Well are you ready to get into YAH's Word today? I am as well. I want to invite you to open your
bibles with me to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, we're going to begin with verse 1 and I've
entitled this message, "Understanding the Mystery of Lawlessness." We need to understand the
mystery of lawlessness. There is a dynamic, it's a spiritual dynamic, it's unseen until it manifests,
it is empowered by Hasatan and by demon forces and the goal is to create an
environment of lawlessness in the earth. If everyone was following Torah walking in
righteousness and suddenly the anti-mashiach appeared, he would not be received, he would
not be accepted, and so what Hasatan is doing in the earth today is working and oftentimes
within the context of religion mixed up religion to create an environment of lawlessness where
people in religion think it's okay to be lawless. In other words, they say, "Oh, all of that's
passed away, Yeshua obeyed it perfectly so we don't have to." ...and I don't understand that
line of reasoning. I could have been an attorney, I get in Scripture and I build a
case, and you'll see that tonight, but here we have Yeshua who was the perfect
representation of the Father on the earth, He was the Prophet like Mosheh that YAH said He would put
His words in Yeshua's mouth and Yeshua would speak to the people all that YAH commanded Him and
any person who would not listen to this Prophet like Mosheh, YAH said I'm going to judge him. And so
Yeshua came and lived a perfect life of obedience, there has never been one who has obeyed the
Father more than Yeshua and when He called His followers He didn't say, I'm a
new religious leader, come follow me in Judaism, did He? He didn't say I'm going to
start up a new religion called Christianity, come follow me in Christianity, what did He say?
Follow me. In other words, follow my example, do what I do, say what I say, love what I love, hate what
I hate and He set a perfect example of obedience. And how is it that we're to believe that the
One who's called the Righteous One because He obeyed His Father perfectly and set a perfect
example of obedience, how are we to believe that in following Him that He has
set us free from the Torah of Elohim so that we can live a life of lawlessness? Can
you see that within the context of religion, we're already seeing the manifestation
of the mystery of lawlessness, where people who are sincere are absolutely
and sincerely wrong about the fact that Yeshua led us into righteousness not lawlessness and they
say everything left of Matthew has been abolished, left of Matthew has been abolished, and
so we see lawlessness being established. Why? Because once lawlessness is established in
religion and people ignore the Torah of Elohim and they live their lives according
to the lust of their flesh and they love their traditions of men more
than the set-apart written Word of YAH. Then, the anti-mashiach is going to be able to
rise up within that context and he's going to be valued, he's going to be appreciated,
the anti-mashiach is going to be considered a religious figure, not only is he going to
be a very shrewd politician, but he's going to be considered a religious figure and many
people are going to think he's right because the mystery of lawlessness has deceived them and
they have fallen into the delusion of lawlessness. Anyone who thinks that the Torah of YAH has been
abolished is under the delusion of lawlessness. We're going to talk about that, the
Scripture speaks of the delusion of lawlessness, but I wanted to lay this foundation
that the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Many people are not paying attention,
they're not seeing it, but as YAH opens up your eyes you can begin to see it and it's
rooted in the context of mixed up religion. So let's begin in the Scripture here in verse
1, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, it says, "As to the coming of our Master Yeshua Messiah and our
gathering together to Him," So this is the context of this passage that we're going to read, what has
to happen for our Master Yeshua Messiah to come and for those of us who love Him and walk in His
ways to be gathered up to Him, what has to happen first? "As to the coming of our Master Yeshua
Messiah and our gathering together to Him, we ask you brothers not to become easily unsettled
in mind or troubled either by spirit," A deceptive spirit. "or by word," Something that someone is
saying to you. "or by letter as if from us a forgery as if the day of YAH has come." Has already come.
Some people were thinking that the day of YAH had already come and Sha'ul is going to set
it straight here. When I say "Sha'ul" I'm talking about Paul, the Apostle Paul, he's going
to set it straight here, he's going to give us an order of events things that must happen before
Yeshua returns and we are gathered together to Him. Verse 3, "Let no one deceive you in any way," Don't
be deceived. "...because," Here it is. "the falling away is to come first." The mystery of lawlessness
produces a falling away, it produces a falling away of mixed up religious people, people who
claim to be believers, they'll say "In Jesus," but they have given themselves over to
false doctrines and traditions of men and there's going to be a falling away, you can't
fall away from something that you never had. And so there will be religious people who will
fall in to this deception this delusion of what we're talking about tonight, lawlessness. All right? This falling away has to
come first. "...and the man of lawlessness is to be revealed," He's going to
be revealed within the context of lawlessness, when this world becomes
so lawless that he can rise up and if there is no law, then he can become the law and he will become the law because
he's going to force people to take the mark on their right hand and on their
forehead and if you don't, then you will perish, you'll be murdered. So the falling away takes
place first and then the man of lawlessness. All right so, we've already talked about the
Righteous One, Yeshua, who obeyed perfectly, now we see that there's another one, another person the Scripture talks about and he's called
"the man of lawlessness" and he disobeys, he rejects the law of Elohim and he
deceives people into disobedience. So there's two camps in the world,
which camp do you want to be in? Do you want to be in the camp of righteousness,
the camp of obedience, following Yeshua in His perfect example of obedience? If not,
you'll be in the camp of the lawless one and you'll be one who disobeys and if you're
a religious person, you'll make the excuse that the law, or the Torah of Elohim has been
abolished and if you do, you're under the delusion of lawlessness. "...says the son of destruction," He's the one
that will be revealed after the falling away takes place. "...who opposes and exalts
himself above all that is called Elohim or that is worshipped so that he sits as Elohim in the dwelling place
of Elohim showing himself that he is Elohim." Now I'm not going to get too deeply into
all of the things that have to take place during what's called the tribulation
period, but we see here that the lawless one opposes and exalts himself above all that
is called Elohim. In other words, he wants to be worshipped, he's empowered by Hasatan and
Hasatan has always wanted to be worshipped. "...he sits as Elohim in the dwelling place of
Elohim showing himself that he is Elohim," And so, we see here that the temple in
Yerushalayim, it appears will be rebuilt and the anti-mashiach is going to establish his
image in the Most Set-apart Place and demand to be worshipped. Verse 5, "Do you not remember that I
told you this while I was still with you? And now you know what restrains for him to be revealed
in his time," This is talking about anti-mashiach. What restrains? What has to come first before
the anti-mashiach is revealed? The falling away. We just read it. That's what restrains, the coming
of anti-mashiach, the falling away must take place and then anti-mashiach is going to be revealed
in his time. Here it is, verse 7. "For the secret," Or the mystery, your bible may say. "...of lawlessness
is already at work," In other words, Hasatan and his demon forces are at work deceiving people. Again,
the greatest context is within mixed-up religion to create an environment of lawlessness so
that the appropriate time, when it arrives, then the anti-mashiach can be revealed and he'll
not be rejected but he will be admired and, ultimately, he will be worshipped. "For the secret
of lawlessness is already at work, only until he who now restrains comes out of the midst," Now,
that's a little cloudy for a lot of people because we see in Christian doctrine that they're talking
about the Holy Spirit being brought out, okay? So this is talking about anti-mashiach,
he is the one who must be revealed first before the coming of our Master Yeshua Messiah and
are gathering together to Him, it makes complete sense when you understand that that anti-mashiach
must be revealed before our Mashiach appears. It's not that he has so much power that he's
holding back our Mashiach, it's that our Mashiach will not appear until anti-mashiach is revealed
and then he will appear. It's all in YAH's timing. Look at verse 8. "And then the lawless one
shall be revealed or made known notice whom the Master shall consume with the Spirit, or
the breath, of His mouth and bring to naught with the manifestation of His coming." Let's
look at verse 9 of 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, and I want to make a very interesting point
because I'm sure many of you have been accused because you want to obey the
bible, you've been accused of being deceived. Hasatan has never
deceived anybody into obedience. Hasatan has never deceived anyone into obeying
the bible. They'll say you're just deceived, what are you saying? The devil has
deceived me into wanting to obey the bible. Why do you wear tzitzis? Why
do you worship on the Seventh-day Shabbat? Why do you keep the bible feasts? Because
we have commands to but also, because Yeshua did it. So I want to say Hasatan has never
deceived anybody into following Yeshua and that's the way you respond to people, they
look at you and their brow is all wrinkled up and they just say, you want to obey the bible,
you're deceived - no, the mystery of lawlessness will not deceive you into obedience. The mystery
of lawlessness deceives you into disobedience. We need to know that. Look at verse 9. "The coming
of the lawless one is according to the working of Hasatan with all power and signs and wonders
of falsehood." So lying, signs and wonders, to trick you, to deceive you not into obedience.
He's the lawless one, he wants you to follow him. He's going to deceive you into lawlessness. Look at verse 10. "And with all deceit
of unrighteousness in those perishing," He's deceiving people into unrighteousness and
because they're being deceived into disobedience, into unrighteousness, then they are perishing. "...because they did not receive the love of the truth
to be saved." You have to have a love of the truth. The love of Elohim is to obey His commandments.
If you love Elohim, you will obey Him, you will obey His commandments. You will not be deceived
into unrighteousness. You will not be deceived into disobedience. You will not be deceived
into following the lawless one. You will not be persuaded by the mystery of lawlessness to
declare in your heart there is no Torah of Elohim. "...because they did not receive the love
of the truth in order for them to be saved." I want to take you quickly over to Genesis
chapter 3. We'll begin with verse 1 and I want to show you that the mystery of lawlessness
has been in effect from the very beginning, Hasatan has from the beginning wanted
to deceive men into disobedience. It says here in verse 1, "And the
nahash, or the serpent, was more crafty than all the lives of the field which YAH
Elohim had made and he said to the woman, "Is it true that Elohim has said, 'Do
not eat of every tree of the garden'?" And the woman said to the nahash, "We are to
eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst
of the garden, Elohim has said, 'Do not eat of it nor touch it lest you die.'" Well, we know
that her husband also influenced her and he probably said don't get near it,
don't touch it, stay far away from it, and so she's speaking to the nahash, to
the serpent, and she's saying, hey we can eat of every tree in the garden, we're
just not supposed to eat of this one, for in the day that we eat of it we will die.
Look at verse 4. "And the nahash said to the woman, "You shall certainly not die." Now, is this the
serpent of old deceiving the woman into obedience? Is the devil deceiving the
woman into righteousness? See, that's my message to you, do not be intimidated by those who want to say what
you want to obey the bible. You want to follow yeshua closely? Don't you
know Yeshua obeyed it so you don't have to? Yeshua did not give us an example
of unrighteousness of disobedience. He gave us a perfect, pure example of
obedience and then He said, you follow me. When the anti-mashiach comes on the scene, he's
not going to deceive you into righteousness. And the devil, the serpent of old, did
not deceive the woman into righteousness, he deceived her into disobedience. "And then nahash said to the woman,
"You shall certainly not die." That's a lie. "For Elohim knows that in the
day you eat of it your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be like Elohim knowing good and
evil." Now, we have to have a love of the truth, the Scripture says, we just read that
in verse 10 of 2 Thessalonians 2. It says that people are perishing because
they did not receive the love of the truth in order for them to be saved. And we have
a wonderful passage over in Psalms 119:142, you probably can quote it. "Your righteousness is
righteousness forever and your Torah is truth." If you want to be saved, by the way,
you're not saved until you're saved... you start the process by believing upon
Yeshua but you have to endure to the end and then you'll be saved. And so, you can't be deceived. You have to have a love of the truth, a love of
Torah, a love of the law of Elohim. Love it, live it. People say, oh you're just leading
people into bondage, teaching them that they have to obey the bible, and you know
what I say? It's not bondage when you want to. I have the want-to heart. I've been given
a new heart, it's called the want-to heart, and I've received the Indwelling Set-apart Spirit
of YAH. YAH has breathed upon me, He's put a piece of Himself on me and that's the power to be
obedient, and that's definitive of the New Covenant that you receive the want to and the power to
be obedient it's those who love disobedience, who don't want to obey, they're
under the delusion of the lawless. They're being manipulated by
the mystery of lawlessness. We love them, we do our best to reach them, we
live out this life before them, but the reality is, they're deceived. The
mystery of lawlessness is deceiving them into disobedience in the context
and in the name of religion. The anti-mashiach is going to rise
up out of the context of religion, we have to have a love of Torah.
Look at second Peter chapter three, we'll start with verse 10, and this talks
more about the delusion of the lawless. I was under the influence of
the mystery of lawlessness some years ago. Although, I was
passionate for the Word, I loved the truth, when YAH corrected me I was quick to repent.
When I saw where I was in error, I changed. Yes, I had the large congregation 4,000
members at one point, I had the big campus 423,000 square feet in three
buildings under one roof, I had 107 acres, we had a very large ministry and yet, when
the blinders were removed from my eyes I had to embrace the truth and there are
many who are leaders in the Christian world, pastors, who once they have developed
their ministries to a certain point, find it very, very hard to walk in the truth once
they've seen it because they have too much to lose. You have to get to the place where
you don't have anything to lose. Nothing that you have to defend,
nothing that you have to hang on to, if you're going to walk with
Yeshua in this narrow way, you have to have the courage to say I was wrong,
I'm not going to continue walking in that error and I'm going to follow Yeshua no matter who
it joins me together with or separates me from including my resources and my wealth. HalleluYAH.
Let's read about the delusion of the lawless. "But the day of YAH shall
come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great
noise, and the elements shall melt with intense heat, and the earth and the works that are in it
shall be burned up." There's a fire coming, folks. That's why we have to be serious
about the truth, there's a fire coming. That's why we have to be earnest
in our witness to our families and our friends because there's a fire
coming. There's a fire judgment coming. Verse 11, "Seeing all these are to be destroyed
in this way, what kind of people are you to be in set-apart behavior," How do you
know what set-apart behavior is? The only way you can know what set-apart behavior
is, is if you read and love and follow Torah. That's how you know what set-apart behavior
is. "...what kind of people ought you to be in set- apart behavior and reverence, looking for and
hastening the coming of the day of Elohim, through which the heavens shall be destroyed,
being set on fire, and the elements melt with intense heat. But according to His promise we
wait for renewed heavens and a renewed earth in which righteousness dwells." In other words,
obedience dwells in this new heavens and new earth.
