If you turn in your copies of God’s word now to 2 Thessalonians, be in chapter two this morning, I believe that’s on page 1,259 of your pew Bibles. Let’s give attention to the very word of God, 2 Thessalonians, Chapter 2, beginning at verse 1. Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way.
For that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things?
And you know what is restraining him now, so that he may be revealed in his time, for the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing because they 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 all may be condemned who did not believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
We’ll stop our reading there. Praise be to God. Amen. Please be seated. Would you pray with me? Our Father and our God, we come to what might be a difficult passage. We ask for your leading this morning by the spirit that you would give us everything that you have for us, that you’ve ordained from eternity past. Open our ears, Lord. Open our hearts. Guide and direct this morning. We ask this in Jesus’s name. Amen.
Why do you doubt? Seems to be a significant question in this passage. Why do you doubt? If you remember that account of Jesus walking on the water, coming to the disciples at night in the boat, The disciples being frightened, it’s a ghost, they cried out in fear.
And Jesus speaks to them and says, take heart. It is I, do not be afraid. And Peter makes that challenge, doesn’t he? If it’s you, command me to come to you. And he does. Peter begins walking on the water with Christ. But then he takes his eyes off of Christ and he begins to sink. He cries out, Lord save me. Interestingly, Jesus does so. That’s not the interesting part. He takes hold of Peter and says to him, oh, you of little faith, why did you doubt? That seems to be the question before us this morning. Why do you doubt?
We’ve actually just begun our study of this second letter, this letter to those at Thessalonica. Remember that Paul is on this missionary trip, and he’s been called over to Macedonia. He wanted to go someplace else, and the Spirit directs him, no, to ultimately Thessalonica, where he preached on three separate Sabbaths, and that was it. started as a result of his preaching, only three Sundays. Imagine that, or three Sabbath days, excuse me. Some were persuaded, others were not. But as a result of these conversions, the Jews rise up and drive Paul, Silas, and Timothy out and continue their persecution. And so Paul is writing. He’s writing to this young church. He wrote to them a letter that we studied earlier, 1 Thessalonians. Now we’re in 2 Thessalonians. He continues to write and encourage them and to correct some false beliefs.
This morning, it’s the doubt that possibly Jesus has already returned and he has left me here. And so Paul writes, do not be shaken. As we go through this passage, I think that we might take away from it that the gift of belief casts off deception and clings to the certain victory of Jesus Christ. The gift of belief or faith casts off deception and clings to the certain victory of Jesus. We’ll see that this morning in three points, kind of long points this morning. Hopefully good ones.
Wicked deception seeks to shake believers loose from Jesus. Secondly, Jesus assures victory to the oppressed upon his coming again. And then third, finally, eternal condemnation awaits those who believe what is false. Again, as we go through this passage, these 12 verses, I’d like you to be asking yourself that question. Why do I doubt? Well, first, wicked deception. seeks to shake believers loose from Jesus. Paul begins this section of the letter with two problems.
The first is actually implied. We ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed either by a spirit or spoken word or letter seeming to be from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. While Paul does not state specifically that there have been deceivers, it’s implied. Given the nature of his admonition to them, let no one deceive you in any way, it’s at least his concern that there will be deceivers who will come if they haven’t already come, seeking to lead these new believers away from Christ. So this deception has either already occurred or Paul knows it’s coming, it’s implied. And we know that it’s true, that there have been and will be attempts to deceive Believers.
Isaiah recorded it. In the evenings we read through Isaiah, or at least we’ve been reading through the Bible and that we’re in Isaiah now. And most recently we’re in that passage where we see the Rabshakeh coming to convince the Israelites as they’re under attack to lay down their arms and surrender to the Assyrians. And the Rabshakeh is He’s proclaiming, he’s speaking. If you say to me, we trust in the Lord our God, is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed? Saying, why are you trusting in this one? You have cast him off, so to speak. You’ve removed his high places and altars.
It is not without the Lord that I’ve come up against this land to destroy it. The Lord has called me, go up against this land and destroy it. the Rabshakeh, seeking to deceive that the Assyrians might run over the Israelites. Satan sought to deceive Jesus in the wilderness. Remember what he said? All these, meaning the kingdoms of the world, all these I’ll give you if you will fall down and worship me. Seeking to deceive Jesus. that he actually had these kingdoms to give away, and that he could actually give them to Jesus if he would only worship him. Jesus actually preached on deception regarding his return.
In Matthew’s gospel, Matthew records for us that if anyone says to you, look, here’s the Christ, or there he is, do not believe it. by God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Paul wrote of it, as he writes here, but he wrote of it to those in Colossae. See to it that no one takes you by captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition. And it seems to have continued here in Thessalonica. We ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or a spoken word. or a letter to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.
That’s the first problem, that there has been and there will continue to be deceivers seeking to lead you astray. The second problem is that they’re successful at times. Not only were there and will there be attempts to deceive, deceivers are successful. Think of what happened in the garden. The great deceiver, Satan, says to Eve, you will not surely die. And you’ll be like God. Great deception. Eve fell into transgression because she was deceived. And so here again, at Thessalonica, these young, these new believers have been shaken seemingly by this misunderstanding as they’ve been deceived or Paul’s concerned that deception is coming.
Somehow, someway, there appears to be this significant concern that within this small fledgling church that Jesus had already returned. Well, it’s not clear how they came to this thought, this conclusion. It is clear that, at a minimum, some of them were questioning. So Paul writes about this question. Has Jesus already returned? Have we missed our opportunity for salvation? A conclusion that apparently some of them had reached or were about to reach.
And so Paul writes of the possibility of the deception of fraudulent letters. It’s quite possible that their persecutors had stooped to this level of wickedness that they sought to persuade these infants in Jesus Christ that he’d already come and left them behind. Think of that. If truly believed, significant scheme to destroy or seek to destroy the faith in Jesus Christ. In essence, saying, Jesus has already come and gone. He’s left and does not care for you and will not come back for you. You’re on your own. Stop trusting in him for life.
But certainly there’s a positive here, isn’t there? Paul says not to be quickly shaken. To be shaken must mean that, as we’ve read previously, that these saints had come to know Jesus truly. And that they were believing upon him. And he’s saying, don’t be shaken from that which you’ve already come to.
So from one perspective, we might consider this to be a good thing. The fact that these young believers were very concerned that they had missed the return of Christ. It signified their desire to be with Jesus, to be with him forever. That was their heart’s desire. And you can almost hear them as they’re voicing their concern with Paul.
Has he gone? Has he left us? A bit like an exclusive boat. Going to that one significant place that you want to go to and knowing that there’s only one ride. No other opportunity to get to the land of paradise. That’s their concern. They’d missed the boat. They’d missed his return. And that there would be no other. Such a strong desire to be with Jesus. And so Paul writes to them, don’t be quickly shaken.
Are you concerned? This morning as you come to this place, are you concerned that you’ll be on the boat, so to speak, the exclusive, the only, boat headed to paradise, meaning in the bosom of Jesus Christ. Do you love Jesus so much that you cannot bear the thought of not being with him forever? It seems to have been the concern of at least some of those in Thessalonica. Is that your concern?
Are you shaken this morning? Why is it that our trust, our belief in the truth of God’s word is so easily shaken at times? Seems to be that that’s what was happening in Thessalonica as some believers were worried or anxious that Jesus had come and gone. Why do you doubt? In essence, that was what Paul was saying to them. Why does your belief, why is your trust in the promises of God so easily shaken from time to time? We know that it is. We can confess it this morning.
Consider the Israelites, even as they had the overwhelming evidence of the 10 plagues that had occurred in Egypt, demonstrating that God was with them, demonstrating that he was doing his very will and bringing them out of the iron furnace. And yet as they began their wilderness wandering, there’s this series, a constant series of disbelief, of doubt. Consider the disciples. as they were walking with the Son of God, the Messiah, the Christ. And again, observing the supernatural things that He was doing in their presence, and yet Jesus confesses as He recognizes their little faith.
Culminates, doesn’t it? In their wavering faith as they fled from Jesus as He’s headed to the cross to suffer for them. Our faith, our trust in the promises of the very word of God are easily shaken. Why? You might say, well, it’s because of doubt. That’s right, but that really doesn’t answer the question, does it?
Think of that one whose father, excuse me, the father who brings his son to the Lord Jesus Christ, who’s mute, who is possessed by a demon who threw him down, caused him to foam and grind his teeth, and becomes rigid. He comes to Jesus. He actually comes to the disciples for help. They can’t help him, and now he comes to Jesus, and he says to him, if you can do anything, have compassion. And Jesus’ response is, if you can? The man doubted. And he cries out to Jesus Christ and said, I believe, help my unbelief.
See, we all doubt because our faith is small. That answers the question, but it doesn’t really help us, does it? Why is our faith so small? Peter’s faith was small because he doubted Jesus’s ability to sustain him on the water. But what about your faith? Why is it so small? If we look at this particular context concerning Jesus’s return and we have doubts, that doubt will lead to a loss of faith, a chipping away at faith, a doubt, that Jesus truly loves you. Isn’t that it? Isn’t that our concern?
If Jesus is returning for his bride and we As we appreciate that analogy, as the bridegroom loves his bride, he’s longing to be with his bride, and that’s why he comes for her, because his love is so great, he loves her so much, he wants to be with her forever. But if you doubt the bridegroom’s love for you, then the question then becomes, well, why would he come for me? Why would Jesus come for me?
Because I’m not lovable. In fact, I’m wretched in my sin. What’s lovable about me? And from one perspective, those are valid questions. Indeed, there’s nothing lovable about any one of us sinners. So what’s the solution? How do we overcome this doubt? You see, there’s everything lovable about Jesus, isn’t there? That’s the answer, isn’t it?
That God the Father loves his son so much that he would make his bride, his son’s bride, so lovely, so beautiful, that Jesus would not only love you, but long to come for you, such that you, his bride, may see his glory. So that’s the call this morning.
Don’t doubt Christ’s love for you if you’re trusting in Him this morning. He doesn’t love you because you’re lovely today. He loves you because He knows that the Father loves Him and as His obedient Son, the Father’s preparing you such that you will be very lovely as His bride on that great wedding day.
Don’t be shaken. Stop doubting. God is preparing you for his son. Yes, wicked deception does seek to shake believers loose from Christ, but second point, Jesus assures victory to the oppressed upon his coming again. So that’s the call. Let no one deceive you in any way.
That’s Paul’s call to these who are doubting, these who were concerned that Jesus had come. And so the question must follow, well, how? How are we to sidestep this deception? And Paul answers that implied question, doesn’t he? It’s with a reminder of what he’s already taught them. Did you see that in verse 5? Don’t you remember? When I was still with you, I told you these things. And now he’s got to repeat it, what he preached to them. Paul must have taught, and now he teaches again in this letter.
For that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first. Until the rebellion comes, Jesus isn’t coming back. You haven’t missed him. 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 a seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. That’s what’s going to happen first. Rebellion comes first, defined as the man of lawlessness being revealed, the one who is the son of destruction, who opposes every so-called god or object of worship who takes his seat in the temple of God and proclaims himself to be God. That’s happening first.
Don’t make the mistake, Paul’s object here is not to reveal who the man of lawlessness is. Many times we just go off on that, don’t we? Who is this? Who is this? But that’s not his object, that’s not his purpose. He has a threefold purpose, but that’s really not it.
His purpose here first is to reassure these believers that they will not miss and certainly will know and recognize the time of Jesus’ return for the man of lawlessness, the one who proclaims himself to be God, will be revealed. That’s the sign. He’s gonna be revealed by Jesus’ return, not today. But upon Jesus’ return, he will be revealed. In other words, the lawless one who’s hiding deceptively until the time that Jesus returns will be revealed.
That’s number one. Number two, to reassure these believers, these followers in Christ, that this deception will not work in their hearts. They will not, if they’re truly trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ, if their trust is sincere. This deception will not work in their hearts, but it will work in the hearts of those who are perishing.
We’ll talk about that in a moment. But thirdly, and this is the focus, and Paul is preparing these young in faith for the continuing battle. and to patiently wait for Christ. Gerhardus Vos, a Dutch theologian, puts it this way, the idea of the Antichrist, he’s referring to this man of lawlessness, in general, and that of the apostasy in particular, ought to warn us not to take for granted an uninterrupted progress in the cause of Christ through all ages on toward the end. He’s saying there’s gonna be a battle. It’s gonna continue.
Calvin says something very similar. For when he calls him an adversary, when he says that he will claim for himself those things which belong to God, so he is worshiped in the temple as God, he places his kingdom in direct opposition to the kingdom of Christ. Hence, the kingdom of Christ is spiritual, so this tyranny must be upon souls. Calvin is saying this is not a physical action. This is the work of Satan seeking to lay hold of your soul. A continuing battle.
So, what’s the best way for Paul to admonish these young believers? It seems to be with these three great truths. First, that wickedness is restrained today. And you know what is restraining him now, so that he may be revealed in his time. Wickedness is being restrained, and so these young believers can rest in this work of Jesus Christ. Wickedness is being restrained until he returns. Secondly, it’s restrained until he is revealed. The man of lawlessness, who is hidden in the church somewhere, someplace, somehow, who will seek to become the one who is worshipped, he’s restrained until he’s revealed.
That’s Paul’s encouragement. But his primary encouragement is this, the third one, that Jesus Christ will be resoundingly victorious. Paul seems to anticipate that the next challenge of these deceivers and the next challenge, if they make it through the first one, which they will, the next challenge will be that Jesus will be defeated.
We want to tell you that so that you stop trusting in him. When he returns, that’s what you believe, when he returns, he will be defeated because Satan is so strong Jesus is gonna lose the battle. He’s fighting against the wickedness of the world. He’s not strong enough for that. And remember, he’s the one who was killed on the cross by mere mortals. How could he withstand the onslaught of the most powerful angel turned devil, Satan himself, as he sends out his man of lawlessness? Paul’s anticipating that deception.
And so, He responds with the sure victory of Jesus. Look at verse eight. 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. That’s awesome. Jesus will kill this one who’s hiding at this point, who will be revealed upon his return with the breath of his mouth. Remember creation? In Genesis 1, we read that God spoke all things out of nothing into existence by the power of his word. He formed Adam. His breathing into his nostrils, the breath of life.
Think of that. the power of the word of God. It’s something we really have difficulty wrapping our minds around, speaking into existence everything that is. Do you meditate upon that? Do you contemplate the power of God’s word? Seemingly, it was that Thessalonians were not doing. as many seem to have been led astray by deceptive voices, forgetting and not meditating upon the power of God’s word. It’s something that we should be doing daily, maybe this afternoon, taking time just to meditate on the power of God’s word.
And God said, let there be light. And so as Jesus appears by the breath of his mouth, just by the breath of his mouth, he will kill the man of lawlessness. But there’s a second action of Jesus, and that is just his mere appearance, isn’t it? Consider that by merely appearing, Jesus Christ, the God-man, the Word, the man of lawlessness will be vanquished and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.
Not drawing a sword or bringing an army with him Weapons of mass destruction know merely his presence will bring this one to nothing. Remember what the Lord told Moses, said, you cannot see my face for man shall not see me and live. Isn’t that what’s happening? As Jesus returns, as the God man returns, you can’t see my face and live.
It’s the mere purity of Jesus Christ. Just like the purity of his word will reveal the weakness and the wickedness of the man of lawlessness and he will be extinguished. That’s Paul’s encouragement to these Thessalonica who are under attack by deceptive words. He’s proclaiming the power of the word of God, the power of truth, the power of the absolute and certain victory of Jesus Christ.
It’s worth reading again and again, isn’t it? Whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. I think Paul might have been referring back to Isaiah chapter 14. He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Do you need to be reminded of that? I think we all do.
What has led us astray from pondering, from remembering the certainty of Jesus’s return and his accompanying victory? Isn’t that what happens as we doubt? We’re led astray from meditating upon the certain return of Christ and upon his powerful victory. As we’re attacked by the arrows of doubt and deception, as a result, we fail to remember and set our thoughts upon the certain victory of Jesus.
Not only his foretold return, but his certain victory. We should hate our doubt. And we should identify it as such. And admonish ourselves, cast off our doubts. Just as Jesus said to Peter, get behind me, Satan. This should be our practice. Get behind me to our doubts and uncertainties. You’re a hindrance to me. That we would confess, I’m not setting my mind upon the things of God, but on the things of man, and pray, oh, we must pray, lead us, lead me in your truths, oh Lord Jesus, help me to be a man or woman or child of remembrance. And cast off my doubts. Yes. Jesus does assure victory to the oppressed upon his coming again. That brings us to our third and final point.
Eternal condemnation awaits those who believe what is false. This encouragement continued as Paul writes this letter. And he speaks not only of the man of lawlessness being destroyed upon Jesus’ return, he speaks about all those who had pleasure in unrighteousness. Those would be them, those Jews that were surrounding these converted Christians who were persecuting them, who kept on persecuting them in an unrepentant way. And Paul’s reminding them of what will become of them. He edifies and reminds and rehearses the truth that that all those who are currently involved in this unrepentant persecution, if they remained in that unrepentant persecution, would perish.
Not only does he speak of the victory over the man of lawlessness and thus the victory over Satan and his minion, he’s saying, be encouraged, wait patiently for the coming of the Lord. Jesus will bring his victory. Righteousness will prevail. Those ones who are persecuting you and hating Jesus Christ will perish.
And so it’s an encouragement. Do not be shaken. Even by their deceptive words, do not be shaken. But you see, this is also a warning, isn’t it? As Paul was writing to the church, those in the church, we know that the man of lawlessness will be involved in church, engaged in the church. And so Paul sends this letter. This warning goes out.
Even to all those in the church today, those who refuse to love the truth and so be saved. So let me just take a moment this morning to speak to you if that describes you, that you’ve refused to love the truth. To love the truth is to believe it sincerely, that Jesus Christ is not the very Son of God. To refuse to love the truth, to refuse that Jesus did actually physically die on the cross at Calvary, to refuse to love the truth is to believe that He didn’t suffer punishment for your wicked, wretched sins, is to believe that The eternal wrath and burning anger of the Father really doesn’t even exist.
And it won’t have any effect upon you. That Jesus’ dead body never went to the tomb, that he never rose from the dead, that he will not return. And that you will never suffer for your sins. Does that describe you this morning? Because that describes those who refused to love the truth. That you’ve been deceived. And that you’re going down a path that is certain to end up in hell and damnation and eternal wrath. And so Jesus issues this warning through Paul this morning. Condemnation awaits you if you remain in this rebellion and refusal to love the truth.
The truth that Jesus Christ is the Savior. and will save you from your wretched sins if only you would believe upon Him. Hear Him. Hear the Lord of creation now. All these beliefs that Jesus doesn’t exist or that He’s not coming back or that He didn’t die for sins are false and lead only to death. And so here’s the warning. The call is to run to Christ this morning. Run to the Savior. There’s only one.
Plead for forgiveness of your sins and beg Him to turn your heart from complete darkness into light. That you would indeed love the truth. The truth of His return and the truth of His victory over sin and death. For you see, there’s no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Run to Christ. Run to Christ. Yes, the gift of belief casts off deception and clings to the certain victory of Jesus Christ.
Why do you doubt? Peter doubted. But he was saved by Jesus as he lifted him out of the water. And if you’ve trusted in Christ, and you’re trusting in Him this morning, you’ve been saved, and He is coming back for you. Cast off your doubts. Plead with Jesus that He would keep your faith full and sure, and that you’d rejoice, indeed, that His victory is certain and sure. He’s coming for you.
Our Father and our God, in our corruption, we’ve inherited these doubts. So we ask, Lord, that as you continue to sanctify us, that you would continue to remove them and give us that assurance that we need, that each of us longs for, that we know and believe and trust in Jesus’s return and victory. Help us, Lord. Work in our hearts. We ask all this in Jesus’s name.