In this sermon, Pastor Babij examines the Apostle Paul’s teaching to the Thessalonians regarding the timing of the Day of the Lord. In part two of this investigation, Pastor Babij explains more about the second group of events: that which must take place in the future before the end. Specifically, Pastor Babij discusses the identity of the force currently holding back evil and how this restraining force will be removed. Pastor Babij also further describes the coming Antichrist and how Antichrist and Satan will use four tricks to mimic God and deceive the world.
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I let’s take our Bibles this morning and let’s turn to 2nd Thessalonians 2nd Thessalonians I’m stepping out of mark of course for a little bit and we’re going to be looking at some things concerning I was saying the three groups group of events that we should be aware I’m categorizing it like that and and I did mention last time that another week has gone by and another crazy event has happened and make no mistake that all these events that are happening is against Christianity and the reason why is because the spiritual climate has changed in our day that Christianity is really increasing Lee being removed from the public square as I said last week and only to be replaced by debilitating humanism so our culture really is removing God from all platforms replacing him with situational ethics which of course allows a culture it’s it’s a change in the mindset in the culture it’s not just coming down from government it’s being produced at the level of scholarship and every other place that when the culture is being the mindset of the culture is being changed then that culture will think in a certain way you don’t have to really you know challenge them to think in a certain way they are already thinking that way and if they think in a certain way and they remove God from their thinking and there is no longer a stand or a morality for living then pretty much anything goes and that means everything is redefined aren’t we living in the day that well it used to be marriage used to mean this now it means these three things you know and so what happens is that it allows the culture to redefine marriage to redefine gender and all the lines are blurred so now this new generation they they don’t really have a clear definition of who they are supposed to be you know and of course it redefines truth and it’s factually actually it removes truth because truth is a problem of and then it removes the value of human life so all those things are already in the fabric of the thinking of this generation and the last generation and will be more so in the next generation the only hope for that is is the church that is teaching the word because it’s only in the church that we’re going to be challenged from the Word of God as what to what God actually has done what he’s doing what he’s going to do so we can be confident in that when all these different definitions are pressed really pressed upon us that we don’t believe this then we are pushed out completely that’s what’s happening we have to live in that environment we have to live in that culture and and we we have we don’t have a choice we do have a choice though on how we’re going to live in that culture and if we’re going to stand strong for the truth so in saying those things I come to 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 and I said I started last week and it looks like i did say to you that i was going to mention on you know what was is the Antichrist day you know European is he a Jew is he a Muslim but I’m not going to get there today sorry you’re going to have to wait one more week I was only because I just I had so much stuff that I I’m not and then we have the Lord’s table so I had to push that aside for a minute and and i’ll pick it up again i’m like i am going to get there all right but i’m going to leave you hanging a little bit on that and but again just to give you the background again a second Thessalonians Paul is giving encouragement and assurance to suffering Christians all right and remember there’s always a reason why a particular portion of Scripture is penned and this second epistle to the Thessalonians is no exception something happened and a new problem came up and so Paul is addressing that problem and the problem was of course apparently someone had caused concern amongst believers with regard to their relationship to the day of the Lord in other words that the believers were thinking that the day the lord had comment from the old testament as i mentioned last week that day is a day of wrath it is a day where god begins to do it’s a day of suffering and so he is kind of encouraging them listen know the day hasn’t come yet chapter 2 of 2nd Thessalonians verse 2 it says that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or to be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter if from us meaning from the apostles into the effect that the day of the Lord has come so consequently the the letter takes on again a flavor of providing assurance to believers which includes at least two things first the insurance that the day of the Lord has not yet come and then secondly and assures that the believers will have no involvement in the day of the Lord and so I Prince the first set of events in verse number seven in verse number 6 and 7 it says then you know that what restrains him now so that in his time he will be revealed for the mystery of lawlessness and verse 7 is already at work only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way all right so in other words that in the present events two things are going on there’s a remaining power of evil working behind the scenes and then of course there is a restraining of that evil that evil is being held back and of course the mystery of that iniquity behind the scenes that is actually produced by demonic powers is being restrained it’s being held back it’s not as evil as it could be believe it or not things are going to get much worse when this man of sin is revealed and so some of the future events before the end was in verse number three and four it was the apostasy in verse number three let no one in any way deceive you for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed the son of destruction and of course a verse for who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called God or Allah object of worship so that he takes a seat the temple of God displaying himself as being God so the what’s going to come is that there’s going to be an apostasy there’s going to be this falling away from the true faith of people who possibly professed it but because of the pressures of the day and they gave it up of course we know that they weren’t really believers if they actually did that and then of course at that point before that right after that I mean the man of sin appears on the scene on the human scene in verse number three this this lawless one will be revealed so that’s the setup in the context here and Paul’s reminding them of what they already were taught somewhere else in his teaching and so he’s saying to them are right that’s where you’re at now right now of course that evil is being restrained and that’s what he deals with in verse number seven he just he deals with this that someday there’s going to be a removal of the restrainer and it says in verse seven again for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way now in that passage of Scripture literally it means only the one holding back now till out of the way he becomes that whatever or whomever is performing the restraining function it will be taken out of the midst of everything and then there will be manifest in unrestrained monstrous evil which go to such depth at depth as even to defy the explanation or description so the question that I did pose and I will address is that who is the restrainer all sorts of interpretations have been suggested some say it is the Roman Empire some say it is human government some say it is Satan himself some say it is the prophet Elijah some say it is the angel Michael some say it is the preaching of the gospel and of course there are others that say different things too but cutting to the chase there’s one important question that must be asked and answered which is what or who is able to hold back the endeavors of Satan and to hold back the mystery of iniquity that is going on behind the scenes who’s able to do that well the only answer would be is that it would have to be something supernatural that would be holding back the workings of Satan in fact looking at some of the specifics of the text the fact that the restrainer will be it says out of the Mist out of the middle seems to speak of one who is now in the midst of something alright so that that means it is pointing I believe clearly to the Holy Spirit the Spirit of God who is now here in person as the indwelling of the Saints it is the Holy Spirit the indwelling Spirit that he will be taken out of the midst of the present seen when the returning Christ calls his church back to himself now of course since the removal of the restrainer takes place before the manifestation of the lawless one this identification implies a pre-tribulation rapture now I need to remind you that it doesn’t say that the Holy Spirit will be taken out but the restrainer will now the Holy Spirit will be taken out of the way but the difference lies in the meaning between residents and presence as a member of the Godhead the Spirit is omnipresent he’s everywhere he has always been in the world and he will certainly certainly will continue to be present during the seven-year period called tribulation but at Pentecost the outpouring of the Spirit of God upon the church assumed he assumed the special relationship to the church as it’s in dweller now after the completion of his work in the church he will zoom the relationship which with mankind that he had before Pentecost and so when the Holy Spirit which is the indwelling of believers making up the body of Christ removes his residence not his presence then and only then can the man of lawlessness be revealed so consequently the church and my understanding must be removed before the man of sin is exposed so the Spirit will be taken out of the way in two senses the first is the temple in which he dwells that’s the church will be removed alright the falling away will be the result of the rapture of the church now I know not everyone holds to that theological position but we have to remember the context of Thessalonians is not to say that God’s bringing wrath but that God’s bringing comfort that God doesn’t save us for wrath he saves us for being with him right in fact in chapter 2 of verse number one of Thessalonians it says now we request you brethren with regard to to thing to the coming of our Lord Jesus and our gathering together with him so that’s in the mind of the Apostle Paul he wants to remind them again that this is what your future is so the Holy Spirit has been in a very well actually after the rapture of the church he will no longer be baptizing people into the body of Christ and using the presence of the church in the world to restrain the forces of godlessness when the rapture of the church occurs instantly the entire world is apostate doesn’t mean that there’s not a religious system they’re the religious system will be intact because most of the religious system today is not real believers the real religious systems today are unbelievers a right matter of fact all the major religions in the world are comprised of religious people who are unbelievers but they think they are believers all right so in other words when the rapture of the church occurs instantly the entire world will be apostate the world will be filled exclusively with unsaved people and the Holy Spirit has been restraining the activities of Satan all along once the Holy Spirit ceases his restraining work the man of sin the Antichrist will be revealed to the world and he will enter energized in can be controlled by Satan in such a way that he will perform amazing feats and he will have an astonishing career he will be the man for the world not localized worldwide this is a worldwide thing going on here this is not local this is happening where the whole world is going to be engaged in this event now of course one of the great schemes of the enemy of Satan himself is that he doesn’t let them know who he is he doesn’t call his man that he’s energizing the Antichrist the only ones who know that are believers because they’re reading the Word of God because they have the scriptures and the scriptures is calling him who he is and what he’s actually going to do in fact he will be coming the Bible says with false signs and wonders look at verse number 9 it says that is the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan with all power and signs and false wonders and then in verse 10 and with all deception of wickedness for those who perish so that means all these things he’s doing to those he has a context he has an audience to those who perish the apostates those who have rejected something already so he comes with a bag full of tricks to substantiate his claim alright and of course these trips are used to sway his audience toward accepting him for who he says he is now let’s look at the lawless one and and and just in this way that he has over the lost because he does have that sway and there’s a certain nature to his power and verse number nine again it says that is the one who’s coming in accord with the activity of Satan now remember the nature of power behind this man of sin this coming this lawless one is a supernatural working of power in other words the working of satanic power there is the workings of adversarial power that Satan is the only is not only behind the lawless one but is the source of all his power and to do what to deceive so consequently the man of lawlessness he will act in harmony and in agreement with the working that is characteristic and has been characteristic of Satan himself and his character in fact it says in Revelation which were going to turn there in a minute Satan gives power to the Beast he is the power behind the Antichrist where it says this in verse chapter 13 verse 2 and the dragon that’s the wagon is Satan himself gave him that is the beast or the anti Krauss Christ power and his throne and great Authority so that is what who he is but then there’s a really a fallout or a delineation of his power in verse number 9 and it breaks it down he actually had as has at his disposal for distinguishing distinguishable tricks that Satan is a mimic and he seeks to counterfeit the counsels of God he will mimic the true and the Living God by all kinds of counterfeit miracles signs and wonders where it says in verse number 9 with all power right so he’s going to have the power the inherent power the supernatural power performing these miracles and it is displayed by his promise to unite humanity bringing law and order radically changing the social order promising to abolish injustice and proud poverty promising to bring total peace through the union of nations under one government and then ultimately under one religion now that is where it’s heading and he has all the power to do that because the church is gone because the Spirit of God is not holding him back anymore he has full power to do it right now of course behind all that God is allowing him to do it that is part of the plan of God and then it says also another trick is that he doesn’t buy all signs he he does miraculous signs that which in other words most likely it will be he will do signs like it says in Revelation where fire comes out of heaven right in front of people and he does that to probably stress some important point of his character as the the man who comes on the scene and is capable of solving the solutions to world problems and specifically the solution to the Jewish problem because we know from the Word of God that Antichrist will according to Daniel chapter 9 will make a seven-year covenant with the nation of Israel guaranteeing her protection from her enemies and giving Israel freedom to reestablish her old testament worship matter of fact they will as a result of course Israel will rebuild the temple in jerusalem and reinstitute her old testament sacrifices for the first three and a half years of his career revelation mentions it as 42 months again maybe if you want to don’t want to make a mistake because it’s a three-and-a-half-year it’s a seven-year time of tribulation array but the Great Tribulation is at the end the first three and half years our piece he’s working he’s manipulating things behind the scene and he’s getting by his signs and wonders people to like him matter of fact to love him and to revere him as a man that they’ve never encountered before and heard about in all humanity so he does it by signs and he does it by false wonders in verse number nine wonders is qualified by the word false of course again we are looking at it from God’s point of view all right that means a lie something that is untrue a false wonder is something that it looks real but it’s not real something that gives the form of being a genuine but it is actually an imitation lying wonders is it wonders are going to be just produce abnormal astonishment in the bee holders and those who are looking on in fact one of the great astonishment of the Antichrist will be a mock resurrection in other words a counterfeit resurrection now if I want you to take your Bibles at this point and turn to Revelation chapter 13 Revelation chapter 13 just to give you a sense of other places that identify this event is happening in the Tribulation Period and it says of course in Revelation chapter 13 verse 3 it says I saw one of the heads as if it had been slain and his fatal wound was healed and the whole earth was amazed and followed after the Beast and then down in verse number 12 again it mentions it he exercises all authority of the first beast in his presence this would be the the false prophet now getting people to worship the Beast it says in his presence and he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose fatal wound was he doe healed now something is fatal that means you die from it right well that’s what’s going on here then look down to verse number 14 it says and he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which was given him to perform in the presence of the Beast telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the Beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life we’re talking about a mock counterfeit resurrection now tell me that won’t get people to attend people’s attention it will get people’s attention matter of fact what is interesting about this is that the dragon Satan resurrects the Beast Anti Christ from the dead that means that the Antichrist is the counterfeit son in every respect now get this a counterfeit death and resurrection leads to a counterfeit second coming to rule the world and possess the nations and the kingdoms of the world that Satan is playing the part of the counterfeit father for as the true father gave authority to the true son so the counterfeit father will give authority to the counterfeit son which is Antichrist now of course we’re dealing with a diabolical unholy trinity who in which Satan is mimicking to the world you have the dragon which is Satan himself counterfeits the father you have the Antichrist which is the man of lawlessness that’s the counterfeit son the beast out of the sea and then you have the false prophet who’s working the Antichrist working in the political realm and the false prophet working in the religious realm right and so the false prophet is the counterfeit Holy Spirit who is the Beast out of the earth and so the man of sin or the man of lawlessness the Antichrist has a particular goal in his mind to reach and to reach his goal you must deceive the whole world and get the whole world to worship Him his goal is I believe twofold one to wear out the Saints those who come to the Lord because of the events that are going to take place in the revelation and then also to get people all over the world to worship Him that’s his goal his main goal is worship that’s where he’s all these things signs wonders miracles all these things are heading and pointing to wow this guy this one the power to perform these signs will direct the attention to the authenticity of his claims and the false wonders will at the same time hold the spectators awestruck as to produce a desire to venerate this man this endtime man that’s what will be going on so the Antichrist will be acclaimed to be the savior Messiah he will appear to be very wise and benevolent he will do this to the Western world because he wants to win them over he will do that to the remaining apostate Church that’s left after the restrainer is removed and he will do that to Israel he will there be very benevolent to Israel and to the ones that I’ve just mentioned so Christians really don’t forget that the man of lawlessness is a counterfeit Christ he always want one or two and does counterfeit Christ he wants to follow closely after what Christ has done of course if you know the Word of God you know he’s not because the Lord wasn’t wounded by a sword and fatally died and then was resurrected a head wound that’s not how it happened all I have to do is read Isaiah 53 right we get a full sense of what’s going to take place there but that’s scriptures not in play here the world is being deceived there’s nobody at this particular point bringing the Word of God to bear on these things in the world so in fact the three words of the miracles of Christ found in Hebrews chapter 2 the powers his signs his wonders are all used here to refer to anti-crime so behind them is the energy of Satan just as Jesus had foretold in Matthew we’re especially Matthew chapter 24 verse 24 where Jesus says for false Christ’s and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead if possible even the elect so these are going to be very very powerful things that are going on in the world and if it is not enough scripture adds one more thing to his bag of tricks in verse number 10 back to 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 verse number 10 it says this that where and with all deception of wickedness now this means he will have at his disposal deceit now that’s not surprise to us but he will know what kind of bait to put on the hook to get people to buy into his plan to get people to like him and yet to get people to even worship Him the man of lawlessness will employ every form of deception and unrighteousness and devised it to be able to mislead his subjects without them catching on to his crooked manipulations he is able to do that in fact he does have a target audience and if you look at 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 verse number 10 it says this and with all deception of wickedness for those who perish right for those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved so here is the people that he’s deceiving these deceptive workings of lawlessness are targeting his audience those who are lost those who are perishing those who are in room that the rune has come because the path they they follow in conduct and character show themselves to be children of perishing that’s what they showed themselves to be so brethren if you look at verse number 10 it says the reason is given for their perishing and for their room and for the present lost this is because they have not received the love of the truth so as to be saved putting it simply they refuse to believe the gospel they deliberately reject they deliberately rejected the divine offer of salvation they in other words refuse Christian salvation and so this is the contra this is in contrast with lying and de-seed that the purpose of the truth the purpose of the truth that God gives to those who obey it is the salvation of their souls that’s what we have done we believed in the gospel of Jesus Christ and what does he do when we believe it and we actually commit to that truth and repent and trust him while he saves us that’s what he does that’s why he came but here this implies much more than just admiration of the truth whether intellectual emotional or aesthetic but a committal to the truth to accept the love of the truth is therefore equivalent to obeying the truth so not only did they reject the love of the truth the saving truth of the gospel but they also manifested a disposition of a version to the truth they didn’t seek it nor did they want it so see there was a disposition against the truth that disposition is very much present in our day at all levels in every place so it’s not hard to understand how he’s able to accomplish his mission but brethren they didn’t want to seriously take consider God solution for their sin the gospel is wrapped in God’s initiative for providing a remedy for sinful man they were rejecting the message of love sent from heaven to mankind they will in other words reject the only solution to be made right with God and if they reject that then there’s only one thing they’re left with their left to believe a lie that’s what they’re left to believe so if you look at again in verse number 10 it says and this there is the love of the truth they rejected therefore they will perish it says and all with all deception and wickedness verse 10 for those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved and because of that it says for this reason God will send upon them a diluting deluding influence so that they will believe what is false alright so they will believe a lie completely so having no love for the truth they really remain ignorant of the magnitude of the gift being offered to them and they display really a criminal indifference towards their eternal welfare recognizing neither the danger nor the way of escape so if the offer of free the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ comes to a sinner needing rescuing and they refuse it they have an excuse why not to believe it if they refuse God if they refuse Christ and ignore the cross and his substitution ery sacrifice if they turn a deaf ear to God’s good news of free grace what’s left well what is left is that for them is to believe just simply a lie in this case they believe the lie the marvelous feat through deception involves really evolved into accomplishing his intended goal and his intended goal is worship and if you look back up to verse number 4 of Thessalonians it says who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called God or object of worship so he takes his seed in the temple of God displaying themselves as being God and of course that is referenced back to Revelation 2 verse chapter 13 verse 4 where it says they worshiped the dragon because he gave authority to the Beast so the Antichrist the false prophet get the world to worship the dragon and this is always his goal who is the counterfeit Heavenly Father and the Antichrist receives worship also just like Jesus received worship because he was God but this worship is different than true biblical worship because Antichrist has people following him and worshiping him blindly because they have no truth they can’t measure whether who this person is there’s no standard to figure out what’s going on they only worship him out of wonder out of astonishment a pure emotional response not based on truth at all there’s nothing the only thing you could base it on is how I feel or how how this person makes me feel when he speaks how he makes me feel when I think about what he did in his mock resurrection I would say I come to this conclusion like it says in Revelation 13 4 and they worship the Beast saying who is like the Beast and who is able to make war with him in other words it’s like saying there’s no one like him it’s like saying we have found the one and that’s exactly where all this is going it’s going to the place where he is desiring worship and he’s going to get that worship and remember worship is has several elements to it actually true worship it has all to it a sense of being in the presence of that which is more than human god but there is also in an element of reverence a sense of being in the presence of that which is holy and majestic and divine now the reason why we know how to have true worship is because we know the God that we worship we have the Word of God to tell us who he is so we know what is true in what is false we know that you can worship a false god but we know how to worship the true God and who he is so we have the revealed truth to be able to do that so the third element of real worship is truth we are to worship God in spirit and in what truth you cannot take those away you need both of those two actually worship correctly and to know who you worshiping see there’s no way to measure what is true so what happens in Thessalonians they will believe what is false the lie was the claim of the Antichrist to be a god greater than all other gods that’s what they believe they believe the lie as if it is the truth now no one’s going to come up and say you know what I believe a lie no they believe it’s the truth and there’s the great deception to think you’re believing something is true when all the time it’s been a lie but there’s nothing you can do to measure whether you’re believing the truth rely so we’re experiencing God’s grace right now because we have the measurement to be able to know what is true and what is not true they believe in a false god but they think he’s the true God and according to the signs that he’s been performing before them it all points to the reality of his claim keeping the reed keeping actually the rejecter of truth spellbound in admiration of the lawless one as being God himself in fact they get to the point in scripture where it says in Revelation chapter 13 verse 14 and 15 where it says and he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the Beast telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the Beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life in verse 15 and it was given to him to give breath to the image of the Beast so that the image of the beasts would even speak in other words they were given a task to build an idol representing the dragon representing Satan himself and that dret that Idol began to actually take on human characteristics and actually speak so the deception is at extremely high level and no one’s no one could get away from that Israel’s going to be deceived the whole world’s going to be deceived and the Muslim faith is going to be deceived all the major religions that are left here are going to be deceived because there’s no more truth and just remember that real biblical worship we are always challenged to exercise our mind and of course that means that divine revelation the Word of God moles and shapes our mind to know what is true false worship is ignorant worship because there is no reliable source of truth to exercise the mind so we can determine what is God’s Way and what is every other way religion may begin with an emotional response it may it may begin that way salvation may begin with an emotional true salvation may begin within a motional response but according to Scripture there comes in a time where emotion must be thought through and must be evaluated as to what I what I am thinking what I am feeling is it true see that must come that’s why our minds have to be transformed don’t let your mind be pushed into the mold of the world Romans chapter 12 but let it be transformed right by the Word of God so you can know what the good and acceptable and the perfect will of God is so you can know those things see that’s what the Bible says so this time in history is going to be a time of incredible deception I don’t think the church is going to be there so I’m going to leave it right there because we have the Lord’s table and I’m going to pick it up next week and deal with the rest of the passage and then I will bring in some of the other things that I said about the Antichrist alright let’s let’s pray lord I do thank you again for just showing us Lord the Word of God thank you Lord for the the comfort that you gave the the Thessalonians in proclaiming to them just Lord some of the things that must take place before the day of the Lord could actually come and Lord we now have the whole of scripture to be able to evaluate things we have things that are written that even the Thessalonians did not have yet so Lord we have a we have the full council of God to be able to evaluate our situation or it help us to do that thinking through these things giving up some things that we thought were true but looking at the details of the text they are changing our mind and I pray Lord that we would be giving ourselves over to the truth so the truth of the word of God can give us a sense of the comfort encouragement that come to know that God is in control and that these things will take place but it is him that will finish everything and so Lord as we look at that next time that Lord you just allow us to think on things that are true things that are of good report and worthy of praise I pray Lord that our mind would be on heavenly things and that we would not be easily duped by deception or even signs and wonders that are that look miraculous that we would not be going following people because of those things but we would be following because we know the truth and the truth is the very thing that sets us free from all that so we can worship you in spirit and in truth so Lord bless us in that way give us that kind of discernment and I prayed this in Christ’s name Amen