2nd Thessalonians (Session 7) Chapter 2

well we're in the uh study of the epistles of the thessalonians and the five chapters of thessalonians one was behind us for cecilia's and then they were now in the second of three of second thessalonians i sometimes facetiously call it third thessalonians because second thessalonians was the forgery that paul was responding to but that confuses people so i should probably stop that okay second thessalonians this chapter that we're taking tonight is the heart of this epistle there's chapter one that introduces some things we took that last time we and there's a wrap up at the end but this is the the kernel and some people would regard this as the most important eschatological or prophetic passage in the entire new testament so we want to pay attention now that the difficulty is it takes careful precision to not get confused it deals with an eschatological error from the belief that the day of the lord was already present the thessalonians were really upset and paul is responding to their stress what you have to think through is why are they upset it turns out what you quickly discover they're upset because they think the day of the lord had already started why should that bother them that tells you something else about them if they were post-trib they'd celebrate that okay if they're pre-trib they're upset because they thought the day of the lord had started and paul's gonna set out to prove that it couldn't be follow me q-e-d paul was you know pre-trip is the point and uh now the key issue another key here is the identity of the restrainer we're going to talk about the restrainer before through there are some irregularities in the greek which it seems to imply that it was given in dictation and perhaps in a hurry the question is what was upsetting the dissolution of the disalonian the possibility that they'd missed the rapture the day of the lord came and they're upset that they're upset because the day of the lord came one reason they might be upset because they think they've missed the rapture which means they must have been taught that the rapture comes before the day of the lord and the day the lord start they're upset or the other way you could put that same thing is that paul taught them falsely paul told us that the rapture is going to occur before the day of the lord and apparently the day of lord has started now the reason they think that is because there's a forgery being circulated to that effect but see if they were post-trib they wouldn't have been upset that's a very fundamental thing you've got to come to grips with yourself it's not free of controversy people have different views but the major issues here what was the sequence of the eschatological events we're going to deal with that this is one of the most critical things to set up the sequence what comes in what order and who is this restrainer it's a very strange passage and there's good good scholars that have different views we're going to talk about the preceding events in the first three verses it's going to make clear that the apostasy in the church must take place first it was predicted that there is going to be a that the church would become very apostate deny the gospel of christ second thing the temple must be rebuilt we all you know why the temple get real this is one of three passages jesus makes that remark in matthew 24 15 and john makes a similar kind of remark in revelation 11 first two verses but there's also ii thessalonians 2 that will deal with that issue and then the restrainer must be removed whoever he is and we'll talk about that when we get there that and then we have the church of course has to also be completed okay second thessalonians chapter two here we go verse 1 paul says now we beseech you brethren they're all believers he's calling him brethren now we beseech you by the coming of the lord jesus christ and by our gathering together unto him oh boy the coming and the gathering two different things in here so the brethren these are common christian concerns among the brethren coming and gathering the government of these two nouns under one article clearly indicates a single event that's both the coming and the gathering and that's in the greek grammar if you will this is really simply a summary of the fourth chapter first thessalonians that we spent plenty of time on a couple of sessions ago by the coming parousia here lays emphasis on the presence of the lord with his people epiphania is his manifestation of power and love of god and apocalypse is the is the revelation or unveiling these three words are often used for the the appearance of christ this is the one that's used here is parusia his presence is the emphasis here and our gathering together the blessed hope of being caught up to the lord at his coming is the most intelligible preservative against false and disquieting rumor that the day of the judgment of the earth had come okay the fact that rapture hadn't occurred should have been enough to tell them that their lord hadn't started yet but that's just for starters okay are we together so far okay are gathering together unto him okay now the uh paul's referring here of course to the harpazzo quoted in first thessalonians 4 as you may recall and the being forever with the lord thereafter that's our dream where jesus said in john 14. you know i go to prepare a place for you and if i go to prepare a place for you i'll receive you unto myself that where i am there you may be also. same thing matthew 24 or mark 13 and so forth okay that ye be not so soon shaken in mind or or be troubled either by spirit or by word or by letter as from us as that the day of the lord is hand in other words he's disturbed that they're so easily confused and upset you know that she'd be not so soon shaken in mind or be troubled by spirit by word or nor by a letter as from us and not paul alone the three of them apparently there's a forgery some kind going around is that the day of the lord is at hand now this is the first heiress passive infinitive of which is to agitate to cause to totter like a reed is the word shaken in other words to be quickly shaken that's rationally shaken it's a passive tense implies that it came from an outside force they're shaken by something else see and the trouble that is frightened alarmed okay now this day of the lord is a mistranslation in your bible probably the day of christ is it appears in many bibles is incorrect day of the lord is correct because it's curios in the greek day of the lord okay so that's that's a term that's very familiar to your ears if you've studied the book of joel or studied any of the prophets the day of the lord is much talked about all through the bible it starts with the tribulation goes all the way through the millennium many people don't realize that traditional jewish expression that when god what god would intervene in history to destroy his enemies and establish his kingdom in the last over a thousand years the great white throne is at the end of that okay you can read joel zechariah isaiah amos ezekiel jeremiah malachi and zephaniah they all deal intensely with the day of the lord and in that day christ will rule with a rod of iron over the entire earth but he'll do it from jerusalem and he's going to administer with absolute justice and that is even has become an identity of him that rules the with a rod of iron from psalm 2 all the way to revelation 2. and uh okay good enough okay that should be not so shaken in mind or in trouble either by spirit or by word nor letter as the day of the lord is at hand as a letter from us okay this is just prompted by the circulation of a spurious letter apparently and apparently an intentional forgery and they're fretting that they were already in the day of the lord and and why should that bother them because they obviously were pre-tripped they were expecting to be out before the day of the lord started that doesn't mean they'd be out before persecution but there's a specific intensity the wrath of god kind of thing that is that it characterized the day of the lord he paul had plainly said that jesus would come as a thief in the night and had shown that the dead would not be left out in the harpazzo remember that all from chapter of four of the first thessalonian letter but some of these apparently claim to have a private epistle from paul that supported you that jesus was coming at once is that the day of the lord is now present that's was somebody was promoting there okay so he continues let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first and then and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition of falling away aposticia is the greek term apostasy and there are two issues here the first is the apostasia the deliberate abandonment of a formally professed position or view a defection if you will a reflection of a former allegiance and this term is used to denote a political military rebellion too by the way just in terms of the meaning of the greek word in the septuagint it's a rebellion against god all through the septuagint and it's also all through the new testament okay now the definite article points to a great revolt of the end time and that's in first timothy four and we've covered all those in many other places i won't take the time here nowhere does the scripture ever speak of the rapture as a departure in the rapture the church is passive not active it is initiated by the lord and done by him we saw that in verse 1. let the man of sin be revealed that's the second issue here first is the apostasy the second thing is that the man of sin will be revealed that's in the errors tense it's a definite time when the veil will be removed his revelation will herald the fact that the day of the lord has actually arrived when the rapture when the man of sin the antichrist call him what you will when he's revealed you know the day of the lord started that's a that's a key issue it's it's it's if it hasn't started you're on the threshold of it the son of perdition there's that term where perdition is the opposite of salvation that's all it really means it's used distinctively of the man of sin and of judas interestingly enough this man of sin who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called god or that is worshipped so that he as god sitteth in the temple of god showing himself that he is god second thessalonians chapter two verse four very key verse we that is just full of insight here the the oh he is he opposes an exalted himself and i always enjoy especially daniel's the old testament he always he always i like to call mr big mouth he's always exalting himself but he's he's going to exalt himself above all that is called god that includes allah that includes anything called god this is an antitheistic revolt he wrote against god replacing all existing forms of worship all heathen divinities it overshadows the vatican it overshadows islam it overshadows the new age it overshadows anything you can fill in the blank it's all about self-deification in its climax the word antichrist in the greek antichrist yes he's against christ but that's not what the word means it means instead of christ instead of christ anti-christo in the place of christ is what it is is the real flavor of that word and he said he he so that he as god sitteth in the temple of god now it's interesting how every attempts to do that before the temple before the temple was destroyed in 70 a.d caligula ordered to have his image put in the holy holies matronius the general in charge of the roman legions then at that time knew that if he did that he'd evident erect so he refused to do that when caligula found out he was he sent out an order for petronas to be killed but caligula dies and by a mix-up at sea the message of caligula's death gets to judea before the message to kill petronius which of course once he's dead he's all bets are off so it's interesting how the abomination of desolation was not allowed to happen from the time jesus announced that to the present day couldn't happen since 780 there's no holy of holies to desecrate but there will be and that's what's going on here now it's the inner holy of holies is the greek germans announced in the greek hieron temple complex it now says within the high run paul's use of the definite article excludes any other than god's temple in other words the temple of god it's a specific it's the example of god and the jewish mind that's got to be standing where the previous one did now where did the priests stand they're not quite sure but when they can figure that out that's where this is going to stand the early church fathers understood a literal eschatological jewish temple irenaeus in his writings and others the early church fathers understood this just the way we're teaching it here now it's interesting that satellite tv is implied here see this guy is going to be sitting in the temple of god for show well how can people see him if he's there you follow me on cnn of course you get the idea okay now this all is satan's parody of christ his perugia is coming is is imitated here his apocalypse his revelation is imitated here his gospel the lie is going to be talked about in a few verses later and he'll brook no rival of course and he's going to have with he'll be with all power signs and lying wonders he'll be empowered by whom satan himself wow you know it's interesting that the vatican with all its blasphemies with all of its non-biblical practices you've never seen a pope claim for himself an exclusive divine honor you follow me his highest aspiration was be to be the intermediate to god not to be god so even the popes with all their error has never gone this far as this guy's gonna go romanus does not oppose all is called god either they uh or the line are not specifically unique specific to a unique eschatological person okay now paul inserts verse five here remember you not that when i was yet with you i told you these things what's fascinating about these teachings we're sitting here we're going to dissect exactly what happens when to try to resolve eschatological controversies among ourselves what's astonishing is paul is reminding them of things he taught them in their first three weeks of being a christian he went to thessalonica start a church taught them for three weeks and left town then he finds out they've got some problems with the rapture so he writes first thessalonians then he finds out now they're all upset because of this apparent forgery going around he writes them a sec but he's reminding them of what he taught them during the first three weeks of the christian war i think that's provocative how many christians are to this day aren't even taught these things yet so this is obviously essential part of paul's early indoctrination of his ministry it continues and now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in this time okay there's something being hidden here for a while this is neuter present participle presents this restraint as an impersonal operative force grammatically it's impersonal it's going to get personal here in in in verse 7. the restraint here that he's talking about prevents premature manifestation of the man of sin as the very embodiment of iniquity the man of sin that's going to be the subject of our thing here represents the very embodiment of sin and the the this there's something holding it back from him being made manifest we're going to find out what that is here in a minute now this is the fullness of time for christ in galatians 4 4 it's also for the man of sin there's a time coming of of revealing here paul says for the mystery of iniquity death already work only he who now let us will let until he be taken out of the way well the word mystery by the way mysterion in the greek isn't used the way we use the english word mystery the word mystery implies it's something that's been hidden up till now it's now being revealed it's sort of like revealing a password or something mysterion means it's the revealing of something that was hidden we use the word mystery a little differently it's now divinely revealed paul uses this term in connection with the revelation and publication in roman 16 a lot of other places the mystery of iniquity the word iniquity actually means lawlessness you know there's one thing that's even more frightening than something that's ill than something that's illegal well that's against the law that's that's that's frightening what's even more frightening is there is no law lawlessness is even more frightening if you think about it lawless with a definite article here the iniquity it denotes the definite aim of the devil to overthrow the law of god and to establish his own rule not merely disorder and violation of law in general but to establish his own rule lawlessness that's asserting the absence of moral absolutes right and wrong does that sound familiar is that what's taught in our schools today there's no right and wrong you have your truth i have mine doth already worked now the work here the active operation of some supernatural power the mystery of an equity death already work only he who now letteth so you know for paul it's the working of god of course and while the individual has not yet been revealed the spirit that will dominate his career is already operative he's not revealed but the spirit behind him is is visible now we get this strange term it's an old english term that we're stumbling with here he who now letteth will let that's an old english term for hinder restrains holds back he that letteth will let he that hindereth will hinder is the way it's in most modern translations he who now let us will he until he'll be taken away so there's somebody that's holding iniquity back and the day will come when he is taken out of the way to let it flow you got it so far okay until see there's a very specific time limit upon the present restraint it may surprise you to know that sin in our world is restrained doesn't look like it's restrained very much sometimes does it but there's a limit at which it will no longer be restrained all that can happen while the church is still in the world the real church not not denominational churches the the mystical church till he be taken out of the way that will be taken it's in the error is tense it's a definite event it's not a gradual trend thing no no it's a specific event now the subjunctive mode leaves the time undetermined we don't know when that's going to be taken out of the way now by the way the word there's mesos the middle out of the myth it's not out of the way it's out of the midst he's in the middle of what where is the restrainer right now where is the restrainer right now anyone what in us exactly right the thing that paul tries to get across especially in ephesians is the incredible benefit we have he knew about the holy spirit he's a well-trained pharisee he knew the old testament but there the holy spirit came and went as he pleased what blew paul away and he tried to get across to us how unique and unprecedented is that the holy spirit's given to us without repentance and it's it's indwelling in us that blue and paul is explaining all that we un we don't understand his answer because we don't understand the question okay now only he who now let us will let until he be taken out of the way what does that tell us about the restrainer it's a person it's not a force or some principle no no it's a person okay he see the neuter participle verse 6 which is required by the grammar for the word spirit has been replaced by the masculine participle the one restraining he now suggestions in in the literature you'll find people say well the restrainer is the roman emperors i don't think so the roman empire itself or human government generally come the government doesn't restrain sin it promotes sin because the government grows on on social problems that gives them an excuse to get more power and how do you get social problems by uh sin so promoting sin that it may sound strange but that's the loop and i i've we've been through that some say it's paul paul didn't restrain sin satan certainly doesn't some say elijah michael province of god or so forth the restrainer only god has ever restrained sin so this is going to be god yes god clearly but god the holy spirit genesis 6 3 the lord said my spirit shall not always strive with man for he also is flesh it was god's hedge that restrained satan in job chapter one and two what restrained job god did with the hedge around job and so forth it's always the holy spirit who restrains you go through the whole scripture you'll never find sin being restrained by anything but by an agency of the holy spirit in isaiah 59 19 this example the spirit of the lord shall restrain him and that's very there's passages equivalent all through the scripture so the restrainer is a person it's a he it's the holy spirit at pentecost the holy spirit assumed a special relationship to the church as its indweller that's what makes the church different that's why jesus could say of john the baptist no man born of woman is greater than john wow that's pretty wild but he that's least the kingdom of heaven is greater than john that means john's not the kingdom of heaven yeah he's the king of god but he's not he's he's the last of the old testament that's what jesus goes on to say a few verses later so after the completion of his work in the church he will resume the relationship to mankind which he had before pentecost when the church is raptured that era for the holy spirit is now over but he's not finished he's going to continue the same way he did before the church in the old testament i often get questions on these interviews and stuff is uh you know are how are people saved after the rapture by the holy spirit the fact that he's not indwelling them is the issue see we don't appreciate how distinctive we are the power that resides within each of us now the greek word for spirit is neuter that's why it's neutered in verse six but the personality of the restrainer in verse seven is masculine and and grammatically so sh up the way and of course all through new testament we know what you the holy spirit is a person he loves you we know the father loves you right we know the son loves you right he went to death for you did you know the holy spirit loves you because you can't grieve someone who doesn't love you and you're ordered to grieve not the holy spirit you can't grieve somebody doesn't love you so there are three prerequisite conditions still today that haven't happened the apostasy had not yet come i've got a question mark that i think it's pretty much honest the spirit of god hath not been taken away and the man of sin is not yet revealed therefore has the day of the lord started yet anyone no good for you so let's go on verse 8 and then shall the wicked one be revealed whom the lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming you may not do it right then but there that's the destiny of the one see that then then shall i we're going to be revealed and then he just tags the ultimate destiny of that one so you don't mistake who he is doesn't mean he happens when he's first revealed to get destroyed but he will he will be subsequently all right and then that emphatically asserts that the career of the law is one will run its course following the removal of the restrainer restraint is removed and then did you get the sequencing there i'll show you that in chart here in a minute but see the career of the lawless laws one will run its course following the removal of the restrainer the restrainer has to be removed before the man of sin can be revealed don't waste your time trying to figure out who the antichrist is he won't be revealed until we're out of here we'll watch it from the mezzanine don't waste your time we don't look for him we look for the coming king but his final doom of course is asserted here you know it's very interesting to me that we never anywhere that i know of in the scripture are instructed to look for the rising up of the sinister personage who occupies such he has a huge space in prophecy all kinds of prophecy he's got 33 different titles in the old testament he's got 13 titles in the new testament the bible is full of all about this fault the we got the one we choose to call the antichrist he's got all these different labels nowhere are we instructed to watch for him look out for that guy not at all yeah never that's i think that's interesting i don't know why people get so fixated on him we're not told to don't worry about him you're not gonna be around while we're here if he's around when you're there you've got another problem buddy okay the spirit breath of his mouth the epiphany the shining forth of his presence is going to destroy the brightest now let's hear it let give you a little chart and you may want to jot this down it may be helpful okay um the issue is the day of the lord they think the day of the lord has come and paul is this whole epistle is a refutation of that okay what has to precede well verse 3 said for that day shall not come except they're coming following away first okay so that's up here up front somewhere and then verse 7 said now he who now restraintheth will restrain until he'll be taken out of the way so we have apostasy we have the restrainer being removed right and then verse 8 says and then a key word and then shall that wicked one be revealed so what's the sequence apostasy the restrainer removed in his containers that's us the man of sin is then revealed and that ushers in the day of the lord are we together okay that little chart may be helpful remember the verses because you can nail it down don't be if you if you get that pinned down everything else and obviously the restraint remove is is is synchronous with the the harpazzo the rapture of the church okay even him who's coming is after the working of satan with all power and signs and lying wonders that's a scary verse by the way speaking of the antichrist or whatever you want to call him man of sin son of perdition so on whose coming is after the working of satan with what all power and signs and lying wonders these three terms are a comprehensive description of miracles power denotes the cause of the miracle the inherent power producing it dunamis power signs they point to the significance lying behind the miracles and wonders indicates the abnormal nature the astonishment they produce these are the same three terms that are used of christ in the gospels not lying wonders but certainly wonders okay but this is important power of satan signs of satan and lying wonders that lie we're going to talk more about that in a minute here these three terms are used to designate the miracles of christ in acts 2 22 and the miracles of the apostolic church in hebrews 2 4. now satan is a liar by nature we know from john 8 44 jesus called him that and he's a liar to whom or on whom them that perish them that perish and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved we're talking about the unsaved they that perish they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved in them that perish their cause for perishing lies within themselves the rejection of god's person some writers like to point out there's no one going to be in hell for their sin they'll be in hell for rejecting the provision god has made for their sin who for this cause god shall send them strong delusion that they should believe the lies not eli by the way translate that in your bible it's the i'll explain a minute see god uses their choice of evil as the very instrument to punish their sin his own iniquity shall take the wicked himself and he shall beholden with the cords of his own sins now the lie that term is probably a lie in your bible it's toy paci definite article date of neuter singular it's the lie it's a specific one effective errors tense specific occasion there is a specific lie that will that will trap them where do they get that god will send them this delusion now this verse has a and and we could go and spend a lot of time um trying to guess what lie that is some people say what's the lie of evolution that underlies our whole culture and it's certainly a key lie that's a possibility but i think that the the greek here implies a very specific lie that's going to trip him up whatever that might be now there was a day many many years ago that i came to the conclusion i knew what the lie was from my study i knew what the lie was but i also realized that if i was right i couldn't tell you because i would be preaching satan's gospel you follow me somebody says well you're probably not right but tell us anyway so i've stopped doing that because it's not fruitful anyway so let's get go on but it's interesting there's a specific thing now some feel that this very verse is a refutation of the stre the strategy of waiting until after the rapture to accept christ somebody said well oh why don't you guys do it but when the rapture occurs then i'll get serious about my no no no no because god will send them those the ones that are perishing strong delusion the left behind series is based on the idea that after the rapture you got another chance there are some that argue and there's good scholars with different views on this don't misunderstand me they argue that if you have had a chance to accept christ and not accepted it you're going to be subject to a strong delusion if you somehow haven't been confronted with christ and the rapture takes place yes you may have a chance that they all might be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure and unrighteousness watch out for that one watch out for having pleasure and righteousness there's scriptures about that so romans 1 near the end gets all these people and those that you know had pleasure in the in in those that did that they all might be damned who believed in not the truth but have pleasure and unrighteousness willful rejection of truth has resulted in the love of evil evil had become their good that's exactly what isaiah 5 verse 20 20 is one of the uh six woes of isaiah 5. people say where is the united states in prophecy isaiah 5. let them read it they used to know what i mean here those that put good for evil and evil for good and so forth now have you really trusted christ i won't ask for a show of hands but just think about have you really trusted christ or are you vulnerable for this deception if you haven't trusted christ you may be vulnerable to this assumption that god will you'll be vulnerable to being deceived the time to accept christ is now not after the rapture that's the real point of it all so the question the other want to think about it will you or the church that you go to or however you want to put it go through the great tribulation there are many that believe they will the many that accuse us pre-tribbers is adopting that view to avoid the pain of the great tribulation that's that's that's silly of course for a lot of reasons but that's a key point and you're going to find a lot of people that are serious bible buffs that are mid-trib or post-trib as the term goes in other words they believe they were they're somehow during the 73rd daniel now this doesn't mean just because we can prove i think from the scripture that we will not go through that specific period of time called the great tribute labeled by jesus christ the great tribulation labeled by jeremiah the time of jacob's trouble itself it's a very specific has a very precise definition that doesn't mean that we won't experience persecution in fact jesus promised we would this is a particularly american um malady but where do we get the arrogance to assume that we're going to be we're going to skip what most of the body of christ in most of the world for most of the last 2000 years has had to endure it's called persecution or tribulation with a small t if you will indeed you know how they treated christ they certainly won't treat his followers any less so understand that and there are people in this room that may be extended the privilege of dying for christ and fill in the blank with whatever else you can imagine and paul continues verse 13 but we are bound to give thanks always to god for you brethren beloved of the lord because god hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth we are bound to give thanks you know that's an echo of the chapter one verse three we have an obligation to give thanks we are bound to give thanks for what for you guys praise god because god hath from the beginning chosen you now here we've got a good excuse to go into a whole faith versus predestination thing i'll spare you that this time we sort of trample that to death in our study of the book of romans so you can go through your notes for that if you like but god hath when did god first dealing with start dealing with you before the foundation of the world before the foundation of the world he had you on his mind and he's chosen you to salvation see this entire statement has god as its subject by the way and it's made emphatic by having by being placed after the verb an object that's the greek structure for extreme emphasis so god is emphasized by being after the the verb and an object that sounds backwards to us and it's the middle voice of the verb he chose you for himself it's not an active voice or passive voice it's middle voice it's arrows indicative that's a choice as a past fact entirely of divine initiative you contributed nothing to that he chose you praise god he paid the price on the cross praise god you had very little to do with that and your security is in his hands as he points out in john 10 and elsewhere and i love my my my walter martinism that i like to use if you can lose your salvation i have a new name for god butterfingers because your security is in his hands not my favorites in my hands i could i'd mess it up no it's in his hands i know in whom i believe that he is able to keep that which i have committed unto him against that day salvation okay chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit you know it's astonishing to see some pastors fortunately not many but some pastors who are upset about the book we wrote because we imply that sanctification is a work in progress they cling to words some vocabulary issues i won't go down that path but the point is no we're salvation through sanctification of the spirit it's a process roderick always come he's always came in and said i have been saved i'm being saved and i will be saved and he said that that way just to confuse the students because all three are true i've been saved as justification was on a cross two thousand years ago done deal i can't add to it he did it all justification present tense sanctification i'm being sanctified by the you know by the spirit and he's not finished yet many of you have noticed that but i'm not finished yet future tense of salvation glorification the new bodies and all that first is separation from the penalty of sin this is separation from the power of sin because the holy spirit resides in you and that's enormous in terms of significance future is separation from very presence in separation of the penalty separation from the power of sin separation from the very presence of sin yet future okay so sanctification for us john 16 talks about it the convicting work of the holy spirit ephesians 4 30 the holy spirit does convict you know i'm always reminded you know you have a sometimes you go to conferences over and someone will come up and say gee are those seats saved i love to say no they're not even under conviction yet makes a point grieve not the holy spirit you're sealed by him first corinthians 12 and elsewhere and it's one body first six and nine and so forth okay we're sinners but justified philippians 1 6 and what he starts he finishes praise god whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our lord jesus christ therefore brethren stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught whether by word or our epistle brethren stand firm what do you mean be steadfast be strong now the word traditions can have many meanings it can be traditions of the elders rabbinic the rabbis had their oral traditions that led to harmful developments if they're not anchored in the word of god traditions of men they're spirits of human origin colossians 2 8. or they can be scriptural and god given what is new is not true and what is true is not new one could argue okay he says our epistle paul says again whose faults the word eschatology study of end times see the rapture is not a doctrine to argue about it's a doctrine to live some believe he's coming after the tribulation praise god they have their view okay some believe he's coming before the tribulation some believe he's coming during the tribulation we don't happen to hold that view we'll explain it to them on the way up it's not a problem how does your interpretation affect your life that's the key issue not with your pre-trib post-trib midterm how is that impacting your life does it do anything for you if your view has no effect on your life then you might reconsider what you believe because it should be having an impact on your life let's continue verse 16. now our lord jesus christ himself and god even our father which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace comfort your hearts establish you in every good word and work praise god so next time we have our last session in these epistles it's a very brief little chapter but you read first second thessalonians chapter three i also encourage you to go through your notes because if we may use some of our time to do a recap and put some things in perspective but with that let's stand for a closing word of prayer

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Length: 43min 57sec (2637 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 15 2020