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There's been no end of speculation over the years as to when the Lord will return. Lots of people have written books about it. Some have even proclaimed the date of it. And in this chapter, they were concerned, the Thessalonians were, because they thought that the Lord had already returned, or they had been told that. And Paul is assuring them that this is not the case. This is what we would call today fake news. He says, let no one deceive you, 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 above every so-called God or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God proclaiming himself to be God. Now over the centuries, in addition to speculation about the coming of the Lord, the second coming, there's also been a lot of thought and speculation theory as to who is this man of lawlessness. There have been throughout history leaders who have proclaimed themselves to be God, or at least one of the gods. If you remember from the Old Testament, that was the contention of Pharaoh. The Egyptians thought Pharaoh was a god. So I decided, well, let's see, I will Google this about people who have claimed to be God or thought they were God, and the list is far too long. It's literally maybe a hundred or more people. And the names are too difficult to pronounce. Most of them are Eastern, but there have been dozens of people who have claimed to be God or to be the second coming of Jesus. Most of them were cult leaders. Maybe you remember Jim Jones. But some of them had political or military power as well. Adolf Hitler, for instance, claimed to be divine. And those who had this political or military power and claimed to also be a god did great damage. Now there's others throughout the history of the church who have said that the pope of the Catholic Church is the man of lawlessness or the antichrist. Now part of that argument stems from the fact that the teaching that the pope, while he is the pope, is infallible in his decrees. And the thinking there is that the pope gets his decrees directly from God, and therefore what he says is infallible. Of course, there's been far too many popes for it to be any single one of them to be the antichrist, although now that there's an American pope, maybe that'll be renewed. You can chuckle at that. That's okay. Another issue that has been raised is that somehow we can know when Christ will return. As we've seen from our Gospel reading in Mark 13, it says, but concerning that day or that hour, no one knows. Not even the angels in heaven or the Son, but only the Father. So think about it. All of those people who are saying that they know when God's second coming, when Jesus is coming again, that they know they can calculate the date. If the angels in Jesus himself doesn't know, what makes you think that you can know? But what Jesus does say is be on guard, keep awake, for you do not know when the time will come. As I said, some have made great fortunes writing books that predict the end. Way back in the 60s, there was a popular book called The Late Great Planet Earth, written by a man named Hal Lindsey. And he had lots of people, especially young college age people, believing that the end was coming. Young people seemed to be more susceptible to those things. But he had convinced a great number of people that he knew how it was going to happen and that was just around the corner. And he sold a lot of books and got rich. More recently, Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins have written a series of books called The Left Behind series, supposedly talking about it. It's a fictionalized account, but a lot of people read it and believed it. And they believed that these two were on to something about when the Lord would return. Some of them called it the rapture. Numerous supposed church leaders or prophets have predicted the specific dates, some causing others to quit their jobs, sell all their belongings as they approached. Now LaHaye and Jenkins sold 80 million copies. So let's assume they got fairly rich. I mean, they're not J.K. Rowling rich. She sold 500 million copies of the Harry Potter series, but they did quite well selling their supposed theological fiction books. And of course, they were all wrong. Again, if Jesus and the angels don't know, you don't know either and neither do they. In fact, in his first letter to the Thessalonians in chapter 5, Paul tells them this. Concerning the times and seasons, brothers, you have no need for anything to be written to you, for you yourselves are fully aware that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. So if it's coming like a thief in the night, obviously, we don't know when it is. Because a thief doesn't tell you ahead of time, oh by the way, on June the 3rd at 11.50 p.m., I'm going to come. They don't tell you that. A thief comes unexpectedly. A thief comes surreptitiously. A thief comes when you don't expect him or her. He goes on to say, while people are saying there's peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains, come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to be a surprise you like a thief, for you are all children of light. We are not of the night or darkness, so then let us not sleep as others do. But let us keep awake and be sober for those who sleep, sleep at night and those who get drunk or drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. So Paul is agreeing with Jesus that we don't know when he's coming, but what we should do is be ready because we don't know. If you knew when he was coming, you could wait and be ready for then. But since we don't know, the idea is that we should be ready for the Lord's return at any time. We should be living in such a way that is pleasing to him. We should be prepared. In verse 6 of our passage it says, you know what is restraining him now, that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, only he who now restraints it will do so until he is out of the way. What is the mystery of lawlessness? Paul says it's already at work. And in verse 9 he calls it the activity of Satan. I want us to understand lawlessness is different than lawbreaking. Lawbreaking is knowing there is a law, either divine or human, and ignoring it or breaking it, disobeying it. That's something we've all done at one time or another. You might say, well I've never disobeyed the law. Well I'm going to prove to you otherwise because I'm going to read the Ten Commandments. And as you hear them, think about whether or not you've broken them. I'm going to help you along the way. Exodus 20 verse 2, I'm the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. So God is proclaiming that He is the only deity and He's the only one that you should worship and He's saying you shall have no other gods before me and literally it means before my face. So you shouldn't make a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them for I the Lord your God. I'm a jealous God. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers and the children to the third and the fourth generation but for those who hate me but showing steadfast love to thousands who love me and keep my commandments. So he's saying no images of God especially for the purpose of worship are tolerated. So you might be thinking well I'm okay so far. Well you're not but you might be thinking that you are. Then it says you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. And a lot of people think well that means you don't use swear words using the Lord's name and that part is true but you can take the Lord's name in vain in many other ways. You can claim to be following Christ while you're breaking his law. The next one is remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor do all your work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God on it you shall not do any work. You or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your livestock or your sojourner within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth the sea and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. That means the Sabbath day which is now Sunday is to be set aside for the purpose of worshiping the Lord in its entirety except for things that are necessary. You have to eat you might need a nap things that are necessary if there's an emergency some people have to work on Sunday like emergency hospital workers or police or firefighters they have to work on Sunday to keep the rest of us safe and healthy but everybody else is called to honor the Sabbath by not working and worshiping the Lord. You might be thinking well I haven't done that always. Honor your father and mother that your days may be long in the land and that the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder now you're thinking well I'm off the hook here because I've never murdered anybody but Jesus in his explanation of the Ten Commandments in the Sermon on the Mount in verse 21 of chapter 5 says you've heard it and said in the days of old you shall not murder whoever murders is liable to judgment but I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment and everyone who insults his brother will be liable to the counsel and everyone who says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. So it's not just killing somebody it's having disdain or anger especially unreasonable anger with someone in your heart. You shall not commit adultery. You might say well I've never done that but Jesus says if you've looked at a woman with lustful intent you've already committed adultery with her in your heart. You shall not steal you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor you shall not covet anything that is your neighbor's. Now as we read through that there's not any one of us who hasn't broken at least one time one of those laws and the scripture says that if you break one law you're guilty of breaking all of it. You see that's a law breaker but that's not what Paul is talking about he's talking about lawlessness breaking the law the wages of sin is death. He's talking about coming to the point either as an individual or in society where you don't believe there is any law at all. You are lawless and if you are lawless you believe there's no consequences for your behavior. You see a law breaker knows I shouldn't do this but I'm going to do it and if I get caught I'm going to have to pay and God is going to hold me accountable. I mean you know that if you're a law breaker but those who are lawless think there's no consequence for their behavior and there's nothing to appeal to except power. And the mystery of lawlessness is already at work and it's the activity of Satan and this has been the case from the beginning. If you remember all the way back to Genesis chapter 3 when God had given one law really he had told Adam and through him Eve to cultivate and keep the garden and through that they would worship him and he gave them one law forbidding them to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the day of they eat of it they will surely die and Satan came and said did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden. The woman said we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden but you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden neither shall you touch it lest you die and the serpent said you will surely not die. What's he doing there? He's saying there's no law. There's no law and there's no consequence. Jesus says virtually the same thing in John chapter 8. He was talking to some Jews he said why do you not understand what I say? It's because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning does not stand in the truth because there's no truth in him. When he lies he speaks out of his own character for he is a liar and the father of lies. So through deception and lies Satan will attempt to turn people to lawlessness. And Paul says here to the Thessalonians that you can see this is working already throughout the world that this mystery of lawlessness is already at work and we can see it in our own day seemingly much of which we formally viewed as right and wrong is up for grabs for centuries and decades especially in a country like Canada which has its roots in Christianity things like suicide were not thought to be good but now the government is promoting medical assistance in dying. And that Canada leads the world in that category percentage wise did you know that? Even more than places like North Korea Canada has a higher percentage of medical assistance in dying at least they did last year than any other nation. Evolution is another thing for decades and centuries in my lifetime it was thought that killing your baby before it's born was a horrible thing but now it's just considered almost normal divorce was considered not good. Now supposedly 50% of all marriages end in divorce although that isn't true but that's what's said over and over again which the idea there is to get people to think there is no consequence. It's gotten to the point in some places in the West where people aren't even willing to say what a man or a woman is. Paul says that although this lawlessness exists these things are being restrained but they're at work now and I think we can see them. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders with all wicked deception for those who are perishing because they refuse to love the truth and to be saved. Fusing to love the truth, refusing to believe the gospel is what sets us up to believe the lies of the devil, to believe in lawlessness. Verse 11 says that God sends them a strong delusion so they may believe what is false in order that they may be condemned who did not believe the truth and had pleasure and unrighteousness. Maybe you've noticed this, I certainly have, when I talk to some people and you lay out what is true. Whether it's the gospel or anything else, you lay out what is true and they seem not to be able to grasp it or to refuse to see it and they proclaim exactly the opposite. I have friends like that. Friends I've known all my life who, well not all my life but most of my life who would have agreed with the position of the Bible 30, 40, 50 years ago who now take the exact opposite position and act like they don't understand how anybody could disagree with them. They're under a delusion. They seem unable to understand and they might even be hostile. But Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1, the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to those who are being saved it's the power of God. In Romans chapter 1 it says, although they knew God they didn't honor him as God or give thanks to him, they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. See that's what happens. The longer that you take the position of lawlessness, the longer that you take the position that there is no God and nothing matters and you can get away with however you want to live, the longer that you believe that and act on that, the more your heart becomes dark, the harder it is for you ever to recover. And it says claiming to be wise they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals. Therefore God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity, dishonoring their bodies among themselves because they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen. So Paul is telling this to the Thessalonians. Remember the Thessalonians are in trouble with the government and with the Jews because they're claiming that Jesus is the king. Paul is telling them to stand fast. That all of these things are going to happen but that if you hold fast to your faith in Jesus Christ, if you hold fast to your faith in the Gospel, you will be okay. No matter what comes upon you, you will be okay. Even if in this life you should perish physically, you will be okay because you know Jesus. So in this is the case, what are we to do? Well the answer is right here in the text. It says first, give thanks. Be grateful. Verse 13, we ought to always give thanks to God for you, brothers, beloved by the Lord, because God shows you as first fruits to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth to this you recalled and through our Gospel so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to that. You may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ that you will be in heaven with Him, that you will be a conqueror with Him, that you will sit with Him at the right hand of God, that you will experience joy and love and happiness beyond all your wildest dreams. What I has seen, what ear, what I has not seen, what ear has not heard, what has not entered into the mind of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him. You can be thankful even in the midst of your worst trial knowing that in the end you will be joyful beyond your wildest dreams. So first, be grateful. The second, stand firm. He says to stand firm, to be steadfast. So how do we do that? One of the ways that you stand firm or be steadfast is you have to read the Bible. I am astonished how many professing Christians don't read the Bible regularly. You should be reading it through once a year, beginning to end. You read it through once a year, every year, and the more you grow in your faith in Christ, the more of the truth you will see as you read through it. Discuss it with other believers, be in a Bible study. All these things are things that we have talked about over and over again and they are important to your soul. Come to worship. Come regularly. Weekly. Participate in the Word of God and worship. And come to the Lord's table, preparing your heart to receive it and be in prayer. Finally, the last thing that Paul mentions here is to take comfort in Christ. He says, now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. You see, the Thessalonians needed their hearts to be comforted because of the affliction that they were undergoing, because of the persecution that they were experiencing. And you may be experiencing affliction now. You probably aren't experiencing persecution, at least not to the level of the Thessalonians, but it could be coming in Canada, we don't know. And even if it is, we are to take comfort in Christ, comfort in the Gospel, comfort in knowing what our end will be. Now maybe you're here and you think, you know, I've never really believed. Well if that's you, then I'm asking you to turn from your lawlessness and your law-breaking, which is called sin, and repent, that means to turn again, and to believe the Gospel that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who lived the perfect sinless life in your place, died the death you deserved in your place, and was risen from the dead, proving exactly who He is. If you believe that, then you can be comforted. You can have hope. I'm asking you to believe. Let's pray. Lord, thank You for Your Word. Thank You for what You teach us, some of it hard, some of it unpleasant to hear, yet all of it true. We ask as we come to the Lord's table that You will open our hearts and minds to worthily receive the sacrament, the bread and the cup, in Jesus' name, amen.