1 John 2:18-27
1 John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 2 viewsNotes
Transcript
1 Thesis here in 3 Parts
“There are Enemies of Christ
“There are Enemies of Christ
Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.
John is the only writer to ever use this word anti-Christ, and it simply means one that is against Christ. He says here that many were already working.
Maybe there will be some future sensational individual who will be the ultimate enemy of Christ, but regardless of your eschatological end-times projections, that is not what is being talked about here.
There have always been and always will be those who actively oppose Christ and the gospel - one of the main points of the book of Revelation. It is not simply that there was or will be a Beast looking to devour the church, it is that there have always been and there always will be those Beasts, in every time and age.
It is true of the church globally, it is true of the church here, and it is true of your individual life. There are enemies of your faith that you face daily. Until Christ returns, there will be forces aimed at your faithfulness. - - if you weren’t a sinner, with pride and selfishness and covetousness and lust, then those enemies would have no effect, and they have less effect the more sanctified you become, but until you die you will be a sinner, dragging along this body of death, susceptible to these enemies.
The strategy of these antiChrists in 1 John is not all that different from the strategy of those today. They are deceptive and seductive, like their Master. Notice: they don’t flat out deny Christ or directly oppose Him, they redefine Him. They re-imagine him. Familiar?
Our culture at large isnt denying Jesus, all politicians still claim to be His for the votes . . . it is that our culture is simply redefining Jesus.
21st century American Jesus who likes all the things we like, who is offended by the same things we are offended by, who accepts the same things we accept - who would never tell you you were wrong about something, never ask you to go against your heart, never want you to feel guilty, never tell you who you could love, never tell you to be anything but your authentic self.
I don’t know that Jesus. That Jesus doesn’t exist. Jesus isn’t some blob of clay that we can form into whatever we like. He is a real person from history, that we know about from the Bible. What if the German government came out and said, “You know actually Hitler loved the Jews, actually he didn’t even want to rule the country, he hated the Nazi’s,” would you say “Yeah that sounds nice.” What Hitler are you talking about? Where did you get these ideas from? I know who Hitler was, I have the documentation!
The only Jesus that exists is the one found here, who is Compassionate, Kind, Loving, and Holy, Righteous, and talks regularly about the COST of following him, who is beckoning you to come and die as your only way into Him.
Do not be deceived, there are enemies out there who want to deceive you into believing that Jesus is less than what you thought He was, less than what the Bible says He is.
There are enemies that want nothing more than to devour your faith
Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
John describes here two safeguards against the enemies that we have been given, a two-fold arsenal
Who are Combated by The Word and The Spirit
Who are Combated by The Word and The Spirit
But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.
1 John 2:26–27 (ESV)
I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you.
Annointing of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God (Not the same btw)
Your primary weapons against false teaching and wolves in sheep’s clothing, are the objective teaching of the Word which will tell you what is TRUE, and the subjective leading of the Spirit to help you see it.
God has given you the Holy Spirit, who is a person, to help you understand what God has told us and to lead you in Truth.
Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.
Psalm 143:10 (ESV)
Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!
In order to continue in the truth, you need both the Word from God and the Spirit He has given you to lead you. Some honor the Word and neglect the Spirit, some honor the Spirit and neglect the Word - neither is enough on its own.
“The only safeguard against lies is to have remaining within us both the Word that we heard from the beginning and the anointing that we received from him. It is by these old possessions, not by new teachings or teachers, that we shall remain in the truth.”
You don’t need these false teachers ideas, you already have been taught the truth, you need nothing new in that regard.
Which Hold you to the Non-Negotiable OId Gospel”
Which Hold you to the Non-Negotiable OId Gospel”
I tried to find ways to say that more concisely, but each part is important
I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.
Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.
These enemies of Christ, antichrists, were coming in and giving them a false Jesus, a false gospel, a NEW revelation. And John exclaims - no, there is nothing new, nothing to add, you aren’t still looking for the true Jesus and Way, YOU HAVE HAD IT SINCE THE BEGINNING
He says I am not writing to tell you the Truth, YOU ALREADY KNOW IT!
Ah the threat of novelty! We have that in us, desire for the new, desire to have more truth than those normal Christians. We crave the novel. Leave that old ordinary gospel behind and move on to the higher and better truths.
So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
The hub of Christianity is the person and work of Jesus of Nazareth. If you get it wrong there, you get it wrong everywhere. If you get Jesus right, you and me can have a discussion about just about anything else.
Difference in all the monotheistic religions is how they answer the question: Who is Jesus?
All Christian groups who are truly Christian will answer that question the same way.
Every other “Savior” points to the way of salvation, Mohammed, Buddha, OT Prophets, Joseph Smith - “Theres the way” Jesus says I AM THE WAY
Traditionally, if you got Jesus right, and bowed to Him, you were called a Christian, even if you disagreed on all the other doctrinal matters.
What is non-negotiable? What do you HAVE to believe to be a Christian. Jesus. You must believe that he is the Son of God, God in the flesh, and that he died for our sins and was raised in victory on the 3rd day, and that the way to Him is Faith/Trust/Submission.
This is what John means when he says 1 John 2:27
1 John 2:27 (ESV)
You have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything
This isnt the denial of your need of teachers for anything, the Bible is very clear about the need for teachers, John here teaches many things, what he is saying is there is nothing new to come about THIS TRUTH, about Jesus, about the non-negotiables, about the center of the message, the part you had from the beginning. Nothing Novel!
(Now you do need to be reminded of it regularly, as John is doing repeatedly here and we do every week together)
You don’t need anyone to give you new information about the gospel! The Old Truth.
The church here pays me primarily to teach . . . you don’t need me to teach you that (remind sure, weekly), but that isn’t new to you, you have known all that from the very beginning of your Christianity. If I or an angel from heaven were to bring you a message different than that one, let me be anathema, cursed, damned.
Galatians 1:6–9 (ESV)
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be damned. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be damned.
The Gospel is not the whole Bible, the non-negotiables are not the whole New Testament, it is Christ and him crucified and the call to faith in response. That is more important than anything else in the Bible.
1 Corinthians 15:1–5 (ESV)
Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you.. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures
There are Enemies of Christ who are Combated by the Word and Spirit which Hold you Fast to the Non-Negotiable Old Gospel.
How do you avoid having itching ears and listening to falsehoods, being susceptible to the enemies, the Word of God and the Spirit in you keep you connected to the original, crucial, most important truth - the real Jesus, and the way to Him. It is by these OLD possessions of the Christian, the Word and the Spirit, that we guard against new and false gospels and Christs.
Reward of Eternal Life
It is the last hour - always a sense of urgency, time is running out
As Christ’s missionaries go out into the world, as Christ’s churches tend the sheep around the world, so too do Satan’s antiChrist’s evangelize, so too do they seek to devour the sheep.
We are engaged in global conflict for the souls of men.
If you aren’t Christ’s, what keeps you?
If you are Christ’s, join the battle.