unto me," and he said this, "Spake he signifying what manner of death he should die." When he said, "If I should be lifted up from the earth," he was talking about being lifted up on the cross, he said, "I'll draw all men unto me." The Bible says here that God called, doesn't it? In Second Thessalonians 2, but it says in Chapter 14, "Where unto he called you by our gospel." Do you see that? Yeah, God's calling through our gospel. How's God calling? When we go out with the word of God as ambassadors for Christ where God has committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation and God is sending us forth as ambassadors for Christ, he says, "You are the light of the world. You are the salt of the earth." When show up with the word of life and the word of God and we preach the gospel, God calls through that.
Congregation: Yeah.
Pastor: The Bible says that when the world by wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe and when a preacher, which isn't just a pastor, but is any man, woman, boy or girl who talks to someone about Jesus and opens their mouth to preach the gospel; when they preach that word, God is calling. That's God calling. That's God on the phone calling you saying be ye reconciled to God. It says, "We beseech you in Christ stead, be reconciled to God.
Man: Amen.
Pastor: We're there as messengers from God. God is calling and he's using us to make the call.
Congregation: Right, amen.
Pastor: I mean, this is clear. He called you by our gospel. He says, "To the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." He said, "Well, over in Verse 13 it says God chooses." It's not saying that God chooses which people will be saved. It says, "God has, from the beginning, chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and believe the truth." He chose all that would believe.
Congregation: That's right, yeah.
Pastor: He chose us to be found in him if we believe in Jesus Christ. Look up all the verses about God choosing and about predestination, look up Chapter 8. Yeah, we're predestined to [corner 01:08:11] the foreknowledge of God. God knows who will believe on Him. In Ephesians 1, yeah, He chose us to be glorified with Him. He chose us in Romans 8 to be conformed to the image of his son. It's not saying he chooses which ones will be saved. It said he choose that those who believe will be saved and he chooses that those who believe will not only be saved, but they will be sanctified, that they will be conformed to the image of Christ and that they will be predestine to that glory with him. To sit there and say, "Well, it's already predetermined who's going to go to Heaven, who's going to go to hell and there's nothing we can do about it," and that when we go and preach the gospel we're going through some kind of an exercise and that we're not really making a difference in anybody life, but we're just going through the motion. You know what? That's why people aren't going today, because that's what they believe.
Man: Right.
Pastor: As I was talking to him I was very kind to him and polite to him, but in my heart I was thinking, "You jerk. You're damning this whole world to hell with your stupidity." This world is not here in the gospel because of people like you who want to sit around and say, "Oh, god's going to get it done on his own." No, he told you to do it.
Congregation: Yeah. Amen.
Pastor: It's our gospel [inaudible 01:09:18] to them that are lost and we're sitting there hiding the gospel under a [inaudible 01:09:23] and saying, "Oh, well, God's going to get it done." Then, the guy said, "Well, are you saying that all these people who have never heard of Jesus are going to go to hell? I think they're going to get a pass." You know what? Keep telling yourself that. Maybe that'll let you sleep at night when you don't serve Jesus at all.
Man: Right.
Pastor: You know what? I'd rather work and spend my life to getting the gospel to that guy who hasn't heard of Jesus.
Congregation: Amen. Amen. Yeah.
Pastor: Instead of sitting around and coming up with some stupid naval gazing theology of, "Well, if God knows everything and God already knows who's going to be saved, well, maybe it's all predetermined anyway. I'm just going to sit around and have Bible study and go way down deep and stay down long and come up dry." No, why don't you get out there and do some work for God. Why don't you do what Christ said and go ye there in all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Why? Because he said you're saving with fear. You're pulling them out of the fire. It's not just some game that we play.
These same fools also believe this thing like you pray for stuff, but you're going to get it anyway, but you just pray for fun or something. You just pray so you can feel like you got your prayer answered. No, the Bible says you have not because you ask not.
Man: That's right.
Pastor: You have not because you ask not. You have not because you ask not. They perish and go to hell because you go not.
Man: That's right.
Pastor: It's not all predetermined. It's going to happen anyway. Wrong. We write the book my friend. God has given us the keys to the kingdom of Heaven. Did he not say that in Matthew 16? Did he not say, "Whatsoever you bind on earth I'll bind in Heaven. Whatsoever you loosed on earth I'll loosed in Heaven." Then they say, "Oh, it's just God just makes all the decisions." Then why did he say choose? Why did he say choose life? Why did he say choose this day whom you'll serve? Because we have a choice.
Congregation: Amen. That's right.
Pastor: Don't buy into this garbage of, "Well, God calls and God draws and we just sit back on our lazy American rear end and let the world go to hell." No. It's false. It's a lie. The devil, he loves that doctrine because it gets all the Christians to sit around and not care. I'll tell you, I told this guy. I said, "You know what? I'll be honest with you, my friend." I said, "I'm just being honest. If I believed like you I would do very little for the Lord. I would just do the minimum." He was like, "Oh, that's not right." I'm just being honest. Look, does obedience to Christ motivate me? Of course. Does my love for Christ motivate me? Of course, but you know what? That wouldn't really motivate me to go all out though. You know, but when you actually feel like you're making a difference, when you actually feel like you're accomplishing something, that motivates you.
I mean, who wants to play a game, does anybody want to play a board game with me after church where the outcome is predetermined, where you spend hours playing? Did you ever play the game War? Who's played the card game War? The stupidest card on the planet. It's a card game for Calvinist. It's the official card game of Calvinism. You cut the deck in half, you give half the deck to one guy, half the deck to another guy, and you put down a card and whoever has the best card gets to take both cards and you pull out the next card. There's no thought, there's no skill. The whole thing is predetermined. The moment you cut the deck in half the winner is determined, but you just go through the motions. "Oh, man you got me." "Oh, I got you." You know? It's a game you play when you are like four. You play it when you are like five and after that you say I need something where I can actually control the outcome. Just going to sit there and just play War. Stupidest card game ever invented. You know what? Calvinism is the stupidest doctrine that anybody ever came up with.
Man: Amen.
Pastor: We need to go out and people need to be called to the Lord by our gospel.
Man: Amen.
Pastor: That's when it's going to call them unto the Lord. All right, let's have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word Lord in this chapter Lord. A lot of great doctrine Lord and it’s a deep passage. It's a difficult passage Lord. Help us to study to show ourselves approved unto God. Help us to study Revelation and to put all the pieces together about the issues of the end time, but Lord, we also see in this passage a lot of talk about those who believe not the truth and they didn't receive the truth and we read about them being damned. Then we read about another group of people that are called by our gospel, so, Lord, please help us to get out there with the gospel because people can't be called by our gospel if we don't have a gospel. If we're not preaching the gospel nobody is going to be called by our gospel, and so, Lord, help us to take admonition from that and to get serious about being your tool and your instrument to call people by the gospel and in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
