1 John 2:18-27
Notes
Transcript
Overcoming the Anti-Christ
Overcoming the Anti-Christ
Well, my friends, here we are at the end of October. I say that to remind you that next week the clocks fall back one hour.
I say that now, so that you have a heads up and you don’t miss church next week because of the time change.
I know we all which they would leave it one way or the other, but our opinions on the matter fall on deaf ears.... Sounds like government, right....HA!
I am pleased to see you. I know there are so many things that occupies our time, some good and some bad. But I am grateful that your priority is to be in God’s house, to worship and honor the Lord.
Now we come back today to the epistle of first John, and we come back to chapter 2
And here today, we find that John is warning the church, warning these believers about those who came to the church but did not remain and uniquely, John says they are part of the anti-christ.
Now that is a strong accusation, and we are going to find out why he says this…and the danger that lies in their midst to the church.
So lets begin today my friends.
1. The Last Hour...
As we open up our text this morning we find that John takes the approach of a loving spiritual father toward the believers he serves in the and around Ephesus. Look at the text of verse 18...
18 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.
We see this as we open the text… John opens with the phrase “children.” He is addressing all those under his leadership and in doing so he takes the time to remind them that we are in the final or last hours....
So what does he mean exactly when he says the final or last hours....
When we talk about the last or final hours there is a theological idea being referred too… It denotes a period of time whether its long or short we do not know, but it will usher in the termination of all time and Christ is revealed again to the world.
These last days began with the entrance of Christ into the world, being born into flesh, but more especially beginning with His death, burial and resurrection.
This period of time continues until the Kingdom of God is established here on earth after Jesus has returned and gathered his church, the saints of God and His 1000 year millennial reign takes place.
And while these good events are taking place in this final hour, their are also those who are working under the influence of their father, the devil. These serve under the power and influence of the anti-christ, until the true Anti-christ is revealed.
These evil people will do their best to hurt, disrupt and tear down believers and the church.
So John testifies that the last hour has come, and many anti-christs have come as well.
These go hand and hand, but what are these anti-christs here to do: They are trying to lure believers into the world. Why, because the world is passing away, it is fading into the darkness and they want to take believers with them. They as their names represents are here to tear apart the church, the community of believers.
And some of these originate from within the church… look at verse 19 1 John 2:19
19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
They were people who were not truly of the faith. What do I mean? They were people who professed Jesus but they did not truly know Jesus. Their head was changed but not their heart.
John says they went out from us, but they were not of us. That pretty well says it all, right.
Listen Jesus himself said Matthew 7:21
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
There has to be a change of mind and heart and action in ones life.
So John says they came out of us but they were not of us. And look why He says that....if they had been of us, they could have continued with us…Listen the perseverance of the saints is a biblical doctrine. The true church with true believer will carry on unto thy leave this world or till Jesus takes us home.
Now I want you to know something today, be encouraged, you know why?
John says it best… We are in the last days, the days were we see those who have left the church and wandered away from the faith, for it should tell us that His second coming is becoming more and more near to the church.
And with that in mind, live all the more for Jesus. Amen. We should live like his arrival could be at any moment.
And if you are not, change the way you are living while there is time...
Now lets move on....
2. You Have The Truth....
One of the greatest blessings of life is knowing the truth that we are the Lord’s, we are His children.
How do we know this? We knew when He called us and convicted us of sin, when we knew we needed to settle accounts and come to Him. We called upon His name confessing our sin, and we asked him to save us, in which we also confessed that Jesus is Lord.
And at the moment of our salvation, we were saved and we were filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, He is the guarantees of the good to come in Christ. Eph 1:13
13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
This is that John is telling those in and around Ephesus. Look at verses 20-21 1John 2:20-21
20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. 21 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.
So John clearly says “… you have been anointed by the Holy One and you have all knowledge...”
That’s important. Remember as we started in 1 John, we said there were those people who were Gnostics, who were teaching that a person had to have some secret knowledge of God to be saved. And they also didn’t believe that Jesus came, died and rose bodily from the dead.
Their views are heretical, they are False, when a person comes to faith in Christ, my friends they have all they need.
They are given the Holy Spirit and that is it. You then grow in your relationship and walk with God, you learn what prayer is and you exercise that opportunity with the Father. Finally you grow in your knowledge of God. Just as you get to know a friend and what they are like so you get to know God.
So listen to what John is saying, I am not writing to you because you don't know the truth, but because you do...
You have the truth, do not allow anyone to say you don’t, you have Jesus and that is all you need my friends. Jesus is the truth and you know Him.... Jesus said this in John 8, verse 32.
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John says you know the truth, You know exactly who Jesus is, what is necessary for salvation and for following in His pathways.
You do not need any secret or special knowledge....
You see John paints a sharp contrast between those who know the truth and those who do not…
Lets move on to Verses 22-25 1 John 2:22-25
22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 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. 25 And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.
The one who doesn’t know the truth, John says they are a liar. Their most egregious mistake is that they deny Jesus in the Christ..
You why they deny Jesus… First off they never knew him and secondly , John says this is the antichrist… or perhaps more literally, they are those who are following the antichrist, since truly they are children of the devil and his influence.
You see a person, they cannot say they know God the Father if they deny the Son. If a person denies Jesus is the Son of God, the Christ, the Savior… they reveal they never knew the Father at all.
But in contrast, John says those who know the Son, they know the Father as well.
Jesus said himself, if you have seen him you have seen the Father… as seen in John 14, verse 9.
So what should you do, having heard and believed the truth? We are to remain or abide in it. do not allow it to depart from you and do not allow it to be stole
This is what John reminds these dear children of in verses 24 and 25...
John says let what you have heard form the beginning abide with you.
What have they heard from the beginning? We could go back and speak to the teaching of Jesus himself. Jesus taught the necessity of abiding or remaining with the Father. Let me share john 15, verse 5
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
Why is abiding important? It is life… Just as the branches need the Main vine (Jesus) supplies them (believers like us) with life, so the children of God need to stay connected to the Son so that we can have life and hope for the future.
It is the only way for us to bear fruit and to demonstrate that we are the children of the living God,
And here is the greater blessing, being His child, saved and abiding in Him, bearing fruit since we are growing just like plants grow… the natural outcome of being in this connection is salvation.
The same my dear friends applies to you.. You must remain in the truth.
As a child of God you are called to participate in your relationship with the Father in two natural ways right off the bat…Prayer and Bible study...
Walking and talking with God, reading His word allows us to grow in our relationship with God, thus becoming the person God desires us to be in his life until Heaven is our home.
Each day put into practice the natural exercise of your faith, praying and studying the truth of God’s word for His glory.
Now my friends there is just one last point for us to look at today…
3. Let No One Deceive You.....
If I could say one thing to you, my brothers and sisters in Christ today, it would be this… be careful and allow no one to lead you astray.
So many believers are led into heresy simply because they do not know the truth of God’s word. Simply they do not know what they believe and why they believe it.
lets go back to our text....
Verses 26-27 1John 2:26-27
26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.
Do you see it, I am writing to you about those who are trying to deceive you...
He doesn’t want those of the church to be led down a false path, especially those heresy's of that time that were in the church.
So how do you stay in the truth?
A. Well you don’t need any other truth or any other so called words from God… for example... I don’t need the book of Mormon, I don’t need any other those works.
B. We don’t need the Apocrypha from the catholic bibles, those books were never considered to be on the same level as Scripture. Some we know are good for History,.. but they are not sacred Scriptures like the 66 books we stand by...
C. We don’t need any mystic truth that might be revealed by so called psychics, rocks, cards, stars or bones....
We do not need any of these things to help reveal the truth for tomorrow.
We are simply to trust the one who holds tomorrow and has given us His word and His Holy Spirit to navigate this life...
Do you see what verse 27 says … 27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.
The anointing you have revived is God’s Holy Spirit and what does the Spirit do...
He Convicts of Sin.... He is the first to speak to us as we are apart from Christ to point out our faults and why we need Jesus and then He will tell us along the way when we are in error as we walk with God John 16:8
8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:
He Regenerates Us… He is the one who works in us making us from the point of Salvation, until death more and more like Jesus… Titus 3:5
5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
He Teaches Us or illuminates us - The ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in the Christian person and community in assisting believers to interpret, understand and obey the Scriptures
13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
He Keeps us Sealed and is our Guarantee… The Holy Spirit is the one who enters our lives at Salvation and keeps us secure until our day of great joy when we see Jesus...
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
and then Eph 1:14
14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
These are but a few things the Holy Spirit does for the child of God and in the midst of our lives we know that He will never lead us wrong or to embrace lies..
And with His power in us we are not to be deceived....instead we are to be empowered to live fully and freely in the Lord Jesus.
Now let me say.. Given we are in these last days. we must find ourselves in the word of God each day, communing with the father through the word and through prayer.
Pushing back against anything that would see to deceive us or lead us astray. Holding fast to the truth of God’s world.
What the Bible says is still relevant and truthful for today.
So we are to live according to the Word empowered by the Spirit, loving God and each other. doing what we can to bring other souls with us into heaven.
Amen..
John says … It’s the last days, You have the truth and we cannot allow ourselves to be deceived.
Do you need prayer today
Do you need encouragement today
Do you need forgiveness and a closer walk with Jesus today
Do you need more of Him..
I would ask you to come as we open up this invitation today and take hold of Him, who is the first and the last, our Savior and redeemer.
Lets pray...
