13, and specifically today we are going to be talking about the man of lawlessness that we read of in 2 Thessalonians 2, beginning at verse 1. Hear the word of God. Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us as that the day of the Lord is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there shall come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he, as God, sitteth in the throne, the temple of God, shewing himself, that he is God. Remember ye not that when I was yet with you, I told you these things, and now ye know that withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work, only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming, even him whose coming is after the working of Satan. with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceitfulness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause, God shall send them a strong delusion that they shall believe a lie. thus far the reading of God's holy and infallible word. As we said, our sermon then is about the man of sin, the man of lawlessness, the man that so many have misinterpreted in this day and what so many ministers have promoted in this generation. And that is specifically that that this man of evil is not a physical man, but it is a spiritual man. And when we see the mark of the beast that everyone is talking about, that everyone is trying to prevent, then we must begin by saying, these are not literal. These are not physical marks on the forehead and on the arm. but they are a metaphor that reflects after the Lord's illustration that he is speaking about how men think with their foreheads, symbol, how men act with their hands. Such is what the meaning of the mark of the beast is, the abomination of desolation that shall especially prevail in the last day. that we read, it will come as a flood. That abomination of desolation is not a physical man, some great world leader who will force everyone in the world to worship him. No, it is not a physical mark on your forehead or on your arm, but it is false doctrine that shall flood over the entire earth in this in the last generation that of the earth in the parable of the ten virgins time. It shall be a false doctrine that shall lull all of God's children even to sleep. The elect slept, we read it in the Bible, For you who doubt, it says, all slept shortly before the Lord Jesus comes on the clouds. All of Christendom will be asleep. It's not my word. That's God's word telling you that awful, awful reality. Oh, it is so contrary then to what we have heard in this generation from a multitude of extremely high percentage of ministers from the pulpit and all of their followers are looking for that mark of the beast, that abomination of desolation, that man of lawlessness to appear before them. And yes, they have been trained by their ministers to stand with their sword ready to slash anyone who tries to put a mark upon them. Slash that evil one so that he cannot conquer us. But that misses the entire point. And the point is that the abomination of desolation The mark of the beast on the forehead and on the arm are metaphorical. They are an illustration of the false doctrines of Christendom, which will superabound in the last days. Yes, men are looking in the wrong direction. They are armed with the wrong weapon. The famine of Amos is upon us, and we know it not. Oh, let us adhere to the Word of God and to the interpretation of the Word of God. The mark of the beast is not literal. The abomination of desolation is not literal, but spiritual. Yes, up until this last generation, there has been some restraint, and that's what we read of in the Bible, where when the final restraints are taken away and Satan is loosed for a season, then, then will all of Christendom be lulled to sleep under that tidal wave, under that flood of false doctrine, of false interpretation, a twisted scripture. Yes, Satan has tried every persecution there is in the world, every bloody persecution. Oh, read Foxe's Book of Martyrs or History or the Bible, and you can see that every possible form of persecution has already been done. No, the Bible tells us that in these last days it shall be a persecution such as has never been seen before. That obviously does not mean a bloody persecution, for every form of bloodletting has already been tried and done. But it means, then, this special persecution, the famine of Amos, the lack of the preaching of the word of God in the last generation, before the Lord Jesus comes, the lack of the proper discernment, the lack of the proper interpretation, the lack of the proper application. For while all of the high percentage of ministers who have been preparing their followers to be ready to fight against that mark of the beast that shall be placed upon them, And they have been taught to fight, be ready to fight. They have not realized that flood, that avalanche of destruction has come up from them and is drowning them. Yes, a false doctrines, false form of Christendom has come as a tidal wave and flooded all of those who were standing ready with their sword to fight against the application of the mark of the beast. And they do not realize that it has covered their lips with falsehood. It has reached higher and higher and higher in the past generation from so many false who have preached this abomination, that they must be physically prepared for the mark of the beast, when instead they were to be preaching to be ready for the spiritual application, that flood of false doctrine that shall so lull Christendom to sleep in the last days, Yes, we read it five times in scripture that Satan shall prevail over all of Christendom. There will be no true Christendom left. Yes, there will be plenty of form. There will be plenty of apparent Christendom. There will be plenty of the form that will deceive many. For we read out of the Bible, God shall send them a strong delusion that they shall believe a lie. No, the mark of the beast is not a physical mark that you must stand with your sword ready to fight against. No, the mark of the beast and the abomination of the desolation They are Satan in his fuller manifestation, not fully yet because otherwise we would become instantly animals, but they are the abomination of desolation and nevertheless. in a spiritual form that we must flee from, flee back to the scripture, flee back to the hearing of the Word of God as God intended it to be preached. For the Word of God is powerful and swift and shall cut asunder to the innermost parts of the soul separating the spirit from the body. Oh come then this morning let us get a proper perspective of what the mark of the beast is, what the abomination of desolation is. It is Satan loosed for a season where he can accomplish more wickedness openly than at any time before. Yes, it used to be said that Satan did not dare to walk down Main Street. He hid in the alleys and promoted himself from secret places. But what the abomination of desolation and the mark of the beast really mean is the time will come and we may fear that we live in it today where Satan walks openly down Main Street. No, not only openly down Main Street in the general public, but Satan marches into the church and so often he is preaching the sermon from the church. from the church pulpit, for we read in Scripture, Satan is so cunning that he is cunningly able to disguise himself as an angel of light. Oh, do you hear it as an angel of light? Do you attend a church where the Scripture is perverted, where the abominations of this day that God has condemned 30 times in scripture are openly promoted, are openly accepted within the church. And if you do not accept them, such as the abomination of same-sex marriage, of homosexuality, of transgenderism, Then you are not a good Christian, is what the world says today, what Satan says today as he goes about manifesting himself as a great righteous one, trying to imitate Jesus Christ. Oh, it is his jealousy. He was once a good angel named Lucifer. He walked in the garden of God and walked amongst the stones of fire. Yes, he was set by God to guard God's holiness. And that's how we have come into sin. That first sin in heaven was so horrendous. It led one third of all the angels to destruction. Oh, be careful. If Satan could lead one-third of the good angels to destruction, how much more power he has to lead you and me to destruction, and how that power will be manifested in the last days, where the man of lawlessness, Satan in his true form, will be more and more revealed. more and more open. Yes, preaching from the church pulpit, false doctrines. Oh, do you believe in the physical mark of the beast? Oh, do you believe what you have been taught in this generation, that there will be one world leader that will especially dominate all of the world and will lead all of the world's citizens into his abominations. Oh, then I must tell you with truth, you believe a lie. For these things are metaphorical. These things are spiritual. And when you are looking for a physical mark of the beast, when you are looking for a physical world leader, Armed with your sword ready to fight, you have forgotten to look down at the shaky, sandy foundation that you are built upon in the false preaching of the day that shall be shortly before Jesus comes on the clouds. Oh, forsake such physical thinking think spiritually, think scripturally, and look seriously, for your soul depends upon it, at the reality that Satan, with his false doctrine, has more and more inundated this generation, inundated Christendom, and today, Today we see that manifestation of Satan openly walking down Main Street. No, not only down Main Street, but openly preaching from the Word of God off of the pulpit. And we have believed it in this generation. Never has there been a generation that has been this deceived Never has there been a generation that God has sent such a strong delusion upon as what this generation is. The persecution of false doctrine is Satan's new way of persecution. And oh, when we see David, the children of Israel saying, David, Saul has killed his thousands, but David has killed his ten thousands. Oh, this new persecution of false doctrine. Oh, look around at Christendom today. Dr. Barna and all of the church surveyors have documented this in black and white. The doctrines that are believed today are radically different from the doctrines that our forefathers have believed, what our forefathers have been taught, what God's Word teaches, radically different. And you can see in these surveys done in black and white, and I still own a research firm that contributes to part of that, those false doctrines That research illustrates those false doctrines in black and white. It is very, very accurate. All the world has followed after a false image of a world leader, a physical world leader, who will force them to accept the mark of the beast. And it is nothing like that at all. But that flood of filth, that flood of sin, that flood of false doctrine is what Satan has used to so utterly deceive this generation. Oh, I tell you, flee from such a church. Flee from such a doctrine where the physical mark of the beast is taught. where a great world leader who will dominate the world is taught and look down at the flood of false doctrine that is killing you and your children. Yes, so successful has it been. Who can comprehend that? the vast infrastructure of Christendom deceived by false doctrines from Satan who was loosed from hell for a season and goes about in the world and in the churches and especially in the Christian churches promoting that false doctrine. Yes, today God calls to you and to me to repent of our sins. The time is short, the urgency is great. Yes, we are in a critical time today. Today. Today, if you hear His voice, harden not your heart, but repent immediately. Today, hear God's word. Be conforming to God's word, be awakened. For certainly, most certainly, as we said, God himself has said all of Christendom will be defeated. Yes, as I said six times, he has said that. So defeated that they believe a lie, believe a delusion. No, instead I lift up the spiritual element of the last day. We must repent, take up our cross, and follow Jesus, wheresoever he will lead us. We must forsake the world. Oh, think of a word you hear very seldom today. In the previous generation was heard constantly. forsake the world and crucify yourself to the world. Oh, today, if you hear his voice, then harden not your heart. Oh, today, today, if you hear God's word, may it penetrate into the innermost recesses of your heart. Today I lift up Jesus Christ for lost, undone, seeking, sinners ready to die who must say, give me Jesus else I die. For such ones I lift up Him who is altogether lovely and beautiful beyond all words. All description, yes, all the words of the dictionary cannot describe his beauty, his might, his glory, his honor. Him who is who you are to worship, not some false doctrine that has flooded over you and is drowning you. Yes, Him who is altogether lovely and chief among ten thousand, he tramples upon sin in the winepress of justice. Yes, pray that he may continue to ride victoriously through all the countries of the world. Pray that he may trample sin. hand-convict of sin of righteousness and of judgment in all 197 countries today, defeating them by the sharp two-edged sword that proceeds out of his mouth. That sharp two-edged sword that shall conquer the hardest heart. No, there is no one too sinful that today you cannot repent. There is no one today that cannot be saved. God calls to you and to me. Forsake the world. Forsake the false doctrines of the world. Forsake the false doctrines that Satan, who has claimed himself as king of the world, has promoted and is promoting to this hour, to this day. Forsake Sin, bow before a holy and a righteous God, pleading, Lord, I am sin from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet. I am covered with the putrefying sores of sin. Oh, Lord, thou canst cleanse me. One drop of thy precious blood shall be enough to wash away all my sins that make me. white as snow. Oh, do you pray for that? Then you must not follow the false doctrines of our day and believe the foolishness of these doctrines which speak of a physical mark of the beast, which speak of a physical great power who shall rule the world for evil. for he is already doing it. The flood of destruction has come up round about you while you stand with your sword with that foolish delusion. Yes, Jesus Christ can save us. And we read in the parable of the ten virgins, all slept, all of Christendom slept. But here is the great miracle of the parable of the ten virgins. Suddenly in their sleep, the ten virgins hear the footsteps of Jesus Christ approaching the door of heaven to throw open the door and judge the quick and the dead. Yes, both the wise and the foolish virgins do awake. But only the wise virgins who have heeded the word of God and forsaken the world, crucified the world, and followed after Jesus Christ fully, find that they have oil in their lamps, find that they have still been given that little bit of faith buried under so much rubbish that they can light their lamps and they can go and enter in into the door which Jesus Christ has opened on the Judgment Day. Yes, then we read something horrible. The door was shut. The foolish virgins, false Christendom, who had believed the lies taught to them of Satan, loose for a season in this generation. They plead for the same faith that the elect angels, the elect have. But the elect tell them, no man can give you true faith. Go! Go to the Bible, go and find true faith in the Word of God, in the correct doctrines of God. Go get your own oil, for else there would not be enough for us. Oh, we see when those foolish virgins return to the door, they find the door closed. And they knock at the door and they cry out, Open, open, open to us, Lord. We have preached in the streets Thy name. We have performed miracles in Thy name. We have done many wonderful things in Thy name. But from inside the walls of Jerusalem, which has high walls, which has strong gates, which is guarded with the angels with flaming swords, comes that awful judgment voice, Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, I never knew you. Oh, so is the picture of the false Christendom of our day, which abounds so greatly Flee, flee from it. Flee to the feet of Jesus Christ and plead. Oh Lord, I am a worm of the dust. Heal me, cleanse me in the blood of Jesus Christ and his bloody death. We pray that for you in this day. In Jesus' name, amen.