Guard Your Hearts and Minds
Scripture: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17Devotional Series: The Good Shepherd
Teaching: The Good Shepherd pt. 1 (SUN_AM 2021-03-07) by Pastor Star R Scott
2 Thessalonians, Chapter 2 says that, if this time were not shortened, even the very elect would not be able to stand. Therefore, the cry of our hearts is, “Come quickly”, amen? With the spirit of antichrist that’s raging in the world today (and I might even say, “in the church today”), as this Great Whore we studied in the book of The Revelation is continuing to emerge, with men heaping to themselves teachers, having itching ears, no longer enduring sound doctrine, but raising up teachers who are deceiving and being deceived. You know, we have heard those Scriptures so many times but we need to get the magnitude of them. We live in an hour of deception. Guard your minds. Guard your hearts.
We saw that, as the Spirit continues in this last hour, the restraining force of the church is the only thing that holds back the rise of the Antichrist (the “man of sin”), though the spirit of antichrist has been present and at war with the church since the Day of Pentecost, since the birth of the church. But here we are in this hour, and Paul speaks to the Thessalonians. Remember what was taking place in Thessalonica: there were false teachers going around saying they were already in the Tribulation, and that those in Thessalonica had missed the Rapture, and false teachings about those who were already dead in Christ. Paul reminds them in this second chapter of his second epistle saying, “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him…” You’ll notice that the word and is there: these are two different events. He said, “I want you to stop being fearful. Remember what I told you when I was with you: “…that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us…” So, what he is saying is that all of these people who are standing up and speaking all these prophesies and promoting of this false doctrine, as though a word from the Lord came to them, were false teachers. He is talking about the first letter that had been sent to them. He said, “All of this has disturbed your hearts; you have lost the peace of God; you have failed to understand what I shared with you in that first letter. “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day that has supposedly passed, that these false prophets are propagating, …that day shall not come, except there 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 temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? Yet here you are, so soon shaken, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. Understand this: the mystery of iniquity is already working, and your instability and confusion are signs of that.” The mystery of iniquity is already at work! Now, remember that phrase mystery of iniquity can be better understood with the term, the secret power of lawlessness.
How does that spirit of lawlessness affect us here in the twenty-first century. When we talk about lawlessness, it covers a couple of aspects; but lawlessness basically speaks toward that inner core of man in his rebellion, in his independence, the spirit of our father Adam.
We saw that, as the Spirit continues in this last hour, the restraining force of the church is the only thing that holds back the rise of the Antichrist (the “man of sin”), though the spirit of antichrist has been present and at war with the church since the Day of Pentecost, since the birth of the church. But here we are in this hour, and Paul speaks to the Thessalonians. Remember what was taking place in Thessalonica: there were false teachers going around saying they were already in the Tribulation, and that those in Thessalonica had missed the Rapture, and false teachings about those who were already dead in Christ. Paul reminds them in this second chapter of his second epistle saying, “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him…” You’ll notice that the word and is there: these are two different events. He said, “I want you to stop being fearful. Remember what I told you when I was with you: “…that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us…” So, what he is saying is that all of these people who are standing up and speaking all these prophesies and promoting of this false doctrine, as though a word from the Lord came to them, were false teachers. He is talking about the first letter that had been sent to them. He said, “All of this has disturbed your hearts; you have lost the peace of God; you have failed to understand what I shared with you in that first letter. “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day that has supposedly passed, that these false prophets are propagating, …that day shall not come, except there 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 temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? Yet here you are, so soon shaken, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. Understand this: the mystery of iniquity is already working, and your instability and confusion are signs of that.” The mystery of iniquity is already at work! Now, remember that phrase mystery of iniquity can be better understood with the term, the secret power of lawlessness.
How does that spirit of lawlessness affect us here in the twenty-first century. When we talk about lawlessness, it covers a couple of aspects; but lawlessness basically speaks toward that inner core of man in his rebellion, in his independence, the spirit of our father Adam.