The Truth Will Set You Free: 1 John 2:20-23

Over the past month we’ve looked at John’s three tests in order that: “We may know we have eternal life.” They can be summarized by the following: 1) True believers must believe that Jesus truly is the Christ come in the flesh, and this belief must work itself out in 2) righteousness and 3) love.

If you have your Bible with you and I hope you do, please join me for the Reading of God’s Word:

1 John 2:20–23 “But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. 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. 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. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.”

This is the Word of God. Let us Pray.

[Prayer for illumination]

[Proposition] Because many false teachers are in the world, we must discern the truth, detect the lies, and determine the denier of the truth.

John first gives the context for the purpose of knowing and teaching the truth. John writes to the church at Ephesus, to clearly articulate the problem they faced was that “many antichrists (false teachers) have come.” Many of these antichrists have already positioned themselves within the church and wreaked havoc on the congregation. In an effort to recover the church, John encourages believers to combat false teachings with the truth because they “have been anointed by the Holy One and you all have knowledge. ”First, John tells us that ...

1. Because many false teachers are in the world, we must Discern the Truth (v 21)

1 John 2:21 “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.”

John is speaking about our need to know the essential truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One cannot be a Christian without knowing the essential truths that are rooted in the person and works of Jesus Christ. One cannot enter the kingdom of God without believing the essential truths of Jesus Christ.

We must know the character of God:

God is Holy, God is Just, God is Gracious

We must know the sinfulness of man:

Man has rebelled against God, Man is separated from God, and Man is dead without God.

We must know the sufficiency of Christ:

Jesus is the only way to be reconciled to God.

Who Jesus is:

Jesus is fully God and fully man who can talk about himself as: “I am the bread of life” “I am the light of the world” “I am the good shepherd” and Jesus was constantly calling people to follow Him and “Come to me,” and “I will give you rest.” We must know that there is salvation is no other name but Jesus Christ and whosoever shall call upon the name of Jesus as Lord and Savior shall be saved.

What Jesus has done:

Jesus lived the sinless life we could not live.

Jesus died the death we deserve to die. His substitutionary death is the payment for sin but Jesus had no sin. Therefore, Jesus died in our place for our sins.

Jesus conquered the enemy we cannot conquer. Jesus’ death, in and of itself, was complete victory. God nailed “the record of debt that stood against us” to the cross, and in so doing “he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Christ”

Christ’s resurrection means he is Lord over life and death. Christ’s resurrection means he is Lord over sin and Satan. Christ’s resurrection means he is Lord over you and me.

We must know the necessity of faith:

Jesus is the basis of our salvation. We are restored to God based solely on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Faith is the means by which the salvation of Christ is applied to our lives. Faith is the hand of God that gives us the free gift of salvation. Faith acknowledges there is nothing you can do to make yourself right with God; you must trust in what God has done for you in Christ.

Good works are the evidence of our salvation, not the condition for. We contribute nothing to our salvation, except the committed sins, but only the finished works of Jesus is sufficient before God.

There is no faith without repentance unto life. Jesus cannot be your Savior without being your Lord.

We must know that Jesus is eternal, without beginning and without end, who took on the form of sinless humanity, born of a virgin, lived a sinless and perfect life, went to the cross to die, where all the sins of those who would trust Him was laid upon him and was paid with Jesus’ blood to be washed away

We must know that Jesus paid our sin debt in full with His death upon the cross and because of our faith in Him we have been clothed in the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ.

We must know that we now stand in the presence of God as faultless with full acceptance in the family of God by God the Father.

These are some of the essential truths of the gospel that we must know.

[Illustration] John 8:32 “and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.””

[Application] Church, what assurance we have this morning that in a world full of lies from the evil one, the truth shall set us free.

Not only because many false teachers are in the world, we must know the truth, but we also need to know the lies.

2. Because many false teachers are in the world, we must Detect the Lies (v. 21)

1 John 2:21 “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.”

John is emphatically teaching of the heresy of Gnosticism (one of the many false gospels that had infiltrated the church).

It is important that we understand that all NT epistles were written to address either directly or indirectly heresies or some kind of false teaching that threatened the health of the church. Remember Paul wrote the book of Colossians to address the “Colossian heresy of Gnosticism.” This reminds us of how God sovereignly uses even false teachings to sharpen our understanding of His truth.

[Subpoint 1] How should we approach the problem of Gnosticism?

We should know of their false teachings in order to be better equipped to refute them.

“Gnosticism” comes from the Greek word “to know.” The teachings of the Gnostics had two major features:

(1) Salvation was found in a higher spiritual knowledge. Those who entered into this knowledge were considered “enlightened ones.” Ordinary people, even Christians, did not have this knowledge. They had to get it through mystical ways.

(2) Spirit and flesh were thought of as separate entities. Spirit was good; flesh was bad. The spirit was untouched by fleshly influences, no matter what the flesh did. Therefore, the flesh could sin at will if it desired, and the spirit was unaffected. Therefore, a Gnostic could live a very immoral lifestyle and still claim to be a spiritual person.

Gnosticism was rooted in ancient Greek philosophy (Plato and Philo). When the church spread from Jerusalem to Greece, it inevitably encountered this philosophy. Gnostics did not see how a good God could have created an evil physical world, so they concocted a worldview that absolved God of any responsibility for this world by separating the spiritual world from the physical world.

Another teaching, Docetism was related to Gnosticism. “Docetism” comes from the Greek word “to seem.” Docetics taught that it was impossible for God, who was spirit (good), to take on a physical (bad) body, so they asserted that Jesus did not have a real physical body, but only seemed to have a physical body. Still others believed that the power of Christ came upon Jesus when he was baptized and departed from him before his death on the cross. So it was simply the man Jesus who died, not God in the flesh.

Whatever form of Gnosticism or variation existed, it struck at the very heart of the Christian faith by denying the physical death and resurrection of Jesus, the God-Man. Therefore, salvation did not come through the substitutionary atonement of Christ for our sins, but through gaining the mystical, special knowledge of God.

Gnosticism at its core, rejected the essential truths of the gospel. They rejected the deity of Jesus Christ, Jesus’ virgin birth, His sinless life, His substitutionary death, His bodily resurrection, and His Kingly positioning at the right hand of God the Father.

[Subpoint 2] How should we approach false teachings while working to maintain unity in the church?

John wants us to tread carefully when we make such claims against false teachings. Not every false teaching is a heretical teaching but every heretical teaching is a false teaching. I believe that within the body of Christ, among the different denominations we have our fair share of different understandings, especially among secondary doctrines, whether it be mode of baptism, altar calls, style of worship, church government or eschatological (end-times) views. For its important for us to understand these are not the essential truths of the person and works of Jesus Christ. I believe I’ve arrived at the right understanding and others have yet to arrive but not all our differences are considered “heresy.” A heretic is defined here as one who willingly rejects the person and works of Jesus Christ. Here John exposes the “heretic” as the Gnostic false teacher.

[Application] How this verse applies to us is that we should not only know the truth but we should also know the tactics of our enemies. The greatest asset we have in warfare is the intelligence that we gain from our enemies.

Church, I would ask you this morning, if you knew nothing about what Gnosticism taught, would you be able to discern the truth from the lie?

Not only is it important that we Discern the Truth, and Detect the Lies, but we must also Determine the Denier of the Truth.

3. Because many false teachers are in the world, we must Determine the Denier of the Truth (vv. 22-23)

1 John 2:22–23 “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. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.”

Church, have you ever encountered someone who is quick to point out problems but becomes quiet as a mouse when asked for solutions? (I think we all have at some point).

A common saying we hear today, coined from Eldridge Cleaver is that “You’re either part of the solution or you’re part of the problem.”

John brings a problem to the table but he also encourages believers that God has chosen them to be part of the solution. Looking at the text verses 20 and 27 are really the Holy Spirit bookends of this section.

[Analytical Question] How are we equipped to determine false teachers?

1 John 2:20 “But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.”

Christians have been equipped by God with the anointing of the Holy Spirit for the purpose of determining false teachers. Like we see in the Old Testament, God anointed prophets to speak His Word, God anointed priests to make His Sacrifices, God anointed kings to rule His People, and today God has anointed His Son Jesus Christ to be our Prophet, Priest, and King.

You and I cannot make the right discernment between the lie and the truth without the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit.

As I mentioned last week, only true believers possess the Holy Spirit. Only thru the working of the Spirit, will the scales fall from one’s eyes and one’s ears be opened to God’s Holy Truth. Only those who have been regenerated (born again) has had the vail lifted back to see and understand the truths that were previously hidden from our darkened minds. The leading of the Holy Spirit consists of illuminating and effectually directing believers by God’s Word.

1 John 2:27 “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.”

This does NOT mean that you and I have no need for a human teacher, because we know some were called to be preachers, evangelists, teachers and so on but what it does mean is that we don’t have to buy into the false teacher’s lies’. Why is this so important?

[Illustration] James Warren Jones was an American cult leader and mass murderer who led the Peoples Temple between 1955 and 1978 ordered a mass murder-suicide that claimed the lives of 909 commune members, 304 of them children; almost all of the members died by drinking Flavor Aid laced with cyanide.

Church what we believe matters. Our eternity rests on what we believe. Believing in a false Christ regardless of how sincere your faith may be, will lead you straight into the fiery pits of Hell. Our faith is only as good as the object of our faith. Thankfully by God’s grace, we have the anointing of the Holy Spirit, we the church are fully equipped to discern truth from lies and to expose sound teachers from false teachers.

John 6:45 “It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—”

All the elect, all the chosen by God that have been given to Jesus before the foundation of the world are taught by God.

John reinforces that the Holy Spirit equips us for the task of identifying false teachers. John continues now with the determining of false teachers.

[Analytical Question] How are we able to determine the false teachers?

John poses the question, “Who is the liar?”

Its not as obvious as a false teacher walking around with a sign on their forehead. False teachers know the vocabulary and practices of the church, but they have arrived at different understandings of these doctrines.

John provides the answer: “but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ.”

This is he who denies the person of Christ, the work of Christ, and the deity and humanity of Christ. In other words, the essential truths of the gospel. Jesus Christ is at the center of the gospel. There is no gospel (good news) without Jesus Christ for we would all just live out our earthly days till death where we would all spend eternity in the pits of hell because of our sins.

Church, hear my warning this morning. The teachers that you sit under, that you listen to: “Who do they say Jesus is?”

[Illustration] Even folks in the Bible were dead wrong at certain points of their life. “Some said, Jesus was John the Baptist, some said, Elijah, Some said, a prophet, a teacher.”

When truth is present, Satan is on the prowl.

[Illustration] In the Garden of Eden, where Satan posed the question in Genesis 3:1, “Did God really say?” Satan is behind every false teacher:

John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

[Analytical Question] How important is it that we confess and believe the true Jesus?

1 John 4:3 “and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.”

[Analytical Question] What are John’s implications for the church in response to false teachers?

John’s message is not just to inform the church of the problem but to call the church to action. Christians know the truth, so they hold the power to stop the lies of false teachers. The Bible calls us to rebuke, refute, persuade, reason, and convince false teachers by proclaiming God’s Holy Truth. In this context, its convincing them that the denial of Christ also constitutes a denial of God Himself, who testified to His Son.

Titus 1:9 “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.”

[Illustration] As he stood before the church court on the afternoon of April 18, 1521, Martin Luther was asked one question: “Will you recant of your writings and the errors which they contain?” After spending the night in prayer, searching for the right thing to say, he answered, “Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason—I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other—my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.” Martin Luther believed the Word of God required him to stand for the truth even in such a difficult situation. He knew that though others might abandon sound doctrine, he must stand firm. While his human judges had the power to excommunicate, exile, or even execute him, he knew the Judge in heaven would declare the most important verdict. Thus, Luther said, “My conscience is captive to the Word of God.” Luther believed that the church had succumbed to honoring false teachers, and knowing that they very probably would not even listen, he still answered his accusers by saying, “Here I stand.” He viewed himself as ultimately responsible only to a divine judge, and it motivated him to remain faithful to proclaim God’s Word in the most challenging of situation. You and I have a very similar calling in this day and age when truth is “relative” to most persons and “tolerance” for so many kinds of evils is encouraged. Defending the truth in our day can be dangerous to our friendships, reputations, and careers, but we, too, should stand in our day, knowing that one day we will stand before the One who judges the living and the dead.

John reminds us of an essential truth of the gospel. No one finds another way into God’s kingdom apart from Jesus Christ.

John 8:18 “I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.”

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Matthew 10:32 “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven,”

Those who claim to have the Father but reject the Son, do not have the Father, thus they are living in denial, they have be deceived by the “Father of lies.”

[Conclusion] In closing this morning, church, the truth will most definitely set us from free from the lies of the evil one. My charge for you, the church member is to know the essential truths of the Gospel that you may stand fast in your faith and defend God’s Holy Truth with your life. Or do you think that’s the job of the Pastor, Deacon, and Teacher? If you the ordinary church member cannot and will not care enough about God’s Church, to protect it against all its enemies, then we’re not standing in the house of God but the synagogue of Satan. If your priority is on boosting attendance and not discipling the flock, then you’ve already allowed the evil one in the front door. God doesn’t expect us to be spectators who comfortably sits on the sidelines, he commands you and I to love the things He loves and to hate the things He hates, so we must be willing to defend His Truth and His Church at all costs. Are you with me this morning in standing in truth against the evil one?

Let us Pray