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The Man of Lawlessness and the Restraining One · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Well, our text this morning is 2 Thessalonians 2, and if you're new with us, I don't every weekend preach on end times events. That's not me, but that is where our text has brought us this morning. We're just continuing in our study of 2 Thessalonians, which is the second letter written to the Thessalonian church, a church, as you'll recall, that was commended for their growing faith, their increasing love and enduring hope. And last Sunday, we asked why it is that the Lord, whom we believe to be good and all-knowing and all-powerful,
• 0:29
  It would allow His saints to suffer. The author's prayer in verse 11 gives us a clue when he says that he prays that the suffering might produce a desired end. And it's this end that is the goal of every person's faith. Maturity, character, sanctification. We said last week that personal holiness is the shore that every one of us must keep in sight if we are to endure the trials that may come against us.
• 0:56
  in this life. And so we pick up in 2 Thessalonians 2. Allow me to read our text. We'll pray and begin. Verses 1-12. 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.
• 1:26
  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.
• 1:56
  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 to 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
• 2:25
  but had pleasure in unrighteousness. And Lord, as we approach this text, may we do so with humility, God, understanding that these verses are difficult to interpret. We recognize, Lord, that we may be looking at future events, some things which have not come to pass. And so, Lord, may we approach Your Word understanding that the Spirit is the One who teaches us. God, may we be submissive to Your truth this morning. We're thankful for the Word of God, and it's in Jesus' name we pray.
• 2:57
  Amen. Well, today we studied the context around the second coming of Christ. What will precede his coming? What can the church anticipate? What should non-believers take heed to? There's a story that goes that a man went to heaven and was being shown around by St. Peter. St. Peter took him from cloud to cloud. Each cloud had a door on it. And as Peter would go to the cloud, he would open that door and show the man inside. And one of these doors showed...
• 3:27
  a large group of people laughing, celebrating, singing, dancing in the aisles. And St. Peter said, these are our Pentecostals, he said. The next door he walked up to showed a group of people singing, but looking rather confused because they hadn't decided whether they were allowed to raise their hands or not. Peter said, well, these are our non-denominationalists. He took him to another door. When he opened the door, there were men inside that had large brim hats and beards. And he said, these...
• 3:59
  Our Messianic Jews and our hipsters from Denver. Another door swung open. This setting was more somber and formal. He said, these are our believing Catholics. And then on the next cloud, he didn't open the door, but instead put his forefinger to his lips in a hush motion, and they both tiptoed past. And once past the door, the man asked, well, what was all of that about? And he said, well, those were our Baptists. Peter explained.
• 4:30
  And they think they're the only ones up here. May we not be a people who believe that our view on non-gospel issues, like some of the things which we'll discuss and study today, our view on non-gospel issues is the only view that could possibly be right. May we not be the type of people who believe that disagreement equals rejection. Let us not forget that the plain things in Scripture are the main things in Scripture. Let us not forget that we learn more from listening than we do from talking.
• 5:04
  My youngest son finished reading The Trumpet of the Swan yesterday by E.B. White. In that book is this quote. It says, The world is full of talkers, but it is rare to find anyone who listens. And I assure you that you can pick up more information when you are listening than when you are talking. As we study what have become some controversial texts, and honestly this particular passage we will look at this morning has even split churches. Let me just remind us.
• 5:33
  what the main point of every passage of Scripture is. It is not to split hairs over minor issues, but rather to proclaim Jesus as Lord. He is our substitute. We can only be saved through His blood and by our faith. And so let me be clear, I am of a certain theological persuasion and I will preach that this morning because that's what I believe the Lord has revealed through this text. But it does not matter to me whether you and I share the same convictions.
• 6:03
  regarding secondary or even tertiary points such as chronologies of end times doesn't matter to me where you place the rapture doesn't matter to me what your opinion of the millennium is to borrow words from a man much smarter than i we preach christ crucified and that's what matters and so with that being said let's look at our text
• 6:33
  A couple of points. Notice first, verses 1 and 2, the urgency with which the Apostle addresses the congregation. Notice his urgency. There is a message he is desperately trying to convey. In verse 1, he says, 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.
• 7:01
  to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. In other words, brothers and sisters, do not let your circumstances and your experiences dictate your doctrine. The written Word of God is true regardless of how we ourselves interpret it. It is not open for our individual interpretation.
• 7:26
  to submit to the Holy Spirit's guiding, allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture. But he says, do not become quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, in verse 2, because this church, as you will recall from a couple of weeks ago, this church had been thrown into despair and confusion because of conflicting reports that false teachers had brought. The Apostle Paul had taught them doctrines of the end times.
• 7:49
  But somebody else had come and taught them something differently, and so the people were basically scattered. They didn't know what to believe. So the Apostle Paul says, don't become too quickly shaken. Now the Greek language and its grammar varies from English. Greek is much simpler in some ways. For instance, exceptions to its rules are rare, unlike the English language. But it's also more complex in others. In the Greek language and grammar,
• 8:20
  You can parse other parts of speech beyond mere verbs. In English, we parse verbs. The verbs themselves, the word can change depending on tense and person, right? Past tense verbs sound different than present tense verbs. But those are really the only words that we ever parse in the English. In the Greek, you can actually parse nouns. And what that gives you the ability to do...
• 8:49
  is to restructure sentences in any order you want without changing their meaning. Okay? And so, for instance, if you'll allow me to illustrate, in English, if we say, Bob walks the dog, that means something completely different than if we say, the dog walks Bob. Right?
• 9:13
  The words are identical. The sentence structure determines their meaning or what part of speech they are. Now in the Greek, because you can parse certain words beyond verbs, you can actually rearrange Greek sentences to put emphasis on certain phrases by placing them at the beginning of the sentence to give them emphasis without changing their meaning. Everybody follow that? So in verse 1, at the very end of verse 1, you'll see there's a phrase.
• 9:42
  The very end of verse 1 he says, we ask you, brothers. We ask you, brothers. You see there's this request from the Apostle Paul. I ask you not to become too quickly alarmed or shaken in your doctrine. But what's interesting about the Greek structure is that this phrase is actually what begins verse 1. The beginning of verse 1. We have it at the end, but in the Greek at the beginning of verse 1, which gives it emphasis and creates an urgency.
• 10:11
  that we don't necessarily see in the English. This sense of urgency could easily be retranslated. We urge you, we beseech you, even we beg you, we beg you not to become too quickly alarmed or shaken. Paul's prayer for the Thessalonian church was that they not be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine.
• 10:40
  His prayer was that they trust the Lord and His Word so that they could face the future without fear. And regardless of your interpretation of this text and what you believe, how you will believe it comes to pass, or if even portions of it have already been fulfilled, the point of the Apostle's writing was so that we would be encouraged and not shaken. He did not want us looking at future events unsure.
• 11:11
  of God's role in them, and of God's victory over them. Now it will help us at this point to weave together a brief tapestry of Paul's thought regarding the tribulation and the rapture of the church. You'll recall that in his first letter to the Thessalonian church, which we studied this last fall, and if you don't remember that or weren't here for that and are interested in it, feel free to grab that online. All of the sermons are online. But in his first letter, the apostle taught once on the rapture.
• 11:40
  And once on the second coming of Christ, both times, 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5, both times he concluded his thoughts with the words, encourage one another. Encourage one another with the thought that the church will one day be raptured or that Jesus will come back and judge the wicked. Encourage one another with these words. It was not meant to strike fear, but rather put courage in believers' hearts.
• 12:09
  The application of His teaching then and His application of His teaching now seem to indicate that the bulk of believers had nothing to fear regarding these doctrines. Many believe, I concur, that this encouragement may even indicate that those believers would skip the tribulation altogether. And our passage this morning gives further support of this viewpoint. So that's first. You notice this urgency for them not to become too quickly shaken or alarmed.
• 12:40
  Notice second, our second point, and this will be the remainder of our passage, beginning in verse 3, that the apostle comforts the people with the details regarding the end. He comforts the people with details regarding the end. I think the difficulty of this text lies not in its subject matter, but rather in its brevity. If there's anything that I wish that the apostle Paul had done, it would have been to give more detail.
• 13:09
  so that we could better understand it, so that there wouldn't be so many questions. In fact, I think after reading chapter 2, the reader may be left with as many additional questions about the text as the text answers. I'll do my best to preach what I believe the Scriptures to reveal. I would beg your forgiveness on my ignorance, your forgiveness on any lack of clarity for my inability to take a stronger stand on some of these details.
• 13:39
  And although there are many godly and intelligent men and women who believe exactly the same way that I do, there are many who do not. And so, believe me, I approach today's text with humility. Notice first, verses 3-4, there is this man of lawlessness described. A man of lawlessness described. Look at verse 3. Let no one deceive you in any way, for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first. Now this is...
• 14:11
  The Greek word where we get apostasy from. Apostasy was a military term of desertion. One who believed a certain way, held to a certain ideal, and then forsook that, left it, changed direction. That's what he's talking about. There will be a rebellion. But this rebellion may come in the form of a spiritual apostasy and rebellion. And it says, it continues in verse 3, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction.
• 14:37
  who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he may take his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. It is widely agreed upon that this man of lawlessness is the Antichrist. The Antichrist will be a Satan-possessed man. This man, in my opinion, will be wildly intelligent. He will be charismatic.
• 15:04
  He will be very compelling. This man will not be universally hated, but rather universally loved. And I believe that Scripture teaches that the rapture of the church to meet the Lord in the air, and don't forget that this rapture is distinct and separate from this coming of Christ. The rapture to meet the Lord in the air will be immediately followed by seven years of trouble. The book of Daniel describes as the 70th week.
• 15:35
  what modern-day theologians have called the Tribulation or the Great Tribulation. And the worldwide disappearance of Christians, if you believe the rapture to precede the Tribulation, could provide an opportunity for the Antichrist to take power. The disappearance of millions worldwide, unexplained disappearance, could provide a platform for the Antichrist to take power. Daniel 9 and verse 27 says that this Antichrist...
• 16:03
  will strike a covenant and so i believe the scripture to teach that the rapture will happen that the antichrist will take power and soon as he does starting that seven-year tribulation the first thing that he will do is to make a peace treaty that there will indeed be peace in the middle east what people have been seeking for generations will eventually come but daniel 9 goes on to say that after three and a half years he will break that peace treaty
• 16:31
  He will set himself on the throne in the temple of God in Jerusalem and declare himself to be God. This is what Christ calls the abomination of desolation in Matthew 24 and verse 15. And this is exactly what is being described in 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 4. It says that he will oppose and exalt himself against every so-called God or object of worship.
• 17:00
  so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. He will end worship of any other God, sacrifices to any other God, and proclaim himself to be God on earth. That is this man of lawlessness. Now, if you hold there, skip forward just a few verses to verse 9, kind of the story of this man of lawlessness continues in verse 9. And it says, the coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan.
• 17:31
  with all power and false signs and wonders. What we see in verse 9 of our text is that the source of the Antichrist's power is Satan himself. The book of Revelation even giving more detail, greater detail, regarding this miracle-working power of the Antichrist. Revelation 13 even says that signs and wonders will be done. Same words even as the Gospel of John. You can imagine this describing the miracle-working power of Jesus. They are going to give signs.
• 18:00
  The Antichrist will give signs to try to prove his legitimacy. In Revelation 13, verse 3, the Bible says that he will even fake his own resurrection. His own death and resurrection. He basically copycats what Jesus did on earth in order to try to show that he is God. Revelation 13, verse 3. Mankind's wholesale praise for the Antichrist.
• 18:29
  will result in large-scale rebellious apostasy. We see that in verse 3 of our text this morning. They will reject saving truth because our Lord is gracious even in His sovereignty, not willing to bulldoze the ability for man to choose to worship. Even gracious in His own sovereignty will allow them to believe what is false. If you continue in verse 10.
• 18:57
  It says with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, they refuse to love the truth and so be saved. And so what does God do? He basically grants their request in verse 11. They don't want anything to do with God. They don't believe in God. They have rejected God. And so God gives them the desire of their heart. It says 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.
• 19:28
  If you guys are interested in this topic and want more information on it, I have preached the Gospel of Daniel here at the church. I've also preached the book of Revelation, as well as Matthew 24 and 25, the Olivet Discourse, which are kind of the three quintessential end-time passages, books and passages. All of those are online. Feel free to go and look at those. Listen to them. Email me with questions if you have them. So that's first. The man of lawlessness, the Antichrist, is described.
• 19:57
  Notice it continues in verse 5. The man of lawlessness is restrained. The man of lawlessness is restrained. Look at verse 5. 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.
• 20:28
  So what is keeping the Antichrist from appearing now, from coming now? Why wouldn't Satan have already gone about fulfilling his plan? According to verse 6, there is one, notice this does not say a restraining force, actually gives this restrainer the pronoun, he calls him a person. There is one who is keeping the Antichrist from being revealed. Now I believe this restrainer to be the Holy Spirit himself. The Holy Spirit who's saving.
• 20:59
  And sanctifying work is manifest primarily in the hearts and lives of every believer. Scripture says that every person who places their faith in Christ for salvation is indwelt and empowered by the Holy Spirit of God. 1 Corinthians 2 and 3 go on to say that we, believers in Christ, have actually become the temple of God. That the very presence of God resides in us.
• 21:26
  Now we know that the Holy Spirit is omnipresent. He is everywhere at once. You cannot get away from the Spirit of God, but the Scriptures say that God resides in every believer in a special way. His power is manifest through the lives of every believer on earth. And this says in verse 7 that there will be a time when that Holy Spirit's presence or that restraining presence will be taken away, will be taken out of the world.
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  which I believe to be what event? The rapture. That makes sense. If the rapture precedes the tribulation and the Antichrist being revealed is during the tribulation, then it makes sense if the Holy Spirit's influencing, sanctifying work through the lives of every believer is removed all at once and all of a sudden. That makes sense. It would give him a platform to be revealed.
• 22:23
  The Holy Spirit's work through our lives is meant to have a sanctifying influence on our friends, on our neighbors, on our co-workers, on fellow students, on our teachers, in our country, in our culture, in our county, in our state. We are meant to have a sanctifying influence. And if that sanctifying influence was removed, what is restraining him now, there will be opportunity for him to be revealed. The rapture takes place prior to the tribulation.
• 22:55
  Not only has the church been spared from the wrath of God, which is a consistent biblical theme, but the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit goes with them. And so the Antichrist will have opportunity. Notice it continues in verse 8, that this man of lawlessness, the Antichrist, will be destroyed. Verse 8, we'll start at the beginning of verse 8 again. It says, And 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. And no matter what you believe,
• 23:26
  Regarding the man of lawlessness and the restraining force keeping him at bay, what can be agreed upon is that he loses. There will be a final destruction. Jesus' mere appearance will destroy the Antichrist. His temporary throne established in the temple of God will be replaced by a permanent place in the lake of fire. Revelation 19 and verse 20 says,
• 23:57
  which if you study the book of Revelation is clearly the Antichrist. The beast was captured and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done signs by which he deceived those who would receive the mark of the beast and those who worshipped its image. These two, the beast and his prophet, were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. There will be a day, Revelation 19 describes, the battle of Armageddon where Jesus comes back to earth.
• 24:26
  To establish, I believe, His kingdom on earth and begins His establishment, begins His kingdom by vanquishing His enemies. Where the battle of Armageddon describes the Satan, the Antichrist coming against Jesus in force, in mass. Revelation 19 describes Jesus destroying that army with a mere word. The man of lawlessness will be destroyed. Okay, so how in the world do we apply this one?
• 25:00
  I have. I've been praying about and just asking the Lord, what do we do with this? How do we apply a text which I believe primarily happens in the future and which I believe most of us won't even be around to experience? The Antichrist is yet to be revealed. Scripture says that the spirit of the Antichrist is already at work.
• 25:24
  And just because the man of lawlessness has not been revealed does not mean that his work has not begun, that the work of the enemy of our souls is already happening, that Satan himself has already declared war on the saints. The Holy Spirit's indwelling presence in each of us is meant to have a restraining influence on our enemy's plans. We're going to apply that.
• 25:52
  And I'd apply it this way. We must, as a church, we must as individuals increase our effort. I was asked this week, how should a Christian reply? How should we respond to some of the votes that have happened across our country this month? And I don't fully understand what's going on. Why this month? Why January 2019?
• 26:15
  where we're having votes across the country that are so inflammatory and so contrary to what this book teaches and what our country has held as honorable for the last 200 years. I don't understand why this month, with voting on marriage and voting specifically on abortion, state after state after state, if you guys have read kind of what's going on, especially on the Eastern Seaboard and some of the comments that the Virginia governor has made, I just think, what on earth? What are we supposed to do with that?
• 26:45
  I was asked, how do Christians respond? Do we just need more Christians to vote? Is that the answer? I would say, well, maybe. Maybe. But honestly, it seems like a lot of Christians vote. I'd say, well, maybe Christians need to become informed first and then vote. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe part of the answer is we need more Christians running for public office. Maybe that's some of the answer. I don't know. I don't know if they'd even win. I think.
• 27:17
  All of those things, although they may be good and may affect change and have a sanctifying influence on our culture, I don't think any of them will affect as much as this last one. You want to know what I think and how we apply a passage like this? I think the answer is simply that we need more Christian women and men, more Christian men and women who are not afraid to say no, who are not afraid to take a stand, who are not afraid to say that they will not
• 27:47
  violate their faith, regardless of the consequences. And I'm going to just commend one of our young people this morning. You guys know William and Anne Daniel. William is an elder here. Their oldest son, Joshua, who is in the sixth grade, got in trouble at school this week. And William received a call from the principal, which if you know anything about the Daniel family, you'll know is not normal, right? These are well-behaved, respectful boys.
• 28:16
  They excel in just about everything they touch. In fact, Joshua even goes to an advanced school because of his ability to do specifically math and science. I mean, honestly, he's phenomenal. I mean, he's the top tenth of one percent in the country, that kind of kid and that kind of brain. And so he got a call, William got a call about his son from the principal saying, Mr. Daniel, we had to reprimand Joshua because he refused to participate in P.E. this week.
• 28:44
  He refused, which is not normal for Joshua. And so she said, and I wanted to make sure that you know that his non-participation means that it will affect his grade, which if you know anything about the Daniel family, you'll know is a huge deal. It's a huge, it's a big deal for him not to get A's in every class. And so William said, well, that's unusual for my son. What happened? The principal said, well, this next section in the boys PE class, the boys are practicing yoga.
• 29:14
  Now William and Anne are first generation Indian. They grew up in India. All of their friends and family members are all Hindu. And if you, this is not a castigation against yoga. If you and your friends go to yoga and you roll out your mat and do whatever, that's fine. If you're trying to get more flexible, whatever. But that is not yoga's origin. Yoga's origin is religious. It's a practice. In the Hindu religion, Hindus believe
• 29:39
  reincarnation right that they continue to come back come back come back forever forever and there are only one of three ways to break that never-ending cycle of reincarnation what they call reaching enlightenment or finally breaking out of reincarnation and reaching what they call Moksha which is this liberation from the never-ending cycle of life one of those three ways is through the practice of yoga
• 30:03
  It's a religious practice. They worship false gods by doing it. And I'm not saying that you are if you and your girlfriends are getting together and stretching. That's not what I'm saying. But for their family, you can imagine how first-generation Indians would say, there is no way my son's doing that. Are you kidding me? Supposed to open up your third eye of enlightenment and doing whatever? Like, there is absolutely no way. So Joshua says, I'm sorry, I can't.
• 30:28
  I can't do yoga. He goes into the principal's office and says, I can't do that. I believe that it's worship of a false god. The principal conveys this to William. William says, my son is absolutely right. He will not be participating in yoga. So the principal told him, well, do you understand that without that assessment, his grade will suffer? And William said, then so be it. Then his grade will suffer. He said, if you refuse to assess my son any other way, then fine, his grade can suffer.
• 30:59
  But would you consider just allowing him to run while everybody else is stretching? The principal agreed, and so they'll assess him that way. I'm curious about the type of young man, a 12-year-old, who's willing to run while the rest of his friends are stretching. Right? He says, fine, I'll run. I'll run the whole time. Assess me that way. He later came home and he told his dad, Joshua told his dad, Dad, I will not do anything that I believe is sin against my God.
• 31:31
  Can you imagine that? I think my challenge as we end, as we conclude this text, what do we do with this text, is this. Let's not be a people afraid to say no. Let's take an example from the 12-year-olds at our church who are willing to take a stand for what they believe is right, a faith-driven, Christ-honoring stand, right? Despite the consequences. Imagine the sanctifying impact that that will have regardless of what you believe about end-time events.
• 32:05
  Let's apply this passage that way. That the closer we walk in Christlikeness, the more holy we walk, the more people will see the peace and joy and hope that we have in our Savior. Amen? Amen. God, thank You for this passage. And I pray, God, that You would be exalted and glorified in the preaching of it. Help us to understand it as we do. Lord, You are a good God. And I do pray that You would give us courage to take stands like young Joshua did this week.
• 32:36
  Lord, despite and regardless of the consequences, be glorified in our lives and our actions. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.