Sermon Tone Analysis

Don’t be shaken or disturbed

Have you ever been confused by something that you heard?

Have you wondered, what does that mean, what does it mean to me? Paul continues his address of the them of 1&2 Thessalonians, the return of Christ.

There was a misconception about the return of the Lord.

Had He come back?

If not when He comes back what will happen?

Paul in the passage today describes two things that were to transpire before the return of the Lord for His church.

There must be a falling away (2The2:3)

Man of lawlessness, man of sin is revealed (2The2:3)

We have previously discussed the “falling away” and how that was foretold before by the Apostles (1Tim4:1-3; 2Pt2:1-2) I want to take a minute and look again, briefly at a couple of things on this for this teaching goes on from there.

Apostasy had to happen (1Tim4:1-3; 2Pt2:1-2)

They were looking for, expecting the return of the Lord, the day of the Lord to be eminent and many stopped working, stopping marrying because the Lord was coming back.

They were binding on people things that were not to be bound.

In 2pt2:1-2 it speaks of false prophets, false teachers who are preaching, teaching heretical things, destructive things.

Many will follow.

(Man of Lawlessness picture)

There is apostasy, falling away historically in church already (1Jn2:18-19)

In this passage it was common knowledge people looking for the antichrist, but John goes on to say there were many antichrists who had gone out from them (from the church); which means there were antichrists in the church.

Similar to what we see in letter to the church of Pergamum (Rev2:12-17) the throne of satan was in in the church.

Or even to the church of Tyatira speaking of what was happening in the church.

So, antichrist, is nothing new, nothing that was not already being revealed to the church in the first century, so keep these things in mind as we look at our passage today.

Be faithful, be diligent so not to fall away (Heb2:1-3)

Be on the alert, pay attention so not to drift away for judgment, punishment is coming

There is much we can learn about the man of sin, the man of lawlessness.

We can know:

His description (his character) -2The2:3-10

His deception (results of his deception) -2The2:11-12

While there is much we may still not fully understand there are things to learn from history, as well as we can learn so to be prepared today.

For Jesus is coming back for His church and we need to be ready, not deceived!

His Description

The man of lawlessness, man of sin, does not walk around with a sign on saying man of sin but you can clearly see him from the description.

There is a clear description of him, and much we can learn from the scripture.

Perverse character (2The2:3-4; Jude4, 10-13)

Perverse character described as Son of perdition, Son of Destruction, One who is doomed and destined to hell.

He opposes and exalts himself, not just above others, but above every so called god, and displays himself as being God.

That means putting himself above Jesus.

He sits in the temple, is this in the church?

Could be when you look at Rev2, or even at Jude.

(expand on this briefly)

Scary stuff huh? from within even.

Present restraint (2The2:5-8; Mt16:16-19)

(Restrain lawlessness Picture)

Now, we get to a point where there lots of different views, my desire is to present information and you can do with it as you chose.

It is known, Paul is saying currently restrained so to the church at Thessolonica the son of perdition was being restrained.

We do not know the form of restraint or more, just that it was a present tense thing that was known.

Paul is reminding them that he told that this when he was with them.

Though there was restraint, there was still the mystery of lawlessness that was at work.

Do we see lawlessness at work today?

We don’t have to look very far do we?

The Lord would reveal the lawless one when He appears at His coming.

Is the restraint the church?

was it his young church that abounded in Work of faith, labor of love and steadfastness of hope?

Is it the church today that simply believes and proclaims God’s Word and acts under the authority of Jesus Christ?

Makes me think of:

(Keys to the kingdom picture)

below not on the screen and leave it that way.

Keys to the kingdom, is it the faith, the belief who Jesus is that the gates of hades will not overpower?

Professed relation to Satan (2The2:9-10)

WE have journey to other scripture so maybe focus back on our passage this morning again.

His coming would be in accordance to the activity of Satan.

Wait, wait, wait, is the work of Satan being done right now?

His coming will be with all power, signs, lying wonders; hold on again, are there not false signs that were going on then, what about now?

And with wicked deception is keeping people from the truth in love so that they could be saved.

I know there is more we don’t know than we know, and more questions than answers.

(More questions than answers picture)

Some other thoughts, suggestions, things to consider.

Is the man of lawlessness a man, a particular person who is to be revealed?

Is this the Antichrist the prophet of Satan as inferred in 1Jn2:18

There are many who hold this view who are pre-millenialists and even some amillenialists.

Another view is that this is a a series of individuals

Perhaps a successive line of men with same general characteristics and beliefs?

Some believe this to be the papacy.

Now, this is not too far of a leap on these is it?

The scripture is clear as mud here and any of the above could be the man of lawlessness, son of perdition.

We are the described character

A deceiver

Brings destruction

Exalts over even Jesus (expand this can even be self exaltation of self worth and self works)

A mystery that is at work, but will be revealed on the day of the Lord.

Has power to do false signs, wonders and miracles (expand on this in general; be careful not to name people)

Anyway about us having more questions than answers, the answers we do have are pretty descriptive.

Deception

Deception, there are many deceivers out there, and one of the character traits we already mentioned is deception.

May we look at those who will be deceived and protection against being deceived.

Those who are perishing will be the ones deceived (2The2:10; 1Cor1:18)

Those perishing are the fools who will not accept the message of the cross as stated in 1Cor1:18.

Those who do not have a love for God or for the truth (2The2:10; 2Tim3:1-5)

Those who pleasure is in unrighteousness (2The2:10; Php3:18-19)

People who are pleasure seekers more than truth seekers are prime candidates to being deceived.

To those who will be able to resist (2The2:10, 12)

Those who have a love for the truth

Those who believe the truth

Take preventative measures, read, sturdy your bible so you know the truth

How we treat God’s Word will determine whether we will be susceptible to deception by the man of sin, the man of lawlessness or not.

To those who love the truth, love God and follow HIs ways, in other words are faithful until the end, we have the promise of the destruction of the man of sin too.

Destruction

While God’s desire is that all men come to repentance some will not including the son of perdition, man of sin.

The promise is the destruction

Similar to what we see to those who do not obey the gospel (2The1:7-9)

Timing of his defeat (2The2:8)