Well, amen. You may be seated. In that line, kings and kingdoms shall all pass away ring so true as we've been looking through the book of Hosea. We see the downfall of a kingdom and God's judgment upon that nation. And by the way, God is going to bring judgment upon all nations at one time. Amen? So we are going to be opening to Hosea chapter 10 this morning. And we're going to take and read through verse number 8. Hosea chapter 10 verses 1-8 says, Israel is an empty vine. He bringeth forth fruit. unto himself. According to the multitude of his fruit, he hath increased the altars. According to the goodness of his land, they have made goodly images. Their heart is divided. Now shall they be found faulty. He shall break down their altars. He shall spoil their images. For now they shall say, We have no king. Because we feared not the Lord, what then should a king do to us? They have spoken words, swearing falsely and making a covenant. Thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field. The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Beth-Avon. For the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it has departed from it. It shall be also carried into Assyria for a present to King Jared. Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel. As for Samaria, her king is cut off. as the foam upon the water. The high places also of Avon, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed. The thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars, and they shall say to the mountains, cover us, and to the hills, fall on us." Dear Lord, we just pray that you would bless these, your words to us this morning. And we do pray this in Jesus' name, Amen. Now we've been seeing this history of Israel slash Ephraim, we've been seeing that they were a highly blessed people. They prospered abundantly, they had riches untold, they had fertile land, they were able to grow their own food, and they were able to keep themselves great. However, we see the one thing that they failed to do, and they failed to give credit to the true God of the harvest, Yahweh. And they gave credit to the God of the harvest, Baal. What tragedy it was. Now let's look at this. I called today, I called it, Fruit for Whom? Who is this fruit that the literal fruit and the spiritual fruit Who is it for? Let me ask you a question. In the Christian Church, we have the fruit of the Spirit. We know those, and that is a picture of Jesus Christ. Who benefits from the fruit of the Spirit? The believers, yes. Those around us. It's not a selfish thing. for you to take advantage of. If we go back, if we remember going in the first Corinthians chapter 13 and 14, we see the gifts of the Spirit. Who benefits from the gifts of the Spirit? It's the entire body of Christ. Did a profit with all, not just for the individual. Now, how that's been changed around, because now these gifts are sold, literally sold, as being how you can be empowered, you can do this, you can be a priest, you can be a king, you can have riches. Almost sounds like what happened with Israel, does it not? Look at what it says in verse number 1. Israel is an empty vine. Now, it takes a little bit of work here. What does it mean by an empty vine? Well, the same word that's used here, haku, is used for both being luxurious or extravagant, and it's also used as being one that has been emptied out. In other words, Israel, being that vine, they looked beautiful. They looked lovely. But yet the fruit that was in them was rotten. They looked just the part that Jesus talked about as well. These figs, the fig trees had no fruit. See the difference is, the fig trees, the fruit came out before the leaves. The fruit would wither away and then the leaves would later on, they would look beautiful. That was a picture of the Pharisees with no true biblical throat. Today, when we think of what is happening, what happened in Israel, they prided themselves on being their own supplier. Instead of Jehovah Jireh being the supplier, they gave themselves the pat on the back. Look what we've done. We've done some great work, we've provided for ourselves. Israel is an empty, or luxuriant, or a vine that has emptied itself out. Sounds kind of like when I dig into a, I almost said bowl of ice cream, but I don't go for the bowl, I go for the whole box. And I eat the whole thing. That's how Israel was with her wealth. She wasted it upon herself and then she took on, or he, if you're talking Ephraim, Israel being she, they're both the same. She got overweight with herself and satisfying herself. It's an empty vine, but it was fruitful and it was blessed. It looked wonderful. but had been used up or had rotted away because the focus was on themselves. Looked beautiful, but bore no real fruit. The second part, it's an empty vine. He bringeth forth fruit unto himself. Has anybody ever heard of a carnivorous apple? Anybody? What's ever been heard of? Maybe in a cartoon someplace or an apple eats up the other apples. But yet, fruit by itself can do nothing except be used for the benefit of others? And the benefit of fruit is that they bear their own seed and just need to be sown. So Israel, instead of sowing the proverbial or spiritual seed and being a blessing to the other nations as God desired them to be, they instead wasted it upon themselves. I had just a little chat with somebody that runs a ministry called Past the Salt Ministries. It's Coach Dave Daubenmire, who many years ago, he was a football coach in a town in Illinois, and he was told he could not pray. Being a Christian, he decided to do something about it. He continued to pray even more and more and more. He was fired, but now he speaks to people and has a broadcast and everything. I was talking to, well, chatting with him through email, said much of the modern church has made itself great. He said the church must make itself great again. Much of the modern church has made itself great. great buildings, great budget, great crowds, great experiences, yet she has forgotten about the Word of God, as well as the God of the Word. Time to refocus on what is important. Your eternal life depends upon it. Israel, the same way, was focused on the external. They had forgotten about God, but they had a growing religious experience. After all, Baal worship was very profitable. You could put some fannies in the seat if you offered some good worship to Baal. Perhaps you would keep the idol manufacturers in business by people desiring instant gratification through the pagan gods. He bringeth forth fruit unto Himself. It bears fruit. We can look at the doctrinal fruit as well as the fruit in people's lives. They both go together. Good seed brings forth good fruit. Israel was not bearing that good fruit anymore. Remember, it's for the benefit of others. Without fruit being used for others, it just rots away. That was what Israel was like. Again, the reason that we have The gifts of the Spirit and fruitfulness is for the benefit of others, that others would bear more fruit. We have a primarily self-serving church today, a pragmatic church. Like Israel would say, they would say with them as well, what's in it for me? Oh, I can have a blessed life today if I would only bow down before Baal. Let's move on here to verse number two, or actually the rest of verse number one. According to the multitude of his fruit, he hath increased the altars. So the more God blessed them, And this is something that's repeated throughout the book of Hosea, going right back to chapter 2. The more He blessed them, the more they wasted away His blessings on their own selfish gain. They increased in sin. Just like my ice cream, being prideful and using that ice cream up for my benefit. That's what Israel was doing as well. According to the goodness of His land, they have made goodly, or great images, or pillars." And in terms of images, there isn't just a small little statue that you can carry around. It means a giant pillar, or a giant structure in order to worship Him. So they took what God had blessed them with, and they made these altars, unto not the Lord, and a semblance of being to the Lord. I get asked often this question about what do I think about the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe? I just had this amazing thought here to discuss it with me today. But I look at that, it's supposed to be a metaphor for Christ. But the lion who is slain slain on an altar, he's slain on a giant round table. That's an occultic symbol. It was exactly what Israel was doing. They created giant round altars and giant round, giant pillars in sacrifice to the pagan gods. Yet, they were still trying to credit Yahweh with that. That was what's called syncretism. Or there's a new terminology, it's not really new, of convergence. Convergence says that today in the church we have three different streams. We need to combine the old ancient rituals together with Pentecostalism and Evangelicalism together. It's not to crucify yourself, it's to reach convergence or being at one with God. You want to try to be at one with God? You cannot be at one with God in that sense. The only way you can be at peace with God is realizing that Christ was your substitute At the cross that paid for your sin, Convergence says we can have a mystical experience. We can combine what this teaching says, and what this experience says, and what another thing says, and we combine it all together, and you will reach that point where you will be like God. and it's not a new thing. This is what the Word of Faith Movement says. It's exactly what Israel was doing. As we go on further, they were taking and building their altars, building their pillars and temples to pagan gods. They were still expecting God to be happy with that. I heard one of my, let me pass on here, Yeah, pass on. That didn't sound right. I'm not going to pass on. So Israel is an empty vine. He bringeth forth fruit unto himself. According to the multitude of His fruit, He hath increased the altar. No, it's His, His, His, not God's fruit. The focus is on Israel. According to the goodness of His land, they have made goodly images. Now look at verse 2. Their heart is divided. Now shall they be found faulty or guilty. In my notes I wrote guilty, guilty, guilty. Throw the book at them. Their heart is divided. This word for divided, it's, it's, it's slippery. It's smooth. Get where we're going here with this. It was smooth. It wasn't an obvious thing what they were doing. Look, if you slip a little bit of veil worship in with your Christian service, in your Christian service or your service of Israel, it might slide. It's a slippery slope that's on. Let's merge them together. Now, we hear of Chrislam, and we think, boy, that's ridiculous. How could they do that? Well, originally it started by having one little bit of false doctrine come in, and it becomes that slippery slope where everything comes in. You can't hold back the tide, the flood that's coming. That's what we look at in a couple minutes here. You can't hold it back. I was asked by someone a while back ago, talking about all the crazy people that they have in their church. I said, how come you don't have any crazy people at your church? They said, well you don't know our church, everybody's crazy there. But the reason is when you sit close to the vest with the scriptures, those crazy people want nothing to do with it. We pray for their conversion. But if you let one iota of mysticism, one iota of experiential worship, not to say we can't experience worship and being happy and glad and joyous over what Christ has done, the moment you say this is from God, that's the moment you start opening the flood gates. You say, but you're a meanie! You say, I can't bring in this teaching from some psycho-Babylist? I said, that's right. Because it takes the focus off of Christ and puts it on you. Let that be the measuring stick. What are you doing? Are you doing something to benefit yourself? Or is it for the benefit of Christ and His Church? And also for the benefit of others around. Is your fruit just for you to have it wasted upon you? After all, I've got my best life now. After all, every day is Friday. But no, every day is not Friday. Every day is a day unto its own. Every day has its own cares. But Christ Jesus fulfilled all those cares on our behalf. That's the fruit we get to spread around. That's the fruit of salvation, the fruit of grace, the fruit of true love, is that Christ gave Himself. This is what Israel was missing out on. They had everything from God. They still denied Him and rejected Him. So their heart was divided, they were slippery. They were. Remember the story of Elijah with the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18. He said, how long will you be between two opinions? In other words, get off the fence. Don't think you're pleasing God by trying to have Him bless these idols. You need to get off the fence and realize that all of these are wicked and God will consume them. That's how it is today as well. They were two opinions. It was either Yahweh or Baal. There's no middle ground. There was no convergence between different religions. How do we know that? Jesus is the only one ever to rise from the grave. His grave is the only empty tomb there is. He's not there. He is in heaven. No middle ground, but yet Israel, they were able to, in their own eyes, merge or syncretize their bell worship with the worship of Yahweh. And they had the audacity to think that God would be happy with that. Further down at the end of verse 5, it says, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it. They thought that they were going to have glory, but even the glory, the perceived glory that they thought they were going to get, would disappear. In the end their idols, I'm getting ahead of myself here, but in the end their idols would be taken off to Assyria. and simply used as a monetary exchange and melted down to nothing. Let's continue here. They were syncretists. They were converging. Which is only what you would call New Age blasphemy. That you can be a God. You can be at one, not atoned, but at one with God. We have the atonement. where we don't become one with God, but Christ has taken our place and He's satisfied God's wrath on our behalf. We're not one with Him, we are diametrically opposed to God. Even as Christians, our bodies are. We have our sin nature that still likes to sneak up on us. I think sneak up is a bad word because it's so rampant. It's our nature. But yet Christ has taken our place and has become the righteousness of God for us. Their heart is divided, it's slick. I thought of Slick Lily. Their heart is divided or slick. Now shall they be found guilty. Guilty as charged. Again, just like the cycle of the rest of the book of Hosea, it goes back to God promising, or fulfilling the promise, and He would bring judgment upon Israel. It gets more tragic. Their heart is divided, now shall they be found guilty. He shall break down their altars, and He shall spoil their image. or those pillars that they used for worship. For now they shall say, we have no king. Well, they had King Hoshea at the time, who was a weakling. He's compared with being like a foam on the sea, or being like a twig in the ocean, being swept away, and he was swept away by the dealings with the nations, and ultimately he would get carried along with the rest of the nation off to Assyria. So the last five kings were weaklings only usurping from the people. They were taking from the people. They always tried to play other governments at one with or against each other. Remember the last chapter, some went off to Egypt and were destroyed, and the rest were taken off to Assyria and taken into captivity forever. So the king, for now they say, we have no king. Because we fear not the Lord, what then should a king do to us? Well a king, without being under the providence of God, can do nothing. Here's what happens, you ever hear this phrase? Absolute power corrupts? and corrupts absolutely. When power is given to the king in the so-called divine right of kings, guess what? He can't perform. He can't go through with his promises. He may even promise hope and change, but those are just mere slogans that he cannot follow. The only kings that were ever prosperous were those who recognized that there was a greater king, and that would be God. That would be Yahweh, who's given His natural law throughout the whole earth to rule under. Yes, kings are supposed to be ministers of God and of His righteousness. But Hosea, like the other kings before him, they were weak. They just kowtow to the will of the people and they profited themselves. They may have found a foundation to fund other nations around them. I don't know, that's just conjecture. For now they shall say we have no king, because we feared not the Lord. What then shall a king do to us? See, they were going through the breakdown of their society. get away from God, then eventually you have a democracy where the mob rules. Democracy is well said. A democracy is two wolves fighting over who's going to eat the sheep. But a godly form of government has God as the head and separated leaders below him. That's even in the church. Who's the head of the church? Is it the Pope? Is it Cardinal? Is it... name your person? No, it's Jesus Christ as the head. And the appropriate form of church government is one that is elder-led. Not just one person, but elder-led that keep each other in checks and balances over what is taught. over what happens, the same way government was supposed to be. Remember Moses had to appoint 70 elders over the people to take care of those in groups of 100. Same thing goes today. They went from a democracy, or I'll say a republic just for the conversation, they went from a republic to a democracy You know what comes after a democracy? After that wears out, it becomes anarchy. What people do what's right in their own eyes. And now what happened, that's why God had to send the judges, and then, after that, there was a period of time where there was total chaos. That's what happens when there is no form of government. The Israel kings had sold the people out, sold them off to the nations. Verse number 4, they have spoken words swearing falsely in making a covenant. Here's what I'm going to do for you. Here's the benefits of these trade agreements that I'm going to make with Syria. Syria, especially, and God would bring judgment upon them for their empty promises. They only took the money and fed themselves with it. It did not cross for the nation. Verse number four in the second half of it, thus judgment springeth up as Tamlot in the furrows of the field. It's important here when we look at the next chapter as well, we look instead of, well, cultivated fruit being in those furrows, instead what came up were poisonous weeds. They overran it. Did you ever deal with that bamboo stuff? I've never tried to eat it, I don't know if it's poison or not, but this hemlock, by the way, hemlock is a symbol of those who want to commit suicide. Dr. Kravorty and the Hemlock Society believe that you should take that symbol of death, that you should be able to kill yourself. But instead of the well-cultivated fruit of righteousness, instead of God's fruit up in its place would come this prison. So what happens when we don't take care and look out for our own salvation as well? Take heed how you walk. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, because guess what? If you don't do that, guess what happens? Same thing happens. Suddenly the weeds start coming up. Suddenly the cares of this world start choking out that true fruit, that true seed of the gospel. Look at verse number 5, the inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the cows of Beth-Avon. For the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it has departed from it. So they'll fear, they know, the inhabitants of Samaria, the capital city of Israel, they will fear because of the calves of Beth-Avon. Yes, the prophets told them those calves were going to be taken away, they would be judged, they would turn into thorns and thistles in their place. And look what they did. The people thereof shall mourn over it. See, they had been rejoicing over those idols. Look what Baal has done for me. Look what he's done for me now, and now suddenly they're going to take our idols away? What are we going to do? Tragically, I saw a video a while back ago at a Marian shrine. And the men, I think it was in Spain or someplace, they were carrying in this idol. Mary up on her thing, and you can tell, if it's God, how come it doesn't walk in by itself? They were carrying Mary in this statue, people were throwing roses at the statue, throwing money, all these things to their God. And yes, she is treated as a God in religious circles. Well, they were walking into this cathedral with Mary on their shoulders. Read Isaiah 44 and 45 if you want to see what it really looks like. And, one of the men tripped and fell and, well guess what? Like Humpty Dumpty, Mary came falling down. Yes, the plaster idol that was overlaid with gold broke. Now to me, knowing that she has no power, I'm like, big deal. But all the people in that cathedral began to weep because of Mary being broken. That's sad. That's sad. Now I can understand if they weep because their car didn't start in the morning. A little jab at humor there. But Mayor, the statues had no power. They had attributed their blessings to something that was just going to be ripped away from them. And I say, take Mary out of the bathtub and put her away someplace. I see that. That if only, if I have this statue in my yard, my yard will be protected. Remember we had, somebody had given us a Mary statue when we got married. I threw it in the wastebasket. My very religious Catholic mother-in-law told me I was supposed to dig a hole in the backyard and bury her upside down. I said, well, why would you do that? See, it doesn't make sense. These are the same kind of things that Israel was doing. Might as well put Diana up there. She looks a lot like the Virgin Mary. Probably is the same thing. But they mourned her. The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Beth-Avon." Those are the golden calves that originally Dan had made in rejection of the true will of God in settling the promised land, the twelve tribes. Remember, Beth-Avon was formerly known as Beth-El, the house of God. had become the house of evil or vanity. This is God's view of those images, those idols. They're evil. For the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoice on it. Yes, the priests loved to rejoice over the idols as well, because they benefited as well. As long as they promulgated the worship of idols, they lived pretty handsomely as well. Yet, at the end of verse 5, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it. They did not have God's glory on it, they perceived that there was glory on it. Watch sometime, watch some, if you can look at some videos of people worshiping idols. It's a whole, like a drunken circus of all kinds of things going on, of people just going crazy over this idol. But now it's going to be taken away. Verse number 6, it shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to King Jerob. King Jerob is kind of a generic word for the king of Assyria. I believe it was Tiglath-Piezer was the king of Assyria at that time. A generic name for that king and as a present. It's not really a present, it was a tribute. It was a text. See, Hoshea and other Israeli kings had made allegiances that they would get their protection from Assyria. And guess what? They could not pay. Sounds kind of like what China is doing with the United States today. We're in such debt to China that they're going to come and take our goods someday. Sounds like a Chicago gangster. If you don't pay them back, they're going to come and break some legs. That's exactly what the king of Assyria was doing. They can't pay? Let's go in and grab their gold. Their golden images. Let's go and grab their goods because we can turn that into the treasury as collateral for what's owed. Then we'll still take them into captivity as well. So it was double jeopardy for Israel. She would lose her gods, or her alleged gods, and she'd be taken by the Assyrians into captivity forevermore. and shall be carried into Assyria for a present or tribute to King Jared, Ephraim shall receive shame." Well, it's about time. See, this is what God desired of them, that they would be full of shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel. See, when God turned their back on them, took away their idols, guess what? They finally saw the truth. Yet the New Testament says, if you are in Christ, you are not ashamed. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of salvation unto the Jew first and also the Greek. There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. There is if you try to combine him and Allah together. There is condemnation if you try to combine the Bible with another book. If you try to say that we have another testament. There is shame in that because Christ stands alone. Yes, the God of Israel stands alone and does not desire to be worshipped. in conjunction with anyone or anything else. And Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel? As for Samaria, her king is cut off." This would be King Hosea. Look at how he's cut off. They didn't have to take him away and pluck his eyes out or anything. He just went. Freely, he went into Assyria. This is 2 Kings chapter 17 is the story of Hosea being taken into captivity Says, as for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the water. Now, we've all been to the beach. There's some translations, some manuscripts say it's a piece of straw upon the water or a twig. Sometimes do that. Go to the beach, even a lake without big waves, and throw a little twig in there and see what happens to that twig. washes, gently washes away, comes in and comes back. That's how Hosea the king was. There wasn't much resistance, he just went, as it says in the KJV, as the foam. I always looked at the foam and said, I don't want to go in there, but it's only foam from the churning of the waves. That's the lack of resistance that Hosea the king would have. Now verse 8, We'll close here in verse number 8. The high place is also of Avon. Now notice the Beth was taken out of Avon. Just Avon. Not even the house of evil. The high place is also of evil. It's also to be interpreted as vanity. Something that will go away. Like a vapor. the high places also of Avon, the sin of Israel shall be destroyed. Yes, God will tear down those idolatrous places. The king of Assyria would take the gold as tribute. But there will be left some wasteland, some residue. And look what happens. The thorn and the thistle shall come upon their altars. They shall say to the mountains, cover us. And to the hills, follow us. Yes, Israel was finally realizing that they messed with the wrong deity. They messed with the God of their fathers. Start in verse number 10 of Isaiah chapter 2. enter into the rock and hide thee in the dust for fear of the Lord and for the glory of His majesty." Yes, if you want to look at the glory of God, you can't do it. This is a position that we have, and here's the position that the sinners would have as well. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the hardiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day." Who alone? The Lord alone. Without any syncretism or convergence, God Himself will stand above all. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty, and upon everyone that is lit up, and he shall be brought low. and upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, and upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, and upon all the ships of Tashish, and upon all pleasant pictures, And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols he shall utterly abolish, and they shall go into the holes of the rocks and into the caves of the earth for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake terribly the earth. Hosea here in the book of Kings is talking about specifically there with the invasion of the Assyrian army taking them away that they'll want to hide from them because they now knew that God was using the Assyrians for His purpose. The Assyrians never pretended to be followers of God but God would use them But those that pretended to be followers of the Lord, that were lukewarm, but followed these idols, they would be in judgment. Now, this of course in Isaiah 2 is talking about the judgment of Judah, and in the future it's talking about when Christ returns. Verse 20, In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they made each one he himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats. That's a good place for your idols. They make a good place for the mole and bat droppings. That's basically what God is saying here. They do no good. And into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake terribly the earth. Cease ye from men whose breath is in his nostrils, for whereof he is to be accounted of." See, God will be coming. Christ will be returning. And He will put all these things under His feet. Let's go to the book of Revelation chapter number 6. Revelation 6, and I'll have one more place to go after. Revelation 6, and we know this is for the nation of Israel because the rapture had already taken place possibly right around chapter 4 of the book of Revelation. There's no more mention of the church. Then, Revelation chapter number 6, let's go to verse number 12. And I beheld, when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood. And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it was rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man." Think of it the same as Isaiah had said, all these people that thought they were great and were unstoppable. Look what they do. They hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, and said that the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of His wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?" Amos chapter 4 says, who may abide the day of His coming? I'll tell you who. No one, except for those who have placed their faith in that same Lamb of God that's bringing wrath at the time. There's no escape! Let the dens of the earth, let the rocks fall upon us. We'd rather have that than come face to face with a mighty God. But there is protection for the saints. Let's go to 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians chapter number 2. We talk about syncretism, convergence, all these ungodly ways of being religious. And there's going to be a master of bringing these things together. It's the spirit of Antichrist that's already in the world today. That's why we can speak of such things. Spent in the world for a long time trying to combine the worship of God and the worship of idols. Verse number 1 of 2 Thessalonians 2, now we beseech you brethren, underlying brethren there, we beseech you, you Christians, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him. Christians, you will be gathered with the saints, with Christ, at the rapture of the Church. His our encouragement today, that you be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first." That falling away is a falling away from the faith, from the Christian faith. 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 temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not that when I was yet with you, I told you these things, And now ye know what 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 spear of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. Now the one that is letting, verse number 5, is the Holy Spirit of God who acts as the restrainer. And we have Christians are the ones that are filled with the Spirit of God, and when the Christians are removed, then He will be revealed. Our defense, the defense for everyone else comes up. Even Him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders. And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. Yes, have your own way. Do your own thing. Whatever way you take to God is the way to go. That will be the message of the Antichrist. Because He's going to show that He's Him. He's going to unify all the religions together. And we've a great, a great deception. And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. And why do they perish? Because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved or rescued. And for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie. That's tragedy. God sends that strong delusion. It's because of the searing of people's minds. It's not that God wants them to be deluded, but they're so deluded with the other things of the world and with other gods and experiences that they fail to see. the goodness of God. Just as Israel, the more God blessed them, the more He turned from them. That's how it is with the church as well, it seems. That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. What does it say about people who don't believe the truth? They'd be damned. they'd be cut off, they would go to hell, be separated forever from God. That's some hateful words it sounds like. No, God is a God of justice and righteousness. He is capable, not capable, He is able and can judge every single person because of their sin. But when you accept the Gospel, the gospel unto you is imputed Christ's righteousness. That they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. For we are bound to give thanks always to God for you. Hence Paul thanking and praying for the Thessalonian Church. Brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. How are you chosen for salvation? Believing the truth. Christ died, was buried, and rose again. That is the Gospel message. Believe that. It's the simple truth. Whereunto He called you by our Gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, all Christians, God has called unto glory. God has called all Christians to walk with Him, to be fruitful, to be like Him. And we fail to do so because we forget about that Gospel message that purchased us and look at our own righteousness. Therefore brethren, again he uses the term brethren here, he's talking to believers, Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you have been taught." These traditions were those that were of the gospel that came through the Old Testament and New Testament that Paul fulfilled. Whether by word or by our epistle, now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work." Yes, the answer for the Christian is to look to the Gospel. The answer for the non-Christian is to look to the Gospel. It's the Gospel, the free gift of salvation that purchases you. We were debtors, slaves, sold unto sin, but Christ redeemed us, redeemed us from the lie. That's been abolished. By grace, are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God. Amen. We hold out a gift, it's not the Timber, but here's what happens, when something is a gift, and you give it to somebody, what has to happen, they have to receive that gift. Receiving the gift of salvation is as simple as with your heart believing that Christ died for you. Or believing first that you're a sinner and that Christ died for you. And He rose again as that exclamation point that you too can rise again with Him. You were dead, now you're alive. You were without hope, but now you have hope through Christ Jesus, the Lord. Amen? There's one thing I always like to ask is this. Think. Put your mind in practice. Everything you hear, whether it be here this morning, or no matter what, weigh that out. One thing that people fail to do nowadays is think. Is there something that's said that even in the context of church that you're wrestling with? Think about it. And then the door is always open. Let's discuss. What does the Bible say? What does God say through His Word? Amen? It's all about Jesus.