Latest / Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago / The False Prophet (The Second Beast) | Revelation 13:11-14 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Revelation Bible Study Series)

Transcript

The False Prophet (The Second Beast) | Revelation 13:11-14 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Revelation Bible Study Series) · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  Well, I can tell you this, after being reminded about who William
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  Tyndale was and what he accomplished made me more
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  excited to open God's Word with you this afternoon.
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  Let's turn in our Bibles now to Revelation chapter 13.
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  When the Lord Jesus taught about some of the marks of the last
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  days, he explained that of the most prevalent signs would be
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  the emergence of false Christs and false prophets who would
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  even perform signs and wonders so as to deceive many.
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  And though there will be multiple of deceivers who will
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  arise, especially when the world is in its most chaotic phase,
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  searching for answers, longing for somebody to bring a solution
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  to all the mayhem around them, the Word of God also teaches
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  that there will be a single false prophet who'll be the most
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  influential and impactful of them all.
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  That's right, the Scriptures teach that there is coming an
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  ultimate final false prophet who'll be the most fraudulent
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  and conniving of them all. Now, students of the End Times
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  rarely give attention to this individual because the
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  Antichrist seems to get most of the press.
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  But we have to remember that as we've been studying Revelation
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  13, John's vision of this beast who represents the Antichrist is
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  not yet complete. We haven't gotten the whole
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  picture yet. As we're about to read John, the
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  same John who saw this terrifying creature is going to
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  describe another one. There will be another beast who
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  will arise, and he will play a very significant role in the
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  final years of human history. And so he will be the focus of
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  our study today as we now turn to Revelation 13, beginning in
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  verse 11. And we're going to consider some
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  of the characteristics of this second beast as he's introduced
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  us in this prophecy. Revelation 13, verse 11 reads.
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  Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth.
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  It had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon.
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  It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its
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  presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the
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  first beast whose mortal wound was healed.
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  It performs great signs, even making fire come down from
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  heaven to earth in front of people, and by the signs that it
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  is allowed to work in the presence of the beast, it
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  deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an
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  image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet
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  lived. Let's pray one more time,
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  Father. We believe that what we just
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  read is your voice, and we believe that it is a treasure
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  for our souls. But we also know that our flesh,
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  our carnality, can meddle with what you intend to say.
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  So we ask for your help. We ask for clarity, We ask for
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  conviction. We even ask for comfort as we
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  open up these words more carefully.
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  And we pray that our hearts would be drawn to the person of
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  Jesus Christ in a more intimate and loving manner.
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  We give you glory and thanks, Lord, Take authority over every
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  thought, every emotion. Lord, may we receive the pure
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  milk of the Word as your church. In Jesus name we pray.
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  Amen. Well, the verses that we just
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  read can seem quite daunting, like many portions of the Book
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  of Revelation, but I think we can simplify what we just read
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  by breaking these thoughts up into three main sections, if you
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  will. So we're looking at the second
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  beast. We studied the past couple of
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  weeks about the first beast, but now we have this new figure
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  before us, and I want us to look at three things concerning him.
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  Number one, I want us to consider the identity of the
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  second beast. Who is he or what is he?
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  Can we know that? Well, we'll find out in a few
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  moments. So the identity of the beast.
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  But from there we have to look at the mission of the second
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  beast. What's his purpose and how does
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  it correlate with the operations of the first beast?
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  Is there a partnership going on here?
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  Evidently, as we just read, there is.
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  And finally, I don't want us to consider the authority of the
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  second beast because the miracles that he will be able to
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  perform you cannot ignore. And they mean something.
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  And so let's begin by looking at the identity of the second
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  beast. It's plainly laid out here in
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  verse 11, is it not? But look again in your Bibles.
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  John begins by saying, then I saw another beast rising out of
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  the earth. So like the first beast, there
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  are a lot of opinions about who or what this new beast
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  represents. But the fact that John says he
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  saw another beast helps us know that this character is distinct
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  from the first one, but he is also sharing something in
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  common. That's what the original word
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  for another actually means. Separate, yet of the same kind.
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  Why is that important to know What we determine when studying
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  the first beast? That this is primarily speaking
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  about a person who will be a ruler of an empire.
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  He's a political, military figure.
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  He's an individual once again. So for now, John, to say that he
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  saw another beast teaches us that we're also looking at
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  another person. And this will become more clear
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  as we go on. But what we want to spend more
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  time here is where this beast comes from.
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  Did you notice that it's different from the first?
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  This beast, we're told, comes out of the earth.
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  Where did the first beast come out of the sea?
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  Very good. Now here's where it gets a
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  little bit tricky. We also determined that when the
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  first beast came out of the sea, the sea, according to Revelation
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  and a lot of parts of the Bible, represents the nations.
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  So if the sea represents the nations, then what does it mean
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  for the second beast to come out of the earth?
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  Well, we'll see in a moment. Here's 1 popular interpretation.
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  Since the sea, again in Revelation strongly symbolizes
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  peoples and nations and multitudes and languages, this
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  strongly means that the first beast must be a Gentile.
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  And when you factor in all these other prophecies about the
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  Antichrist, you make a very strong case that he is indeed
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  someone who is a Gentile. By way of contrast however,
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  because the second beast comes from the earth, some claim that
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  he originates from a more specific location, namely
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  Israel. And the reason for that is
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  because they'll make a case that the land often in the Bible
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  speaks about Israel, the land, even if it's not specifically
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  telling you what land it is. That generic term the land can
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  mean Israel, making this individual the second beast of
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  Jewish descent. Now I'm aware of those who are
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  proponents of this. You will also show and provide
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  additional sub points that this interpretation is most likely
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  because of things like for example, do you remember when we
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  studied about the 144,000, we have all these tribes and 12,000
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  coming from each of them. Well one main tribe that's not
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  mentioned was which tribe Dan, the tribe of Dan.
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  And then when you consider the prophecy about Dan early in
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  Genesis, that's very ominous. And so some make this
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  connection. Well, Dan is omitted from the
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  144 who will be redeemed and will represent Christ.
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  Dan also doesn't get the best kind of descriptions even in the
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  Old Testament. So could it be that the second
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  beast who comes from the earth actually comes out of this
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  particular tribe and is therefore of Jewish descent?
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  Which would make sense to some degree, because how else are you
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  going to pursue Jews to put their trust in somebody like the
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  Antichrist? It's a very compelling case,
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  however, it's difficult to state it dogmatically due to the lack
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  of clear scriptural evidence. Therefore, this is a good place
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  to remind ourselves of something that when a text lacks
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  scriptural support, we must refrain from making absolute
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  claims. Now we can talk about it, and we
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  can have different opinions. I mean, for you to identify who
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  the second beast is, it's very difficult to become a heretic
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  with your opinion, though it's possible.
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  Anything is possible, I guess. We have to be charitable, we
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  have to be humble, and we have to develop the discipline of
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  seeking to get the answers with the data that is before us.
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  So if we are simply working with this text, if we're looking at
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  just what's revealed in the immediate context, what is more
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  likely being communicated here is that this beast who is going
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  to function as a spiritual and religious figure is not heaven
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  sent. In other words, the imagery
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  demonstrates that this powerful persuasive voice that's going to
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  inspire the world to worship is worldly.
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  He's from below. It reminds me actually what
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  Jesus said when he distinguished himself from the religious
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  leaders of his time when he confronted them in John chapter
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  8. Do you remember what he said in
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  John 8 verse 23? He said to them, you are from
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  below, I am from above, you are of this world, I am not of this
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  world. So for John to receive this
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  description of the second beast from the outset could very well
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  mean that he represents a person who comes from the earth
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  anchoring us, especially as we go on to see what he's going to
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  perform. He's going to do miracles.
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  I mean, impressive miracles, not cheap ones.
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  And it's as though we are being told right away, yes, this man
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  whom you are witnessing is very powerful.
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  He is very persuasive, but remember, he is from the earth.
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  That's not all there is to the identity of the beast.
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  The second part of verse 11, look at it again with me in your
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  Bibles. It had two horns like a lamb and
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  it spoke like a dragon. A very different description
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  from the first piece, right? The first beast that John saw,
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  Terrifying. It was one single creature
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  made-up of all these different animal details.
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  It had multiple heads, multiple horns.
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  It just grotesque. And then you come to the second
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  beast and we're reading something like a lamb, with very
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  little additional details, much less intimidating, perhaps by
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  way of comparison. Or is it?
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  Why is the second beast described as lamb like?
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  Well, because whoever this individual is, he is going to
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  appear to be innocent, gentle, harmless.
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  He does possess authority, as symbolized by the horns.
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  Horns of the Bible speak of authority, but not in the same
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  way as the first beast, who had a lot of horns, and he came as a
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  crushing, conquering political dictator.
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  No, the second beast instead has horns, but doesn't have crowns
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  on them. The first piece had crowns,
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  remember, and that speaks of, again, kingdoms and governments.
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  So whatever authority this lamb has, it's not of political
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  nature. And said he presents himself as
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  meek, as winsome. I mean, he you feel safe around
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  this lamb in a sense, you're you're secure.
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  There's a soothing voice to some degree that will bring comfort
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  and assurance to much of the world, especially as it is
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  falling apart. However, all of this will be a
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  sham. This is all a facade.
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  On the surface the second beast may seem lamb like, but when it
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  opens its mouth you hear the voice of a dragon.
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  Isn't what we read Now what could that possibly mean?
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  Can you imagine the sound and the sight looks like a lamb, but
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  when it opens its mouth of the roar of a dragon, it's very
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  simple. We know the Dragons represent
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  Satan, and so here what Here's what this means.
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  Although this beast comes with a demeanor that seems reliable and
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  trusting and wholesome, his words are from the devil.
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  His message is satanic. He is ultimately energized and
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  possessed by the Evil 1 and I argue he's more terrifying this
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  second beast than the first because of just the Absolute lie
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  that this man will be to the world.
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  And he fulfills exactly what the Lord Jesus warned about in
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  Matthew 715. What did he say?
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  He warned. Beware of false prophets.
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  Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing,
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  but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
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  And this man will be more than a wolf.
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  He will be a dragon. Again.
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  He's going to be the ultimate false prophet, the last false
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  prophet, the false prophet of the false prophets, and to the
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  world he will seem like a lamb. And this is a good place to
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  pause and reflect on how Satan works in our world.
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  So far in this vision, we've seen two beasts.
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  They are different in their characteristics and their
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  functions, yet they are both empowered by Satan.
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  And that tells me how Satan operates even today, like the
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  first beasts who openly blasphemes God, who with a
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  lethal hatred hunts down Christians to kill them, even
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  who even declares himself to be God.
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  Satan today, and we're seeing this more and more in our day,
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  are we not, is becoming less and less subtle.
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  There are times where he manifests himself clearly,
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  directly. I mean, you're watching award
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  shows now where Satan is being demonstrated and praised.
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  It's open mockery, but like the second beast, Satan also works
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  in not so obvious ways, and one of the most deceiving ways that
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  he masks himself as gentle and inviting and harmless and even
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  righteous is in the realm of religion and faith.
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  Have you ever considered in the New Testament how much
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  Christians, Christians, not the world Christians, are warned
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  about false teachers? There is a warning in virtually
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  every New Testament book. Did you know that?
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  You know what that tells me? That tells me that leaders in
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  the local church should regularly warn the people of God
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  of people like that, of false teachers.
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  And that's what I want to do in this brief time, just in the
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  section here, I want to be able to offer some warning.
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  I want to be able to offer us some level of discernment to be
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  able to distinguish somebody who is true and somebody who is a
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  fraud. There are a lot of voices these
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  days, and the difficulty of false prophets now is that in
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  the in the New Testament, false prophets would have to lurk into
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  an actual meeting like this and build relationships and then
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  invite people to their homes or be invited to their homes and
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  sit with them and spew their lives.
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  Nowadays, they're in your pocket and they have podcasts and they
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  fill arenas and they seem like they perform miracles.
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  And when you hear them, man, they touch your heart.
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  They're the way they are with words, and they even quote
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  Scripture. It's terrifying to some degree,
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  but we shouldn't be paranoid. The Bible has been granted us to
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  be deceived. Proof.
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  And here's one of the things that you and I have to develop
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  as a discipline. When anybody teaches in the name
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  of God, whether on a platform or in a living room or on a screen,
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  do not make your judgement based on how they look.
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  You know, false teachers also wear suits and ties.
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  Do not make your judgement on how they sound or how persuasive
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  their words are or how powerful their deeds may be.
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  Instead, listen to what they are saying and evaluate it with
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  God's Word. Remember, the second beast had
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  the appearance of a lamb, but when it opens its mouth, it has
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  the words of Satan. What was the giveaway when the
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  lamb opened its mouth? From the external, from distant
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  observation, harmless, innocent, cute moment, it began to speak.
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  It revealed where it actually came from, which tells you and I
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  that what we have to do in order to be able to identify those who
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  are true from those who are false is listen to the content,
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  listen to the substance of the message, and by God's grace, we
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  have something to compare it to. You know, there are people who
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  are willing to believe anyone, even their twisted teaching
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  about the Lord Jesus and the Christian faith, even though it
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  clearly contradicts God's word, because they seem sincere.
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  All it takes is somebody to seem sincere for people to let their
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  guard down. I mean, when that person talks,
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  they have tears streaming down their face as they talk about
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  their version of Christ. Certainly there's some
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  legitimacy here. Certainly they seem genuine.
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  Tears are not the mark of truth. Passion and intensity are not
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  the evidences of somebody being sincere.
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  It's what they're saying, not how they're saying it.
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  Actually, I want to invite you to a book of the Bible that
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  shows us this even more in Romans.
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  Look at Romans 16 for a second. Romans 16, verse 18.
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  Paul warns. This is just one example of how
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  the apostles, almost in all of their writings admonish
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  Christians to not be duped. In Romans 16, verse 18, he says,
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  for such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own
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  appetites. Pause for a moment.
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  There are people who present themselves as teachers, as
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  missionaries, as miracle workers, and they claim to come
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  in the name of the truth, but they are really serving their
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  own appetites. You have to understand that just
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  because somebody takes the time to travel somewhere, get up on a
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  platform, speak through a microphone, doesn't mean that
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  they come from a humble and truthful place.
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  There's some people who are manipulating and taking
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  advantage of Christians for their own selfish gain, but
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  their own appetites. And by look at this smooth talk
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  and flattery, they deceive the hearts of the naive.
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  Who are the victims of such false teachers?
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  The naive. What is a naive person?
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  Somebody who lacks wisdom and judgement?
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  Somebody who's gullible. Somebody who just listens and
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  they, there's no discernment, there's no pushback, there's no
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  questions being asked, there's no evaluation being made.
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  You know, it's amazing. In Acts chapter 17, when Paul
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  and Silas went to Berea, we're told that the believers in Berea
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  were more noble than the Thessalonians for two reasons.
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  Because they eagerly received the scriptures.
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  So there was a hunger. And more than that, they daily
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  examined the Scriptures to see if what this missionary team was
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  saying was according to the Word of God.
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  So we have a choice as Christians.
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  We're either going to be noble according to the Holy Spirit
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  standards or naive. And a naive, they don't go to
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  the Word of God. This is not the ultimate
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  authority to determine what's true and what's false.
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  Experience is the ultimate authority.
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  Somebody's personality, their charisma, they're supposed
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  stories of how they have backing to their ministry because look
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  what God did supposedly through me.
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  No, no, no, that's all great, but I got to find out what the
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  Scriptures say and the Holy Spirit crowns the brains with
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  nobility. Because now here's the thing.
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  I knew some people when I first got saved, that if you went to
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  the Bible to examine what somebody was saying or what a
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  ministry was all about, you're being religious, you're being
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  legalistic, you're not being open minded.
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  You can say what you want. I want to be noble according to
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  God's standards. What does God's word have to
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  say? And so we can either be naive or
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  we can be noble. Now this is what's so
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  interesting. They, they speak with smooth
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  words. There's flattery going on here,
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  but what makes them false? Go back to verse 17, the verse
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  right before this, Paul writes, I appeal to you, brothers, to
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  watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles
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  contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught.
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  Avoid them over and over in different ways.
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  It's it's the same mark of difference.
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  What makes somebody false ultimately is that what they're
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  saying is contrary to the doctrine that you've known
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  that's been provided to us. So move through all the smooth
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  talk, all the powerful oratory skills, and listen to what is
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  being communicated. Doesn't honor doesn't line up
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  with the Bible. And if it doesn't, especially
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  with the black and white of doctrine, they're dangerous.
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  They're either willfully ignorant or they're untrained,
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  and they shouldn't be teaching in the first place.
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  And I know there is more to learn about how to identify
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  false teachers, but for now, we have to ask the Lord for the
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  discipline to investigate the material of what's being said,
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  not the method to look for the substance of what's being said,
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  Not for sight, and not for even signs.
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  God help us. There are some people who are so
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  caught up in signs and wonders. I believe that God can do
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  miracles, but miracles alone do not determine if something is
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  true. This second beast is going to
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  perform miracles. And I'm afraid for professing
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  Christians who make their whole Christianity about
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  manifestations are setting themselves up for great danger
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  today and tomorrow. This lamb, like man, appears
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  true, and he will even perform miracles, and it will dam people
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  to hell for eternity. Which brings us to our second
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  thought. We looked at the identity of the
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  beast. But let's look at the mission of
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  the beast. Come back to Revelation 13 for a
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  moment and look again at verse 12.
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  It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its
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  presence and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the
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  first beast whose mortal wound was healed.
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  So you've been hearing me say from the beginning of this
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  message that whoever the second beast is, he's going to be a
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  false prophet. But is there anything in
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  Scripture that explicitly states that?
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  And I'm here to tell you, yes, there is.
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  But before we look at these Scriptures, be mindful of us.
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  Remember this. That's so far in this amazing,
• 24:27
  captivating vision. We've been learning about
• 24:29
  different figures. Number one, the dragon who is
• 24:33
  Satan. Then we've seen the first beast
• 24:35
  who is the Antichrist, and now we come to the second beast,
• 24:39
  who's the final figure in this vision.
• 24:42
  And I want to show you how he is not only labeled as a false
• 24:46
  prophet, but the false prophet. So are you there in Revelation?
• 24:51
  Travel with me to chapter 16 and look at verse 13, Revelation 16,
• 24:59
  verse 13. And I saw coming out of the
• 25:03
  mouth of the dragon. We looked at him before, right?
• 25:06
  And out of the mouth of the beast.
• 25:07
  We saw him already, didn't we? Who do you expect to be
• 25:10
  announced next? The second beast, right?
• 25:13
  But notice what it says. And out of the mouth of the
• 25:15
  false prophet 3 unclean spirits like frogs.
• 25:21
  Go to chapter 19, verse 20. This is in a text that describes
• 25:27
  what will take place when Christ actually returns, physically
• 25:31
  returns to the world. And it says here in Revelation
• 25:33
  1920. And the beast was captured, and
• 25:36
  with it the false prophet, who in its presence had done the
• 25:41
  signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the
• 25:44
  beast and those who worshipped its image.
• 25:46
  These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with
• 25:51
  sulfur. So again, now we are
• 25:53
  reintroduced to the beast, and not just the second beast, but
• 25:57
  the false prophet, the function of the second beast.
• 26:00
  And notice that they were thrown alive in the lake of fire.
• 26:04
  So these two figures are more than institutions.
• 26:07
  They are not just movements, they are individuals.
• 26:10
  I hope that's clear. Let's look at one more thing.
• 26:13
  Go to chapter 20, verse 10. And the devil who had deceived
• 26:21
  them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfa where the beast
• 26:25
  and the false prophet were. And they will be tormented day
• 26:30
  and night, forever and ever. These are texts, in my opinion,
• 26:37
  that make it very difficult to see how these truths have been
• 26:40
  fulfilled in the past, among many things that we've already
• 26:43
  seen in Revelation. It's only going to get more
• 26:45
  complicated for those who hold to a different view other than
• 26:47
  the futurist interpretation. But here's what we want to
• 26:50
  establish. This beast is the false prophet.
• 26:53
  Right now, what makes a false prophet false is that they
• 26:58
  propagate a false message. So we have to now examine and
• 27:02
  try to understand what is the agenda that he's going to be
• 27:06
  pushing? What is the campaign that he's
• 27:08
  going to be promoting? And it's very simple.
• 27:10
  Verse 12 tells us back in chapter 13 that he makes the
• 27:13
  earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast.
• 27:20
  So he's going to step on the scene in order to convince the
• 27:24
  world to not just serve the first beast, not just honor the
• 27:28
  first beast, but to actually worship him.
• 27:32
  You think that's crazy? Worship a man.
• 27:36
  We'll do a little bit of research in history and and
• 27:39
  you'll discover that there are empires and there are forms of
• 27:44
  government, especially those that are authoritarian and
• 27:48
  dictator like where it doesn't take very long for the ruler of
• 27:52
  that movement to be deified. So this is nothing new.
• 27:57
  This isn't so far fetched, but here's what's so amazing to me.
• 28:01
  This second beast who is known as the false prophet now as he
• 28:04
  comes into this vision, completes a picture reminding us
• 28:10
  of how Satan seeks to imitate the true God to the extent that
• 28:16
  he even wants to mimic the triune nature of our God.
• 28:21
  We serve a God who is 1 but is also Father, Son and Holy
• 28:24
  Spirit. And now with this second beast
• 28:27
  before us, we can determine that Satan is so desperate, so vile,
• 28:33
  so creepy that he even wants to imitate the Tri unity of the
• 28:38
  true God. Think about it.
• 28:41
  You have the dragon who empowers the Antichrist.
• 28:45
  Now that dragon is like an anti father, the Antichrist, I'm sure
• 28:49
  it's clear he is going to be essentially the devil Incarnate.
• 28:53
  He is obviously an anti Christ anti son of God.
• 28:58
  And now we read about this second beast who were told is
• 29:02
  the false prophet and his job is to do what point people and
• 29:07
  promote the worship of the Antichrist, A counterfeit Holy
• 29:12
  Spirit. So what we have here in this
• 29:15
  vision is the satanic Trinity, a false father, a false son, a
• 29:22
  false Holy Spirit. Do you remember what Jesus said
• 29:25
  when He described the main role of the Holy Spirit in John 16
• 29:29
  verse 14? He said He will glorify me, for
• 29:32
  He will take what is mine and declare it to you.
• 29:35
  That's what He said about the Holy Spirit.
• 29:37
  By the way, pause. Do you want to know if the Holy
• 29:39
  Spirit is in a church? See how much that church
• 29:44
  elevates and exalts Jesus Christ?
• 29:48
  That's what he does. He he wants to glorify Christ.
• 29:52
  He wants to help people love him and adore Him and serve him.
• 29:55
  That's his duty. That's his job, and he gladly
• 29:57
  does it. Do you want to know the Holy
• 29:59
  Spirit is working in your life? You will love Christ more and
• 30:03
  more and more. That's the way I know when the
• 30:08
  Holy Spirit is really in a person or through a ministry or
• 30:11
  through the preacher. How much do you make of Christ?
• 30:14
  Because Jesus himself said he will glorify me.
• 30:17
  And in a sick, evil way, this false prophet will attempt to
• 30:22
  copy the work of the Holy Spirit by trying trying to draw the
• 30:26
  allegiance and the affections of the inhabitants of the world
• 30:30
  toward the Antichrist. And his ambition to do so will
• 30:37
  will receive great momentum because of the miracle that we
• 30:42
  looked at. Remember last week where this
• 30:43
  Antichrist will apparently be assassinated, but he will also
• 30:47
  seem to have raised from the dead a resurrection esque type
• 30:51
  of miracle. And that miracle, remember when
• 30:54
  we opened this message and read the verses that we're focusing
• 30:57
  on brings up, it comes to our attention more than once in
• 31:03
  order to show us that this false prophet is going to utilize that
• 31:06
  event to convince the masses, hey, this Antichrist is more
• 31:10
  than he's more than human. He's divine.
• 31:14
  He was able to conquer death. Have you seen our world in
• 31:17
  recent history, all the people that are succumbed to disease
• 31:20
  and devastation and the sword? Well, here you have a man here
• 31:23
  who was able to evade death, conquer death.
• 31:27
  Is he not worthy of our worship? This is how he's going to talk.
• 31:30
  He's going to be so compelling. He's going to be so, so, so
• 31:33
  convincing. He's going to be such a joy to
• 31:35
  listen to, and more and more people are going to believe his
• 31:38
  message, not just enjoy what he has to say.
• 31:42
  So what we have here is in fact a remarkable demonstration of
• 31:47
  the devil seeking to be like God in every way possible.
• 31:50
  And before long, all of this will culminate in A1 world
• 31:53
  religion. So alongside the one world
• 31:57
  government that the Antichrist will establish, there will also
• 32:01
  be this effort in the final years of human history to gather
• 32:05
  people for a global unity of spirituality.
• 32:09
  And the Antichrist will be the focal point of man's worship.
• 32:15
  And these detailed predictions are fascinating, are they not?
• 32:18
  We're going to learn more about this One world religion.
• 32:20
  And by the way, we're seeing it entertained now.
• 32:25
  There are leaders of sex and different religion who are
• 32:27
  trying to convince and promote this idea of just let's just
• 32:31
  all, we all serve the same God, you know, are you of the
• 32:34
  Abrahamic faith? Yes.
• 32:35
  It just all goes back to the same root.
• 32:37
  And there's going to be this push, this ecumenical idea of
• 32:40
  let's all gather, let's, this is going to be the source of our
• 32:42
  unity and peace in the world. And it's been unsuccessful so
• 32:46
  far. But at this point, it's actually
• 32:48
  going to reach a point where it's going to happen.
• 32:50
  The world's going to agree to this.
• 32:54
  So you have a one world government and without a one
• 32:57
  world religion. As we go to Chapter 17 in the
• 33:03
  coming weeks, we'll look more into that.
• 33:05
  But for now, you know what gripped me as I was studying
• 33:08
  this the other night? That even with everything
• 33:11
  happening in the tribulation period, disasters and all these
• 33:14
  different things, man will still be preoccupied with worship.
• 33:20
  That moved me, That moved me. You know why?
• 33:23
  Because it says something about human nature that there is
• 33:26
  something innate in each of us that desires to worship someone
• 33:29
  or something. There's this yearning for to,
• 33:31
  to, to, to touch the transcendent.
• 33:34
  I'll never forget this when I was in college, they gave the
• 33:37
  Christian group in that campus such a difficult time to start a
• 33:42
  campus ministry and to be very public about it.
• 33:44
  I remember it so clearly because I wanted to be a part of it.
• 33:48
  And as Christians on that campus, we're getting together
• 33:50
  to try to talk and discuss and, you know, sit with a program
• 33:53
  coordinators and whoever was in charge behind the scenes.
• 33:57
  I remember this in the cafeteria speaking to one of the young
• 33:59
  adults at the time, my young adult pastor actually.
• 34:02
  And when we had left talking about the plans for the campus,
• 34:06
  I looked behind me in the cafeteria were these lineups of
• 34:12
  students. And it caught my attention.
• 34:14
  So I went to go look into it. My young adult's pastor at the
• 34:17
  time left at that point. And what I realized is that the,
• 34:20
  the, the school had invited fortune tellers and they had
• 34:25
  four or five tables of fortune tellers with tarot cards and
• 34:28
  they had kids lined up to have their future interpreted and
• 34:32
  read. I was curious, so I went up to
• 34:35
  the the table there. I says, how do I sign up?
• 34:37
  I didn't do it. I just said, I want to know.
• 34:39
  They said, sorry, Sir, we have a wait list and we have people
• 34:44
  giving their number so we can text them once they're ready to
• 34:46
  come up. What is that?
• 34:49
  I'll tell you what it is. People are hungry for the
• 34:51
  supernatural people. People have this instinct,
• 34:54
  knowledge that there's something beyond the material world, and
• 34:59
  there's this longing for people to even worship.
• 35:01
  And here's the fundamental problem that worship is often
• 35:04
  misdirected, and the Bible calls that idolatry.
• 35:11
  Only the true God deserves our ultimate, our devotion, our
• 35:15
  obedience. And if we don't offer it to him,
• 35:17
  we will inevitably give it to someone or something else, even
• 35:21
  ourselves. So my question for us this
• 35:26
  afternoon is, do you worship? But what do you worship?
• 35:30
  And who do you worship? Where is your greatest affection
• 35:34
  set? Where do you find your ultimate
• 35:38
  meaning? What determines your purpose?
• 35:42
  And ask yourself even this, what is the supreme authority that
• 35:45
  determines my decisions? The answers to those questions
• 35:49
  will identify for you the object of your worship.
• 35:54
  And it's either the true God as revealed in the Bible or an
• 35:57
  idol. And in this time you will have
• 36:02
  people, the future we're looking at right in this book, who will
• 36:04
  be preoccupied with worship because we are all created to
• 36:09
  worship and we have the choice to either worship the truth or
• 36:13
  something that is false to our own spiritual peril.
• 36:16
  So the mission of the second beast is to inspire worship for
• 36:21
  a false Christ who offer false promises, false salvation, false
• 36:26
  miracles, and many will believe him.
• 36:29
  Let's consider now the authority of the second beast.
• 36:32
  In the last two verses of the text that we read, it says here
• 36:35
  in verse 13 of Revelation 13, it performs great signs, even
• 36:39
  making fire come down from heaven to the earth in front of
• 36:41
  people. And by the signs that it is
• 36:44
  allowed, you got to highlight that part that it is allowed to
• 36:48
  work in the presence of the beast.
• 36:49
  It deceives those who dwell on the earth, telling them to make
• 36:52
  an image of the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet
• 36:55
  lived. So this false prophet will not
• 36:56
  only manipulate the masses with his his language and his words,
• 37:02
  not only will he continually point to and make a case from
• 37:05
  this incredible event, this resurrection type miracle that
• 37:08
  the Antichrist will experience and showcase on top of it, he's
• 37:14
  going to perform miracles. Astounding ones, impressive
• 37:19
  ones. And I understand that some
• 37:22
  people who come to a text like this have these dominant
• 37:25
  questions. Is this, is this genuine?
• 37:28
  Are these fake? Are these just a show?
• 37:33
  This is just a sleight of hand kind of thing.
• 37:36
  And if it is real, then how how do we explain God allowing these
• 37:41
  type of demonic individuals perform levels of miracles on on
• 37:45
  par with his supernatural ability?
• 37:47
  And those are legitimate questions.
• 37:49
  And the answer is deeper than, well, Satan is a supernatural
• 37:52
  being. He's the really the the puppet
• 37:54
  master behind all this. So he's energizing them to
• 37:57
  perform these kind of things. I think it's much more profound.
• 38:00
  And here's the answer. God, God is allowing as we just
• 38:04
  read it, is allowing them to perform such mighty things as an
• 38:09
  act of judgement on the world. That's the answer.
• 38:13
  And that's exactly how the apostle Paul explains it.
• 38:16
  So here's our final text today in Second Thessalonians in
• 38:19
  chapter 2. I want you to see how he gives
• 38:24
  commentary on what we're reading here in Revelation 13 in chapter
• 38:28
  2 of Second Thessalonians verse 9.
• 38:37
  Paul writes the coming of a lawless 1 is by the activity of
• 38:39
  Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all
• 38:45
  wicked deception for those who are perishing because they
• 38:48
  refuse to love the truth and so be saved.
• 38:52
  Verse 11 is the main one that we want to look at.
• 38:55
  Therefore God, not Satan, not the false prophet, not the
• 39:00
  Antichrist. Therefore God sends them a
• 39:03
  strong delusion so that they may believe what is false in order
• 39:09
  that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but
• 39:12
  had pleasure in unrighteousness. You have to be very careful with
• 39:15
  a text like this. I've seen people use it to
• 39:17
  accuse the character of God. It does not say that God sends a
• 39:21
  strong delusion on just anybody. It isn't just arbitrarily
• 39:26
  deceive or allow deception, rather to claim people, it says
• 39:32
  that he sends a strong delusion. Delusion on those who refuse to
• 39:35
  love the truth and so be saved. On those who do not believe the
• 39:41
  truth but had taken pleasure in unrighteousness.
• 39:44
  And the context of this passage is of the last days speaking
• 39:48
  about what's to come. Which means that after all that
• 39:52
  the Lord will do leading up to the culmination of the age we've
• 39:56
  been looking at in Revelation, the miracles, the
• 39:58
  manifestations, the obvious display of God's existence
• 40:02
  unlike any other period, unlike any other era.
• 40:05
  Despite all of that, God will be met with persistent rejection,
• 40:13
  and it will reach a point where he will finally determine if you
• 40:17
  want to be in darkness that badly.
• 40:19
  If you want to deny me, I won't convict you anymore.
• 40:23
  I won't manifest myself to you anymore.
• 40:25
  Do you? You want to be in your sin.
• 40:27
  You want to obey falsehood? Here you go.
• 40:31
  I will let you believe a false Messiah and a false prophet to
• 40:35
  your own destruction. He's not the author of this
• 40:40
  section, but he is a sovereign one who allows it to come like a
• 40:43
  flood upon a generation. More specifically, who have spat
• 40:47
  in his face despite his incredible efforts to save them.
• 40:56
  Now, I can imagine how some might use a passage like this to
• 40:59
  accuse God of being cruel. And if you're somebody here
• 41:03
  sitting and listening and thinking something like that, I
• 41:06
  want to challenge your accusation.
• 41:08
  I want to challenge your accusation by asking how can you
• 41:10
  charge God of being wrong for simply giving people what they
• 41:16
  want? You know, it's amazing you have
• 41:21
  some that no matter what God does with humanity, he's to
• 41:24
  blame for something, right? So if he convicts you of
• 41:27
  unrighteousness, if he shines the light in your life while you
• 41:32
  are in the dark, people who don't want to be convicted say,
• 41:36
  well, you're unloving. Who are you to say that this is
• 41:40
  true and this is false, this is right and this is wrong, this is
• 41:43
  good and this is evil. And if he lets you live in the
• 41:47
  deception that you want to die for, well, he's unjust and he's
• 41:53
  unfair and he's mean. So no matter what way you look
• 41:57
  at it, God always gets the blame.
• 41:59
  This is how evil we are. There's a time coming, as I
• 42:04
  said, that God will allow these people to have a freedom to
• 42:10
  unveil evil unlike any other point.
• 42:14
  And it will be, to some degree, a manifestation of God's
• 42:17
  judgement upon a generation who have already determined we don't
• 42:21
  want to be saved. We want our sin, We want our
• 42:25
  falsehood. We hate you and we deny you
• 42:28
  completely. OK, if that's what you
• 42:31
  determined, here's another Messiah and here's another false
• 42:36
  prophet, and here's another message of salvation that will
• 42:39
  not save you, but condemn you. God will send a strong delusion,
• 42:45
  and that's what we're reading about in Revelation 13.
• 42:47
  It will be so strong that this false prophet will even convince
• 42:51
  the world. All right, let's now make an
• 42:54
  image of this beast like Nebuchadnezzar when he created
• 42:59
  that statue of himself and demanded all his subjects to
• 43:02
  worship it. History repeats itself.
• 43:06
  This Antichrist will gladly welcome the creative idea from
• 43:10
  the false prophet to have an image raised.
• 43:12
  We're going to see what's going to happen with this image next
• 43:14
  week. But for now, I want us to
• 43:15
  meditate on something. As we come to this table.
• 43:17
  We read how God will send a strong delusion, but that's not
• 43:22
  his heart. Before God will send a strong
• 43:26
  delusion, He has already sent something much more wonderful,
• 43:29
  and it's his Son Jesus. That's his heart. 2000 years
• 43:34
  ago. He sent mercy, He sent grace, He
• 43:36
  sent love, He sent the payment for all of our deeds, all of our
• 43:40
  wrongdoings, all of our rebellion.
• 43:42
  God sent a rescue mission on our behalf in the person of Jesus
• 43:49
  Christ. He took on flesh and He allowed
• 43:50
  evil men to do what they wanted with him.
• 43:53
  Not that he lost control. He laid down his life willingly
• 43:58
  knowing that He would be able to absorb all the wrath that rests
• 44:02
  on your head and mine as He was elevated to that tree.
• 44:07
  He was not just a mere martyr. He was not a victim of the
• 44:11
  religious corrupt system or the Roman Empire.
• 44:14
  This was all preordained. This was all established from
• 44:18
  from eternity past within the Tri unity of our God.
• 44:23
  Coming up with the ultimate plan of salvation that would deem
• 44:26
  would redeem any man who would simply humble themselves and
• 44:28
  realize Jesus on that tree took my place and he paid the price
• 44:34
  and He lived out my obedience and he, he laid down his life to
• 44:38
  receive God's judgement. Why did he do all that as an
• 44:45
  invitation for you and I to see his love and also to receive him
• 44:50
  personally. Here's my final question.
• 44:51
  I've asked a lot today. Do you know Jesus?
• 44:57
  You know, although that passage in Second Thessalonians is a
• 45:00
  prediction of what's to come, it also carries principle for
• 45:04
  today. It is a very dangerous thing to
• 45:06
  constantly be exposed to the truth and swatted away.
• 45:11
  You're not doing your heart any good.
• 45:14
  In fact, you were setting yourself up to become even more
• 45:17
  and more and more hardened. And I don't want anybody to
• 45:21
  think here that I'm manipulating anybody.
• 45:23
  I want you to understand this is what the Scripture warns.
• 45:27
  If you hear His voice today, today is a day of salvation.
• 45:30
  If you sense throughout this message, especially this last
• 45:33
  part, your heart being cut, there's something coming alive
• 45:35
  in you where you realize there's something true about this.
• 45:38
  I don't know all the details, but I know that there is a God.
• 45:40
  I know that I'm sinful, and you're telling me that this God
• 45:42
  loved me so much that he died for me.
• 45:46
  If you sense that prompting, don't silence it, don't ignore
• 45:51
  it. Respond to it.
• 45:53
  Respond to it, investigate it, question it in a good way, look
• 45:58
  into it, don't dismiss it. Because when people constantly
• 46:03
  suppress that conviction, they make themselves more right for
• 46:06
  deception. Believer, you and I are here
• 46:10
  today to understand and remind ourselves with this table before
• 46:14
  us that God so loved us. He took on flesh and He shed His
• 46:20
  blood. And you were sitting here today,
• 46:22
  if you put your faith in this message as totally forgiven
• 46:27
  forever and ever, and all these warnings about deception and
• 46:30
  false messiahs and people being tricked, that doesn't apply to
• 46:33
  you. You've been delivered from that.
• 46:36
  And you and I stand as the children of God for all of
• 46:39
  eternity because of His grace. Let's celebrate that together.
• 46:43
  Amen. Lord, we thank you for this
• 46:46
  word. We thank you for these elements
• 46:48
  as we now turn our attention upon this wonderful ordinance.
• 46:51
  Awaken love in our hearts for the person of Christ, for the
• 46:54
  person who doesn't know you. May they be introduced to you by
• 46:57
  the power of your Holy Spirit, and may they bend the knee to
• 47:00
  the true Messiah. This afternoon we ask these
• 47:03
  things in Jesus name, Amen.