The Spirit of the Antichrist, Part 2: Lawlessness And Destruction
Antichrist - End Times • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.
and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.
Review: The Spirit Of The Antichrist
Review: The Spirit Of The Antichrist
Unholy Spirits
Real spirits that influence real people.
Already at work in the world.
Are forerunners to THE Antichrist
Attributes
A Spirit Of Deception
False Prophets
Special/Secret Knowledge
“Spiritual Experiences” vs. Orthodox Teaching
The Word of God is not enough
Become your own source of light and truth
Luciferians
Honor the Angel of Light - the Light Bearer
Disguised as Apostle of Christ
A Spirit of Error
Delusion, false judgment or opinion. Reactive/passive
Deceit, fraud, seduction to error and sin. Proactive
Perverseness, wickedness, sin. Results - We’ll see this clearer today.
Test The Spirits
Do not believe every spirit. Examine, put to the test.
Spirit of Truth: Holy Spirit
3 Tests
Was Jesus fully God and fully human?
Did Jesus come physically in the flesh?
Was Jesus the prophesied Messiah (Christ) of the Old Testament?
The Spirit Of The Antichrist, Part 2: Lawlessness and Destruction
The Spirit Of The Antichrist, Part 2: Lawlessness and Destruction
Context: The End Times And Paul’s Teachings On It (vs. 5)
Things he’s already taught them, but something happens and they get all stirred up.
88 Reasons why Christ is coming again in 1988.
Y2K - 2000
Mayan Calendar ending 2012
Blood Moons - 2014, 2015
COVID pandemic - 2020
Solar Eclipses - 2024
Olympics - 2024
So we can be level headed and passionate about the return of Christ, without forgetting our current mission, I’m going to be covering some end time issues this fall as well.
Spirit of Deception: The Day Of The Lord Had Already Come (vs 1-2)
Spirit of Deception: The Day Of The Lord Had Already Come (vs 1-2)
Do Not Be Quickly Shaken in Mind.
Where does Satan want to attack us?
so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
The word for schemes here could be translated “mind games”.
But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.
It’s what he did in the garden and it’s what he tries to do with us
Alarmed
The cry or noise of a tumultuous multitude
Disturb / trouble / terrify
worked up over
Let No One Deceive You
Seduce / Beguile
To lead out of the right way into error.
Fear, Freak Out, Fall - Sermon from 2 weeks ago. Be still and know that I am God.
The Day Of The Lord Will Not Come Until…(vs 3-4)
The Day Of The Lord Will Not Come Until…(vs 3-4)
Fill Your Mind With The Truth - spirit of error vs/ spirit of truth
A Falling Away Occurs
(apostasia) - apostasy - to turn away and denounce
a departure / a falling away occurs
But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,
Can a true believer fall away? No.
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.
“For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.
So this is about a pruning of the vine. A refining of the church. A purification of the Bride of Christ.
Sometimes we get overly worked up about churches and organizations going away from conservative doctrine.
But it’s actually God’s way of preparing His bride.
So we find that balance, another ditch issue, of being a watchman on the walls.
We stay out of the ditch of passivity. Jesus is coming soon anyway, so it’s not worth the fight. We say nothing.
We stay out of the ditch of over-zealousness where everything becomes a witch hunt. We kick everyone out of the church because you’re all falling short.
That being said, have we been seeing a “falling away?”
The Man Of Lawlessness/Son Of Destruction Is Revealed
Revealed - Apokalupto - from apokalupso
literally to remove the veil or covering exposing to open view what was before hidden.
There will be an unveiling of the Antichrist.
In the meantime, his minions are at work.
Lawlessness
The Mystery Of Lawlessness (vs 7)
Is Already At Work - the spirit of the antichrist
Not the absence of the law, but the violation of it.
the spirit of the antichrist will do everything it can to live opposed to the laws of God.
Do we see lawlessness today?
BLM riots / looting.
Pro-Palestinian protests.
But this is chiefly related to the Divine instituted laws, not merely the laws of men.
And the term lawlessness could be translated rebellion.
The Man of Rebellion, and thus the spirit of rebellion against Divine instituted laws.
Abortion - the law of life
Transgenderism - the law of male and female
Does it seem like it’s getting worse?
The result of lawlessness?
love growing cold.
“Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.
Do we see love growing cold?
It just seems like “everyone” is just angry all the time.
Can’t have a civil discourse or debate anymore.
The “Mystery” of lawlessness - musterion
a person initiated into sacred mysteries.
a secret, or esoteric knowledge.
The spirit of the antichrist is a spirit of sacred mysteries and secret knowledge.
Knowledge obtained not by the Holy Spirit, but through the occult.
Gnosticism
Luciferianism
There has been a rise and a normalizing of occult practices in recent times.
“There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.
“For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you.
The mystery of rebellion. To add to what we just saw.
“For rebellion is as the sin of divination, And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king.”
Destruction / Perdition (vs 3)
apoleia - to destroy fully, ruin.
One determined to remain spiritually lost.
It’s not that I don’t know, or I don’t believe, but I don’t care.
It is a willful rejection even with the acknowledgement of the truth.
Mormon example. Don’t mind being in the outer darkness, that’s where my friends are going to be.
Metaphorically, a dismantling of…a tearing down of...morals, society, ancient ways of thinking.
Thus says the Lord, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
The spirit of the antichrist will do everything it can to tear down Judeo Christian values and society.
Are we seeing a tearing down of the ancient ways today?
Arrogant Boastful Prideful
Opposes
Exalts Himself
Do we see this happening today? I think this ties into our love growing cold.
Against (Upon) - every “so-called” god or object of worship
Are we becoming an increasingly more pagan society, or a more pluralistic society?
Even the Luciferians are for freedom of religion.
The Antichrist Takes His Seat In The Temple Of God.
Proclaims himself to be God.
Do we see a temple in existence?
Paul wrote this when the temple was in existence and was referencing the abomination of desolation which Daniel spoke of in Daniel 9 and Jesus referenced in Matthew 24.
The temple had been destroyed when Daniel wrote, so he clearly was referencing a future temple.
By Jesus referencing it, then it had to be a temple future to Him. And since He knew that this as in reference to His second coming, it couldn’t be talking about Herod’s Temple at the time.
So there is still a temple that will be in existence when the antichrist comes to power.
This in my opinion is one of the biggest indicators of “how close” we are.
The antichrist will not come to power until after a temple has been constructed.
Then The Day Of The Lord Comes
The Restrainer (vs. 6-7)
The Restrainer (vs. 6-7)
Who Is The Restrainer?
The Holy Spirit
Through the activity of the true churches of Jesus Christ.
What Is The Restrainer Doing?
The Restrainer is holding the spirits of lawlessness, rebellion, and destruction at bay.
The Restrainer is keeping the Antichrist from being revealed.
The Restrainer will continue to do so until he is taken out of the way. (vs 7)
Rapture.
The Holy Spirit and true believers are removed from the physical world.
This is a different event than the Second Coming of Christ. (vs 8)
We see the difference in these two events in 1 Thess. 4:13-18; and I Thess. 5:1-11;
both sections ending with: Therefore encourage one another...
In his time (kairos) - the divine moment, the Antichrist will be revealed.
The Revealing (vs 8)
The Revealing (vs 8)
Of The Lawless One
Once the Restrainer has been removed, the Antichrist will be revealed.
One implication is that you will not know for sure who the antichrist is until the church is raptured away.
The text actually says, the church is taken (ginomai - change of state or position) out of (from the midst, from among, away) AND then the Antichrist is revealed.
First of all, the tribulation is a 7 year period of time. Daniel, Revelation: one week / time, times, and half a time / 42 months / 1260 days.
The antichrist is revealed at the midpoint of the Tribulation period. Rev 13.
So we know the rapture has to occur prior to the midpoint.
But, there’s a subtle implication of immediately following when it says: AND THEN the antichrist is revealed.
So the Antichrist is revealed immediately after the church is raptured away.
Which could imply the church is raptured right before the midpoint of the tribulation.
But then again, in the grand scheme of time, 3.5 years before the midpoint, or at the beginning of the tribulation period is not very long before.
So my current position is that the rapture will occur sometime prior to the midpoint of the tribulation. So I call myself a pre-mid-trib rapturist.
The End (vs 8)
The End (vs 8)
The Antichrist
The Lord will slay him with the breath of His mouth
The Lord will bring him to an end by the appearance of His coming.
And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.
And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.
deceive (planao) - the verbal form of the noun (plane) - error. To seduce people into rebellion and idolatry.
Apparent Order of Events
Apparent Order of Events
Deception, Error, Lawlessness, Rebellion and Destruction are already at work - (spirits of the antichrist)
Restrainer holds all of this at bay
Apostasy
The Restrainer is removed - The Church / Holy Spirit
THE Lawless one is revealed - Antichrist
The Day of the Lord comes - Wrath of God
Christ’s Second Coming to bring an end to the Antichrist. - End of 7 years of Tribulation
The spirits of the antichrist may be at work, but by the power of the Holy Spirit living in you, you don’t need to listen to them.
Unless of course, you don’t have the Holy Spirit living in you.
The Holy Spirit comes into you on the day you give your life to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
In fact, the Holy Spirit enables you to recognize those spirits and rebuke them and cast them aside.
Don’t be one of the deceived ones.
We need to help others come to the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that they too can escape the deception of the devil.
Pray.
Closing Song: Even So Come.
