Pastor Dana Kidder preaching from 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 at Redemption Bible Church in Bellefontaine, Ohio.
Redemption Bible Church
Do Not Be Deceived (part 1)
Do you know the story of Hanukkah? It's not one of the festivals that's written into the Old Testament law, but there are some prophecies concerning the events of Hanukkah. So I want to back up just a little bit and start with a phrase that's mentioned a few times in the book of Daniel. I'm going to read just one of them. It's mentioned in Daniel chapter 11 verse 31, just this one verse says this. "Forces from him shall appear and profane the temple and fortress, and shall take away the regular burnt offering. And they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate." The abomination of desolation, the horrible desolation, that phrase has become synonymous with blasphemous activity in the temple. And it's connected both with a mysterious man of lawlessness and with the fall of Jerusalem, both of which are signs of the return of Christ. So Hanukkah. Hanukkah means dedication, and the festival is actually a commemoration of the rededication of the temple after it had been desecrated. So in 168 BC, this is in the time period between the writings of the Old and New Testaments, 168 BC, the ruler of the Seleucid Empire, a man by the name of Antiochus Epiphanes IV. He desired for all of the subjects in his empire, which included the land of Israel, that they would share the same culture and the same gods. And so he marched into Jerusalem, he vandalized the temple, he erected an idol to Zeus on the altar, and he desecrated the holy of holies by sacrificing a pig. Additionally, he decreed that studying the Torah, God's law, observing the Sabbath or even circumcising Jewish boys were punishable by death. Antiochus then sent overseers and soldiers to villages throughout Judea to enforce his laws and to really to force Jews into idol worship. When the soldiers reached the town called Modine, it was about 12 miles from Jerusalem, they demanded that a local village elder named Matathias be an example to his people by sacrificing a pig on a portable pagan altar. This elder who was also of the priestly class, he not only refused, but he also killed both the king's representative and the Jewish man who stepped forward and said, "I'll do it." And he and his five sons fled into the Judean countryside. Soon they were joined by essentially an army of others like them, simple farmers dedicated to the law of Moses or at least to the Jewish traditions. This group came to be known as the Maccabees, and they fought a guerrilla war against the forces of the Seleucid army. In just a few months the Maccabees actually cleared the way back to the Temple Mount which they reclaimed. It said that they cleansed the Temple, they dismantled the defiled altar and constructed a new one in its place. Three years or so after Antiochus' desecration of the Temple, the Maccabees held a dedication of the Temple using the proper Levitical sacrifices and there were eight days of celebration and praise. So in 168 BC Antiochus epiphanies committed the abomination of desecration or desolation, but not quite because in 63 BC, about 100 years later, but still 60 or so years before Christ, the Roman general Pompey annexed Israel to be under Roman rule. And he also desecrated the Temple by brazenly walking into the Holy of Holies. Although it should be noted, he did not plunder the Temple, the furnishings or the treasury. Now there was another close call in AD 40, or the 40s AD, when the Roman Emperor Caligula demanded that a statue of himself be placed in the Holy of Holies in the Jewish Temple. And had he not died before this was done, this would have been another desolation, desecration of the Temple, another abomination. He was attempting to send a very clear message that even the Jews were to worship the Roman Emperor as Lord, they were to say Caesar is Lord. Then finally in 70 AD, the Roman general Titus invaded Jerusalem in order to crush a Jewish revolt, he entered the Temple, he had the building destroyed, he carried off the lampstand and the other furnishings and temple artifacts to Rome. The abomination of desolation, the Temple was destroyed. R.C. Sproul writes of this, he says, "It seems incontrovertible that Titus's actions were the specific fulfillment of Jesus's warning in Mark 13, 14 about "the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be." After all, Sproul writes, the parallel verse in Matthew 24, 15 says that the abomination would stand "in the holy place," a clear reference to the Temple. Christ told his disciples that when they saw the abomination, they were to flee the city. They were not to return from the field for their possessions if they were out working the crops. If they were on the roof of their home, they were not to enter the home before fleeing. Rather, they were to scurry down the outdoor staircases and flee. The flight would be so perilous that winter travel would be difficult and pregnant women would find it hard to keep up. And then Sproul continues, he says, "Josephus, a Jewish historian who gives us the clearest first-hand account of Jerusalem's fall, reports that when Jewish Christians in Judea heated Jesus' warning, when the city and the Temple fell, more than 1 million Jews died. But Jewish Christians, by and large, were not among them, but they had already fled the city when they saw the Romans coming." 2 Thessalonians 2, we're going to look at verses 1 to 12, and hopefully he'll go, "Okay, I know what he's talking about." 2 Thessalonians 2, let's read this verses 1 through 12. "Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus and are being gathered together to him, we ask your brothers not to be quickly shaken in mine or alarmed, either by a spirit or spoken word or by a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way, for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called God or object of worship. So that he takes his seat in the Temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time, that the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he's out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, with all wicked deception for those who are perishing because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion so that they may believe what is false in order that they may be condemned, who do not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. We need to pray. Let's pray together. Lord, I pray that you would speak to us today, Lord, give us what we need, that our faith in you would increase. Give us years to hear and eyes to see, Lord, we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, so the primary reason that I've been preaching eschatology or the end this year is because it's supposed to give us a real and genuine hope and optimism. In fact, listen to Revelation 1, verse 3, from the opening verses of the book of Revelation, verse 3 says this, "Blessed is the one who reads loud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near." Blessed are, Jesus says. When we start talking about end times, we often start to speculate, we start to worry, we start to get hung up on the details, trying to figure out the identity of the Antichrist, the meaning of the mark of the beast, who exactly is the 144,000 or so on and so forth. The list of controversies and arguments about these things are almost endless. And in the end, when actually discussing these things, many Christians end up, as he says here in verse 2, "Shaken in mind or alarmed." Churches have split over these discussions. Relationships have ended because of these discussions. And I want you to understand that the passage that we come to today, these verses in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, scholars agree that this is likely the most challenging and difficult section of all of Paul's letters to exegete, to interpret, explain, and apply. So when Peter says at the end of his second letter that some of Paul's writings are, he says hard to understand which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction as they do with the other scriptures. It's very possible that Peter had this very passage in mind when he wrote that because everywhere I looked, all of the sources said this is Paul's most difficult and controversial passage. But even if these verses are debatable and maybe open to various interpretations, Paul's overall purpose and goal is very clear. His purpose in writing this is not to predict the future, contrary to what some prophecy enthusiasts might think. His goal is to pastor the Thessalonian saints, to shepherd them. Paul is continuing throughout both of these letters to speak words of comfort to a church that is actively being persecuted, actively being manipulated into thinking that the Lord Jesus had already returned and they missed it. Now in our study of first and second Thessalonians so far as we've been working through these now for several months, this is actually the fourth time that Paul has addressed the return of Jesus Christ. He first brought it up to encourage them towards hope even while they grieved the death of some of their fellow church members, reminding them that all saints will be united with Christ personally. The second time he brought it up, again in the first letter, he said that Christ would return like a thief in the night, completely unexpected by the world, and yet anticipated by his people. The third instance is here at the beginning of this letter that we looked at last week when he encouraged believers to trust that Christ will pour out his wrath and his judgment on his enemies and yet spare those who have trusted in him. So don't miss the fact that hope and encouragement are constantly his reasons for writing about these things. Hope and encouragement. The return of Jesus Christ Paul insists is the ringing of good news for his people and yet at the same time it is a death knell for the wicked. Now here for the final time in these letters Paul writes of this and he's once again writing to bring comfort and he's also writing to urge them to not be deceived. Do not be deceived. Do not be deceived that he has already returned. Verses 1 and 2, look at these again. Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus and are being gathered together to him we ask you brothers not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed either by a spirit, by a spoken word or a letter seeming to be from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. This is the crisis, at least maybe one of the crises that the Church of Thessalonica faced. Evidently someone has claimed, probably also while claiming to have some of Paul's authority, someone has claimed that the day of the Lord has come. Remember this is a very young Church, not only are they young in the faith the Church has only been around for a couple of years when he writes this, it's a very young Church. They've seen death, they were actively suffering under persecution and so it seems that they're scared out of their wits, they were scared, they were afraid, and so Paul is writing, again I keep emphasizing this, he's writing to comfort them and to encourage them not to be deceived. Notice at the end of verse 2 there Paul actually uses the phrase the day of the Lord. That's a very specific phrase that's actually used throughout the Bible to refer to judgment day, that's what it refers to. Paul has used it before, in fact in order to give assurance to the Corinthians, he writes at the beginning of 1 Corinthians in chapter 1 verse 4, he says I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus. That in every way you are enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you so that you're not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, the day of the Lord. On that day the righteous judge will declare them guiltless, but judgment is not the only event that will happen at the end of days. We're going to see this unfold as we look into these things in the coming weeks and months, but I say this because Paul is writing to correct the mistaken belief that the final sequence of events has already begun. This is why it seems for example that some of the church members there in Thessalonica have become idle and they've stopped working. Chapter 3 is going to address that. He's already here, let's just take it easy. Why save money? Why go to work? We'll get into that in chapter 3. So this false message is spreading that there had already either been a secret return of Christ that he was here hidden somewhere or that there had been a spiritual return of Christ, but either way they've missed it and they're afraid. Same type of thing has actually happened throughout history at various times, so I'll give you one example. Charles T. Russell was the founder of the Jehovah's Witnesses. He claimed that Christ had already returned invisibly on October 1, 1914, so believers should not look for a visible return or have any hope in his coming. And of course that's just one of many of his false teachings. He taught that Christ has already returned 100 years ago, 110 years ago now, so don't look for him anymore. That's false. Do you know that Paul actually mentions this exact heresy as having spread throughout the Church of Ephesus? He tells Timothy, what this time is essentially the pastor in Ephesus in 2 Timothy chapter 2 verses 16 to 18, Paul says, but avoid a reverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymanaeus and Phyleedus who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection had already happened. They're upsetting the faith of Psalm. This is the same argument. This is a very real danger for the Church. And according to Paul, the denial that Christ is still coming not only upsets the faith of Psalm, he says there in 2 Timothy, but it also leads people into more and more ungodliness. You can see how that would happen if we have no hope of Christ's return. So Paul doesn't want them to be jolted by the fake news that Christ had already come. And this news actually says might have come to them in three different ways by a spirit, verse 2, which some translations might say by prophecy. This is someone claiming supernatural revelation. It might come by a word, he says, meaning some kind of oral report or maybe a sermon, or it might come by a forged letter claiming to be from Paul, Sylvanas, or Timothy. And it's possible, and some believe that it could have been all three, that someone had come to the Church claiming to be bringing information from Paul, but Paul is vehemently denying that this is the case. Jesus had actually warned his disciples to be aware of similar claims. In Mark chapter 13, verses 6 and 7, he said, "Many will come in my name, saying I am he, and they will lead many astray. And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet." So if we stop right here, let me give you an observation, maybe a little bit of application. When reading of the return of Jesus Christ in Scripture, we are told over and over and over again to be alert, to keep watch. Jesus himself said in Matthew chapter 24, verse 44, he says, "Therefore you also must be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Keep watch. Be ready. Be alert." So this is not a call to avoid all talk of the Second Coming, which we sometimes tend to do, far from it actually. This is a call to keep a healthy skepticism, beware of false teachers, and to use the clear teaching of Scripture as your guide, especially when understanding the difficult parts. Essentially, Paul does not want them or us to be deceived, and therefore have our faith weakened. Matthew Henry, the famous commentary writer from the 1700s said, "We should firmly believe the Second Coming of Christ and be settled and established in the faith of this." Then he goes on to write, "We should always watch and pray, but we must not be discouraged nor uncomfortable at the thought of Christ's coming." Do not be deceived. Do not be deceived because of unfulfilled signs. Look at verses 3 and 4, this is where it gets, some might say, fun, I don't really. Let no one deceive you in any way, for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the Son of Destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called God or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Now, it's important to remember that Paul is writing this letter sometime, probably between the years of 49 and 52 B.C., AD, sorry, after Christ. Somewhere between 49 and 52 AD, so something like a little under 20 years after Christ's time on earth. So the letters to the Thessalonians are among the very first writings of the New Testament. Galatians maybe is before them, but they're among the very first writings that we have of the New Testament. And in considering these verses, we need to understand that Paul is drawing on Jesus' teaching that we have in Matthew 24, sometimes called the Olivet Discourse. And if you remember anything about that passage, we're not going to get into all of it today, but it opens with the disciples admiring the splendor of the temple. And yet Jesus knows that he's headed for the crucifixion. So the chapter opens like this. Jesus left the temple and was going away, and his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. But he answered them, "You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be one left here, one stone upon another that will not be thrown down." And then as he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?" Now, before we go any further into that, I also need to point out that the signs of the end are not necessarily obvious to everyone. So Jesus said in Matthew chapter 16, verses 1 to 4, we read this, "And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him, they asked him to show him them a sign from heaven. And he answered them, "When it's evening, you say it will be fair weather, for the sky is red, and in the morning it will be stormy, it will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening. You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah." So he left them and departed. Jesus is rebuking them. He's rebuking them for not believing God's word. They understood that red sky at night, sailors delight, red sky in the morning, sailors take more. They understood that, but they couldn't understand the Bible. Jesus is rebuking them for that. They don't believe God's word. The same is true for us. Our faith must be anchored in the Word of God, not in supernatural signs, not in the newspaper. Our faith is anchored in God's word. Those who do not rely on God's word are going to miss the signs. In fact, that's why so many missed him the first time. We can look back on the Christmas story. And we can look into the Old Testament and see all of these prophecies concerning the birth of Jesus Christ that are pointed out to us in the New Testament. But almost everybody missed them. Almost, there were a few who were anchored in God's word, but so many missed all of it because they weren't anchored in God's word. They didn't understand the Scriptures. I also need to say that like with all prophecy, it would be a mistake to think that all of the signs take place either sequentially or immediately before Christ's return. So some of the signs that Jesus gave in Matthew 24 were fulfilled at the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. That helps explain why the Christian Church escaped virtually unscathed from that disaster, as Josephus told us. In fact, in Luke chapter 21, there's another account of that same teaching. And to put it in my words, Jesus tells them that when they see the armies approaching, run. And Josephus tells us that they did. They ran. The Christians did. Here's why I think that not everything was fulfilled at the prophecies of Matthew 24. It's because in Matthew 24 verse 6 it says this, "And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars so that you are not alarmed." So for this must take place, but the end is not yet. And so signs such as wars confirm that history is moving toward the day of the Lord. So here's what I mean. When Paul says, for example, in 2 Timothy 3 verse 1, he says this, "But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty." And then he goes on to describe troubles that virtually all Christians, all churches have faced. Not just Timothy's, and not just churches in modern America. 2000 or some years in the future. And when we get that, when we understand that, we can begin to understand the nature of prophecy. So some things are fulfilled in the near future, like the destruction of Jerusalem in 8070. Some things are cyclical, like wars and rumors of wars. They happen time and time. Just in our lifetime, we've heard of wars and rumors of wars. That's happened for the last 2000 throughout human history. In the last days, people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, and so forth. Some things are yet in the future. Some things are cyclical. Some things are yet in the future, like the glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. But what are these unfulfilled signs that Paul is talking about here in verse 3 and 4? There's actually two. First he says that there will be a great rebellion, and that word is actually where we get our English word apostasy, which means a falling away from the faith. So the last days will be marked by many who oppose God, even from within the church, by an increase in immorality and wickedness, and by false teachers who lead people astray. So here's how he puts it in a couple of other places. First Timothy 4, verses 1 to 3, it says this. Now the Spirit expressly says that in the latter times, some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from food that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. I've already kind of referred to 2 Timothy chapter 3, but listen to all of verses 1 to 5. Paul says to Timothy, understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty for people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasible, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power. Jude. Jude actually quotes from 2 Peter chapter 3 when he writes at the end of his short letter, in verses 17 to 19, Jude writes this. He says, but you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, 2 Peter 3, Peter says this, in the last time there will be scoffers following their own ungodly passions. And then Jude says, it is these who cause divisions, worldly people devoid of the spirit. And if we look ahead here, even in these verses, this rebellion, this apostasy is a failure to receive the gospel of truth that leads to salvation. That's what verse 10 says. It leads to the worship of a pseudo-god, verse 4. And ultimately it results in condemnation in verse 12. We'll get into more of those things next week. But for now the big question that we have is, who or what is this pseudo-god, this man of lawlessness, this son of destruction. Originally when I was writing this, I'm not going to tell you this now, but originally when I was writing this I wrote, and why is it Jimmy Carter? I'm not going to tell you that now because it's a stupid joke. But that was a joke, that was a thought that went around for a while. Anyway, pretend I didn't say it. This brings us really to the second unfulfilled sign that Paul was writing about. And really this rebellion and this man of lawlessness are closely connected here. So depending on how you read it, one might precede the other, or one may usher in the other, but regardless they're connected. So who is this? Well there are four descriptions in these verses. First he's called a man of lawlessness. Daniel chapter 12 tells us, speaking of the end, tells us that in the end the wicked shall act wickedly. Paul is indicating that this man will lead them, the wicked who are acting wickedly. This man will lead them in rejecting God's good law. This man will be the embodiment of lawlessness. The second description is the phrase son of destruction. It's an interesting point that Jesus uses this phrase to speak of Judas who betrayed him. But the use of son of before destruction, that could also mean that he is a destroyer who embodies all that his wicked predecessors stood for. From Pharaoh, to Nebuchadnezzar, to Antiochus epiphanies, to Nero, to Caligula, to Titus, all of those on and on, all of those who have worked to destroy God's people and their worship of God. He's a son of destruction. Third, he is not content with rebellion and destruction, but even demands worship. Look at the end of verse four. Let me just read verse four, 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. This idea of "I am God," that's exactly what Pharaoh demanded. That's exactly what Nebuchadnezzar demanded. And then they had Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego thrown into the fiery furnace when they wouldn't bow down to his idol. This is exactly what the Roman emperors demanded when they demanded total allegiance, when they proclaimed Caesar as Lord. And then the fourth description here is that this man of lawlessness seeks not only to deceive and persecute, but also to control the church from within. Notice that he takes his seat in the temple of God. Paul is subtly referring there to Daniel 1131, which I read at the beginning about the abomination of desolation. And as I said, this prophecy was first fulfilled by Antiochus Epiphanes in around 168 BC when he entered the Holy of Holies, when he erected the altar to Zeus and sacrificed a pig. Then again in 63 BC when the Roman general Pompey marched in and desecrated the temple. And then Jesus foretold the same thing happening again. Jesus said in Matthew 24 verses 15 and 16, so when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. By the time Jesus said that Antiochus Epiphanes had already done his thing a hundred and some years earlier, Pompey had already done his thing 90 years earlier or so. And Jesus is saying, you're going to see it again. And when you do, run. Jesus says this many years after it happened twice and he says it's going to happen again. And he says this time it's going to be a total desolation. Run for the hills when you see this. Then about 15 years or so later, Paul writes these words. And we know that these things literally take place again, but this time the temple is destroyed forever. It's not there today. 70 AD. But do you know something? Almost every time that Paul uses the word temple, he's referring to the church. Almost every time that Paul uses the word temple, he's referring to the church. I think there were two places where he is referring to the actual temple, but it's passively. Here he's actively, every time he uses the word temple, in this sense, he's referring to the church. So for example, 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 16 says, do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you? Or in Ephesians chapter 2 verses 19 to 21. So then you're no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. Hold on. Jesus said not one stone will be left standing on another. He was talking about the temple, not the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. Built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. Paul clearly sees Israel's physical temple as a type and shadow of the spiritual building that is the Christian church. And so from this point of view, we can clearly see that Paul's fourth statement regarding this man of lawlessness indicates that he will pursue his idolatrous agenda from within the church. And frankly, we've seen this happen time and time again throughout history. So for example, the reformers saw the pope as deceiving the church from within, while also wielding great political power, and they called him the Antichrist. It doesn't even matter which pope it was. They just saw the pope in that way. That's why the confessions often say that the pope is the Antichrist. They would say that the pope and the systems of bishops are deceiving the people of the church with a false gospel of works righteousness. And that's not just out there. We see this happening within even Protestant churches, so-called big eva. I don't know if you've ever heard that term before, big evangelicalism. Teaching for prophet things that ought not to teach and leading weary souls astray. There's a massive controversy about this out there right now, and you might not be aware of it, and that's just fine. But even if you don't come to some of the same conclusions that I do about these things, this is hard to put into a sermon. It's hard to explain these things clearly without it being confusing. So I sincerely hope that I haven't been that confusing today. Even if you don't draw the same conclusions about these things, look at the simplest meaning of Paul's writing. Do not be deceived. You've not missed his return. He will come back as he has promised. He has said, John chapter 14, that where I am, you may be also. I'm going to prepare a place for you, but I will come again for you. That promise still stands. That where I am, you may be also. Lord willing, next week we're going to look a little bit more into this lawless one from verses 5 to 12. But for today, let me just finish with this. The goal of the enemy of the Lord is twofold. Apostasy and idolatry, to lead people away and get them to worship something or someone else. The devil seeks to destroy, or at least to harm, to cause great damage to the church by leading away as many as possible. And I believe that this is the rebellion that comes before Christ's return, and it cycles throughout history. It goes over and over and over again. The enemy of God is seeking you. He wants to confuse you. He wants to draw you away, to cause you to deny the faith. He wants to cause you to worship something or someone else. He doesn't even care what, as long as it's not God. As long as it is not the risen Jesus Christ. The goal of the enemy is apostasy and idolatry. But I actually don't have a pessimistic view of all these things. I know it maybe sounds like it today, but I really don't have a pessimistic view of this. Do you know why? Because look at the explosive growth of the church throughout history. In 2000 years, the church went from a dozen eleven men, a few women, praying in an upper room after Christ ascended, confused and not knowing what to do, to an incredible army that is worldwide, to saints who are all over the earth. The gospel is advancing on the gates of hell, and it will continue to. But even just look at the last couple of years. Consider all that has happened to the church since COVID. Think of the revivals that have happened in faithful churches just like this one. Look at the growth, both spiritually and numerically. There's an apostasy that is happening in churches that can be described as a great rebellion, as they embrace and bow down to the spirit of the age, as they hoist rainbow flags outside their supposed houses of worship. We've told the stories before, but when we purchased this building, I don't even know how many rainbow flags we found stuffed in the walls that we've removed and destroyed. But there are also faithful churches all over the world, just like us, who are not deceived, that are doing kingdom building work and happily rejoicing in the worship of the coming king. That's what we are doing. Listen, it is okay if we either don't understand or don't even agree with everything that I've said. I'll even go so far as to say it's okay if the sermon wasn't very good or wasn't clear. Because next week, next week we're going to come right back together again and stand side by side as we labor and fight against the forces of evil, as we worship our risen God together as His people. Amen. To the praise of His glorious grace. We'll be back unless He comes first. And I pray that He does. Pray with me. Father, I pray that we would not be deceived. That we would not be deceived by the enemies of the gospel. That we would search the scriptures. That we would grow in our knowledge and understanding of the truth. That we would remain steadfast and immovable in our conviction that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. That He will return to judge the quick and the dead. That we will be with our God forever. That the promise, you will be my people and I will be your God, is a promise that we will see. That the promise that God will dwell with His people forever is a promise that we will see. Father, I pray that You would strengthen our weaknesses, strengthen our weak knees. That we would stand side by side and fight for the gospel of Jesus Christ. To the praise of His glorious grace. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.