Lawlessness: The Man And The Mystery

Reading: chapter 2 verses 1-12:

Ill:

• A university student was seen with a large "K" printed on his T- shirt.

• When someone asked him what the "K" stood for, he said, "Confused." "

• “But," the questioner replied, "you don't spell ‘confused’ with a ‘K’."

• The student answered, "You don't know how confused I am."

Ill:

Explanation of the rules of cricket.

• You have two sides, one out in the field and one in.

• Each man that's in the side that's in - goes out,

• And when he's out - he comes in - and the next man goes in until he's - out.

• When they are all out,

• The side that's out comes in - and the side that’s been in goes out

• And tries to get those coming in, - out.

Sometimes you get men still in and not out:

• When a man goes out to go in,

• The men who are out try to get him out,

• And when he is out he goes in;

• And the next man in goes out and goes in.

• There are two men called umpires

• Who stay all out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out.

• When both sides have been in and all the men have out,

• And both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in,

• Including those who are not out,

• That is the end of the game!

Like that explanation of cricket, tonight’s passage might appear to be a confusing passage:

• I will try and make it as simple as I can;

• But I can’t promise we won’t get tangled up along the way.

A reminder:

• The second coming of Jesus Christ is a major teaching of the Bible,

• The return of Jesus Christ to this world is here, there and everywhere in the Bible.

• There are over 400 Old Testament prophecies,

• And 318 prophecies in the New Testament that deal with the second coming of Jesus!

• A quarter of the Bible teaches the second coming.

• 1 in every 25 New Testament verses refer to it.

• In fact for every prophecy in the Bible concerning Christ's first coming (xmas),

• There are 8 verses which look forward to His second coming!

• We know he came the first time,

• So we should be eight times more confident regarding his second coming.

Remember the purpose of Bible prophecy:

• Is not for us to make a calendar,

• But to build character.

• In other words the return of Jesus Christ should affect our daily living.

• It is a daily check up “Am I ready to meet him or will I be ashamed at his coming”.

• The apostle John put it this way in his letter (1 John chapter 3 verse 3):

• “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure”.

Ill:

• A group of young people hanging around on a street corner,

• One of the group suggested they go to a certain night-club.

• One of the group called David said,

• “I think I’ll go home, my parents don’t approve of that place”.

• Sarcastically one of his mates said “Afraid your daddy will hurt you?”

• “No” replied David, “But I am afraid I might hurt him!”

The principle is simple:

• A true Christian will want to please his or her heavenly Father,

• Therefore the thought of seeing him face to face is a motivation to live right.

So the purpose of Bible prophecy is not for us to make a calendar, but to build character.

• Throughout history people have tried to guess the year, month and the day of his return,

• And again and again and again they have been proved wrong.

• The Bible does not give us a date but rather a guideline:

• “Live as though it could be today, plan as though it might be tomorrow”.

• I believe that is how each Christian should respond to this teaching;

• Living life as if Christ could come back today, but planning as though it will be a while.

(a). The Situation (verses 1-2):

The Christians at Thessalonica:

• Were behaving like small un-anchored boats in the middle of a stormy sea;

• They had become the victim of waves and winds and were being blown here and there.

• The storm of confusion was concerning the second coming of Jesus Christ,

• And believers were split and confused over the issue.

• For some it was the only theme of their conversation,

• Others had symbolically ‘lost their heads over it’;