2 Thessalonians 2:1-17, Deception: A present reality.

Theological Proposition/Focus: Deceptive teaching is present in our world but God is bigger than any deceptive teaching.

Homiletical Proposition/Application: Deceptive teaching is a danger we must look out for but it should not cause us to lose hope because we know that the truth of the Gospel will prevail.

Introduction:

Image: Deception in the Movies verses real life (Mission impossible vs identity theft)

I love a good deception in a movie. One of my favorite parts of the movie mission impossible is watching the different characters reveal their rubber masks and realizing who is behind which mask and how all the little details fit together at the end. Deception is fun in the movies. However, in the real world deception is very real problem. In 2021 there were over 1.6 million cases of identity theft reported to the FTC. Just talk to banker and you will learn how big of a problem deception is in our world. Well, int he spiritual realm things are no different. Deception is a reality and we need to understand the truth that can only be found in Sc rapture.

Setting the Stage:

Christians are inconstant danger of growing cold and losing hope. We live in fallen world a world plagued with a. constant temptation to give up and flow with the currents of society. The Christian must remember to remain firm, to hold tight to the doctrines that have been recorded for us in Scripture. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 Paul bridges an important theological gap between our progressive sanctification that comes through Christ and our need to be personally disciplined.

Christ is the one who is has, is, and will sanctify us but that does not mean we should grow complacent. Rather, as we look forward to our ultimate sanctification we should be driven to discipline ourselves more and more. The biggest threat to that drive to be spiritually disciplined is deceptive teaching and that is exactly what Paul seeks to counter right here.

In First Thessalonians Paul had taught a little on the coming Day of the Lord, a time when God would definitively intervene on the earth, judging sin and righting wrongs. By the time Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians some confusion and arisen. We will see that some false teachers had taken Pau;'s teaching on the Day of the Lord and used it deceive some in Thessalonica. As we read through each portion of Scripture I want you to pay attention to what we can learn about deceptive teaching.

Body (Reading to lead points)

Deceptive teaching is dangerous to the Christian (1-5)

Deceptive teaching can rob the Christian of their hope (1-2).

Paul had taught that the day of the Lord would come as a thief in the night in 1 Thess 5:2).

In 1 Thessalonians Paul had taught the believers that the Day of the Lord was coming, but before the coming Day of the Lord Christians would be taken to be with Christ. During the day of the Lord God would judge the world for its rejection of God and Salvation. Paul had taught that the day would come as a Theif in the night (1 Thess. 5:2). That is, the day would come in an unexpected manner.

False teachers twist the truth to rob believers of their hope.

The problem, as we see in verses one and two was that apparently some false teachers had come in and convinced some in Thessalonians that the Day of the Lord had already occurred. They had missed it! These false teachers were, in effect, robbing the Thessalonians of their hope. We learn that this teaching was unsettling and alarming to some. In the midst of persecution perhaps these individuals thought that God had already come and judged the world, they had been left behind or worse were being judged by God right now. They had expected to be gathered together with Christ before the day of the Lord but now they were being told the the day had already come. In their minds some probably wondered what to believe. The rug had been pulled out from under them.

The proper response to deceptive teaching is "Don't lose hope!"

Paul's response to this deceptive teaching is simple, don't easily lose hope! Don't be easily alarmed! Paul could have stopped there but he didn't, he gives explanation. However, before diving into that explanation I want you to hear the first response to teaching that unsettles the Christians or is alarming. The response is simple Don't be alarmed, don't be unsettled. It is cliche but it is true, God's got this! We must learn to trust God and boldly stand without losing our hope.

Accurate teaching must be tested to be consistent with the message of Scripture (1-2).

As we look deeper into verses 1 and 2 an interesting issue arises. Somehow, false teachers had deceptively used Paul's name to spread false doctrine. This brings up an interesting point. We, as believers have a responsibility to check out any teaching we receive. We need to check what we are taught against Scripture. We need to verify teaching. Just because someone with some credentials tells you something does not mean it is true.

In the case of the Day of the Lord there are some important prerequisites that need to be met (3-5)

The Rebellion or Apostasy

Almost since the beginning of the church, people have turned from sound doctrine. However, as suggested by the text, there appears to be a coming time when the departure from sound doctrine will be so significant, so severe that it can only be called The Apostasy. I will add a personal note here, when will this happen? Well consider this, when the rapture occurs all true Christians will be taken to Heaven, this will leave only fakers around. How could the church descend into complete apostasy? Easy, remove those who have the indwelling Holy Spirit to keep them on the right track. I wonder if it is something like this, if you are theologically sound then you might ask "has the apostasy occurred?" The answer is no, because there are still people like you who are theologically sound enough to care. When the apostasy occurs I suspect it will be so bad that nobody will even notice.

The Man of Lawlessness

The second event mentioned here is the revelation of the man of lawlessness. He is described also as a man doomed to destruction. Paul's use of the aorist subjunctive suggests that this is a distinct point in time revelation. I think this is suggestive that anybody who cares to know will know. When this happens it will be so obvious that people won't debate who it is, they will know.

1 John 2:18 suggests that there are many who could be described as antichrist but there is one coming who will dwarf them all.

What is the point of all this for us today? We could get deep into discussions of where the AntiChrist comes from, when the rapture takes place, who is taken in the rapture. How long the Day of the Lord or Tribulation lasts. But we are not going to do that. What we need to understand is rather the point of this message. The point is we need to not lose hope. God has planned out every detail and given us what we need to know. The right action, instead of reading every Newspaper to try guess when the rapture will occur, why not read the Bible. Learn all you can learn of God. Learn to trust God. Does eschatology matter? Absolutely, it is our hope. But the details matter only so far as they point you to Christ! As they help you to hope in Christ.

Image: Consumed with the news.

I meet a lot of people who are consumed with the news. They generally fall into some sort of broad category. Things are so bad, surely Jesus is coming soon. I hope Jesus comes soon because things are so bad. Let me change channels and see how bad it is somewhere else.