“The Man of Lawlessness” Pastor Wally Contreras August 29, 2021

“Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12)

* * * * * * * * * * Webster’s 1828 dictionary defines lawlessness to mean “The quality or state of being unrestrained by law; disorder.” If anyone has watched any of the old movies that depicted lawlessness in frontier towns (e.g., John Wayne in “The Lawless Frontier”, Earl Flynn in “Dodge City”, or Clint Eastwood in “High Plains Drifter”) someone always came along who “cleaned up the town”. These towns had no laws and nobody to enforce the laws if they had any. What happens to this world when people are not only no long restrained by civil laws, but there are also none of God’s moral laws which are based on God’s own holy nature, as well?

Regarding Jesus’ return, Paul also reminds us that Jesus will “gather[ ] to him” those who, as Spurgeon once clarified “…all the chosen people of God, both those who shall then be in heaven and those who shall then be alive and remaining upon the earth. Having made a covenant with Christ by sacrifice, these shall all be gathered together unto Him, to be partakers of His glory when He reigns at the latter day in all the splendor of His millennial kingdom here below.” This event was prophesied in Psalm 50:5 (“Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”) Spurgeon went on to further clarify that “…the Lord expressly says, “Gather my saints together unto me,” those who have repented of their sin, and turned from it, those who have been constrained by His grace to live holy lives, and who have entered into a covenant with Him to hate the sin that cost Him so much to redeem them from it.” Are there things in my life that need to be “constrain[ed] by His grace” so that I am able to live a holy life? Explain.

Paul gives us a warning that we are not to “be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.” Spurgeon pointed out that “some persons were terrified, and others driven to a very foolish course of action. It would seem, from this Epistle, that some people forsook their daily calling, and on presence of the near return of Christ, endeavored to live upon the alms of Christian people, instead of themselves working…[Paul] now calms their minds by telling them that Christ would not come until certain events had happened. The history of the world was not complete, the harvest of the Church was not ripe; neither had the sin of man and especially the “man of sin” become fully developed.” Pastor Wally said that I need to be particularly alert to people giving “false revelations” that are not found in Scripture (for example, note that the introduction of the Book of Mormon begins with these words: “The Book of Mormon is a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible”). It is probably easier to decern “false revelations” that explicitly contradict Scripture. How hard is it decern “false revelations” that simply adds to or takes away from or in some way alters God’s Word (e.g. changes the word “must” to read “may”) and what are some things I can do to avoid getting sucked in by “false revelations”?

What are some things that I will do to avoid being sucked in by “false revelations”?

In speaking to the Bethlehem 2020 Conference for Pastors + Church Leaders on June 21, 2020, regarding the “rebellion”, John Piper pointed out that “[b]efore the second coming there will be a climactic, decisive, epoch-making, catastrophic rebellion against God, Christ, and his people, from inside and outside the church — all nations hating the church from outside, love growing cold from inside.” Pastor Wally spoke of three such “catastrophic” events: 1) the questioning of the authority of Scripture; 2) sexual immorality; and, 3) the elevation of certain theories (e.g., Critical Race Theory, AI Singularity Theory – “fear [that] machines will one day start to grow uncontrollably, eventually leading it to take over the world and wipe out humanity if it decides we are an obstacle to its goals, and quantum theory, one of modern science’s key ways of explaining the universe, [which] says that predicting the future may not be possible because the universe is random.”) – that there is some human flaw or failing that is beyond God’s redemptive power or that “the universe is random” and not under God’s total control. Because this “rebellion” is not only currently happening, but is going to ramp up to a “climactic” and “catastrophic” moment, what spiritual and/or life disciplines do I need to strengthen or develop in my life today in order to be prepared for the rebellion and why?

Paul not only told the church of Thessalonica about the events leading up to the return of Jesus when he was with them, but he had to remind them of those events in his letter to them. Do I at times need such a reminder that Jesus’ return is not yet? If so, why so? If not, why not?

1 John 4:1-3 tells me: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.” In 1 John 2:18, John says that “You have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come”. John Piper asked: “What does this mean for us? It is a call for us to live sober lives of alertness and faithfulness. Our minds should be girded for action (1 Peter 1:13). We should put on the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:13–18). “The hour has come for you to wake from sleep” (Romans 13:11). The aim of the “mystery of lawlessness” and the “many antichrists” is to deceive us into the blinding slumbers of indifference and love of sin. But we are the children of light. We are not of the night or of the darkness. “So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober” (1 Thessalonians 5:4–6). And as I said in last Sunday’s sermon, let’s out- love and out-rejoice the darkening world. “Love one another, for many deceivers have gone out into the world” (2 John 1:6–7). “Blessed are you when people hate you. Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy” (Luke 6:22–23).” That’s a pretty big to-do list…or is it? Explain.

Do we, as His church, need to “wake from sleep” and, as John Piper put it, “out-love and out- rejoice the darkening world”? Explain.

Have the antichrists of today in some way(s) already begun to deceive Christians “into the blinding slumbers of indifference”? If so, how so? If not, why not?

Pastor Wally said that it is important that we “stand firm and hold to the traditions taught in Scripture” (2 Thessalonians 2:15). Paul again instructs us in 2 Thessalonians 3:6: “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us.” What are some of these “traditions” that are “taught in Scripture”?