Phil Beach Jr. warns against the dangers of lawlessness in his sermon 'Beware of Lawlessness,' emphasizing that this spirit of rebellion is infiltrating the church and society as we approach the end times. He highlights the destructive effects of lawlessness on individuals, families, and nations, urging believers to recognize and depart from iniquity. Beach stresses the importance of grounding oneself in Christ, as the foundation of God remains sure despite the rising evil. He calls for humility and a return to God's restraints, reminding the congregation that true religion is to keep oneself unspotted from the world. Ultimately, he encourages believers to seek a deep relationship with Christ to overcome the temptations of lawlessness.

The Lord is wonderful, isn't he? He's truly coming into his sanctuary and filling it with his glory as we praise him and worship him with pure hearts and clean hands. That's the secret. I want to, by the help of God's grace, share a message with you this morning that I'd like to entitle, Beware of Lawlessness. Beware of lawlessness. And I'm going to be reading from many scriptures this morning, so I want to encourage you to either follow along with me, write them down and look them up later, or just be a good listener. This is a very, very important message, one that is very, very deeply burning within the depths of my soul. One that is burning throughout the Word of God and one that the church of Jesus Christ has to begin to comprehend and understand, particularly since we are approaching the end of the last days, at which time the characteristic event that will be occurring in the world will be a state of lawlessness. Now, by lawlessness, we mean that which is working in the world that opposes any form of restraint. Another word that would be synonymous to lawlessness or unrestraint is rebellion. Now, beloved, I do not know how acquainted you are with the devastating, destructive and terrible effects that lawlessness has first on an individual person, then it can destroy a family, then it can destroy a community, then if it is allowed to occur on a national basis, it will literally destroy a nation and towns and cities will be utterly corrupt all through the leaven of lawlessness. The Bible has a lot to speak about lawlessness. You will remember that in the very beginning, when God placed Adam and Eve in the garden, the sin of lawlessness, the sin of rebellion, the sin of want of restraint, lack of restraint was what caused the fall of Adam and Eve. Now, I would like to direct you to 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy, chapter two, 2 Timothy, chapter two, and we're going to read this portion of Scripture. First of all, we're going to look at the command to the child of God, the command to the child of God. 2 Timothy, chapter two, beginning with verse number 14. We're going to be reading in context here to understand the thought. 2 Timothy, chapter two, beginning at 14. Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker, or gangrene, or cancer. Of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus, who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless, now, verse number 19 is a very important text that we're going to look at as we begin to walk through this message of beware of lawlessness. Paul says, nevertheless. Here's what Paul is saying. Even though at this time when Paul was writing this epistle, and more so now that the days are getting closer and closer and closer to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even though at that time there was a spirit of lawlessness and rebellion that was already beginning to infiltrate the church. And it was causing men and women to believe false doctrine, to get off into vain babblings and discussions that were not edifying and building up the body of Christ, teaching them to live lives acceptable in the sight of God. They got off on tangents. And there was an explosion of evil that was beginning to occur even in Paul's day. And I personally believe that one of the greatest burdens, one of the greatest travails, one of the greatest griefs that Paul brought to him or brought to the head-cutting block of Nero when he got his head cut off, the greatest burden that he brought right there even as he offered up his life was the burden of the church and the burden and the concern because of his knowledge that the enemy was already sowing into the church, in among the believers, the spirit of lawlessness. The spirit that would rise up in us and cause us to defy God, cause us to defy the Word of God, cause us to challenge divine authority, cause us to hate the things that God loves and to love the things that God hates. This indeed, friends, is from the bottomless abyss, pit of hell itself. This spirit, this snake spirit, and it is crawling in our streets, it is crawling in our schools, it is coming oozing out of the television set, every single program that you can pick, there is that spirit of rebellion, that spirit of challenging God's authority, that spirit that would make you believe that you can do it on your own and if something comes and tries to restrain you, it makes you want to get up and fight. This comes from the very abyss of hell and it is indeed a foreshadow of that ultimate spirit of rebellion that is going to be made known at the last day, right before the Lord comes back in order to destroy the ungodly. Beloved, we are living in days that are evil and only the fire of God's Spirit and the purging of God's Word and the communion that comes through relationship with Jesus Christ is going to be able to preserve us from being hurt. We've already been hurt. We are living in a late hour. There is the sand of sleep upon our eyes and we're trying to rub it off, but God is committed to wake up a people. Now, in 2 Timothy 2, nevertheless, in spite of all of these awful challenges by the enemy, nevertheless, the foundation of God is sure. Standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His and let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Now, here is a divine charge that is given to every single blood-washed, born-again believer whose life has been transformed and changed by the power of Christ's blood. I will read it again because this is the main emphasis of the message this morning. Nevertheless, in spite of what is happening, in spite of the rising of filth and evil in the world, nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure. Now, we know that the Bible teaches in 1 Corinthians 3 that the foundation of God is Christ Jesus Himself. Even though evil is rising in our schools and in our homes, and we are being infiltrated by it every single place we look, nevertheless, we must remember, we must be reminded, that God's foundation stands sure. Christ Jesus remains the same. God will not be defiled. Christ will not be weakened as the presence of evil arises. God's Word remains true. It doesn't matter how many liberal theologians try and pervert the Word of God. It doesn't matter how many religious lying spirits come and attack the Word of God. It will remain true. Nevertheless, God's foundation standeth sure. And everyone that is truly born again and saved standeth upon that foundation. Nevertheless, though we stand upon that foundation, though we are grounded on the rock, Paul said, take heed, if you stand, lest you fall. The Lord knows them that are His and let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. The Bible is saying, if you name the name of Christ and call yourself by that holy name, Christian, then God challenges you to depart from lawlessness. Depart from any kind of a philosophy, any kind of a lifestyle, anything that would come to you and tempt you to put down restraint upon your life. Depart from it. Flee from it. Run from it. Number one, God's commission. Recognize the lawlessness that is in the world. Recognize how it has infiltrated every single aspect of the society, including the church. Recognize that the spirit of lawlessness is the spirit of rebellion, which is as the sin of witchcraft. Recognize that the spirit of lawlessness operates in those who are not saved and those children of God who are disobedient to the Word of God. Recognize that the spirit of lawlessness, the spirit of rebellion, the spirit of no restraint will destroy you, will devastate you, will hurt you. And then realize God's commission to you as a child of God. God's commission to you. Depart. Now, the word depart in the Greek is a word that means to thrust away, to thrust oneself away from, to thrust, to push oneself away from. Now, let me explain to you the two-fold application of that Scripture to you as a Christian this morning. First of all, I would like you to turn to Psalm 18. We read Psalm 18 this morning before we began to worship the Lord. However, there is a verse in Psalm 18 that applies to this Scripture. Now, how many here remember the Scripture in Ephesians 6 where Paul said, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Or be strong in the Lord and in the power of His mighty might. That's what it really means. His mighty might. It's not just might. It's mighty might. How many remember Mighty Mouse? Well, this is mighty might. This is power. This is the power that spoke the stars into existence. We're not dealing with a weak God. We're dealing with a God who looked at Christ and said, I will not suffer you to see corruption. And on the third day, death had to loose Christ and He rose up from the dead. And as He arose up from the dead, He delivered all them that were captive by death and He delivers you and I today. I am the resurrection and the life. There's no other human tongue that has ever made such a statement since the history of mankind and shall never make a statement until the future eternal generations to come. Jesus alone can stand and say, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And he that liveth and believeth in me shall never die. There's the power of the resurrection. And God is sounding the trumpet among those that name the name of the Lord to tap in and to come into the presence of God with humility and brokenness and allow God to bring us into a union, into a relationship with that resurrection power because it is only by Christ, in Christ and through Christ that you will stand victoriously in this last hour. I recognize that Christ dwells in us by faith. I recognize that as a Christian, I've been translated out of the kingdom of darkness and brought into the kingdom of God's dear Son. However, unless I understand the posture of humility, the posture of brokenness, the posture of being pliable in the Lord's hands, though the mighty power of Christ dwells within me, yet He will be unable to bring me into participation with that power. And that's why God is calling us to come before Him in humility. Now, we are to depart from iniquity. Psalm 18, verse 23. Psalm 18, verse 23. I was also upright before Him and I kept myself from mine iniquity. Beloved, if you will remember, Paul the Apostle made a statement in Romans 7. You don't have to turn to it, but you can. Romans 7, verse 24. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. The first application to the believer in relation to the Word of God that commands us to depart from iniquity, the first application is the responsibility of the believer to abide in Christ. For the Word of God says that outside of Christ, we cannot be free from the iniquity of flesh that we are. See, we are flesh. The Bible says the flesh is corrupt. The Bible says the flesh is evil. The Bible says that the flesh must be reckoned as dead and crucified. So therefore, the way that you and I keep ourselves from the iniquity that is in us, it is not by power or by might, but it is by abiding in Christ. For when I abide in Christ, it is not I or my flesh or my iniquity that is expressing itself through my mortal body, but rather, it is the life of Christ that is living through me. So therefore, He and His life becomes the victory for me over my flesh. You see, it is life in Christ, by Christ, through Christ that brings us out of self and into life more abundantly. So that's the first application. The second application, James. Now, James is right after the book of Hebrews. I lost the scripture reference. Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. James 1, verse 27, beginning in verse 26, If any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue, that is, if a man seems to be religious, but his tongue and his lifestyle is characterized by sin, this is what James says, he deceives his own heart. This man's religion is in vain. Pure, that is the word uncontaminated, no mixture. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this. That is the only thing that God the Father looks down on and smiles upon. It's not a church service. It's not singing songs. It's not emotionalism. It's not good works. It's not a beautiful building with nice pews. It's not pretty clothes. God does not look upon that and smile. He doesn't. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world. Now, let me tell you a secret about this scripture. God delivered Israel out of Egypt. That was a type of coming out of the world. But that was not the victory. The reason why is because so much of the world had gotten into Israel. So God had to spend 40 years in the wilderness getting Egypt out of Israel. So consequently, when the scripture says, pure religion and undefiled before God is to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world. I suggest to you this morning that one is incapable of keeping himself unspotted from the world unless, unless through the power of God's word and God's spirit, God delivers the world out of us. Now we go right back to the only answer. How can we be free from the world of iniquity within us? Christ Jesus. Knowing him, loving him, seeking him daily, living by his word and in his word. When you are delivered from the iniquity within, through Christ himself and living in him, then in Christ, the world no longer appeals to you. And when your flesh desires it, you will not be overcome by your flesh because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. But if you are not living in him, but in the flesh, then the desires of the flesh you will fulfill. For if my flesh desires the world and I am not living in Christ and drinking from him and being empowered by him, then lo and behold, my flesh will say go and I will say yes. Stop, yes, look, yes. But if by Christ I am living, by Christ, morning by morning I am experiencing union with Christ, I am living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word. If I am indeed being nourished and strengthened and rooted and grounded in Christ, then when I am in the world, but yet I am not in the world, I am abiding in Christ and the world seeks to molest me and take my body, which is God's holy temple, and use it in order to fulfill its awful sinful desires, I will be prepared because I am living in Christ. And when my flesh is tempted and I am tempted by the world, I will be in Christ and the spirit of holiness, the spirit of righteousness will rise up within me and the spirit of God will cry out, No, my son, no, my daughter, touch not the unclean thing. And then through Christ's life in me, I am able to say, No, thank you, God, for the victory in Christ Jesus. Though I am always vulnerable to temptation, though I'm always vulnerable to be led into a place of darkness and degradation, yet in Christ and by Christ, I never have to become a victim to that sin. To keep himself unspotted from the world. Beloved, beware of lawlessness. Beware when the conscience and the mind and the heart no longer find security in the limits that God has burned upon your heart. And when you approach those limits, you feel the ruffling of the Holy Ghost. You feel the warning and stern correction of God. Watch out! Beware when you find yourself no longer in the safety of law and right and wrong, and this is how far you can go, but don't go another step further. Beware, for indeed, at that moment, you are being beguiled, seduced, and spiritually deceived. For the spirit of this world and the spirit of the devil is actively, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, seeking to destroy the restraint that is upon the child of God through the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. When restraint is restored back into the church, when order is restored back into the church, when God gets a people who will hear him say, Go so far and don't go any further, then and only then will we see the rising of God in His sanctuary, the glory of God in His sanctuary, and we will see the Lord in His beauty and in His holiness. The Holy Spirit is bringing us back to restraint, law, right, wrong. He's showing us, first of all, according to the Word of God, that we cannot live the rest of our days in our flesh, for we are debtors, not to the flesh. We don't owe the flesh nothing. When the flesh rises up and wants you to do something, you're not obligated to the flesh anymore. You're obligated to God. The iniquity within, through Christ Jesus, living in Him will deliver you from the taunting, tormenting powers that are being set up in the world today. And here's what the powers are being prepared to do. Turn your Bibles to 2 Thessalonians. I'm going to read from another translation because I like the way it sounds. 2 Thessalonians. Beloved, the setting is here. It's getting worse and worse, and I thank God that I am a child of God. 2 Thessalonians, beginning with verse number 1, chapter 2. Now, what have we done thus far? We have identified the spirit of lawlessness, the spirit of rebellion. We have understood its effects, its destruction. We have seen how it is infiltrating every aspect of society today. I don't need to spend an hour lecturing on statistics. You hear them everywhere you look. It is happening. Antichrist is arising and he's saying we're going to throw out God, we're going to throw out any kind of form of restraint that would suggest that man can't do what he wants, and we're going to begin to send forth into all the world demon spirits that will encourage and teach and enlighten people to do what they want and to fight against any kind of restraint. You know, the whole of the devil's religion is this, and it's right in their unholy Bible. Here it is. Do what thou wilt, for this is the whole of the law. Do what thou wilt. The exact opposite of the prayer of Jesus Christ when he was in the garden and sweat, as it were, drops of blood. Father, nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done. Second Thessalonians. I'm going to be reading from a different translation, so just listen, you can follow along. And we ask you, brethren, in regard to the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ and of our gathering together unto him, that ye be not quickly shaken in mind, nor be troubled, neither through spirit, neither through word, neither through letters as through us, as that the day of Christ hath arrived. Let not anyone deceive you in any manner, because if the falling away may not come, the son of the destruction who is opposing and is raising himself up above all called God or worshiped, so that he in the sanctuary of God, as God hath sat down, showing himself off that he is God, that day doth not come. In other words, Paul's saying, unless we see such an incredible manifestation of the spirit of rebellion permeate every single facet of society, then you ought not to be troubled, because that day has not yet quite come. Now, let's read on. Verse 5. Do you not remember that being yet with you, these things I said to you? And now what is keeping down what you have known? For his being revealed in his own time, for the secret of the lawlessness doth already work. Only he who is keeping down now will hinder till he may be out of the way, and then shall be revealed the lawless one whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the manifestation of his presence. Then it begins to describe in verse number 9. Beloved, can you see, can you see, beloved, that the very spirit that we are wrestling with and many times gains entrance into our homes, into our lives, is the very spirit that is destined by God's word to be consumed by the fire of God's mouth. When we succumb to a spirit of lawlessness, we are literally flirting with the very power that is working in this world that Jesus Christ hates. He abhors it. He is arrayed against it. And when the time comes, he will arise out of his holy place and come and point his finger and destroy it forever. The spirit of lawlessness is despised by God. Verse number 9. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan. Now, see, Satan and the spirit that now works in the world are very much alike. It is his spirit, but it is being wrought through many evil spirits. Here's what they have in common, lawlessness. Let me tell you something, any time anybody, doesn't matter if they're a Christian or not, when you get under a attitude where there's a lawlessness, you're rebelling against some kind of God-given authority. Beloved, that is a manifestation of that which reflects the heart of the devil. God wants to teach us to hate what he hates. How many want to hate what God hates? The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the works 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 refuse to love the truth to be saved. For this reason, God sends them a powerful delusion. I cannot communicate properly. It's only God that can show us these things. Do you realize, beloved, that the spirit that is living in this world that you have to deal with every day, is a spirit that God is sending into the world to gather up all the rebellious ungodly men and women who refuse to accept Jesus Christ to ultimately deceive them and to ultimately harden their heart to the place of no return, so that when He comes back, He will be just and He will be justified in condemning them to an eternal hell. This is the spirit that is rising in our society. Now, remember what we read at the very beginning. Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, and let everyone that name the name of the Lord what? Depart from this spirit. Depart from it. It's not for you. It's not in the world for you to listen to. You should see it and fall down on your knees and say, thank you, God, that you've delivered me and keep me from this rebellious spirit that you are sovereignly allowing to rise as your final method to gather in the harvest of those who refuse to believe. We should walk on tiptoes when we see rebellion and people throwing fits and people rising up against the word of God and going into sin. We should tremble with fear, knowing that they are under the influence of this spirit that God has ordained to ripen the children of the devil. Is that what the word says? Yes. This isn't the gospel according to the preacher. It's the gospel according to the preacher. Paul, he said, listen, I wasn't sent by man. I was sent by God. I'm not going to argue with him. How about you? I believe you were sent by God, don't you? He was born out of season, but nevertheless, he said the grace of God in him was working more abundantly than all the other eleven apostles. Boy, he had a lot of boldness in God, didn't he? What time is it? This is the introduction. I'm not kidding. I'm not kidding. I haven't gotten done with this white paper yet, but I won't do the whole thing now. God have mercy. Is this making sense? Are we receiving from the Lord? Can we see the burden of the Lord's heart as his dear children to depart from iniquity? If we want them to rise in our midst, he wants to teach us to upload verse 11. For this reason, God sends them a powerful delusion. Remember, beloved, you can't separate a powerful delusion from rebellion, a sure way for a Christian to destroy his testimony, destroy his life. And possibly Paul said for this reason in Corinthians, they were not discerning the body of the Lord. They were not properly discerning between clean and unclean. That was the Corinthians whole sin. They were not discerning. He said, because of this, many of you are weak, sick, and some even die before your time. So as Christians, God has forgiven us, but that does not give us license to sin. God offers forgiveness, but he wants us to recognize that delusion, I have never met a person who was free from delusion and full of rebellion. I never, have you? You can't separate the two. Rebellion begets delusion. I don't know what kind of delusion, but you can't separate the two. There's always a delusion that begets rebellion and rebellion begets delusion. Send 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. The spirit of rebellion, the spirit of lawlessness, we're going to close. It's hard to because I'm not done, but I will. When you and I allow the spirit to control our lives as Christians, here's what will happen, and I'm closing. You will no longer act as salt, but pepper. You will not preserve, but make people sneeze. You will not make the gospel attractive, but you will bring shame to it. Jesus said, you are the salt. But if the salt has lost its saltiness, what good is it? How does salt lose its saltiness? When lawlessness begins to infest it. Number two, you will not be sweet as honey, but sour as lemon. You will not be children of light, manifesting light. You will be children of light, captive to the deeds of darkness. Your actions will become that of a corrupting influence and not a preserving influence. Your speech will tear and not build, hurt and not heal. And lastly, disgrace rather than honor will be the result. However, if as the scripture says, we all would humble ourselves before the Lord and bow ourselves in his holy presence, he will deliver us from lawlessness, rebellion. He will crown us with beauty and through him and by him. It is God that girdeth me with strength and maketh my way perfect. He maketh my feet like hinds feet and setteth me upon my high place. He teacheth my hands to war so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. Thou has also given me the shield of thy salvation and thy right hand hath hold me up and thy gentleness hath made me great. There's the promise. It's ours in Christ. Let us ask God to grant us the privilege of walking in. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the word of God, which is quick and powerful, that is penetrating. We thank you, Lord, that by it we are restrained by it. We are brought into accountability by it. We are brought into check by it. We have our boundaries clearly defined, for we know that the spirit of Antichrist, which is the spirit of rebellion, which is the lack of restraint, worketh to tear down the boundaries which thou has placed for us. And oh God, we confess our guilt before you and pray that you would forgive us our sin and have mercy upon us and graciously restore us, cast out from among us the spirit of rebellion and lack of restraint and cause us to once again delight in thy word, wherein we find comfort, wherein we find security, wherein alone we find power. Lord, we thank you for doing this work. We expect you to continue to bring us closer to thee and crown us with thy glory and with thy revival and with the life of Christ flowing in us and through us, that we may become a light in this community and that Jesus may gather up. The last one, that that day may tarry no longer, but that you may come, Lord, and that we can yell and say, there he is, there he is. That's who we stand for. Jesus, I'm over here. Don't forget me. Come quickly, Lord, but if you should tarry, help us to stay close to you. I pray in Jesus name. God bless. We love you. We have service tonight. We're probably going to continue.