Discerning Truth Amidst Deception: The Antichrist's Tactics
Devotional
Sermon Summary
Bible Study Guide
Sermon Clips
"Well, this text answers a question that if you've been a Christian for very long at all, I'm sure you've asked. And that question is, why do the wicked prosper? Why, when we look out in the world, we see wicked men and women doing wicked things, and they seem to be doing a lot better than we're doing." [00:01:37] (22 seconds)
"Joel Osteen is a false prophet. He purports to preach the gospel, but he does not. He teaches that if you follow God, he will bless you financially. He does not talk about sin. He doesn't talk about the gospel. He does not preach the true word of God. However, every Sunday when he stands on a stage and holds a Bible in his hand and pretends to preach, there are not hundreds of thousands, but dozens of thousands of people in this stadium listening to him, and he gets off the stage with a suit much nicer than mine and looks much better than mine. And he drives home in a much nicer car than mine to a much bigger house than mine." [00:02:21] (44 seconds)
"And as we keep reading in the book of Revelation, we find out that this beast is actually a false prophet. This beast seeks to glorify the first beast. It says in verse 14 that he makes an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life. So he's literally making images of the first beast. And it says in verse 15, It was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak, and cause as many do not worship the image of the beast to be killed." [00:05:23] (39 seconds)
"John here, this actually might be the same John that wrote the book of Revelation. We don't know for sure. But John here is saying there's Antichrists that are coming, and what are they trying to do as the Antichrist? These false prophets is another word for them. They're saying, hey, here's the word, and follow this word, and it's ultimately pointing towards Satan. And John says they come from within, just like the beast rises from the earth not to see, the second beast. They come from within." [00:09:06] (25 seconds)
"These antichrists, they appear not like some wholly other different system, but they try to appear like Christ. They're not going to come up and say, worship Satan. They're going to come up and say, I'm the real Christ, worship me. So we see that in the text, right? He has two horns like a lamb. And chapter five, verse six, Jesus gives this vision of himself as a lamb. John sees Jesus and Jesus looks like a lamb in the vision." [00:10:56] (30 seconds)
"Satan is a master, master deceiver. I mean, you imagine those street deceivers, you know, who go out on the street and they trick people into paying them more money than they should, or their pickpockets, and they're just masterfully deceptive, masterfully able to steal things from people. Or you think of a white -collar criminal who's able to use hedge funds and things like that to steal money from people, to get people to pay him money, even though he's stealing from their master deceiver. Satan is like that, but times a million. He's a masterful deceiver. So imagine if someone who looks like Christ and has the ability to deceive like Satan does is at work. What's going to happen? There's going to be droves and droves, millions, billions of people following this false Christ. And this is exactly what we see today." [00:12:45] (57 seconds)
"Jesus says in Matthew 7, 15, beware of false prophets. What do these false prophets do, Jesus? They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. This is what he says. This is what the Antichrist does. And so this beast mimics Christ by exercising power and authority. That's what the two horns also symbolize. Horns symbolize power. He has this power and authority." [00:13:43] (38 seconds)
"And we're all familiar with this, aren't we? We have seen people who we know are not Christians. We look at devout Jews. We look at devout Muslims. We look at devout Buddhists who look like they're wonderful. Lovely people. We look at atheists and we think these people are wonderful. They're so devoted. They're so kind and charitable. Surely the God that they're worshiping, if they're worshiping a God, surely they must be worshiping the true God. Because look at them. They look so friendly and nice and happy." [00:15:27] (30 seconds)
"The Antichrist will be enabled to do miracles, to call down fire from heaven. But he does more. It says in verse 14, he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which were given to him to do in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life. And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed." [00:20:00] (40 seconds)
"How do we overcome this powerful Antichrist? Well, it might be the exact same way that Christ overcame Satan. How did Christ overcome Satan? By allowing himself to be killed. See, when the false prophet rears up and it starts to martyr Christians, that act of killing Christians actually brings about the Antichrist's own destruction. The church fathers said that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. As the martyrs were killed, like they're killed in Revelation, the church started to grow. And as the false prophet, as the Antichrist slays Christians, they immediately go into eternal life. And so they can't be killed. It's actually a benefit to be slain because you get to be with the Lord. And not only do you get to be with the Lord, but you're rewarded for being slain." [00:33:38] (56 seconds)
"How do you overcome the Antichrist? By not following them, but dividing truth from error. How do you divide truth from error? By recognizing that you are not from the earth, but you are from God. Your standard is to be found in God's word, not through the whispering sly false prophet, but from the beautiful, pure milk of the word of God, which feeds your soul." [00:36:19] (27 seconds)
"And if you can see that distinction, then the point of Revelation is that your soul is secure. There is nothing that the Antichrist can do to pull you away from your eternal life in Christ. Yes, you might physically die. Yes, you will physically die. We're all going to physically die whether you're following Christ or not. But where is our security found? It's in seeing the distinction between the world and the Antichrist. If you can see that, rejoice." [00:37:45] (29 seconds)
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"Joel Osteen is a false prophet. He purports to preach the gospel, but he does not. He teaches that if you follow God, he will bless you financially. He does not talk about sin. He doesn't talk about the gospel. He does not preach the true word of God. However, every Sunday when he stands on a stage and holds a Bible in his hand and pretends to preach, there are not hundreds of thousands, but dozens of thousands of people in this stadium listening to him, and he gets off the stage with a suit much nicer than mine and looks much better than mine. And he drives home in a much nicer car than mine to a much bigger house than mine." [00:02:21] (44 seconds)
"And as we keep reading in the book of Revelation, we find out that this beast is actually a false prophet. This beast seeks to glorify the first beast. It says in verse 14 that he makes an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life. So he's literally making images of the first beast. And it says in verse 15, It was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak, and cause as many do not worship the image of the beast to be killed." [00:05:23] (39 seconds)
"John here, this actually might be the same John that wrote the book of Revelation. We don't know for sure. But John here is saying there's Antichrists that are coming, and what are they trying to do as the Antichrist? These false prophets is another word for them. They're saying, hey, here's the word, and follow this word, and it's ultimately pointing towards Satan. And John says they come from within, just like the beast rises from the earth not to see, the second beast. They come from within." [00:09:06] (25 seconds)
"These antichrists, they appear not like some wholly other different system, but they try to appear like Christ. They're not going to come up and say, worship Satan. They're going to come up and say, I'm the real Christ, worship me. So we see that in the text, right? He has two horns like a lamb. And chapter five, verse six, Jesus gives this vision of himself as a lamb. John sees Jesus and Jesus looks like a lamb in the vision." [00:10:56] (30 seconds)
"Satan is a master, master deceiver. I mean, you imagine those street deceivers, you know, who go out on the street and they trick people into paying them more money than they should, or their pickpockets, and they're just masterfully deceptive, masterfully able to steal things from people. Or you think of a white -collar criminal who's able to use hedge funds and things like that to steal money from people, to get people to pay him money, even though he's stealing from their master deceiver. Satan is like that, but times a million. He's a masterful deceiver. So imagine if someone who looks like Christ and has the ability to deceive like Satan does is at work. What's going to happen? There's going to be droves and droves, millions, billions of people following this false Christ. And this is exactly what we see today." [00:12:45] (57 seconds)
"Jesus says in Matthew 7, 15, beware of false prophets. What do these false prophets do, Jesus? They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. This is what he says. This is what the Antichrist does. And so this beast mimics Christ by exercising power and authority. That's what the two horns also symbolize. Horns symbolize power. He has this power and authority." [00:13:43] (38 seconds)
"And we're all familiar with this, aren't we? We have seen people who we know are not Christians. We look at devout Jews. We look at devout Muslims. We look at devout Buddhists who look like they're wonderful. Lovely people. We look at atheists and we think these people are wonderful. They're so devoted. They're so kind and charitable. Surely the God that they're worshiping, if they're worshiping a God, surely they must be worshiping the true God. Because look at them. They look so friendly and nice and happy." [00:15:27] (30 seconds)
"The Antichrist will be enabled to do miracles, to call down fire from heaven. But he does more. It says in verse 14, he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which were given to him to do in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life. And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed." [00:20:00] (40 seconds)
"How do we overcome this powerful Antichrist? Well, it might be the exact same way that Christ overcame Satan. How did Christ overcome Satan? By allowing himself to be killed. See, when the false prophet rears up and it starts to martyr Christians, that act of killing Christians actually brings about the Antichrist's own destruction. The church fathers said that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. As the martyrs were killed, like they're killed in Revelation, the church started to grow. And as the false prophet, as the Antichrist slays Christians, they immediately go into eternal life. And so they can't be killed. It's actually a benefit to be slain because you get to be with the Lord. And not only do you get to be with the Lord, but you're rewarded for being slain." [00:33:38] (56 seconds)
"How do you overcome the Antichrist? By not following them, but dividing truth from error. How do you divide truth from error? By recognizing that you are not from the earth, but you are from God. Your standard is to be found in God's word, not through the whispering sly false prophet, but from the beautiful, pure milk of the word of God, which feeds your soul." [00:36:19] (27 seconds)
"And if you can see that distinction, then the point of Revelation is that your soul is secure. There is nothing that the Antichrist can do to pull you away from your eternal life in Christ. Yes, you might physically die. Yes, you will physically die. We're all going to physically die whether you're following Christ or not. But where is our security found? It's in seeing the distinction between the world and the Antichrist. If you can see that, rejoice." [00:37:45] (29 seconds)
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