Message of the Week

The Little White Community Church

Scripture: II Thess. 2:1-12 April 19, 2026

Message: “The Man of Lawlessness!”

by Pastor George Gnade

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7:18

Introduction:

1. As most of you know, we are doing a series on the Book of II Thessalonians. In the first chapter, Paul praised them for their faith in Christ, their love for each other, and their perseverance in spite of persecution (II Thess. 1: 3-4).

2. All of this was evidence that God would consider them worthy of His kingdom for which they were suffering.

a. When Jesus returns in all His blazing glory, He will punish those who rejected Him “on the (same) day” that He would “come to be glorified in His holy people and be marveled at by all those who believed” (II Thess. 1:10).

b. That brings us to II Thess. 2:1-12 where Paul continues to discuss the “coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to Him” (Vs. 1).

3. Apparently, they had received some report that sup-posedly came from Paul saying “the Day of the Lord has already come” (vs. 2).

a. In the O.T., the “Day of the Lord” was frequently used to describe both the judgment of the lost as well as the coming of Christ to bless His own. 

b. In I Thessalonians, Paul did teach them that Jesus could return any time, but He also taught them that no one knew when that would be. So they had to learn to live in the tension between the two truths.

c. But he never told them Jesus had already come.

4. Possibly some got the coming of the Holy Spirit mixed up with the second coming of Christ. But this did not come from Paul. The task of the Holy Spirit was and is to help us who love the Lord until Jesus returns. So we continue to live in this same tension.

5. What Jesus did teach us along with the Apostle Paul is that we must look for the signs of His coming as we wait for His second coming. That is what II Thess. 2: 3-12 is all about. One of those signs is what Paul calls a great “rebellion” that would happen when “the man of lawlessness is revealed.”

A. Let us consider this “man of lawlessness” for a few minutes this morning. Most scholars agree that this “man of lawlessness” and “the anti-Christ” who is to come are the same person.

1. According to I John, the anti-Christ was already at work through people who refuse to believe in the Lord, but in the last days, Satan will enter into one specific person.

a. Paul describes him in II Thess. 2:4. “He will “oppose and exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped,” and will “set himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.”

b. Since Paul’s day, many evil persons have risen up and defied the Lord. Nero did this in Paul’s day. Hitler did it during W.W. II. And many other wicked men could be mentioned. But Jesus still has not returned.

2. But these men were bad enough to make Christians alert to the fact that Jesus could come anytime, and we should always be ready.

a. Listen to what Paul writes in II Thess. 2:7. “The secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who holds it back it will continue to do so until he is taken out of the way.”

b. People disagree about what or who is holding this lawless one back. I believe it is the Holy Spirit at work in us.

3. In John 16: 8, Jesus told us: “When the (Holy Spirit) comes, He will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.”

a. As the Spirit convicts people of their sins, He leads many to be saved.

b. But the Bible teaches us when everyone who is going to be saved has been saved, then the return of Christ will happen soon after that.

c. In plain words, when the Holy Spirit has completed His job, then we will be very close to the return of Christ. That is when He will be taken out of the way, allowing sin and the man of sin to do his worst.

3. As it says in II Thess. 2: 8, “then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of His mouth and destroy by the splendor of His coming.”

B. Consider what will happen when this lawless one is revealed, before Jesus returns in all of His glory.

1. Vs. 9-11 continue: “The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing.”

2. “They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason, God sends upon them a strong delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that they will all be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.”

3. Dear friends, we live in a day when the whole world is rejecting the truth. Even in our own country, lie after lie is being told. 

a. Their goal is to draw us away from God and what God’s Word says. If God’s Word says one thing, they say the opposite. 

b. They seek to gain control of our government so they will be free to force all their ungodly ways upon us. 

4. Science has come so far that many no longer feel the need for God. What doctors can do in our day almost seems like miracles to the world around us.

a. With computers and AI intelligence, nothing is able to stop them.

b. And greed and lust and power are free to do whatever they want to do.

5. The Bible warns us over and over again not to grieve the Holy Spirit. Yet many Christians no longer even listen to the Holy Spirit. They don’t even know what the Bible says, but if they have to choose between obeying the Bible and following the ways of the world, they eagerly follow the world.

In conclusion:

1. When Jesus was asked when God’s kingdom would be established, He told His disciples God wanted them to go to the ends of the earth so people from every nation would have a chance to be saved (Acts 1:8). We are very close to accomplishing that goal.

a. In Jesus’ day, the Gentiles wanted to hear the gospel. And in the last century, the Gospel was eagerly desired so that churches are presently located all over the world.

b. But now the reverse is happening. Suddenly countries all over the world are rejecting the Gospel. In Romans 11, Paul taught us that when the Gentiles turn away from the Lord, then God would reopen the hearts of the Jews. That is what I am expecting to happen very soon. 

2. In Paul’s day, the church in Laodicea was being offered the gospel. But by the time the Book of Revelation was written, they became very lukewarm. Jesus warned if they did not repent, He would spew them out of His mouth.

In our day, many churches in America have become very lukewarm. 

3. Because of these signs of the times – and many more could be added, Christians who believe God’s Word all agree that Jesus could return during our life time. So I plead with all of us to stay close to the Lord. Amen!