Prophetic Word for the Church/Nation – part 5

Overthrowing the Lawless One
and his Gospel of Lawlessness

The Lord brought astounding confirmation to us last year of what we believed He’d been showing us when He spoke that Jesus is full of both Grace AND Truth (John 1:17); one to the exclusion of the other is error. Truth without grace produces legalism; grace without Truth produces lawlessness. There’s a ditch on both sides of the road.

Though many in the church have erred on the side of truth without grace, the growing problem in recent years is that many in the church are erring on the side of grace without truth. Both are just “religion,” on opposite ends of the spectrum, creating a false sense of knowing Jesus when there is not a true relationship with Him (John 14-15, I John 2-3). Just as we cannot receive Him as Savior, but not as Lord, we also cannot receive only His grace, but reject His Truth.

Yet many now believe that Jesus’ finished work means there is no more moral law of God – or that we have no moral obligation to follow it – that it’s optional for believers – just “good advice.” As mentioned previously, some believe there is now no sin , or that “sin is not an issue” to God since Jesus already paid for it, and that freedom in Christ means we’re free to live however we want. In doing so, they end up denying the Master who bought them, and living under their own lordship instead of His (II Pt 2, Jude). God wants us to understand that the future of lawlessness is not desirable; its retirement plan is hell (II Pt 3, II Thess 2, Mt 7:13-27; 13:24-29, 36-43; Mt 24-25, I Cor 5, Gal 5:16-25, Heb 6:7-8; 10:26-31). We cannot call Jesus Lord yet continue to live under our own lordship and still be saved.

And 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. 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. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness. II Thessalonians 2:8-12

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ Matthew 7:21-23 NKJV

The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 13:41-42 NKJV

For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? II Corinthians 6:14b-15a

He (Paul) writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. II Peter 3:16-17

Everyone who commits (practices) sin is guilty of lawlessness; for [that is what] sin is, lawlessness (the breaking, violating of God’s law by transgression or neglect—being unrestrained and unregulated by His commands and His will). I John 3:4

As the Lord also emphasized to us last year, Paul said he wasn’t “under the law,” but he also said that he was not lawless; he was bound to the law of Christ (I Cor 9:20-21). The “law of Christ” can be defined as loving God first, and loving others with God’s love – according to God’s definitions in His Word. Jesus said these two commands sum up the Law and Prophets (Mt 22:36-40). He did not do away with God’s moral law. The change of priesthood ushered in a change of law (Heb 7:12). God’s law went from external stone tablets to being written on our hearts. In doing so, it went to an even higher standard – from addressing only external action to addressing even what was occurring at a thought and heart level (Mt 5-7). While this made it all the more obvious that none of us can be saved based on our own righteousness, and that we must have a Savior, this doesn’t mean Jesus set us free to live in the sin that He died to deliver us out of. Rather, He set us free from bondage to sin/the enemy so that we could live for and serve Him (foreshadowed by bringing Israel out of bondage and slavery in Egypt to serve Him). True faith in Jesus produces the freedom that comes from being His true disciple and keeping His Word. Every so called “freedom” outside of these boundaries only leads us back into captivity to the enemy (John 8, Rom 6, Jms 1:21-27).

Because God is in us, we are empowered by His Spirit to follow and keep the law of Christ. (And when we fall short, we will confess and repent, rather than persisting in that sin, as mentioned previously). If we are truly following His Spirit and not the flesh, we will be growing in following the law of Christ as we walk with Him under His Lordship and grace (undeserved favor and power to do His will) (Rom 8, Gal 5, Titus 2:11-15). If the spirit we’re being led by isn’t leading us into holiness, it’s not the Holy Spirit (I Cor 6:14-7:1, I Thess 4:1-8). If the spirit we’re being led by doesn’t produce a love, hunger, and respect for the full counsel of God’s Word as our final authority, it’s not the Spirit of Truth (Jn 17:14-17, II Thess 2:9-17).

Though some are now claiming that Jesus’ teachings are no longer for us under the New Covenant, Jesus told us to take them to the whole world – to make disciples by teaching all to follow them (Mt 28:19-20, II John 9-11). His resurrection did not invalidate the need for His teachings for believers; it validated them. It proved He was truly the Son of God and, therefore, that everything He claimed about Himself and everything He taught was true. As mentioned last year, when we separate the Person of Jesus from the teachings of Jesus (as some are suggesting we should do), we end up receiving and preaching “another Jesus” (II Cor 11:4). The “gospel” of “lawlessness” (hyper-grace) presents “another Jesus” ~ not the Jesus of the Word. It is a counterfeit gospel with a counterfeit Christ who offers a counterfeit grace received through a counterfeit faith.

In order to survive the deception of the last days we must make sure we know the Word of the LORD and the LORD of the Word (Jn 8:31-32, 12:44-50 ; 14:23-26). If we do not, we could be among the MANY (not only a few) “believers” who are deceived. (Mt 7:13-27; 24, II Tim 3-4:5, II Thess 2:9-15)

The true gospel of the real Jesus is not that freedom in Christ means we are free to live however we want (Rom 8:8-13, Gal 5:17) (The Lord showed us this is actually The First Law of satanism). The true message of the real Jesus is one of total exchange. Many today talk only about the parts of the exchange that are to our benefit – He took our sins, sickness, poverty, shame, and the curse and gives us His righteousness, healing, acceptance, deliverance, provision, and the blessing of the righteous! Praise God! But not very many are willing to talk about the other part of the exchange – that He gave His life for us, and when we receive Him, we must give our lives to Him. We were bought at a price; our lives are not our own (I Cor 6:19-20). Salvation cost us nothing and there is no way to ever earn it (even one sin in an entire life of obedience would disqualify us), but being His true disciple has a cost, and we must be prepared for it to cost us everything (Mt 10, Mk 8:34-38).

If we’re concerned that this message of total commitment to the Lord (who gave everything to rescue us from hell and restore us to Himself) will scare away converts, then we’ve likely been guilty of presenting “another gospel.” Jesus was never afraid to speak truth that might drive away those who were not willing to be fully committed to Him. Perhaps it’s worth noting that after preaching a divisive message, the verse that tells us “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” is John 6:66…