The Anti-Christ - 2nd Thessalonians 2:1 5

Well, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. What a blessing it is to be here on this beautiful day.

It's great to see Venera here. Venera, good morning. If you heard her voice, that was her talking there just a moment ago.

So great to see you this morning. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there and to those that are listening in.

And Victor's doing some pretty neat stuff with superimposing the verses to the songs on YouTube.

So that's pretty amazing. Victor, thank you for all the work that Victor does. He's just so behind the scenes, you can't even imagine.

So what a blessing he is. And he's feeling pretty good jacking up motorhomes and doing all sorts of stuff.

So Victor, be careful. Be careful. I wanted to, a few announcements this morning.

It was Victor's birthday this week, so happy birthday, Victor. I guess they had a pretty big blowout at their place.

It's pretty neat. Ladies, Bible study is going to be next Saturday, ladies, at 10 o 'clock, correspond a little bit with Iljin and Lauren, and they're,

I think, pretty close to securing housing, not too far from here, over off Cadillac Drive, so an apartment there.

So continue to pray for them. And finals, I think, is this week, according to what's online, but I don't know how his studies align with that.

So keep them in your prayers, please. And they may have an earlier arrival than July, maybe

June, but they're just taking that one day at a time. Keep Penny in your prayers.

Her health is still failing, and she's at home with 24 -hour care. So let's remember

Penny as well. And I think at this moment in time, we're going to have

Barb come forward, and she's going to share a little something for the ladies, the moms.

Well, thank you, Barb. This is a special day, and it can be a challenging day for a lot of folks, too, the moms that have passed and other challenges in life, but God is good in his gift to us, in mothers, and remember,

God makes no mistakes. So we're all here because of God's plan, and so we can hold to that.

I wanted to take a moment, I want to challenge us this morning in our worship to keep a high view of God, of the

Lord, to remember what we have been given as followers of Christ. Philippians 3 .12

tells us, Not that I have already attained or am already perfected, but I press on that I may lay hold of that for which

Christ Jesus has laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing

I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,

I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

What a blessing that is. So let's, please join with me in prayer. Lord God, we thank you for our gathering this morning, that you don't make any mistakes,

Father, you have purposed us to be here. Lord, we just pray that we would be faithful to what you have called us to do,

Lord. Help us to press on, Father, to do your will, to represent you in this world around us,

Father, with so many challenges and so many difficulties. But Lord, you are a

God over all, and we need not fear. We need to trust in you in all things, Father.

So in this service today, I pray that our voices would be lifted to you in a worthy manner, that we would give you praise and exalt your name above all names,

Father. And we pray for Pastor John, that you would empower him through the Holy Spirit, Father, that you would just give his heart the ability to rest in the truth of the gospel.

So Lord, thank you for this day and this morning. And we just pray for all those moms out there that are here and far away,

Lord, that you would bless them. And we just ask all these things in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. David?

Well, happy Mother's Day to the moms out there. I guess a happy Mother's Day to my mom. Hi. Good morning, and let's stand and sing, be exalted,

O God, for his mercy is great, and there is no other

God beside him. In Christ alone.

And I will glory in my Redeemer. Please be seated at this time.

Good morning. Scripture reading this morning is taken from the book of Acts, Acts 20, verses 17 through 31.

Acts 20, 17 through 31. And when they had come to him, he said to them, you know, from the first day that I came to Asia and what manner

I always lived among you, serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials, which happened to me by the plotting of the

Jews. How I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our

Lord Jesus Christ. And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the

Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me.

But none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy in a ministry, which

I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

And indeed, now I know that you all among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God will see my face no more.

Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.

Therefore, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the

Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.

For I know this, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

Also from among yourselves, men will rise up speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves.

Therefore, watch and remember that for three years, I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.

May the Lord add his blessing to the reading and hearing of his holy word. And let us praise our

Lord and stand and sing. Oh, Lord, my rock and my redeemer. I invite you to take your

Bibles and turn with me to the gospel of Matthew, the gospel of Matthew, and we're going to be in Matthew chapter 24.

So first book of the New Testament, Matthew chapter 24. And a very warm Mother's Day welcome.

Amen. Very often on Mother's Day, I preach a

Mother's Day message. Sometimes I preach a Father's Day message on Father's Day.

But then sometimes, you know, in a church, there might be mothers. There's ladies that aren't mothers yet.

Right. And they feel bad. In fact, in our church for many years, we had a lady that longed to be married and have kids.

And she never it. Lord just never opened that door. And she told me once, you know,

I feel kind of bad. And so I didn't preach a Mother's Day message for a couple of years, you know.

And it's funny because I knew it was Mother's Day. I was planning for Mother's Day. But all

I can think about is this series that we're on stand firm in the last days.

Right. That was that's been my my focus. And I just have to warn you, some of you are old enough to remember that famous commercial.

That famous commercial that changed the way we think about cars. You remember that commercial?

This is not your father's Oldsmobile. How many remember that?

There's those little cultural points in our lives, right, where everything is redefined.

I remember when we talked about the generation gap. Do you remember that?

When all the teens and college kids were talking about the generation gap?

You remember the peace sign? And then it grabs the culture and then it fades away. Well, this is not your

Mother's Day message. Your typical Mother's Day message, if you looked at your notes.

One of the things interesting is when we talk about the last days, if you go back in contemporary modern church history, when there's a

Bible conference, literally by far the most common

Bible conference, the one that is most attended by the most people are prophecy conferences.

People want to know about the future. They want to know what the

Bible says. They want to plan. Well, I can tell you, lumber is going up.

In the last year, lumber has gone up 300 percent. Can you imagine?

A 200 square foot deck a year and a half ago cost 900 in lumber.

Right now it's $2 ,700 for that 200 square foot deck.

Bible prophecy conferences have always been the most popular. People want to know what does the

Bible tell me about the future? How can I prepare? So in honor of Mother's Day this morning, we're going to take a one

Sunday detour from Second Timothy, and we're going to study a single topic about prophecy, just one aspect of prophecy.

And keep in mind, we're in this ongoing study on helps or tools that we find in God's Word that will help us stand firm in difficult times.

Right. That's what we're studying. And you remember that we've seen that Timothy and the early church and ever since the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are living in a period in history that the

Bible calls the last days. Right. That's that's God's timeline of history.

Our scripture reading that Dave did such a good job on was taken from the

Apostle Paul's last warning, last meeting with the elders from the church at Ephesus.

Now, keep in mind, Timothy was a pastor where in Ephesus and the

Apostle Paul, when he was in Ephesus, as far as we could tell, he stayed in Ephesus three years.

Now, Thessalonica, he stayed there less than two weeks. When you read the book of Galatians, he was in that area.

There's four or five churches possibly that he started in that area of modern day Turkey. He was in that area for about a year and a half in Ephesus.

He was there for three years. And he tells the Ephesians elders as he says goodbye to them, as he said, he says,

I did not stop warning you night and day with tears. Right.

And Timothy was in that group. And we're studying what book?

Second Timothy, Paul's last will and testament to Timothy. And Paul says to the elders and Timothy was there most likely as far as we can tell.

He says, take heed to yourselves and all the flock among you. This is a charge to pastors and elders.

Take heed to yourselves and all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.

Listen carefully. Dave just read them. For I know.

I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

Also from among your very selves. Men will rise up speaking perverse things to draw the disciples after themselves.

If you know anything at all about the history of the Jehovah Witnesses, that is exactly how the

Jehovah Witnesses was founded. A Sunday school teacher that did not like the doctrine of hell and started teaching in a

Baptist church that hell didn't exist, a loving God would not create a place like that left and started the

Jehovah Witnesses. OK, so the warning is right. The warning is that men will rise up speaking perverse things, speaking things in such a way to draw away the disciples after themselves.

And one of the things that has been happening in the church since it began has been the influence of false teachers.

And you might recall that when we started that series on standing firm in the last days, I went through a bunch of scriptures.

How many remember that? Your fingers got tired. You complained, John. And one of the passages that I read from is here in Matthew 24.

And Jesus is talking about the conditions in the world and in the church during the last days.

And I want to call your attention specifically to Matthew 24, verse three. Remember this?

The disciples came to him privately saying, tell us. When will these things be?

What he had been talking about. Watch carefully. And what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?

Now, are you with me here? Jesus came once, right? Understand the scripture is absolutely clear that Jesus, that a

Messiah would come from the line of David. He would be born of a virgin. He would come from Bethlehem.

You understand that's what the scripture teaches. Please listen to me. Over 300 prophecies, 300 plus.

Last time I checked, they're up to 330. Some of them, I don't know how they get them. But a minimum of 300 specific prophecies related to a

Messiah that would be born in Bethlehem by a virgin, right? Those 300 prophecies spoken over the course of the history of the

Old Testament, those 300 prophecies were fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ.

OK, so the same Bible that talks us to tells us about the first coming also tells us about what the second coming.

OK, that's what they're wondering about. Wait a minute. What's going to be the sign of your coming?

Look at verse four. Jesus answered and said to them.

Take heed that no one deceive you, for many will come in my name saying

I am the Christ and will deceive. How many? Yeah, just a few people.

Now, stay with me here. If you've ever doubted that a personal antichrist could come into the world and deceive people, you aren't reading your

Bible. And you aren't looking at history, because what's happened in our country in the past year and a half, two years and the world.

You want to talk about deception. And let me add to that.

What does the world commonly look for to solve its problems? A leader.

You know, when things get really bad, when the economy is bad and it comes time for an election, what's everybody looking for?

A president that will fix everything or a prime minister. Am I not right? Come on. You need to understand this because of this warning.

Take heed that no one deceives you, for many will come in my name saying

I am the Christ. Now, there is a lot of different warnings.

Or I'm sorry, a lot of different views among Christians about what is going to be going on in the last days.

As the return of Jesus Christ gets closer and closer. But there's one thing that all biblical

Christians agree on, and that is that Jesus is coming again. Now, all of the events between now and then, there's some disagreement and debate.

OK. Deception. A warning to believers about being deceived by men who will say

I am the Christ. Now, look what comes next. Verse 15.

Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation. Spoken of by Daniel, the prophet standing in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand.

This verse and many others are pointing to a single false

Christ. Look what it says in verse five. Many will come in my name saying

I am the Christ, right? That's many claim to be Jesus Christ, right?

Now we come to a single verse 15. When you see the abomination of desolation.

Spoken of by Daniel, the prophet standing in the holy place, right? These verses and many others are pointing to a single false

Christ. Now, look at verse 23. Then if anyone says to you, look, here is what the

Christ or there don't believe it.

For false Christ's plural and false prophets plural will arise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

See, I have told you beforehand that verse should be underlined in your Bible because Jesus is warning us that many false

Christ and see in our little cocoon of Christianity, we don't understand that around the world, even in the

United States, throughout history, there have been men show up on the scene that say, I am the second coming of Jesus Christ.

OK. Paul warned the

Ephesian elders night and day for three years about the danger of being deceived.

Jesus warns Christians about being deceived. And this morning, one of the tools that Jesus Christ has given believers when it comes to living in the last days is this warning about false

Christ and being deceived. And verse 15 specifically warns about a man that the

Bible calls the Antichrist. Capital A. That's why your message title says what?

The Antichrist. Right now, let's go to second Thessalonians. I'm not going to jump around too much.

So warm up your fingers a little bit. If you need to second Thessalonians right before second

Timothy. Right. You're going to find Thessalonians, first Thessalonians and second Thessalonians. Right. What today is is kind of a primer, a very condensed

Reader's Digest. If you still remember that, I used to read that thing. I had a subscription to Reader's Digest.

Didn't you love that drama in real life? Remember those? I couldn't wait. And what was that vocabulary thing?

There was always 20 words. Was it 20 or 10? Was it 20? Man, I used to love that magazine.

I used to love that. What a fun magazine that used to be. So you see the message title,

The Antichrist. This is a primer, an introduction. We're trying to learn what it means to stand firm in the last days.

And one of the things that we may face in our very own lifetime is the arrival of the

Antichrist. It could happen. Prophetically, if you go through Scripture, as far as I can tell, and people a lot more intelligent and educated than I am, there is nothing prophetically that needs to be fulfilled.

I mean, the gospel's gone around the world, right? Israel's a nation.

You can go down the line. It appears that Jesus literally could come back at any time.

And before he does that, an Antichrist will come, a single Antichrist that will claim to be the second coming of Jesus Christ, who will do great miracles and will possibly even deceive.

Do you listen to what I'm saying? The elect, people like you and I. We need to be prepared.

We need to understand. We need to know, right? And God has given us those tools.

How do you stand firm? How do you stand firm in the power of the gospel, right?

In the last days, one of them is through understanding what God tells us about this person called the

Antichrist. All right, let's pray. Father, I thank you for this day and for the time in your word today.

I pray that you would open our eyes of understanding. Lord, we need that. We need the Holy Spirit to be our teacher. We ask this,

Father, that that you would be glorified, God, that Christ would be exalted and give you all the praise, all the glory in Jesus name.

Amen. So if you're in second Thessalonians, it's a letter that is written by the apostle

Paul to believers in a little town called Thessalonica. He was run out on a rail. He was there maybe at the most nine days.

And a lot of people under under his ministry got saved. And he's writing in this second letter, very similar to second

Timothy, very similar to second Peter. He's writing to encourage believers, a church that in this case, they were being afflicted and heavily persecuted.

And when he comes to chapter two. In second Thessalonians, chapter two, he begins to he turns to giving instructions on on how to prepare and be ready for life in the last days.

And specifically in this case, he is talking about a period in biblical history that scholars refer to.

Listen carefully. And you might want to take just a couple of notes. I left a little bit of space between each outline point, specifically in a period of history on that timeline of the last days that scholars refer to as the end times.

OK, the end times are towards the end of the last days.

So we're getting very close in the end times. Right to the second coming of Christ.

Now, notice what Paul says in verse one. Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our

Lord Jesus Christ, what is he talking about there? The second coming, not the first coming. Jesus has already come.

So are we all on the same page? Jesus is coming again. OK, that is what's called a fundamental of the faith.

You're supposed to go. Yeah. When I go like that, Jimmy, come on. You don't have to go like that.

You just put at least a jerk of the head, right? Debbie, are you with me? Wow. OK. Amen. Good. Ramiah, are you there?

OK. OK. Dave, Katie, first coming, second coming.

We can count. OK. And are gathering together to him.

That's a proof text for what's called the rapture. But that's a whole nother two week series, five weeks, seven week.

We ask you look at carefully not to be soon shaken in mind or trouble, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us.

As though the day of Christ had come. Please look carefully at verse three.

Let no one deceive you by any means. Oh, do you think maybe

God's warning us we might be deceived? You're supposed to go. Yeah. Come on. OK.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We might be. You mean the elect? You mean Christians might be deceived? You mean those that go to church every single

Sunday might be deceived? The answer? Yes. You mean those that read their Bible every Sunday? Yes. Jesus is coming again.

And Paul warns in verse two, don't be soon shaken. Don't be troubled in your mind by spirit or word by letter, as if from us, as if the day of Christ had come.

Let no one deceive you by any means. Church, please listen to me. One of I shouldn't say

I should say a very respected, nationally known

Bible teacher. Fifteen or so years ago came out and said that Jesus had come back in 70

A .D. and walked the earth. How about that?

Nationally known on the radio. Is it possible that you and I might be deceived by a person that comes and says,

I am Jesus Christ. I am the second coming answer. Yes. So how do we stand firm and not be deceived?

We have to know what God warns us about this person called the

Antichrist, this man. OK, and that's what this is about a primer. So Paul is not talking here.

About many Antichrist that have risen up over the course of church history, but rather a single

Antichrist that will rise up above all others. And in history as a world leader during the end times, right?

Last days, end times, second coming. So we're towards the end of the last days, right?

And it's just before Jesus returns in both first Thessalonians and second

Thessalonians and time events like the return of Jesus Christ, the day of the Lord and the Antichrist were apparently very hot topics on their mind.

OK, so I want to give us this introductory look at the man the

Bible refers to as the Antichrist. Like Second Timothy, Paul's real emphasis in this letter is on being equipped and being prepared and being ready to live in the last days.

And in particular, that period of time towards the end of the last days that Bible scholars talk about and refer to as the end times.

Right now, we've seen how God's word clearly teaches that as the return of Jesus Christ gets nearer and nearer in the last days, we know from all the reading we did some weeks ago when we started this series, right?

That as the return of Jesus Christ gets nearer and nearer, right? In the last days, what the world will get?

What worse and worse? The overall curve of morality, murders, wars, rumors of wars.

Do you think that they've elevated some? Barb, since you were a little girl? Victor, 84?

What was the birthday? Oh, sorry. You can slap me after.

81. Well, we've got 85 and 86 in our church, so I'm always thinking low 80s.

Understand that there is a point in history coming in the period of human history at the end of the last days that is referred to by scholars as the end times towards the end of the last days of human history.

As we know it, a number of events are going to occur, one of which is the rise of this world to worldwide prominence of a person that the

Bible calls the Antichrist. And you say, how could that happen? That could not happen 50, 60 years ago before we had these things.

Do you understand that? I mean, the spread of information and disinformation is global now because of these things and because of what?

The Internet. I talked to a guy, an unbeliever yesterday, tried to turn the conversation to a gospel conversation.

And one of the things he told me is, you know, he says, I'm not a, you know, I'm not into conspiracies and all that.

And but he said, you know, what's amazing is, you know, we're all locked in our head. Listen, this is an unbeliever.

We're all locked in our houses and the only thing we've got is streaming. So we're all listening to the same thing.

Isn't that interesting? An unbeliever. And I said to him, this is how this is the point at which

I turned it to the gospel. I said, yeah, that's why I'm so thankful that I'm a Christian, that I know

God, you know, because we understand that we can trust in him. And and just the conversation just turned.

He believes in God, but not a believer. So understand human history has its share of evil leaders, right?

For example, the first century when Timothy was living, we had Nero and we had a number of other

Roman emperors, one much worse than Nero. We have a guy by the name of Domitian, man, he was he was bad.

The 20th century hosted a ton of evil dictators, the two most notorious, who

Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler. Furthermore, for perspective, man's religious history has also been plagued by false

Christ, false teachers, cult leaders. Swami's one of the one of the kids at church at school this week asked me about the

Jonestown massacre. Do you know that over 800 people drank that cyanide poison? And he started out as a

Baptist preacher. I mean, I think it was 300 children.

Died by drinking that concoction, that Kool -Aid. We looked it up because I couldn't remember how many died.

In Ghana, you all know about that, Jonestown? Yeah. So wolves in what?

Sheepskin clothing. But here's what we want to understand when it comes to being prepared and standing firm in the last days.

God's word tells us and warns us that there is one who is coming who will surpass

Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin. We know that Hitler killed at least six million, if not more,

Jewish people in the most horrific ways, right? Stalin, over 12 million. Right now in China, three, they don't know.

One and a half to three million Muslim Uyghurs are in concentration camps in Western China.

They don't know how many they're killing. God's word warns us and tells us one who is coming, who will surpass them all, both in the extent of the power, the evilness of his person.

He will be the most fiendish, wicked, powerful man to ever walk the earth. And something to understand and make a note of is when it comes to standing firm in the power of Jesus Christ and the gospel that Paul is exhorting

Timothy to, when it comes to understanding and identifying and recognizing the

Antichrist, right? One true, all -knowing, all -loving

God literally gives us the DNA profile of the behavior, the character, the personality of this

Antichrist, who will be a real person that will rise to worldwide prominence towards the latter part of the last days.

And no doubt God gives us this much information to help believers from being deceived and being able to identify him when he shows up on the world stage, okay?

God made, as I said earlier, over 300 promises about Jesus Christ, about the

Messiah that were fulfilled in the man Jesus Christ, over 300 astronomical odds, right?

And he gave them that so that Israel would know beyond a shadow of a doubt when the

Messiah came, and they what? Missed him. We don't want to miss the

Antichrist. So if you look at your notes, I'm breaking every rule. Any how to preach a sermon, organize a sermon book that's ever been written, tells you never go with five points.

Never go more than three. There's five points in your notes, right? Am I right? Okay, good.

I had six this morning and I cut it. So we have a lot to cover.

I'm going to move a little bit quickly. And when you're done, what you'll have is a basic ready reference, right?

When it comes to having a basic understanding of what the Bible teaches about the Antichrist.

So how can we be better equipped to not be deceived and to be equipped to identify and recognize the

Antichrist when he appears on the world stage? Number one, by understanding that the Antichrist is known in scripture by many names.

Believers can be better equipped to identify and recognize the

Antichrist when he appears on the world stage by understanding that he is identified in scripture by many different names.

For example, in Ezekiel 38 verse two, he is referred to as Gog of the land of Magog, the

Prince of Rosh, Meshach and Tobal. Those tell us that most likely the

Antichrist will come from somewhere in the Middle East or appear somewhere in that region of the world.

In Daniel chapter seven, verse eight, he's referred to as the little horn, not the prominent horn, but the little horn.

So we might not even recognize him to begin with. In Daniel 9, 26, he's referred to as the

Prince who is to come. In the Antichrist in Revelation is referred to as the beast.

In Revelation 11, 7, 13, 1, 14, 9, 19, 20, and other verses.

Now look at how Paul refers to this man in verse three. Let no one deceive you by any means, for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first.

And what? The man of sin, right? Some translations have their lawlessness.

He's also referred to as the son of perdition or destruction. Verse eight, he's referred to as the lawless one.

And look at verse nine. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan.

How are we gonna know the Antichrist when he shows up? Look at this. He's gonna come with all power, signs, and lying wonders.

I mean, don't politicians lie? Come on, you all know that. This guy's gonna be a liar too.

And I'm sure Twitter's gonna find him out. And then when we out him on Twitter, they're gonna block us.

Go to 1 John for a moment. 1 John, 1

John 2. Almost to the back of the Bible, just past 1 and 2 Peter, 1

John 2. So this coming world figure has all kinds of names and titles throughout scripture.

And I believe that that's partly to help believers to better identify and understand him. He is best known as the

Antichrist as John refers to him here in 1 John 2, verse 18.

Little children, it is the last hour. Now watch this. This is so interesting.

I just don't have the time to go down the rabbit trail. Last days, right? End times.

What's he saying? Last hour. Isn't that interesting?

And this is about 1970 years ago. A little longer than that.

It's the last hour. And as you have heard, that the

Antichrist is coming. Even now, right now, when

I'm writing this, many Antichrist have come by which we know that is the last hour.

Boy, I'll tell you, I would love to chase that down with you. That is so much fun.

I mean, that is how urgent this is. And then in those days, it was the last hour.

I wonder if we're living in the last minute. The word

Antichrist there is a compound Greek word. It's made up of the preposition anti and the noun

Christos. Anti can mean both. Listen, Antichrist, right?

That preposition can have two meanings. One could be against and one in the place of.

See, both meanings are appropriate because the Antichrist will both oppose the true

Christ and he will seek to usurp his place. I mean, you understand, go back to Genesis three.

What did Satan try to do? God doesn't want you to eat because then you will what?

Be like God. So this guy is going to usurp the position, the deity, the supremacy of Jesus Christ.

So when that begins to happen, we know this is the Antichrist. Anyone who opposes the person and work of Christ manifests the

Antichrist spirit. Look at verse 22, who is a liar, but he who denies that Jesus is the

Christ. He is the Antichrist who denies the father.

So right now there are Antichrist. There's millions of them. They worship

Allah. Understand they get the watchtower and Bible track society magazine.

And then he says in verse 18, many Antichrist have come. Right. So how can we better equipped to not be deceived and be equipped to identify and recognize the

Antichrist when he appears on the world stage? Secondly, by understanding this term last hour.

OK, I'll take just a minute. Make sure we get that. So on the timeline of eternity, believers today are living in what the

Bible most likely refers to as the last hour. We have last days. We have end times.

End times are is a term used. You won't find it in the Bible that is used by scholars to refer to that period of time at the end of human history.

Closest to the second coming of Christ. Now look at verse back to second Thessalonians, and let's look at something.

Just to kind of get us thinking.

Second Thessalonians chapter two, verse five. So we have the last days, we have the end times, we have the last hour.

And here comes the Antichrist. And what we want to understand that even in that day, these were not passing topics for the

Apostle Paul, because he says in verse five, do you not remember? That when

I was still with you, I told you these things. Now notice what he says. He says, don't be shaken in mind.

Verse two are troubled either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.

Let no one deceive you by any means, for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first.

And the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called

God or that is worshiped so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is

God. Which is why Christians for so many centuries have so anticipated the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem.

And right now in Israel, if you want to talk about prophecy, you can look this up on Google.

The Jewish people are ready to rebuild the temple. They have all of the instruments, the laver.

They have everything. They don't have the Ark of the Covenant. They have the musicians. They have the very same musical instruments built and ready to play in temple worship.

They're ready to go. They have the priestly garments. They've done the genealogical studies. They found the

Levites because only the Levites could be priest. Right. They've got it already. The only thing that's left is what?

Rebuild the temple. Despite Harrison Ford, as far as we know, the

Ark of the Covenant. As fun as that movie might be and as interesting as it might be, was probably destroyed by the

Babylonians and ripped apart when they conquered Jerusalem. So there's every.

Verse five, by the way, real quick, the Greek there. The Greek there. Do you not remember that when

I was still with you, I told you these things? This is the idea in the Greek is I was constantly telling you these things.

So do you mind if I preach on this for the next 10 weeks? Till aging comes? You're supposed to say no.

No, no. You're supposed to say, yeah. Yeah. I don't want to hear this same message every Sunday, John. All right.

Number three. Even though many Antichrist have appeared. And even though a final

Antichrist will come, we also need to understand that the spirit of Antichrist has been at work in the world since Genesis chapter three.

How can we be better equipped to not be deceived and be able to identify and recognize the

Antichrist when he appears on the world stage by understanding that the spirit of Antichrist has been at work since the fall of man?

You remember in Genesis chapter three. Please look there with me. Genesis three. Genesis three.

Look at what God says. And hold your place in second test. We'll be right back there.

Is this for me? Thank you very much. So hold your place in second

Thessalonians. We're going to go back there. But Genesis three for just a moment. The Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field.

On your belly you shall go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.

And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head.

And you shall bruise his heel or crush.

I'm sorry, he shall bruise your head might be crude, crush your head. You serpent shall bruise his heel.

So since that catastrophic event, Satan has opposed God's plan for redemption and attempted to thwart the work of the redeemer.

Remember in Genesis six, the world had become so wicked. The world had become so under control of the devil that the thought and intention of every man's heart everywhere in the world, including

Noah was only what? Wickedness, right? And God drowns the whole world, sparing only

Noah and his family. Remember, lady later, hoping to destroy the line of messianic promise.

Remember what Satan did? He incites Pharaoh to kill all the Hebrew babies.

Remember that? But Moses's mother hit him. Some 600 years later, you might remember how in first and second chronicles, when you read first and second chronicles, it shows that the family of Messiah was reduced to a single child.

But again, Satan was not able to stop God's plan, right? Nor did

Satan's tool Haman in the book of Esther. Why is the book of Esther so important? Read the book of Esther.

God is never mentioned. But God's providential sovereign care over his people and the genealogical line of the

Messiah, that is recorded in Esther. Haman, right? He has a plot to massacre the

Jewish people. But in Esther chapter three, God saves them through the courage and wisdom of Esther and her uncle

Mordecai. And these only highlight Satan's relentless battle and efforts to thwart the redeeming work of Messiah Christ after Jesus's birth.

What did Satan do? What did Herod order? The killing of all the babies.

No different than Pharaoh, right? Herod's barbarous attempt to kill the

Lord Jesus by slaughtering the male babies in Bethlehem failed. He and his parents, what?

God warned Joseph in a dream and off they went to Egypt. And we can go to other examples.

But even when the Jews and Romans cooperated to have Jesus killed, they were only doing God's will.

Satan's brief satisfaction was cut short by the resurrection. So remember, anyone that opposes the person and work of Christ, listen, manifests the

Antichrist spirit. That's at work right now in these false religions.

We need to understand that. Is it possible that the Antichrist could come out of Islam?

Yes, I don't know, but we need to understand that. The scripture also indicates that a final single

Antichrist will be the culmination of all the Antichrists that have come and gone before them.

So remember, when it comes to identifying and recognizing the Antichrist, when he comes and shows up on the world stage, remember that his spirit, that spirit has been working throughout history.

Now, fourth, in order to be better prepared for living in the last days and end times and standing firm and in order to be equipped, in order to recognize and identify the

Antichrist when he appears, we have to have a little bit of a perspective on the history of the

Jewish people. For example, history indicates that ever since Jesus's death, it appears that Satan has inspired hatred of Messiah's people, the

Jewish people, right? The persecution and oppression and massacres culminated in the

Holocaust brought on by the Nazis in the 20th century, right? Islamic animosity and desire to obliterate the

Jews is the latest evidence of Satan's hatred of God's purpose to redeem the Jews and make his son their king.

But Antichrist will be the Jews' worst persecutor as he attempts to thwart the fulfillment of God's pledge of salvation and a kingdom for Israel.

That's why when Israel became a nation in the 40s, this was such a big deal prophetically, because God has a covenant with those people.

After posing as their protector for the first half of the time of the tribulation, and we'll look at these in just a moment,

Daniel 9, 27 says he will break his covenant with them, and then he will unleash the persecution against the

Jewish people that will be unparalleled, unparalleled in history.

You want to look at that? Go to Zechariah chapter 13 if you want to make a note. Under point four,

Zechariah 13 talks about that. Now, we are not the Thessalonians. And so far as Christians in the

U .S., we haven't persecuted. We haven't experienced persecution like the Thessalonians or believers in Muslim countries.

I don't know if I mean, I don't think half of the Christians in America have even a clue about some of the stuff that is going on.

Just last week, another Canadian pastor was arrested for preaching the gospel.

What was he arrested for? Hate speech. Another one.

And they just had a trial for the guy in Edmonton. I don't know if you've read anything about that.

We're not that far behind. In that trial, the government called one witness, one, the health inspector that cited them for not having social distancing, having too many people in their building.

OK, and what was the other? Oh, no masks. They were singing. So the defense attorney asked this health inspector.

Do you have any training in this? No. Do you have any? They weren't allowed to subpoena scientific evidence for the draconian measures that the province of Alberta was imposing on God's people.

No scientific evidence was allowed in that trial. We have not experienced anything compared to many

Christians around the world. In Matthew 24, Jesus says, false Christ and false prophets will rise.

They will show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. And when you read 2

Thessalonians, you understand they were deceived by false teachers about the end time events.

And they already were convinced that the day of the Lord had come because of the persecution they were experiencing.

And now number five, we can also be better equipped to identify and recognize the Antichrist by understanding that it seems clear from the

New Testament that a single and personal Antichrist that is to come was common knowledge among the early

Christians. Go to Daniel seven, Daniel seven, Old Testament. See, John's readers had heard that Antichrist was coming, right?

We read that. And Paul had taught that same truth to the

Thessalonians. So Paul is writing believers who were already experiencing persecution from the

Antichrist forerunners who were being, and that persecution was being manifested in the spirit of Antichrist, right?

So besides Paul's teaching, the Thessalonians no doubt knew that the final Antichrist had been prophesied in the

Old Testament. He had also been predicted by the Lord Jesus himself. And look at Daniel chapter seven, verse seven.

Daniel seven, verse seven. After this, this is Daniel the prophet.

I saw in the night visions and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong.

It had huge iron teeth. It was devouring, breaking in pieces and trampling the residue with its feet.

It was different from all the beasts that were before it. And it had 10 horns. I was considering the horns and there was another horn, a little one coming up among them before whom the three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots.

And there in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth speaking pompous words.

This little horn overpowers the other horns and it describes him as having a mouth uttering great boasts, a reference to his oratory skills, his arrogant pride.

And then look at verse 21. I was watching. And the same horn, that little horn was making war against the saints and prevailing against them.

And look at verse 23, the fourth beast, that little horn, right? Shall be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which shall be different from all other kingdoms.

Church, look and shall devour the whole earth, trample it and break it in pieces.

Can I ask you a question? I don't know if any of you went to college and are history majors. I know we've got some engineering guys and we've got some

RNs in here and we've got all kinds of college degrees, probably right. But have you ever in your life heard of anything in human history like what we just read about?

No. This has to be future. This is prophecy.

God's people are being warned about this person. Verse 25 depicts him as a blasphemer who will speak out against God.

He will speak pompous words against the most high. He shall persecute the saints of the most high believers.

He shall intend to change times and law. The saints will be given into his hand for a time and halftime.

Verse 25. He shall speak pompous words against the most high.

He shall persecute the saints of the most high. He shall intend to change times and law. Does that sound like something that's kind of going on now?

When they want to redefine our gender, then the saints shall be given into his hand for times and halftimes.

And we can go on and on and on. Verse 26. But the court shall be seated and they shall take away his dominion to consume and destroy it forever.

Jesus' final triumph. Verse 27. Then the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms and the whole heaven shall be given to the people, the saints of the most high.

Church, his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

Jesus is coming again. Many sound biblical scholars believe that this is talking about the millennial kingdom, which is a 1 ,000 year reign of Christ.

Daniel 8, 23. And the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have reached their fullness, a king shall rise, having fierce features, who understands sinister schemes.

Right? Verse 25.

Through his cunning, he shall cause deceit to prosper. Because in Daniel, it goes back and forth. It goes back and forth between the antichrist and then the ancient of days,

Jesus. It goes back and forth. It takes a long time. You have to read it and read it and read it. I can't, I don't have the time to unpack all of it.

He shall exalt himself in his heart. This is not Jesus. He shall destroy many in their prosperity. He shall arise even against the prince of priests.

But what he shall be broken without human means. We go to chapter nine.

I'm out of time. Chapter nine out of time. Basically, Daniel depicts the antichrist as a blasphemer without parallel in human history, who will magnify himself above every

God and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods. My point is the final antichrist, as the scripture gives us the picture of this man.

He has yet to appear on the world stage. John Bunyan, he wrote the famous Christian book called

Pilgrim's Progress while he was in prison. He said this about the antichrist.

Antichrist, therefore, is a mystical man, so made or begotten of the devil and sent into the world himself being the chief and highest of him.

Three things, therefore, go to the making up of antichrist, the head, body and soul. The devil, he is the head.

The synagogue of Satan, that is the body. The wicked spirit of iniquity, that is the soul of the antichrist.

Christ, then, is the head of his church. The devil is the head of antichrist. The elect are the body of Christ.

The reprobate professors are the body of antichrist. The Holy Ghost is the spirit of life that actuates or makes active

Christ's body. That wicked spirit of iniquity is that which actuates or makes active the body of antichrist friends.

The Thessalonians have been taught and warned about the last days. And the scripture is clear that Jesus and the apostles taught that the clock tracking the last days and end times began when

Jesus ascended to heaven and the Thessalonians were disturbed and shaken. And Paul is helping them to be prepared.

It is clear from God's word and the events in our world right now that each hour and each day that passes brings the second coming of Jesus Christ closer and closer.

And as I said earlier, as far as we can tell from the prophetic scheme that God's word paints for us, there is nothing left that needs to be fulfilled before Jesus comes again.

I mean, you talk to Victor, who's 81. Talk to anybody.

Did they ever in their life think that the kinds of things, Verna, that are going on in the world right now would be going on?

Never. And yet God's word tells us it will only what?

Get worse. And I'm sorry. That's why we have to stand firm.

God has not given us a spirit of fear, right? But of power and of a sound mind, right?

How? Through the gospel. Amen. So that's my prayer.

My prayer is that we will continue in this study until Ilgen comes.

And I'm going to tell you, he's going to preach whatever God leads him to preach. Amen. And he could, you know, we'll be done because when

I get word, when he's finally here, I'll wrap it up one Sunday and then he's all yours. And ours too.

We're looking forward to that. But my point is that your toolbox on how to stand firm.

I mean, who knows what's next? I just read yesterday that they're talking about keeping kids out of school through the fall. And the gentleman that visited our home yesterday shared with me how traumatizing this has been to his daughter.

She's in a public school. He just, he's, I thought he was going to cry.

But I really did. My prayer is that we are have that toolbox stocked up and we have it ready for when those things come and hit us.

Amen. David. Thank you, Pastor John. And let's stand for our closing song.

We are God's people. We are

God's people, the chosen of the

Lord. Born of his spirit, established by his word.

And strong in him we stand. We're all dismissed.