Beware of Antichrists!
Journey through 1 John • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
There is so much talk circulating not only among the church, but in the world in general about how it seems like the world is approaching the end of days. Christians on Tik Tok are convinced that the rapture of the church is imminent, the Chasidic Jews in Israel are convinced that they have located their Mashiach, and there’s lots of talk about the increase in demonic activity world wide. It s rather fitting, therefore, that we have come to this specific passage in our Journey through 1 John.
With a term of endearment ("children") that is a favorite of John's, he now proceeds to warn them about a problem that was very real in his day...
Children, it is the last hour. Just as you heard that the anti-messiah is coming, even now many anti-messiahs have come—by this we know that it is the last hour.
For as much as the church uses the term anti-Christ in its teaching concerning the end times, John is the only writer of the New Testament who uses the term "antichrist", and he uses the term just five times:
Twice here: ("anti-messiah is coming...many anti-messiahs have come")
Again in
Who is the liar, if not the one who denies that Yeshua is the Messiah? This one is the anti-messiah—the one who denies the Father and the Son.
Also in
but every spirit that does not acknowledge Yeshua is not from God. This is the spirit of the anti-messiah, which you have heard is coming and now is already in the world.
And finally in
For many deceivers have gone out into the world—those who do not acknowledge Yeshua as Messiah coming in human flesh. This one is a deceiver and the anti-messiah.
The term is commonly used today by many to refer to one individual ("The Antichrist"), who is supposed to appear in the “end times". It goes like this, some actual person who will arise in the religio-political arena and lead many people astray just before Christ comes again. A connection is usually made to the “man of sin” described by Paul.
Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, concerning the coming of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah and our gathering together to Him, not to get shaken out of your mind or disturbed—either by a spirit or a word or a letter as if through us—as though the Day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way, for the Day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the one destined to be destroyed. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he sits in the Temple of God, proclaiming himself that he is God.
Don’t you remember that when I was still with you I was telling you these things? And you know what now holds back, for him to be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already operating; only there is one who holds back just now, until he is taken out of the way. Then the lawless one will be revealed. The Lord Yeshua will slay him with the breath of His mouth and wipe him out with the appearance of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is connected to the activity of satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with every kind of wicked deception toward those who are perishing. They perish because they did not accept the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God sends them a delusional force, to lead them to believe what is false,
I’m not really interested in trying to parse out whether they are one in the same. Instead the focus of this series is to understand the book of 1 John more completely. And that being the case, it is evident that John was more concerned about the “antichrists” who had already come as opposed to a single anti-christ that was in the far off future. With this in mind, I’d like to pose three questions as we begin our study.
Who were these “antichrists”?
How were the Christians to avoid being misled by them?
How can we avoid being misled by antichrists today (whether it be one or many)?
With this being our goal, let us begin by...
Identifying the Anti-Messiahs
Identifying the Anti-Messiahs
They Refuse to Follow Apostolic Authority
They Refuse to Follow Apostolic Authority
In John's day, they were individuals who had associated with the apostles and other Christians, but they had gone out on their own, and were no longer in fellowship with the apostles. So John says that they were “not of us”, in other words, not approved by the apostles.
Later, John describes the "the spirit of the antichrist" as that which does not hear the apostles (i.e., respect apostolic authority).
but every spirit that does not acknowledge Yeshua is not from God. This is the spirit of the anti-messiah, which you have heard is coming and now is already in the world. You are from God, children, and you have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world, so they speak from the world and the world listens to them. We are from God; whoever knows God listens to us, but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
OK pastor, I get it. What about today? We don’t have apostles- well not the apostles like Peter, James and John. Well you’re right, we don’t. So, how would that look today?
I think that today’s “anti-christs” behave the same way. They may start out acting like they respect apostolic authority, and seek to be with Christians, but eventually their true nature comes out and they will not want to be with those who respect apostolic authority very long.
I think one of the clearest signs is that they still reject the apostles’ doctrine. But how can they do that if we don’t have apostles with that kind of authority anymore? Well, this may be true, but we do have the Apostle’s doctrine written out for us. The modern anti-christ, then, will reject the authority of scripture.
Those who reject the apostles, reject Jesus himself.
Amen, amen I tell you, he who receives the one I send, receives Me; and he who receives Me, receives the One who sent Me.”
And THIS is what makes them “anti-Christ”. I can think of a couple of well known television preachers that would fall into this category.
They Deny Jesus is the Messiah
They Deny Jesus is the Messiah
Who is the liar, if not the one who denies that Yeshua is the Messiah? This one is the anti-messiah—the one who denies the Father and the Son.
Many Gnostics alleged that Jesus and Messiah were two different persons. They taught that Messiah merely appeared to have flesh, but in reality did not, or that Messiah descended upon Jesus at His baptism and departed at the time of His suffering. It is this denial that Jesus Christ came in the flesh that John identifies as the spirit of the antichrist.
but every spirit that does not acknowledge Yeshua is not from God. This is the spirit of the anti-messiah, which you have heard is coming and now is already in the world. You are from God, children, and you have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.
Today’s gnostics come in the form of the Word of Faith crown. The basic premise of their teaching is that the believer is just as much an incarnation as Jesus was, faith is a force, and we all can learn to use the laws of faith to get what we need. (If this were true, we wouldn’t need God; we would simply learn the laws of faith and control it like the force.) So by taking this approach they are nullifying the need of a savior, thus denying that Jesus was Messiah.
Kenneth Copland said this:
“The Spirit of God spoke to me and He said, “Son, realize this. Now follow me in this and don’t let your tradition trip you up.” He said, “Think this way—a twice-born man whipped Satan in his own domain.” And I threw my Bible down . . . like that. I said, “What?” He said, “A born-again man defeated Satan, the firstborn of many brethren defeated him.” He said, “You are the very image, the very copy of that one.” I said, “Goodness, gracious sakes alive!” And I began to see what had gone on in there, and I said, “Well now you don’t mean, you couldn’t dare mean, that I could have done the same thing?” He said, “Oh yeah, if you’d had the knowledge of the Word of God that He did, you could have done the same thing, ’cause you’re a reborn man too.”
It is the denial that Jesus Christ came in the flesh that John identifies as the spirit of the antichrist, but this is just as shocking because it claims that Jesus wasn’t even necessary because some regular sinful human could have unlocked his secret knowledge of the Word of God and with some magical super-faith could have done what Jesus dd.
but every spirit that does not acknowledge Yeshua is not from God. This is the spirit of the anti-messiah, which you have heard is coming and now is already in the world. You are from God, children, and you have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.
Do you see the insidiousness of this type of false doctrine? Do you see how not only does it reject scripture, but it also rejects the Messiah himself?
I know sometimes my messages can get caught up in the details and become a little “heady” and not as emotionally gripping or exciting. But this is precisely why it is important that we do these detailed studies and really get into the meat of the scripture. How many Christians follow these teachings wholeheartedly and get led astray? I mean Kenneth Copland is a big deal in Christendom, but he’s teaching gnosticism and John says that indicates he’s operating by the spirit of anti-christ.
And it’s not that they just deny the Son, they deny the Father as well.
Who is the liar, if not the one who denies that Yeshua is the Messiah? This one is the anti-messiah—the one who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; the one who acknowledges the Son also has the Father.
By denying that Jesus is the Messiah, they were denying the Son.
And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. We looked upon His glory, the glory of the one and only from the Father, full of grace and truth.
And then by denying Messiah, they were denying the Father as well.
Amen, amen I tell you, he who receives the one I send, receives Me; and he who receives Me, receives the One who sent Me.”
Today, an "antichrist" would be one who denies Jesus to be the Messiah and who denies the nature of Jesus (that He was fully God and fully man). Those who deny apostolic authority, and especially their teaching about the nature of Jesus, manifest the spirit of "antichrist". How can we guard against being misled by modern-day "antichrists"?]
Guarding Against the Anti-Christ
Guarding Against the Anti-Christ
In John’s Day
In John’s Day
John reminded them of their anointing.
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. I have not written you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.
But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. I have not written you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.
Who is the liar, if not the one who denies that Yeshua is the Messiah? This one is the anti-messiah—the one who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; the one who acknowledges the Son also has the Father.
As for you, let what you heard from the beginning remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will continue to live in the Son and in the Father. Now this is the promise that He Himself has promised us—eternal life. I have written you these things about those who are trying to mislead you. As for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things—and it is true and not a lie—and just as it has taught you, abide in Him.
This “anointing from the Holy One” and it enabled them to “know all things”. Because of this he said that they didn’t need anyone to teach them. This is the function of the “gifts of the Spirit.”, so that they could have identified the "antichrists" without John's help. Despite having this anointing, they needed to be encouraged to continue in what they had learned (from the Spirit).
As for you, let what you heard from the beginning remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will continue to live in the Son and in the Father. Now this is the promise that He Himself has promised us—eternal life.
Having the gifts of the Spirit did not keep them from sinning, or being misled.
I have written you these things about those who are trying to mislead you.
But only by heeding that which they had heard from the beginning would they continue to abide in the Son and in the Father, and receive the promise of eternal life!
What About Us?
What About Us?
Well we’ve got even less of an excuse because not only do we have the same anointing as those early Christians did, we have a fully realized tome of scriptures that they didn’t have.
And the New Testament is the Word of God, which is the “sword of the Spirit"
And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
We have the benefit of the faith once for all handed down to us.
Loved ones, though very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I felt it necessary to write to you urging you to continue to contend for the faith that was once for all handed down to the kedoshim.
And this is an objective standard by which we can know the truth, and avoid being misled by subjective feelings that can be mistaken for some sort of prompting of the Spirit
With the Scriptures, we have all we need to know God's will.
All Scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for restoration, and for training in righteousness, so that the person belonging to God may be capable, fully equipped for every good deed.
But just like John's readers, we need to be encouraged to continue in what we have learned from the Spirit-given Word. Having the Word of God does not ensure that we won't be misled by others. Unless we study and apply the Word, we are open to deceptions by modern-day “antichrists”!
Putting it All Together
Putting it All Together
“Antichrists” are a very real problem for us today even if there may not be many professing Christians who deny Jesus is the Christ, or that He came in the flesh, there are many who reject the authority of the apostles by the manner in which they disregard the Scriptures!
The solution then...remains the same for us:
As for you, let what you heard from the beginning remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will continue to live in the Son and in the Father.
As a way to really encourage you to heed this word of John’s, I call your attention to the very reason that John emphasizes this point - “we know it’s the last hour”.
John knew that in the scheme of God's redemption Jesus could return at any time! The fact that it has been 1900 years since John penned these words does not detract from their truthfulness (for chronological time is meaningless to God.
But don’t forget this one thing, loved ones, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some consider slowness. Rather, He is being patient toward you—not wanting anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance.
The last hour will indeed come at a time when we are not expecting it, but we see that the spirit of anti-christ is raging today. We must stand vigilant and guard our hearts against becoming complacent and falling prey to false doctrine.
Let us pray.