2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 reads: (3) LET NO ONE IN ANY WAY DECEIVE YOU, for it (the return of Jesus) will not come unless THE APOSTASY COMES FIRST, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, (4) who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.
The APOSTASY speaks of the FALLING AWAY of the church from the Gospel.
I purposely didn’t say the true Gospel for there is ONLY ONE GOSPEL. All the other, like the “prosperity gospel”, are NOT the Gospel. There is ONLY ONE.
It is speaking of a people who after they followed the Christ now start following after THEIR OWN LUSTS and after OTHER GODS instead of after the ONE TRUE GOD.
Don’t Immediately think only about SEXUAL LUSTS; that too, but also MATERIAL LUSTS – a new bigger HOUSE – a new bigger CAR – and so on. Lust after HEALTH AND WEALTH.
In Matthew 7:21-23 we read that Jesus said: (21) “NOT everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but HE WHO DOES THE WILL OF MY FATHER who is in heaven will enter.
(22) MANY (note it says many, not some, but MANY) will say to Me on that day (i.e. the day of the judgement), ‘Lord, Lord, did we not PROPHESY in Your name (in Jesus name), and in Your name CAST OUT DEMONS, and in Your name PERFORM MANY MIRACLES?’ (23) And then I will declare to them, ‘I NEVER knew you; depart from Me, you who PRACTICE lawlessness.’
Remember that there is a big DIFFERENCE between CALLING Jesus the Lord, and MAKING Jesus the Lord of your life.
How can He say in verse 23 “I never knew you”? God knows everything, even the number of hairs on your head!
We find the answer in 1 Corinthians 8:3 “But if anyone LOVES God, he is KNOWN by Him”.
God doesn’t KNOW them because THEY DIDN’T LOVE HIM. They loved MONEY, they loved HONOR and FAME, they loved LUXURY (sometimes extreme luxury), but THEY DIDN’T LOVE GOD.
How can you see if someone LOVES God? Jesus said in John 14:15
“If you LOVE Me, you will KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS.
2 John :6
And THIS IS LOVE, that we WALK ACCORDING TO HIS COMMANDMENTS. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.
Also Ezekiel 18:24 warns us by saying that “When a righteous man TURNS AWAY from his righteousness, COMMITS INIQUITY and does according to all the ABOMINATIONS that a WICKED MAN does, will he live? All his righteous deeds which he has done WILL NOT BE REMEMBERED for his TREACHERY which he has committed and his SIN which he has committed; for them HE WILL DIE.
When God says He will NOT REMEMBER something, it is LIKE HE NEVER KNEW IT.
This counts for our sins,
and so we can be REALLY FREE FROM SIN after He forgave us. But this also counts for good deeds you may have done WITHOUT LOVING HIM. To God those deeds do NOT exist.
No matter how many times you may have said “In Jesus name”, HE MAY NOT KNOW YOU.
And using His name unreverantly may even turn out to become a CURSE for you. So BE CAREFUL what you say, and how you use His name!
Exodus 20:7
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him UNPUNISHED who takes His name in vain.
May God bless all of you.
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