The Restrainer

Reading:

Acts 16:6-8 “And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.”

Introduction:

The Holy Spirit has come and is the power in us, and works through us.

The one who seals our salvation; God’s approval of His saving work for each individual.

Even though His works are extensive towards each individual’s soul; that isn’t all He is doing.

He is also the soul source for the working of the local and global church.

He is the force that directs His sovereign will to the world.

Just as we heard from the book of Acts, the Lord held back the disciples from going into areas of the world that may have not been ready to receive the gospel.

He directed them into areas where peoples souls were ready for the harvest.

Transition:

The Spirit moves and is the guiding power and authority for His will.

His will has an end for this corrupted world and there has always been one that opposes Him; he is:

The Lawless One

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5 “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?”

Transition:

The Lawless one doesn’t just show up and proclaim to be God. We are given some insight into the parts leading up to it.

There must be:

Rebellion First.

2 Thessalonians 2:3 “Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,”

KJV = “a falling away first”.

What rebellion or falling away must come; what does the author mean?

The rebellion or falling away here is making a reference to those who have heard the gospel, accepted the gospel, and decide to walk backwards from God in their relationship.

This isn’t something that should surprise us; as the bible talks about this in other areas.

1 Timothy 4:1 “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,”

Notice that it states the how people fell away: By devoting themselves to:… anything other than the Lord and His will.

What is it that could draw away someone from the love of the Lord?

Why would people want to draw away from Jesus?

2 Timothy 3:1-5 “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”

Illustration:

The phrase “last days” is generalizing the point when we are near the end, before our great Hope is fulfilled, where Christ comes back to rule and reign.

The author here in Thessalonians is expressing that the time close to the end, along with other passages, there will be a ‘falling away” from a reverence and recognition of God.

How many people in a group of 100 would say they believe the Bible is truth and Jesus is God?

According to a new Gallup poll released 2022, only 20% of American adults believe that the Bible is the inspired, literal word of God to be taken literally.

- WashingtonStand.com

According research released by George Barna last year, only 6% of Americans have a biblical worldview. Instead, many have traded out the previously predominant Judeo-Christian worldview for “Syncretism” — a worldview phenomenon that Barna describes as an inconsistent conglomeration of convenient and comfortable views, rather than a coherently organized religious system. As very few American adults hold to a biblical worldview, this new study on biblical inerrancy sheds some light and offers an explanation for the spiritual state of the country.

- WashingtonStand.com

In 2017 when this poll was last released, 24% of Americans held to the Bible’s inerrancy. In 1980 and 1984, 40% of Americans believed that the Bible was the actual word of God, at the peak of the reported numbers. This week’s updated poll shows a record-low percentage, finding that self-identifying born again Christians, typically Protestants, had a higher chance of falling into this more conservative, literal, declining category of Americans.

- WashingtonStand.com

Point:

The closer we get to the Lord coming back in the clouds to be the conquering King; the more and more people will, as that website states: abandon their faith in the Word and truth of scripture and adopt what feels good and is covered under the title of “love”.

Be careful to not fall for this lie!

The bible is our source for truth, we can trust it, and the Holy Spirit reveals it to us.

Transition:

Many people in the past may have believed they were in these latter times; but we can easily breeze past verse :3

2 Thessalonians 2:3 “Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,”

2 Thessalonians 2:4-5 “who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?”

The last days must have a falling away which is so numerous that you can notice it.

Then this period that is referred to as “last days” will come.

What are:

The Last Days

This term refers to a period of divine judgment.

Another term that portrays a principal and perfect picture is that of a Harvest.

The word in the Hebrew for periods of divine judgment is found in:

Isaiah 17:5 “And it shall be as when the reaper gathers standing grain and his arm harvests the ears, and as when one gleans the ears of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.”

Jeremiah 5:17 “They shall eat up your harvest and your food; they shall eat up your sons and your daughters; they shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees; your fortified cities in which you trust they shall beat down with the sword.””

Jeremiah 51:33 “For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time when it is trodden; yet a little while and the time of her harvest will come.””

These passages express the reaping of the grain that have been growing and is ready to be harvested for it’s usefulness.

Illustration:

The process of harvesting grains in the 19th and 20th centuries were much different than our last harvest.

- It seems that when it was time for harvest people would go get their cradle.

It is said that a skilled cradler could harvest 1 1/2 - 2 acres a day.

I bet the farms were much smaller back then.

After cutting and binding together, they pile it in the fields in shocks to dry in the field.

Waiting for the violent act of thrashing.

It is at this moment when the wheat is separated from the chaff that blows away in the wind.

Were there any passages that popped into your mind while thinking through this process?

John 4:34-35 “Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish His work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.”

Matthew 3:11-12 ““I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.””

Me too.

I thought of how Jesus said that He is sending us into the fields as they are ready for the harvesting.

They will all wait for the thrashing.

The drying time would be that of our spiritual growth, life of testimony, and bringing others.

Then He would separate the wheat from the tares.

Matthew 13:24-30 “He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ””

Jesus gave a parable to compare the kingdom of heaven to something we could understand:

Seeds sown, grown, and harvested; with the portions that aren’t profitable: Burned and discarded.

Point:

The Last days are compared to the time of harvest and would depict a separating between those of faith and those who aren’t.

Transition:

Well for those who aren’t children of God, who do they follow?

This is where the anti-christ takes the opportunity to be the one many desire:

The Lawless One.

This is obviously the fallen angel Lucifer.

Isaiah describes his fall from a created ministering spirit of the Lord:

Isaiah 14:12-17 ““How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit. Those who see you will stare at you and ponder over you: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities, who did not let his prisoners go home?’”

The new testament tells us about Satan:

1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

The lawless one wants to kill us, not just to end us; but we have the word that is descriptive: devour.

This really paints a picture: He wants our demise or ruin to be very public and messy.

Connection:

In our day and age people have been so hurt by “religious” people or have seen testimonies about us that there is no appeal; only fear for more hurt and a lack of spiritual needs met.

Transition:

We are privy to the truth, thanks be to Christ.

Even though we have the truth for who impacted people through schemes and lying it is hard to forgive.

Good thing we have:

2 Corinthians 2:5-11 “Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.”

Point:

We have the obligation, no matter the sin, to forgive others and “reaffirm your love for them.”

Why? Do they deserve it?

No; but neither did you or I!

Ephesians 4:32 “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

Transition:

The lawless one is here; but hasn’t presented himself to the world as the god of this world.

- He is awaiting the moment for when the last days come, and the harvest takes place and is allowed to be revealed publicly.

- Then he will try and claim his kingdom.

Why can’t he claim his throne right now?

It is maybe an overlooked point: Satan can only do what God allows him to do, he needs permission.

Job 1:9-12 “Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.”

This is pertinent because he is restrained by God.

Since the Holy Spirit is God, and the office over the spiritual realm; then the deduction is that He is:

The Restrainer

2 Thessalonians 2:6-7 “And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.”

To restrain is to have authority over; having control.

This means that what the Spirit wills is what happens!

How is the Spirit restraining the works of Satan or evil in this world?

Transition:

He uses His bride:

The Church

Transition:

The church is a conglomerate of representatives who represent Christ having the same mind and testimony for the world to recognize as Holy.

Matthew 5:14-16 ““You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Each saved individual possess the light of the Holy Spirit and is automatically a representative for that light.

Illustration:

Smoking is hazardous to your health, don’t do it, if you currently are: quit!

Save money, and your health.

Illustrate grandpa Cline lighting a cigarette (packing it, licking it, lighting it).

There were many generations that carried lighters for their smokes.

An funny thing happened with those lighters, I don’t know who did it first; but they became a way of expression for something that was admired.

All of the sudden at concerts in arenas and outdoor venues when a favorite song would begin to play, people’s lighter’s flickered up and were held in the air.

A collective group with dim flames in their hands held up their testimony for approval.

Transition:

That light in us is the approval and when we are collective in our message it is powerful.

The church is a testimony for the power of God.

Ephesians 5:26-27 “that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”

We are holy and without blemish because He washed our impurities away.

Connection:

Because Christ made us Holy and we are His representatives:

He is using our lights in this dark place to restrain Satan and his schemes.

- How do people know the truth of right and wrong?

- The law written on their hearts; but also our commitment by faith to those laws.

That outward living of an inward belief!

The restraining power of good from the Holy Spirit over darkness.

Point:

This is what the church is supposed to represent for the restraining power of the Holy Spirit.

As we see wrong: we do something about it since we know that all evil is from Satan and God may reveal His love, care, and forgiveness through our churches that accept everyone as they are!

Transition:

We are the church; but the church is made up of many members with different gifting for the purpose to build up one another and proclaim the gospel to all.

The Spirit uses the parts of the Body:

The People

We who are of the faith have new standards to uphold.

We expect more of ourselves since such a high price was paid for us.

Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,”

Our setting aside of our sins that hold us back during our race, seeing how the world is watching:

That reveals our faith.

When people know us and our short comings our struggles; they know why life is more difficult.

When they see those things brought to and laid at the feet of Jesus and left there,

Meaning that we break the bondage of those hindrances from our faith, by giving them to Jesus.

We avoid them at all costs because we are freed from that weight.

The cloud of witnesses see that we value our faith, it’s real, it’s powerful enough to break the bondage of the weights that hold us back.

Restraint is shown over sin!

When we don’t allow sinful things around us, it is restrained from our environment.

Connection:

We know it is possible, even though it is difficult, to lay down our burdensome weights and live a life that testifies of the Lord’s power.

Point:

Your life is used to reveal Christ’s sacrifice as a bridge for them to accept salvation and to enter a relationship of faith; to break the sinful routines which are our bondage.

Transition:

Our attitudes towards one another is a public testimony of a changed mind and soul:

Galatians 6:1 “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.”

If you are caught in a transgression:

We are to have a spirit of gentleness.

Meaning: That we care for you as if we would care for our own bodies.

We would be tenderhearted and extending grace to one another.

Illustration:

A little boy moves from one city to another.

Starting a new school he looks for friends.

He doesn’t know who is good or who is bad…who does he choose to join?

Anyone who would accept him just how he is.

Point:

When our family here treats one another like this; others want to belong because they know no matter what they are doing, or may do: they are accepted and are going to be helped.

That is why people want to belong to something: Loyalty!

Transition:

When this community is established and functioning as it should:

That community, and each individual is holding back evil within their own hearts and minds for one another.

Also to hold one another accountable for doing the same.

Conclusion:

Satan has authority and power because Jesus wills it so!

His schemes and lies are so believable that people are accepting his lies and falling away from the faith in the truth of God’s Word.

The scriptures reveal that this must take place for the lawless one to appear.

Take courage knowing the Holy Spirit is restraining him at every turn.

Through the light that dispels the darkness

From the church

And from you and I.

The Holy Spirit restrains satan and the things that he wants to do;

- but know that one day that restraint will be removed and satan will do all that he wills.

You can be saved from that day, people you care about can be spared from that evil time:

Because of the salvation given to us by Jesus Christ.

We are given the hope that when Christ calls us up His children at the rapture of the church; believers won’t be here when the lawless one is allowed to be rule and reign.

Salvation Message.

Pray!