Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION

For the last few weeks we’ve been looking at a mystery.

One of life’s greatest mysteries, in fact.

It hasn’t been a mystery like the “who-done-it” novels on Amazon or the latest suspense drama on Netflix.

This mystery is the “Mystery of God.” Or, since it’s getting close to Christmas - “the mystery of Christmas.”

Biblically, a mystery isn’t some secret that nobody knows about.

It’s something that was hidden in the past but now revealed in the present.

What was that mystery?

In a word - it’s the Gospel.

It begins with Christmas, climaxes on Easter and carries on even now until the ultimate day of Advent comes.

It’s the truth that Jesus is the Christ and his Kingdom shall come.

He lived, he died, he rose and he ascended on high.

He sits at the right hand of God and one day he will come again and establish the fullness of his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

That’s the mystery.

“Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Two Opposite Errors

Over the past two weeks we’ve had the mystery defined for us by the apostle Paul in two different letters he wrote to two separate churches.

This week we’re looking at a third letter to a third church and that’s the book of 2nd Thessalonians.

Today’s message is entitled “The Mystery Resisted.”

We’ve seen the mystery revealed in Christ.

We’ve seen the mystery displayed through the Church.

Today we’re going to see the mystery of God resisted by a counterfeit mystery: the mystery of lawlessness.

2 Thessalonians 2:1–12 (CSB)

1 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him: We ask you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to be easily upset or troubled, either by a prophecy or by a message or by a letter supposedly from us, alleging that the day of the Lord has come.

3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way.

For that day will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.

There’s a lot there so before we continue let me give you a little context to what’s going on.

This is Paul’s second letter to this church.

Like most churches, it had some problems going on and a few questions they needed answered and a few bad apples who were raising a commotion.

In Paul’s first letter the major theological problem was an OVER emphasis on the second coming of Jesus.

(they started to predict dates and events and got everybody riled up.)

As usual, the predictions they made did NOT come true.

Many people got disenfranchised.

But then the theological error swung to the other side of the pendulum.

Later on, instead of OVER emphasizing the second coming of Jesus they were now arguing that his second coming had already happened.

Churches make the same two mistakes today.

Some say much more than what the Bible says and others say much less.

Some preach way more than what the Bible says and others take what the Bible says and water it down so that it’s more palatable to our modern sensibilities.

Those who go beyond do the same thing the false teachers in Thessalonica did.

(predicting dates … correlating events that aren’t biblically defined…etc)

Other churches say Jesus has already come in a spiritual or metaphorical sense.

He’s alive right now in our hearts.

When you live by the Spirit then Jesus is living through you and he comes again in that sense.

Two Key Events

That’s what was going on in this church and Paul writes to say - don’t buy that nonsense.

If Jesus is going to come back you’re not going to miss it.

Not only that, you’re not going to miss the two things that must occur BEFORE Jesus comes again.

“That day will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.”

(2 Thess 2:3)

The apostasy he’s talking about is an apostasy in the church.

The church will grow carnal and fleshly.

They will have preachers who tell people what they want to hear (itching ears).

The church will be corrupted from within.

In addition to that - the church will be crushed from without.

The “man of lawlessness” will be revealed.

This man is otherwise referred to as the “Antichrist.”

We’ve talked about him recently in our series on Revelation.

He continues in 2 Thessalonians 2:5-12

2 Thessalonians 2:5–12 (CSB)

4 He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he sits in God’s temple, proclaiming that he himself is God. 5 Don’t you remember that when I was still with you I used to tell you about this? 6 And you know what currently restrains him, so that he will be revealed in his time.

7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but the one now restraining will do so until he is out of the way, 8 and then the lawless one will be revealed.

The Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of his mouth and will bring him to nothing at the appearance of his coming.

9 The coming of the lawless one is based on Satan’s working, with every kind of miracle, both signs and wonders serving the lie, 10 and with every wicked deception among those who are perishing.

They perish because they did not accept the love of the truth and so be saved.

11 For this reason God sends them a strong delusion so that they will believe the lie, 12 so that all will be condemned—those who did not believe the truth but delighted in unrighteousness.

A KINGDOM IN TENSION

There are so many different ways we could take this passage but for our purposes today I really want us to hone in on the phrase in verse 7 “the mystery of lawlessness...”

Because, whatever this mystery of lawlessness is - it’s the power that paves the way for the coming of this MAN of lawlessness.

It’s also the dynamic that’s at work around us right now; RESISTING the mystery of God being displayed through the Church.

It’s obviously very interesting to try and define what the end times antichrist is going to look like and spend tons of time guessing who that person might be.

However - that’s not our purpose this morning.

We’ll do that when we get to Revelation 13 in a few weeks from now.

Already Not Yet

What I want you to notice from this text is that the Kingdom of God is a kingdom in tension.

There’s an “already not yet tension” to the Kingdom of God.

Already Christ has come, died and rose again.

Already Christ is King.

Already he’s ruling and reigning at the right hand.

Already the power of sin and penalty of sin is abolished in our life.

But not yet do we see an end to the enemy of death.

Not yet do we see victory over things like disease and division decay.

Not yet have we seen an end to conflict and chaos - it still surrounds us.

The penalty and power of sin has been abolished but the PRESENCE of sin still remained in our hearts and in our world.

The wheat and the weeds are growing together - even in the context of the local church.

Over/Under Realized Eschatology

It’s important we acknowledge this and live our Christian lives in light of this tension.

Otherwise, we’ll make the same mistakes the false teachers in Thessalonica made.

It’ll breed an over-realized eschatology that says the victory is already ours over disease and death all we have to do is name it and claim it and have enough faith.

OR it’ll breed an under-realized eschatology that accommodates and accepts the brokenness of our world as “this is as good as it’s going to get so just get used to it.”

Maybe that sin isn’t such a big deal… maybe it’s ALWAYS going to be this way.

The answer isn’t an over-realized eschatology or an under-realized eschatology.

It’s a REALISTIC eschatology.

A realistic eschatology acknowledges the authority and supremacy of Christ over all but it also acknowledges the principalities and powers resisting Christ and his authority over all.

Stages of Development

There’s a saying about salvation that we have BEEN saved, we are BEING saved and we WILL BE saved.

Salvation is a past act that has continuing effects and a future culmination.

The same thing is true of the kingdom of God .

It HAS been established (with the first advent of Christ) it IS BEING established (through the Spirit’s advancement of the Gospel) and it WILL BE established fully on the earth when Christ comes again.

Think of it as a “stage of development.”

Human beings have stages of development but no matter where you meet a human in the process they are always a human being.