Who is the Antichrist? (Revelation 13)

terrorist attack absolutely amazing times ladies and gentlemen whether you like it or not rate of hiv/aids u.s. capital is higher than any other microchips implanted edge in the starving in Somalia already knew it in the end it's difficult to imagine precisely how this thing will manifest itself no one had expected that something like this was good morning well good morning to Orange County as well and maybe you're noticing that our image is a little more high definition and I find this really startling and I don't like to look up because these are our new high definition projectors and all that so everything is going to be much clearer all I can say is I wish this technology had come along when I was in my 30s you know it's this is not a good time to be in an HD world but anyway let's grab our Bibles and turn to Revelation chapter 13 and the title of my message is who is the Antichrist maybe you've wondered about that well we'll talk about that today let's start with a word of Prayer father we're glad to be here today and we think of that wonderful promise uniquely attached to the book that we're looking at and that promise says blessed is the person who reads and keeps the words of this book so Lord we're going to read it then we're going to hear it then hopefully we're going to keep it and Lord we want that blessing we want to be ready for your return so speak to us as we open scripture today we ask it in Jesus name Amen all right quick Paul how many of you own a cell phone raise up your hand you wanted to well that's just about everybody seems like everybody have self has a cell phone these days and everyone's talking on his cell phone how did we ever survive before when we weren't on a phone you know I mean they give them out to dogs now and I'm not making that up there's actually a dog cell phone oh there's a little collar you put around your pets neck has a little speaker on it and you can talk to your dog and you know I'd like to get one of those just to mess with the dog's mind you know he's walking along he's all heavy sit go sit Oh oh damn war you know needless to say they don't make them for cats you think a cat would care about what you had to say to it but do you remember when cell phones first came out it was actually back in 1983 the first portable cell phone was the Motorola DynaTAC 8000x there she is and all her glory you remember this I owned one of these and I was so proud of it because this baby you could take it anywhere you can make a phone call I think Michael Douglas had one of these in Wall Street one and I didn't see Wall Street - but I saw the trailer for it and he's getting this stuff as he's been released from prison and they give him this phone which I thought was pretty funny but this once was cutting-edge technology so young people pay attention it's is a history lesson on cell phones he's weighed 30 pounds maybe not that much they're heavy very short battery life then the next generation they came out after that was a Motorola micro tech remember the micro attack now this compared to that other one which incidentally was nicknamed the brick this seemed really portable it just sort of flipped open and you could dial your number and still using sort of a digital screen than the super long antenna on it as well as one of those two and then the various Nokia phones that came along and and then of course we made our way to the BlackBerry 2004 the blackberries are very popular so popular in fact that people would be so addicted to the email feature on the blackberry they called him the croc berry right because they just couldn't put them down but the whole industry was turned upside down by Apple in 2007 when they released this phone the iPhone and this changed everything in fact now when you walk into a Verizon store an 18 T store whatever it seems like most of the phones resemble modeled this template this prototype it changed everything this is the call the smartphone and with these icons that you can push and you can go online and texting has become popular and so forth and another these are so widespread I remember I was at a Mac World convention in San Francisco and they were releasing for the first time the iPhone and you could actually look at one they had it encased in circular bulletproof glass it slowly turned around there was a crowd a crowd about like ten people deep around it staring at it so I be my normal obnoxious self walked through the front came right up to it and I was touching the glass in a guard next to it said stand back from the glass I'm like shoot me now what I mean it was a closest thing I've ever seen to idolatry in my life the look on the faces of the people they're just you know I just can't a grip it's just a foam people but it was actually dubbed the Jesus phone right and because of its popularity well no there's all these imitations of it as I already said in fact Apple and Samsung got into a big lawsuit Apple sued Samsung for two billion dollars for stealing a lot of the technologies that they had developed and I think they want a settlement of 1 billion dollars but imitation whenever something is popular there will always be an imitation I read an interesting article about how widespread cell phones are over in Copenhagen that birds especially the Starling bird have become incredibly gun incorporating the sound of a ringing cell phone into their own songs so they've actually been able to imitate it and the chirp they give sounds like a cell phone hard to answer a bird though you know but the whole point is imitation whenever something is popular whatever something that's successful whenever something is effective you can always be sure there will be imitations well today I want to talk to you about the ultimate imitator his name is Satan and he has this cheap imitation of all things that are true for instance we have real Christians that believe in Jesus Satan has his fake believers out there pretenders posers if you will that pretend to be something they really are not we have real miracles perform of the hand of God Satan has his fake imitations of those as well and we'll talk about that more in a moment God has his son Jesus and one day listen Satan won't have his son not exactly in the way that God's Son has come because Jesus is God incarnate but in a way Satan will have his version of Jesus his imitation of Jesus we have Jesus Christ and Satan will have his Antichrist this man will be history's vilest embodiment of sin and rebellion but this coming world leader may not be what you expect he won't be dressed head to toe in black with 666 tattooed on his forehead and steam rising as he walks by his eyes won't glow red brother Antichrist will be suave intelligent engaging magnetic charismatic he'll do what no other man has ever been able to do before he'll bring global peace he'll solve the Middle East peace puzzle he will rid the world of terrorism he will be so successful he will be hailed as the greatest peacemaker who has ever lived no doubt he'll win the Nobel Peace Prize he will be a satanic Superman he will even get the Jewish nation and Arab nations to sign a peace treaty paving the way for the long-awaited Third Temple but behind that is the most evil man who has ever walked this earth you know many people believe that an antichrist is coming and not just Christians and a US News and World Report that was done a while back 49 percent of America said there will be an antichrist sometime in the future in a Newsweek poll 19 percent of Americans said they believe Antichrist is on the earth right now and in the same poll half of those who accept Biblical prophecy believe Antichrist is alive right now and no question about it things are right for such a man to emerge on the world stage historian arnold toynbee said almost prophetically some years ago and i quote by forcing on mankind more and more lethal weapons and at the team time making the world more and more interdependent economically technology has brought mankind to such a degree of this fret distress that we are ripe for the deifying of any new caesar who might succeed in giving the world unity and peace end quote well Seth really it fits the biblical scenario that's right the deifying of a new Caesar that will come on the scene now some of us may think well why would I care about the Antichrist why even give a passing thought to him well maybe one reason would be there are over a hundred passages in scripture that detail the origin nationality career character Kingdom and final tomb of the Antichrist he is discussed in depth in the book of Revelation as we will see as well as the Book of Daniel and he's also referenced in 2nd Thessalonians and in the book of first John this sheer volume of information about the Antichrist in Scripture is enough for us to want to understand who he is and what he will do but I think there's another reason we should know more about the Antichrist because as we see him Rainie as we see evil predominant in the culture it can almost look like things are going to end for the worst but as we continue to read the narrative is given to us in Revelation we see the anti-crisis defeat it we see evil has overcome and we're reminded that we win in the end so we want to keep all things in perspective so let's take a few moments and look at this man described as the Beast the wicked one the son of perdition the little horn the prince to come better known as the Antichrist as I said of Satan ever had a son this is it here's something to consider his coming is getting closer every day revelation 13 verse 1 and I stood in the sand of the sea and I saw a beast rising out of the sea having seven heads and ten horns and on his horns ten crowns and on his head's a blasphemous name now the Beast which I saw was like a leopard his feet were like the feet of a bear his mouth was like the mouth of a lion and the dragon gave him his power his throne in his great Authority now I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded and his deadly wound was healed and all the world marveled and followed the Beast so they worshipped the dragon who gave the authority to the Beast and they worshipped the Beast saying who was like two beasts and who's able to make war with him he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months he opened his mouth on blasphemy against God the blaspheme his name his tabernacle and those who dwell in heaven it was granted to him to make war with the Saints and to overcome them and authority was given to him over every tribe tongue and nation and all that dwell on the earth will worship Him whose names have not been written in the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world if anyone has in here let him hear now we'll stop there now this first description of the Antichrist sounds like something out of a science fiction movie but don't think of Rodin or Godzilla here or Mothra but realize that these are illustrations these are figures of speech that John is using and he uses them already here in Revelation and they're all so used earlier in the book of Daniel let me put it this way to understand the beast you have to first understand its father or let me put it another way to understand Antichrist you need to know more about Satan himself we've already read here in Revelation chapter 12 about seven heads and ten horns in revelation 12:3 we read another sign appeared in heaven there was a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and his on his head were seven diadem's now we know that revelation reveals that that dragon when he is spoken of is always the devil so this coming world leader the Antichrist is empowered by the devil himself 2nd Thessalonians 2:9 says the coming of the lawless one is based on Satan's working with all kinds of miracles signs and wonders you might say like father like son but also here we read about a lion a bear and a leopard in verse 2 what does that mean we have to think back for a moment about the companion book to Revelation the book of Daniel and in the seventh chapter Daniel was given a vision of for animals that are representing four world kingdoms now when Daniel wrote those words this was primarily all in his future but now as we look back on what Daniel wrote with 20/20 hindsight we can see how this was historically fulfilled to the T first annual had the vision of a lion and that was a symbol of the kingdom that he was a captive in and advising the king of that was the kingdom of Babylon you remember the Babylonians overtook the Israelites in Israel was in bondage to Babylon for 70 years and you remember the leader of Babylon was Nebuchadnezzar it was influenced by the Ministry of Daniel he was ultimately replaced by Belshazzar who was the last king of Babylon so that was the lion in archeologists who have uncovered Earth Hour ruins dating back to Babylon have this symbol that they used predominantly which was a winged lion so first there is a lion it has overcome by a bear the bear has massive strength and we know that the medo-persians conquered Babylon this was predicted elsewhere in Scripture so why the wicked boy King Belshazzar was raining the meet up Persians were closing in we all remember that story when Belshazzar through a fees to all the false gods and they were drinking out of the out of the various cups and things taken from the Jewish temple going out of their way to blaspheme God and as they were having this drunken feast a hand was seen riding on the wall remember Tyco tech girl many many tickle you farsan and Daniel was called in to interpret it which men with any said it means you've been weighed in the balances and found lacking effectively he was saying to Belshazzar buddy the party's over and your number is up you're going down and right outside of the gates of Babylon where the medo-persians led by Darius so Darius came into power Daniel survived from Babylon into the kingdom of Darius and you remember that it was Darius that was responsible for sending Daniel to the Lions in which he survived but the medo-persians were overtaken by Greece under the direction of Alexander the Great that symbolized by the leper leopards are known for speed and Alexander the Great led the charge and conquered much of the world and what because there were no more world's to conquer but then as you move forward there in Daniel in verse 7 of chapter 7 there's a fourth beast that's terrifying dreadful and very strong it devoured and crushed its victims with huge iron teeth and trampled what was left beneath its feet it was different from any other beasts and it had ten horns this is a description of the mighty and unstoppable military machine of Rome interestingly looking at this final beast and Daniel's prophecy of Chapter seven no one overtakes Rome and historically no one conquered Rome no one could stop the military of Rome Rome effectively collapsed under her own weight and was eventually overrun but it was no military army that was able to overtake her and it is from these ashes that Antichrist rises because daniel 7:8 says as i was looking at the horns another small horn appeared among them three of the first horns were wrenched out roots and all to make room for it this little horn horn had humanized an amount that was boasting arrogantly so from this other beast from this mighty military machine emerges the Antichrist you see and it's interesting because in a way Adolf Hitler was like a prototype of sorts of Antichrist because it was his desire to bring back the kingdom of Rome again and that is exactly what Antichrist is doing he's coming from these roots so all of these creatures or empires referenced here in Revelation 13 are embodied in the Antichrist I love the splendor of Babylon the cruelty of the medo-persians the speed of Greece the might of Rome the Pharaohs Nebuchadnezzar Alexander the Great the Caesars Napoleon and Hitler himself all were forerunners of this one who has to come who will harness the economical and technological power of the world and bring about a one world economy a one world government and a one world religion he will lead the mother of all evil empires now let's identify some important things about the beast or the Antichrist number one he is energized and empowered by Satan himself again he has energized and empowered by Satan himself as I already said if Satan ever had a son is it the only one who has even come close to the Antichrist would probably be Judas Iscariot you know sometimes Judas is portrayed as uh a man who was simply misdirected he wanted the best he wanted to help Jesus and he just sort of went the wrong direction not at all you know Judas was a wicked man and actually there was a point when Satan entered his heart according to Scripture we read in the upper room John 13 27 Satan entered Judas so in the same way Satan effectively enters the Antichrist again verse 2 the dragon who is the devil gives him his power his throne and his great Authority the devil has given him a lot of power a lot of authority and by the way that is the devil's to give because scripture says that Satan is the god of this world the Prince of the power of the air that now works in the children of disobedience you remember in the wilderness Satan showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and he said all of this is mine and I can give it to whomever I choose and you can have it if you'll fall down and worship me now Jesus could have said hold on now devil that's incorrect these are not yours to give but he didn't correct him because it was true and Jesus ultimately went to the cross and died for the sin of the world and purchased back that which was lost in the garden but Satan was offering to Jesus a shortcut listen Jesus you don't have to go to the cross you don't have to suffer and die I'll give it to you just worship Me Jesus would have nothing to do with it but the point is he could give those kingdoms to someone and he does that here he gives them to the Antichrist now we need to understand when this phrase the beast is used it's not describing his appearance sound like the Antichrist is going to be some ugly beast like creature I think he'll be very attractive very handsome very intelligent the Devil Wears Prada you see he'll look good this phrase the Beast is not a description of his appearance it's a description of his character when we say Antichrist the prefix anti not only means against but it also means instead of so the question is is the Antichrist against or instead of Christ answer both he will be the arch enemy an ultimate opponent of Jesus Christ a Dwight Pentecost wrote and I quote Satan is seeking to give the world a ruler and the place of Christ who will be in opposition to Christ so he can rule the world instead of Christ and quote an event the beast or the Antichrist comes as a fake Christ some will even think he is Christ I have a Facebook page how many of you use Facebook raise your hand okay some of you quite a few of you and there is some person out there who's impersonating me I am they actually will God as Greg glory they take a photograph of my real Facebook page and they go to people and try to friend them and so you get a message from Greg Laurie and and then you become his friend and then this person will say let me pray for you which is a clever little ploys or anything you need prayed for and then after that this person solicits funds for some non-existent orphanage in Africa so I've had a lot a lot of people direct message me saying is this really you and I say no it isn't and they're impersonating others as well I think James McDonald has a fake James McDonald there's a fake Bob COI there's a fake that all everyone has a fake out there you're not really doing well unless you have a fake I guess you know it's just irritating to me obviously don't think of some person impersonating me misrepresenting me but you know that that's what happens and really the Antichrist is a fake Jesus if you will and sadly many will believe in him by the way did you hear the story about the guy that bought his wife a beautiful diamond ring for Christmas his buddy said well I thought your wife wanted one of those 40 four-wheel-drive vehicles and the guy said yeah but where am I going to find a fake get it anyway so Antichrist is really a fake Christ what has he come to do he has come to deify Satan he has come to deify Satan verse 4 they worship the dragon who gave authority to the Beast and they worshipped the beast saying who is like the Beast this is what Satan has always wanted to be deified to be worshipped this is why Lucifer was thrown out of heaven because he wanted to be worshipped like God in John 14 he said I'll be like God I'll be like the Most High God said actually you're out of here and he opened up the trapdoor heaven it booted him out but this is what the devil has always wanted going back to the temptation in the wilderness what did Satan want Jesus to do worship Me giving the momentary satisfaction of bowing down before me and I'll give you everything you want so now Satan is there in this place wanting to receive worship also the Antichrist is coming to defy and take the place of Jesus he's coming to defy and take the place of Jesus verse 5 there was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies and authority was given to continue for 42 months or three and a half years and he opened his mouth implies for me against God to blaspheme his name his tabernacle and those that dwell in heaven again the Antichrist not only opposes Jesus he offers himself in the place of Jesus he comes against Christ by coming in the place of Christ also he comes to kill Christians and I Christ is coming to kill Christians verse 7 it was granted to him to make war with the Saints and to overcome them and authority was given him over every tribe tongue and nation during the Tribulation Period that is still to come many believers will be martyred for their faith and already we're seeing an anti-christian mentality become more popular and more widely accepted it's one thing when it's in an Islamic country where Christians are shot for simply believing in Jesus but it's another thing when it's happening in a country that was founded on judeo-christian principles it's another thing when this anti-christian bias is happening in our country the United States of America and indeed it is here's something to consider though we do not know if the Antichrist himself is here yet there are anti-christ plural let me explain this term Antichrist is actually not used in the book of Revelation though the person is referred to the very term Antichrist is found over in first John 2:18 it says dear children the last hour is here you've heard that the Antichrist is coming talking about the person and already many such Antichrist plural have appeared from this we know the end of the world has come these people left our churches because they never really belong with us otherwise they would have stayed with us when they left us it proved they did not belong to us this is interesting ask yourself the question not who is the Antichrist ask yourself am i anti-christ get it it's different you see who is Antichrist according to John it's a person that once made a profession of faith but has turned their back on God that's anti-christ behavior are you living that way have you put something or someone in this place are you opposing him in some way have you cut yourself off from other believers and effectively turn your back on God if so then you yourself could be anti christ also antichrist is coming to dominate the globe look at verse 7 dominate the globe authority was given to him over every tribe and nation how on earth is he going to pull this off listen to this not in the way you might expect and I Christ isn't going to emerge on the scene bludgeon everybody in this submission no he's going to come as a man of peace he's going to be the peace maker in fact the Bible says through peace he will deceive many how come an economically difficult times they'll be warned different parts of the world there's some brilliant political moves combined with this incredible charisma he'll do it no one has ever been able to do before he'll bring solidity to the economy he'll bring world peace he doesn't start violently he starts peacefully he will even hope the Jews rebuild their temple again we'll talk about this more in our next message but imagine this think about the constant conflict that rages between Israel and the Arab nations they sign a peace treaty in the morning and break it before lunch think of all the presidents set of brokered peace agreements between Israel and the Palestinians or other Arab nations going back to President Carter Reagan Bush Clinton Bush again George W Bush they all broker these agreements I have no idea what President Obama is doing over there but I'll tell you this Antichrist will succeed where all others have failed they will honor the peace agreement there will be a temporary peace he will be so successful that some people will think he is the Barry Messiah and that is the whole point because that is what he is masquerading as and he's not alone he has at his side the false prophet mentioned in verse 13 and 14 now you've heard of the dynamic duo of Batman and Robin Wright this is the demonic duo of Antichrist and his false prophet says religious guru in fact if you are where to add Satan to the mix you know have the unholy trinity again remember Satan's in it right so you have the Holy Trinity of God the Father God the Son God the Holy Spirit now we have the unholy trinity as Satan in the place of God Antichrist in the place of Jesus Christ and the false prophet in the place of the Holy Spirit working together a new religion is going to come on the scene that everyone can embrace it'll probably be many beliefs intertwine with occultism to any move toward a one-world religion to me is a foreshock of Antichrist you know one of the things I appreciate about our country is the freedom we have to worship I appreciate the freedom I have to stand up here and say what I believe today without fear of arrest or being shot in and I appreciate the freedom of the others to have to hold views that are even different than mine and though I may not agree with them I'm appreciative that we can say what we believe in our culture today even if I were able to I would never impose the Christian faith on anybody I would never want Christianity forced on people who did not want to believe I believe we have a reasonable faith and our desire is to bring people to Christ as we share our faith with them God says let's reason together says the Lord I would never want to force anyone to believe what I believe but here's a problem and our culture today we see things moving toward in embracing of all faiths everything's equal we're told we're all praying to the same God we're all just following different roads to the same God you can call him Allah you can call him Jehovah it doesn't matter I beg to differ I worship the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob I worship the God of the Bible who sent Jesus Christ there is no other God there is no other God I think you're going to find a tolerance that will grow in the days to come any belief you want to have accepts that intolerant faith as they would describe it read Bible believing Christian there's going to be less tolerance for that that's why we have to be very careful because you see the double smart you know we might be finding them on one side and setting up house with them on the other we might say the devil is evil I see all those two prey things out there I want nothing to do with those wicked things meanwhile the devil is coming in your back door as an angel of light sometimes he comes in like a roaring lion and as depravity other times he comes in as an angel of light in his splendor that's why the scripture says if I or even an angel from heaven come bringing any other gospel than that which you have already heard let him be accursed why did was that said because angel Satan is a fallen angel right if the devil were to appear to us today God forbid I guarantee he would not have red skin and horns and a pitchfork and a pointed tail and hooves right carrying an Orange Julius cut for good measure Isana knockin Orange Julius but they used to have a devil as part of their logo um no he would be a magnificent angel and if you didn't know anybody could be you'd be awestruck whoa that's right so who come in these last days with religious deception one of the signs of the end times is people turning away from the faith the Bible speaks of add upon apostasy a departure from the faith 2nd Thessalonians 2 says the day will not come until there's a great rebellion against God they'll even be professed believers turning away 2nd Timothy 4 says the Bible says or rather the Spirit says and the last day some will abandon the faith following deceiving spirits and things taught by demons such teachings have come through hypocritical liars who consciences have been seared as with a hot iron were warned over in 2nd Timothy 4 or the time will come and people will not put up with sound doctrine anymore but instead to suit their own desires to gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want them to hear another way to translate that is and the last days there will be an itch for novelty you know there are people today that say you know we need to reimagine the church we can't do it the old way we have to do it the new way I don't think we need to reimagine church I think we need to rediscover the church the way Jesus set it up go back to the original template because I'll tell you what you go to some churches today and people don't even bring their Bibles with them and the sermons are short and they're more like a pep talk than they are a message from God's Word you know I want to be motivated I want to hear practical things ok that's fine but listen I want to hear the word of God and I want to know what the Bible says about all the things that I'm going to face in life and I don't want to waste your time here folks and just stand up and talk about cell phones so I started that way I mean I'll lay some humour and things I'll put illustrations and things but ultimately what we are here to hear is God's Word and that's all that matters and that's the antidote to this deception that we'll see more of in the last days Paul said to Timothy preach the word be prepared in season and out of season correct rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction so we have to beware of any movement toward other faiths being equal with our faith any move toward the Word of God as a source of authority any move away from the uniqueness of Christ listen to this the false prophet this religious guru is going to be able to perform signs and wonders now some people say I want to see miracles in church hey I do too but guess what God decides when and where to do miracles but you know you let people who are chasing after signs and wonders and they want to see spiritual phenomena okay that's not necessarily a bad thing as long as we're looking at everything in the light of what Scripture teaches but be careful because when this false prophet comes on the scene he'll be able to do miracles too revelation 13 13 he performs great signs so fire comes down from heaven on earth and the sight of men and he deceives us at dwell on the earth by those signs that were granted to do in the sight of the Beast can the devil do miracles in the sense he can not any miracle but remember the story of when Moses went into pharaoh's court and the man of the release of the Jewish people and needed a series of miracles to convince the Pharaoh remember how Pharaoh's magicians were able to duplicate or imitate a number of the miracles not all I might add but many of them and that just shows the devil the imitator as I said in the beginning it's able to duplicate certain things maybe replicate maybe they're not real miracles at all I don't know but I do know there will be signs and wonders done by this false prophet and there's another thing the devil is even going to have his fake resurrection of the Antichrist look at verse three I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded and the deadly wound was healed and the world marveled and followed the Beast it sounds as though there will be an assassination attempt against Antichrist this would probably be after he has become very successful you know he comes in to the world scene with global solutions you know a stable economy a worldwide peace a very religious man helps the Jews rebuild their temple many are even thinking he might be their very Messiah and someone tries to kill him and everyone thinks he's dead and somehow he survives the assassination attempt a mortal wound is healed he recovers so now the devil has his fake version of the death and resurrection of Jesus in Antichrist and after this many will flat-out worship now I called this message who is the Antichrist so you're probably waiting for an answer you're hoping I would reveal who the Antichrist is so I'm going to answer that now who is the Antichrist I have no idea nor does anyone else don't waste your time speculating you know over the years many people have come up with all their crazy theories of who they think the Antichrist is I don't even want to give all the names but it just really becomes quite silly but here's the thing why waste your time trying to figure out who the Antichrist is because if we understand scripture we would realize Antichrist cannot even emerge until we are caught up to meet the Lord in the air we won't be around to find out who he is that's the whole thing our job is not to be looking for Antichrist our job is to be looking for Jesus Christ that's the emphasis of Scripture now why do I say Antichrist can't be revealed until the churches removed it's because 2nd Thessalonians 2 7 and 8 says this you know what is restraining Antichrist did he maybe reveal in his own time for this mystery of lawlessness is already at work only he who now restrains will do so until he has taken away and then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will destroy with the brightness of his coming so scripture is saying the one who is restraining the spread of evil will do so until he is taken out of the way then Antichrist can be revealed so who is the one who's restraining evil today it's the Holy Spirit so some have wondered about that thinking well if the Holy Spirit's going to be taken away how will people come to Jesus in the tribulation period because there'll be no holy spirit on the earth well actually during the tribulation millions are going to believe in Jesus we're going to see the greatest revivals in human history happen after the rapture in the Tribulation Period well how can that be done without the Holy Spirit answer it can't be because Holy Spirit will be working and transforming people because no one can come to Jesus apart from the work of the Holy Spirit jesus said when he has come he will convince the world of sin and of righteousness not the judgment to come and so forth so he said well I don't get this okay he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way that is speaking of the restraining work of the Holy Spirit listen through the church the church is a restraining force in the world today the reason that things have not completely gone to hell in a handbasket is because of Christians because the Christians that stand up for what is right Christians that speak out against evil Christians that do what they're supposed to do function is light and salt and culture jesus said you're the light of the world the salt of the earth and like obviously illuminates in salt in the first century was used to preserve meat they would rub it into the meat so it would last longer before refrigeration we are here to tell the world about Jesus and shine our light and we are here to stop the spread of evil but can't you see once the church is removed how all this stuff could happen almost overnight can't you see once a church is out of the way at this coming world leader emerges on the scene and people are embracing it they're embracing this religion they're embracing their solutions they're going for it but here's my point we should be looking up because Jesus and we you see these things begin to happen look up for your redemption is drawing near he didn't say when they're happening when they're beginning to happen listen Antichrist has not emerged yet the tribulation has not begun yet but we see the foreshocks of it like the four shocks before an earthquake reminding us the big one is coming so we can see how these things could be honest at any time it amazes me that Christmas seems to be rolled out earlier every year doesn't it I mean we just got through it in and then but it seems like you'll start seeing excuse me those decorations go on sale in September or October Christmas put this on Christmas layaway buy your Christmas decorations today but here's what I think about if Christmas is close Thanksgiving is closer and I love Thanksgiving you have to love a day where you stuff your face and go into a food coma come on what's wrong with that no it's seriously a day when we give things to God well as we look at how close the Antichrist is here's what we learn if Antichrist is close then the coming of Jesus Christ for his church is even closer so look up your redemption is drawing near so here's my closing question to you are you an antichrist I didn't ask you if you're the Antichrist are you an antichrist some of you would resent there well you how dare you ask me that what does it mean again here's another definition of it from first John 2:22 who is the great liar listen the one who says that Jesus is not the Christ such people are Antichrist for they have denied the father and the son so if you say I don't believe that Jesus is the Christ I don't believe Jesus is the only way to God I don't believe in the Bible guess what your Anti Christ remember anti means not just opposing but putting something in the place up so here's your choice are you going to be for Christ or the Antichrist it's a manual or Jezebel it's God or it's Satan and if you make the right choice you can know a certainty that your name will be written in the book of life but if it is not written in the book of life you are doomed look at verse eight oh well on the earth will worship Him whose names have not been written in the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world one last thing you said you already said one last thing no I said one last question now this is the one last thing say Durin's between the last question and the last thing now we're on the last thing I love this phrase the lamb slain from the foundation of the world what does that mean that means God made this decision to send Jesus long ago before there was a solar system and before in that solar system there was a planet called Earth and before there was a garden called Eden on that planet called Earth before there was a man named Adam and a woman named Eve who waited the forbidden fruit causing sin enter in the world before all of that before the foundations of the world God decided he would send Jesus to the earth the God would come to us as a helpless baby in a manger in Bethlehem he would live a perfect life and he would voluntarily go to the cross and die for the sin of the world he was slain from the foundation of the world but why did God decide that because he knew we would blow it but he gave us our chance anyway sort of like when we watch our grandkids we just know they're going to make messes you know we have a little grandson Christopher now and we put him in his highchair and and we and we know more food is going to be on the floor than on his tray we know he's going to just be a baby we put a diaper on him because we know things happen so you make preparation well God knows the future as well as he knows the past he knew we would sin so we made provision for us with the lamb slain from the foundation of the world Jesus died for you on the cross two thousand years ago so what's your reaction are you for Jesus Christ are you for Antichrist which is everything else but Christ anything else but Christ well I don't accept your premise I don't believe in Antichrist or Jesus Christ I'm the captain of my own ship I'm the master of my own destiny you're an idiot that's what you are and I'll tell you why you've bought into the deception the Bible says that god of this world speaking of the devil has blinded the eyes of those that do not believe you see he's blinded you into thinking you're running your own life when in reality he's in control you want to be really free submit your life to the Lord Jesus Christ who will forgive you of all of your sin and then you can know with certainty that when you die your name will be written in that book why is that important because as we will discover later in Revelation if you're not found written in the book of life you're cast into the lake of fire a man of your names in that book you are home free baby you're good to go your reservation is set and you're ready to meet the Lord I can't think of anything more important than that you know yesterday we had a service at our church in Orange County we said goodbye to a friend named Gary Arthur many of you here in Riverside may not know Gary but Gary is in a number of Christian bands like the way and parable and serve the Lord through his life and had come to work for us actually a couple of years ago as we started our church down there and he would do whatever you needed to do you know if you needed a some of the lead worship it pull out his guitar and do that if he needed someone to oversee a group of men in our men's Bible study he did that too and he needed someone to run sound he'd go back there to the sound board he needs the lightbulbs change he'd climb up on those ladders and change the lightbulbs he was just serving the Lord he was 50 years old chiseling 60 years old my age and the picture of health on my dad fit active energetic and the Lord called him home he died and we found out we were in shock but we had a service yesterday and it was sad to say goodbye to someone so soon but it was glorious to see a life that was lived well you know he started any finished all that can't be said of everyone you know Gary was a part of the music that was happening in that Jesus Movement era and a number of those people that were doing that back then are walking with the Lord today they walked away from the Lord but he was faithful to the end that's all you want to do man is be faithful to the end because you don't know when that day's going to come for you you know sit there look at me and say well Greg is probably going to come for you soon maybe maybe I'll outlive everyone here who knows I'll be 90 years old I forgot what it was going to say god bless maybe I'll live nine more days I don't know and frankly I don't worry about it you know why my name is written in the book of life and I'm ready I'm ready my boat is in I vote Jesus Christ who do you vote for because if you don't vote for Jesus Christ you vote Antichrist not the Antichrist in particular but just everything else but Jesus that's Antichrist you

Channel: Pastor Greg Laurie

Views: 1,017,635

Rating: 4.6277261 out of 5

Keywords: harvest, greg, laurie, antichrist, revelation, bible, preaching, Christianity (Religion), Prophecy, endtimes news update 2019, the antichrist is here now, is the antichrist is here now, who is the antichrist, who is the antichrist in revelation, who is the antichrist in prophecy, who is antichrist

Id: MuMzmvQ_cV0

Length: 53min 53sec (3233 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 15 2013