This is the Truth Network. Forever thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119, verse 89. I'm Stu Everson. Welcome to this special Wednesday in the Word Leader podcast, where we prepare and equip our leaders of this special Bible study outreach breakfast.
Every week to teach through the scriptures. Thirteen Dario locations. There's a men's group meeting and several of the Locations host the women on Thursday morning. Stay tuned. Be encouraged as we jump into this week's Wednesday in the Word.
Here's a way to really stir up your Sunday school class or your next small group meeting. Just ask this question. Who is the Antichrist? Oh, All of a sudden, Dr. Sam Horde You will have people speculating people that you never would have thought.
This is not new to our century. This has been going on for some time. In fact, it was part of an attack of The spirit of the Antichrist going way back to Thessalonians in the church at Thessaloniki. Paul had to address this, and that's where we are. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.
The man of sin, the man of lawlessness, Verses 1 through 12. Dr. Horne, I can't tell sometimes if I'm reading. 2 Thessalonians 2, or if I'm reading Daniel chapter 9. And those chapters where we even jumped in more on this stuff from the prophetic Old Testament.
But it's a heavy passage, but it's an important one, Dr. Horne. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. You know, we were talking, you know, as we were setting up for our podcast.
you know paul is going to give us truth And one of the things I love about Paul, when you get into him. and you spend time with him, he always tells you the truth you need to hear. Not the truth you want to hear always. You know, obviously, we want to hear the truth. I don't mean to argue that believers don't want to hear the truth.
But sometimes we wish it was a different truth. And he's going to really give us. the the bald honest truth that we need And that truth is going to be accompanied by a really severe warning. that that he intends for us to have Because he wants to warn us of the danger of error. He wants to warn us against the danger of complacency.
And most of all, he wants to warn us against what happens to people who suppress the truth. There's an incredible thing that happens, a terrible thing that happens to people who suppress the truth. And then he wants to give us hope.
So, you know, we could we could almost The passage doesn't quite organize itself like that, but those are the three big themes that run through the passage: truth, warning, and hope.
Some great themes and It's interesting that it's been said as much as 40% of Paul's two epistles to the Thessalonian church written from Corinth. Written in the early 50s AD. And written By Paul, his own hand, Written close together, so they were written fairly. consecutively without a big gap in between. But, Dr.
Horne, you have 40% dedicated to the return of Christ, eschatology, the Antichrist, the end times, the second coming. The rapture. And of course, those events alone, the timeline of scripture, the chronology of the apocalypse. is grounds enough for a lot of discussion, debate. A lot of well-meaning people have gotten sideways.
Sadly, we don't want to see churches split over this topic. But we also know there's heresy involved when People come in and say, hey, Christ has come back. You got left behind. and you've missed the whole boat. And the folks that died in Christ, they're stuck.
So on and so forth. And so Dr. Horne, there's very much A need for Clarity and clarification on Paul's part. And isn't that kind of why he Takes up his pin. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and gives us these first 12 verses because there's some pretty clear.
Words on the Antichrist. And I don't know exactly the best way. I'd love to hear how you would suggest to our, encourage our teachers. To guide through these 12 verses, kind of how to break them down. I know.
In my study, The word Antichrist is loaded. It's just like, it's like the word, you know, license. That word can mean, hey, I have a license to drive, or it can mean, hey, I have a license that I'm abusing to do things I shouldn't do. Antichrist. It means there's a spirit of Antichrist.
that you know first john talks about jesus even talked about it There's the type of Antichrist that we see when we studied Daniel 9, Daniel 10, 11, this Antiochus Epiphanies. I think even back in Daniel. Seven, and even back in Nebuchadnezzar's dream. And then there's the actual Antichrist.
So, Dr. Horne, this is why I'm glad. You're on the other end of this podcast to bring us all some clarity, brother.
Well, we'll see how much clarity actually comes. You know, as we talk together, because I mean, seriously, you know, this is, as you've noted. Is a heavy passage.
So let's start at the beginning in verses one through three, where Paul actually gives this urgent appeal. And you see, again, remember our three themes are truth. warning and hope. And so, as you think about those themes, and as they get unpacked here in these first three verses. Here here is The first truth.
There is a time coming. When the Lord will come. And we will be gathered together with him.
So, those two things. are linked together. If you could sort of Look at this in the way that Paul wrote it in the Greek. They're linked together grammatically. As different sides of the same event.
So if you have a coin Uh, it's got two sides like in our American coins, there's the heads and the tails.
So, think about whatever Paul is talking about. This event has two aspects. the coming of the Lord, the return Of the Lord, the appearing of the Lord. This is that. promised Eschatology, that hope of the Old Testament.
That Jesus Christ is going to come in glory and he's going to put everything right. And when he comes, the other side of that event is we're going to be gathered together with him.
Now, he doesn't say how that's going to happen here. But he's already told us how that's going to happen in 1 Thessalonians 4. When there is this resurrection of Bodies from the grave of believers who have died. And there's going to be a generation alive at that time. Who aren't going to die?
They're literally going to be caught up into the air and their bodies are going to be transformed in a moment.
So That's the hope. There is this. Uh coming of the Lord. That the entire creation has been longing for, the Old Testament has been promising, and when he comes, believers are going to be gathered with him. Uh now.
There's at the same time as you think about that. There is a massive deception. That has been going on. And he says it right in the very beginning, right? He says, Do not be quickly shaken.
in mind or alarm. In other words, something has happened. To believers who have this hope to get them to be concerned about the hope, to get them to doubt the hope. And the particular error that has come is that this event has already happened and you missed it. That somehow it isn't what you thought it was going to be.
And you somehow miss the event, or the event isn't going to happen the way. That you thought it was gonna be, and that the way that the Apostle Paul taught you when he was with you. And that air came in. through false teachers. And so there's the warning, right?
So the reality is, the hard truth is. You are being shaken. You are being alarmed. By an error that has come into your midst. About a reality, a truth that is very, very precious to you.
And that is actually important to the entire unfolding of scripture. And so, Paul is going to tell them: let me remind you of some things I've already taught you. He's going to go back to apostolic teaching.
So that's the first thing I would say that there is this. sense in which There is an urgent appeal. And for those of us who teach, and maybe who are leading a Bible study like this. We really need to be urgent about this. uh it's a reminder to me as a pastor It's a reminder to all of our Bible study leaders.
That there is an enemy, and he is going to be launching attacks. Against the hope of the people we shepherd and the people we teach and the people we preach. And that error is going to come. in the garment of truth. It's going to look a lot like truth.
It's going to pretend. to be from trusted sources. We don't know if this was a letter that came to them purporting to be from Paul. We don't know if there were people that came into the church and claimed to be sent by the apostles in Jerusalem. We have no idea how the error got there.
What we do know is that when it arrived, It was really unsettling to these believers. And the same is true today. I mean, Stu, all you got to do is listen to the radio enough, and you're going to get boatloads of error, theological error. Go to any bookstore and if you're not discerning, you can pick up a book or listen to a podcast or get on social media and you're going to fill up your head with error. Error abounds.
Wherever truth is. Satan is going to surely flood that area with error. And so we know this is happening. Paul is telling us. He's warning us and he's saying, do not let.
this error come in and shake your faith. That's the first thing.
Now, the second thing I would say. Is in verses three through five, and Paul is gonna say, let me give you the truth. Let me reestablish what I said to you at the beginning. Let me give you truth about this. And the truth that he's going to lay out is the fact that there are some things that have to happen.
Before the second coming of the Lord. before the catching up of the saints to be gathered with him. And one of them is there has to be a great rebellion. There is a great rebellion that has to come first. And it's interesting that the word there for rebellion or apostasy.
Has a definite article. It's not just talking about a season of rebellion or a season of apostasy. There is a particular rebellion. or a particular apostasy. That is coming, right?
And he's going to tell you exactly what that is. It's when the man of lawlessness The man who refuses to submit to God's law. And he's described this way: he's a man who refuses to be ruled by the Namas, the law of God. And he is destined for destruction. When that man is revealed.
That's when you know there is a particular apostasy, a particular rebellion that is coming into play. Um He is in verse 4 going to oppose. Every so-called god or object of worship. And he's going to exalt himself above every deity.
So, whoever this man is, you know. that he's an issue, right? You know he's a problem. And so, as you think about this, he's opposing everything that is good, and he's going to set himself up in the temple of God. This is right out of Daniel 11, right?
The abomination of desolation.
So what we know about this is in order for him to do this, there has to be a temple. Right? There has to be a temple. When you go, you've been over to Israel, I think. When you go over to Israel.
And you go to the top of the mount. Where the temple stood, there's no temple.
So somebody is going to come. And he's going to give the Jews a temple. And he's going to do it in a way that does not ignite. World War III. He's going to figure out how to give the Jews their temple.
without igniting The Arab world and all the rest of the people who are up there right now would be incensed. you would have global Conflict the minute somebody came up and tried to put a temple there, but somehow. This man When he shows up, he is going to give. Those people, their temple. And when you get that temple.
There's going to be a great falling away. And the falling away is going to be the Jews. They're going to look at this man and they're going to assume something about him. They're going to assume that this man is who? If he's going to give him a temple, And he's going to put that temple where Solomon's temple used to stand.
They're going to think this man is the Messiah. And there's going to be a great falling away. There's going to be a great rejection. Of truth, right? Because we preach the gospel to the nations, including the Jews.
There's going to be a great rebellion against this. And this man is going to lead that rebellion by giving to these people their temple. And then he's going to do something so atrocious. that the nation that has been deceived are going to have their eyes open. He's going to go into that temple.
and is going to do something like Antiochus Epiphanes did. In the century before Jesus first came, right? Remember, he goes into the temple? And he commits some A sin that is so blasphemous that it defiles the temple. And literally shuts things down.
Well, this man is going to do that. The abomination of desolation, right? That's right. That's what Daniel 11 was talking about, right?
So there is this figure. That has to come. Before the Lord returns, right? There has to be. This falling away.
Now When you got to remember something, Paul is. Giving the next installment. Jesus said when he was on the earth, when I come back, and that's the first time we ever got an idea that there was going to be a second coming, that his mission was going to have a part A and a part B. Paul is telling us what has to happen before the Part B. Right, before Jesus appears in glory.
To kill this man? With the breath of his mouth. This has to happen.
So now, Paul is giving us a little more information on what Jesus said. And to get the full story, we're going to have to go to the book of Revelation and read the book of Revelation.
So, what's happening here is our understanding of the events that are coming around that Part B, that second coming of Jesus. are being progressively delivered to the church. Through the apostles, Jesus is going to introduce. My mission has two parts. That's the first time anybody ever thought there was going to be a second coming.
Paul is going to say, let me tell you what has to happen. before that second coming occurs. And John is going to lay it out for you in Revelation 19 and 20.
So there's an incredible Progression of truth here.
So that's the second thing, right?
So remember our three themes. We've got truth. We've got warning. And we've got hope. And Paul is going to say this, do you not remember?
That when I was with you, I told you these things.
So here's the problem. The problem wasn't that the Thessalonians didn't have the right information. The problem was they listened to the wrong voices who came along and said, hey, Paul got it wrong. We have different information.
So how many times in our churches Do we have people come along and say to us, I know what God told you in the Bible, I know what Paul said. I know what John said. I know what Peter said, but I have different information. I've got new information for you. I actually know.
that there's a different role for Mary. than than the one that Jesus gave to her. In the New Testament, she's actually going to play a part in your salvation. I know that's not what Paul did. I know that's not what Jesus said.
But this is what we have come to discover, and millions of people around the globe have bought that error. Because it came in looking like truth. Right? So I'm giving you an example out of Roman Catholicism. We can go even into evangelism.
I mean, just start listening to people. And I remember years ago, there was a guy who wrote a book called 88 Reasons Why Jesus Should Come Back in 1988. And I was pastoring at the time. And it literally hit the church. um particularly the part of the church that you know, loves prophecy and they they pull out their charts and They know exactly where America is, and they know who the Antichrist is, and they figured out all the little numbers and.
And what the numerical value of the names are, and who 6-6 is, and they got all this stuff going. And this guy played right into those immature believers. And many of those people literally sold their stuff. They ran up big debt on their credit cards and said, hey, we're just leaving this for the Antichrist to foot the bill. And when 89 came along, They were in trouble.
And this guy actually had the audacity. to publish a revision and said I did the math wrong. And he published a second volume saying 89 reasons why he's coming in 89. And then he stopped after that because obviously, you know, he was a fraud. He may have been a well-intentioned fraud.
But that's an example in my lifetime of something that Paul was talking about. Wow. And it was going on in the lifetime of these young believers, a fairly new church. Paul was only there for around a month or so. This was a growing church, a church that was.
On fire for the Lord, but also under fire for their faith. And they were excited. I mean, they took Paul's teaching literally: Jesus Christ is coming back. We can't wait. We're excited.
And when Paul wrote first to us at Dr. Horne, he said, Hey, this is how it's going to happen. It's going to be. He's going to come in an instant. It's going to be a beautiful thing, a glorious thing.
We will forever be together with the Lord. And that was very comforting. But the it doesn't take long for Whenever there's the truth, there's a counterfeit. Whenever there's a Christ, there's an Antichrist. And it doesn't take long for those minions of darkness to come in and sow seeds of doubt.
So seeds related, as you just well described, to The end times. There is an entire Uh there's an entire False belief out there, false, don't even call it a church, just an entire movement. That the Jehovah's Witnesses, their entire. The entire basis of their belief is based on dates. Christ is going to return in 1929.
Or 1918. Right, correct. And they just keep pushing the dates out. And I've had some, I've met and become friends with a couple of witnesses, and I've said to them, I've said, look, if you can show me. That Christ bodily returned in that 1920s date, the watchtower.
Under the authority of God, they say we're a prophet of God and Christ will return in 1920, whatever. He will visibly return. He will be on the mount. He will bring fire down on his enemies, and the new earth will start. That's exactly what the prophecy says.
I may be off on a date, you know, on a year or two, but that's what the date says. I said, if you show me that happened, then I have no, there's no. Reason why we shouldn't all just follow your religion. The fact is. That they can't, and they kept pushing the data out.
And then they go back and they revise their revelation and say, well, it was supposed to be a spiritual return. And all the way up to Quito. Yeah, I think that's exactly what's going on.
So let me give it to you even more directly where our tribe is. You know, we all love Israel. And we are so grateful for. What God has chosen to do with that nation. But I remember.
You know, in my seminary days. There was a whole group of people because when Israel became a nation, they were like, okay. You know, in this generation will not pass away. That's what Jesus said. And so, even though we can't set a date, we know the general parameters.
And so, buckle up because we're headed up, right? And And here we are, and we're way past that framework. And what's happened because of that?
Well-intentional, well-intentioned as it might have been, foolishness. There's a whole bunch of people now who want nothing to do. with any any legitimate approach to prophecy. And so So so in verses six through eight. That's our third division in the text.
And verses six through eight, and I want to say this on the podcast. for our Bible study leader says we got I don't know, five six hundred people who are going to be listening to them on Wednesday of next week about this. There is a really clear statement in this section, and that is two things. Number one, Even though the man of sin has not been revealed. The lawlessness That will drive him.
is presently at work today.
So, this lawlessness is a particular kind of lawlessness, right? And we saw this earlier up in the text. When he is Rebelling against the norms of God, the namas of God, the law of God. That lawlessness is at work today. And it is, I mean, just think about the The sexual revolution that began in the 60s that is now morphed way past anything anybody ever intended or even thought it would ever do to a gay, lesbian, transgender.
Agenda. All right. The and that's not just tolerated anymore, that's defended, that's actually insisted on. And people like me and you get on the airwaves and speak against it boldly and clearly. It won't be long till those airways are off limits for us.
And so there is a spirit of lawlessness. That is at work right now, it is not open like it will be when the man of sin is revealed. But it is at work right now. Here's the thing. There is something restraining it.
And this is where the controversy in verses 6 through 8 is. What is the something that is restraining all of this lawlessness? And the reason it is such a controversy. is because the something that is restraining it in the Greek is a masculine verb.
So Paul is actually pointing you to something.
So here are Uh, sort of the things that are commonly identified as the something that's restraining evil in our present day: one, civil government. You know, and people go to Romans 13 and say, government has a purpose, God raises government up. As flawed as it is, the government that Paul was talking about in Romans 13 that we needed to submit to. And be loyal to and pray for was not a Christian government. Nero was the head of that, right?
So civil government. Potentially, is this. All right. Secondly, the church. is what it is.
And thirdly, it's the Holy Spirit. And so, in good form, I decided to combine the last two so I can have my cake and eat it too. Because the Holy Spirit is in the church. And I think What this text is saying is this: as long as the church is here. functioning as the pillar and ground of truth.
As long as the church is here functioning as salt and light. As long as the Holy Spirit is energizing the church and we are advancing the gospel in the darkest places and hardest spaces on our planet. The gates of hell cannot prevail against it. And until God removes that church. This man of sin will not be revealed.
and lawlessness Unbounded lawlessness. that we see in the book of Revelation. is being restrained by the presence of salt and light. Thus being energized. by the Holy Spirit.
Now, I want to make sure. Everybody who hears this podcast understands that's my personal opinion. And we need to say that because when our personal opinions come to the text, Nobody is obligated to believe them. What we're all obligated to believe is the clear teaching of Scripture. And this is a highly debated point, and there are really good men and women on both sides of this question.
And so, I want to make sure that as I share my personal conviction and my personal belief. that nobody would get the impression that I have a corner on this. And I think we just have got when we come to topics like this, we need to model. For our listeners and really for the people who study under us. that we we have to be very careful.
We have to be very, very cautious. In terms of how dogmatic we are. about things like this. Eschatology is not a first tier issue. It is an important issue, but it is not as important as the gospel.
There are gospel components to it, right?
Now, that brings us to the final thing, and that is this: there is a decisive victory. When this man of sin is revealed. And and unrestrained lawlessness. We are told that all of this is driven. By the power of somebody who is on the other side of the equation from God, right?
This is all satanically. enabled it's all satanically Energized. In this text, all we hear about is the man of sin. You go to Revelation, there is a second individual that's going to come forward, and we know him as the false prophet.
So, this duo is going to be energized satanically. All of this has a satanic origin, right? And and And God is reminding us. that he is going to come and judge all of this. And that?
That's important here because at the very end of this text. What's please? The question I have as I read a text like this is: how in the world could people fall for this? How could a whole world be deceived? And the answer is They do not love the truth.
Right. They do not love the truth. The truth of the gospel has come to them and they did what Romans. One talks about they pushed that truth down, they rejected that truth. They refuse the truth that God gave them.
They did not love the truth and therefore God gave them what they wanted. God handed them over to this strong delusion. And they're going to suffer. The immense punishment that has been reserved for this man of sin. They're going to join him in his punishment.
And it isn't because they didn't hear the truth and they didn't have an opportunity to respond to the truth. It is because they actively rejected the truth. That's the point of the text. And the warning for all of us is this: it doesn't matter if it's the truth about eschatology or the truth about your sexual identity or the truth about the morals that God expects of you in scripture or the truth of the gospel. It is unbelievably dangerous.
to reject God's truth. and to suppress it. And Stu, we have churches with Christians. that do this all the time. When we bring God's word to bear, it's not.
Three little points to help us be a better dad, or four little points to help us be a better boss when we actually bring God's word like a sword. And we bring it so that it pierces into our very soul and it exposes the parts of our will that are not submitted to God. That's when we're going to find out if we love truth or not. And what we often discover is we don't. We love the truth we like.
We don't love the truth. That cuts against us. And we've never taken an axe. To our will. We've never taken an axe to that root of stubbornness.
That has said, you know what? God is going to have to come on my terms. God's word is going to have to be on my terms. And because of that, we are in danger. It is an incredibly dangerous, I'll say it again, it is incredibly dangerous.
For anybody. And I'm going to say myself as a pastor, right? I preach every Sunday to 750 people. Um I have an incredible danger. To be opening up God's word and standing in front of God's people and not being submitted to it in my life.
Before it ever touches the life of anybody in my church, it's got to touch my life. And I've got to submit to it. And sometimes God lets me feel how hard that is.
So, that I understand and have compassion and tenderness for how hard it's going to be for certain people. teach submit to that truth in our church. And I mean, it is hard. We are uncareful and uncaring if we come to our congregations and beat them on the head with truth, and we don't really understand how hard it is for them to obey it in certain cases. Like, what do you do if you're in a marriage?
That is awful. And your pastor gets up and says, you got to stay in that marriage. You know, what if you're a kid and you're in a home with a dad who is just. incredibly harsh. And your pastor's like, you got to submit.
You got to honor them. That is unbearably hard for a 15-year-old or 16-year-old, and sometimes, in God's grace. He puts you, the pastor, in a place where you have to submit to something that is really hard for you and you struggle with it and you resist it and you've got to come before God in humility and repentance and ask him to sever that root of stubbornness. And he lets you wrestle with that so you never forget what it's like for your people. Because you've got to come alongside, like the Holy Spirit comes alongside with grace and tenderness to help.
This passage of scripture. is probably one of the hardest. and most hard-hitting truth Paul gave to this church. But he does it with grace. And we need to do the same with grace.
And so that's the passage. That's great. And I can't help but think of the thousands of people. claiming to be Christians, and I really hope some are. that flock to packed out churches, arena-sized churches.
That are hearing a message about self-image. They're hearing a Christ without the cross. They're hearing a message of: here's all the benefits, but there's no repentance. There's no transformation of life. There's continue to live like you're living, but.
Add on to that the love of Jesus and whatever. And this is not take up your cross. This is not the gospel Jesus gave. Where he is everything. And I follow him and I serve him and I lay my life down for him and for others.
And this is the spirit of Antichrist that's rampant in our culture. But there's actually a figure coming. Maybe alive today, Dr. Horn. I know we're going to tell people not to chase rabbits, but you know, people are going to say, hey, who is it now?
And I have, by the way, I have well-meaning friends. I have a well-meaning Christian brother who thinks Donald Trump's the Antichrist. I have another well-meaning Christian brother who thinks Barack Obama is the Antichrist. I need to get them on the phone. I don't think I wanted to get them on this call because it would create all kinds of sparks.
But the fact is there will be a figure. The fact is, and this language doc is just, it's remarkable. It says, it says, with all power. The working of Satan will be with all power, with all signs, and lying wonders. And it can't help but think about Judas.
Judas performed signs and wonders when Jesus sent the disciples out, he healed people. He did some miracles. He had the Holy Spirit working through him. But he was the son of the devil. And he was a traitor from the beginning.
And so there will be power on the side of the dark. That's enticing. It's like an instant gratification. Don't ever touch anything related to Ouija boards or Tarot cards. Or any of that stuff, even the eight ball stuff.
That is just, it's a they're all little gateways into darkness, and the antichrist will thrive. on taking people who are religious looking for that extra Mystic experience, even in potentially religious ceremonial things. That you find biblical references to, but that are taken too far.
So. Dr. Horn. This is, it's so important. It's also important.
I can't control. All of the things I can, I watched a reel earlier today on Facebook of a very well-known. Prosperity Gospel. Pastor, and I use that word pastor very loosely. who basically confessed that a bunch of his prophecies were false.
Yeah. He said not much I can do about it.
Well You know, either way. And you lie, Deuteronomy 30. You know, if a prophet speaks and it doesn't come true, he's a liar. Stone him to death. Or, you know, or you're a, or you're a hero.
Well, in today's world, we wouldn't certainly do that. I wouldn't want anybody to think we're advocating for that. But that man needs to repent publicly and then he needs to shut up and not talk again. Yeah, that's right. And maybe pull his books from the shelf that advocated, you know, one of his books advocated there's nine members of the Trinity, just nonsensical stuff like that.
Yeah. And so let's let's kind of take that out of print, bud, or You know, but it's sad, but there is a that's why there's a need. And we'll get into that in this prayer about standing fast next time. But there's such a need for discernment. There's such a need For the Lord, for us to focus.
I close my notes to leaders, by the way, Dr. Horne, and please make sure I'm on the right track here. I say we're not called in scripture ever to focus, to obsess with Antichrist. We're called to fall in love with Jesus, to focus on him, and to draw close to him. Yeah, that's where I was going to end because in verse 12.
You know, there's this. Interesting statement about all those that are condemned. And here's what marks these people. You know, they're condemned because they believe what is false. They did not believe the truth.
But they had pleasure in unrighteousness. And so if I want to be Someone who's not deceived by error. and someone who is on the right track. Then, here are the two things that need to mark my life. Here's what I got to cultivate.
Number one, I got to believe the truth from God's word when it's properly presented to me. And number two, I've got to delight in righteousness. The people who are going to be caught up in there is like, well, how do I know if the anti-crow shows up, am I going to be sucked in? Am I going to, you know, what, what, you know, we can get all, like you said, all bent out of shape. And Paul says, let me tell you how to protect yourself.
Let me tell you the very best thing you can do so that you are not shaken by error is number one, believe the truth from God's word. And number two. Take pleasure in righteousness. And if we will give ourselves to those things, I want to believe. What God has said clearly in His Word.
I want to know it. I want to believe it. I want to understand it. I want to find out people who know how to interpret it. you know, properly and accurately.
You know, typically. The wackos are out there on their own. They've got their own little following. Hey, everybody else gets it wrong. You know, MacArthur got it wrong.
Moeller got it wrong. Deborah got it wrong. Horn got it wrong. I'm not putting myself in their lead, but just name everybody, you know. Right, right.
And I got this little corner on the truth because I figured out mathematically where we're at. And linguistically, who the Antichrist is, and they publish a book, and they, and silly. Easily deceived, immature people are sucked up into that. And Paul says, look. Love the truth.
Love God's word. Be in it, know it, memorize it, understand it, sit under good, solid teaching of it. And then secondly, Take pleasure in righteousness. Don't take pleasure in figuring out who the Antichrist is. Don't take pleasure in trying to figure out where Russia is because Russia's gone.
Don't take pleasure in figuring out what the Pope's doing. Take pleasure in righteousness. Give yourself to the pursuit of righteousness. And when you give yourself to the pursuit of truth and the pursuit of righteousness, trust me. You won't have time for error.
That's exactly right.
Well, don't they train all the currency folks, the folks that work in the treasury that handle the bills? They only train them in the genuine article. They don't train them because there's so many counterfeits. There's billions. And hey, Dr.
Horn, pray us out here before you do. I just want to bring people back to my favorite verse in the passage. And that is verse one. I just absolutely love this. You know, where he says, Hey, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, so he knows Paul says, He's coming.
He's coming. And look at this language: our gathering together to him. I mean, we are going to be gathered to the Lord, he is coming back for his sheep. And we have great hope in that. And your word on loving the truth at the end.
is so important taking pleasure in righteousness Because this is all the authority of scripture. And Paul says, he says, don't be shaken in mind or troubled by spirit or by word or by letter. He says, look, at the end of the book, he writes, I have written this signature in my own hand. This junk they were hearing was not the word of God. It was false prophets, it was figures and types of antichrist, spirit of antichrist.
Insiduously working its way in to deceive. We got to get back to the book, preaching the book. If someone says, I got some new thing for you, I got this new deal. I mean, God's doing a new thing.
Well, sure, he's doing a new thing in terms of bringing people to himself through the gospel, which has not changed. This is the bedrock truth. And we don't need new stuff, new people with these dreams that are going on. I've heard guys go on for hours, Dr. Horn, about their dream.
And I'm like, hey, how about just opening Ephesians chapter one and read it for hours and give us something from God? We don't want to hear your revelation. And so, anyway, I just, you know, I think we have a sure hope. We don't know the details. But man, uh, just getting in the word, asking a lot of questions, but encouraging people, let's be ever vigilant to share this good news.
Because what we do know is he hasn't returned. What we do know is the rev, you know, what Christ said in Matthew 24: hey, he says there's going to be antichrists, there's going to be false Christ, there's going to be deceivers. But he said, This gospel will be preached in all the world, then the end will come. 24:14 to Matthew. Let's be a part of the ends of the earth and not get stuck in the ends of times speculation.
Let's be a part of spreading the gospel. Amen.
Well, let me pray for us here. Lord, thank you that we could spend time in this amazing part of your word that warns us. and speaks truth to us. And that gives us hope. Lord, help us to love the idea of your coming.
Help us, Lord, to live in the light of that hope. Lord, we pray that we would take pleasure in righteousness and that we would love truth. And so, Lord, make this so in our lives. I pray for Stu and for all of the Bible study leaders. that will be leading this portion of your word.
Next week, we ask you given grace. Lord, help us never to be harsh with our people. Help us to come alongside with understanding, compassionate hearts, because we also have to submit to the truth, and we know how hard that is.
So we pray your blessing and your help on all of us. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you, Dr. Horne, and thank you for joining us for this Wednesday in the Word podcast. Learn more at wedintheword.com.
Follow us on YouTube, Facebook, and all social media, including in Stu Graham. And be encouraged, stay in the word. Read it. Share it, study it, memorize it, and meditate on God's Word. Every word of God is pure.
He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Proverbs 30 verse 5.
