Staying True in a Deceptive World

Intro:

Last week, we talked about what John meant when he warned believers “not to love the world.” And we learned that when John says “the world,” in the context of these verses, that he’s not talking about people or about nature… … he is talking about a world system — a way of thinking and living that’s organized in opposition to God.

It’s that invisible pull of culture that says, “Do what feels right. Live for yourself. Forget about God.” It’s a system driven by pride, pleasure, and possessions — and if we’re not careful, it can quietly shape the way we think, the way we act, and even the way we believe.

As authentic believers cannot let the world’s values define us. We are to live differently. We are to walk in light, not darkness. We need to seek to please God with our lives, and not try to blend in with everyone else.

Now, as we move into the next few verses, John takes this a step further. He says, “It’s not just the world around you that’s dangerous — it’s also the deception that can creep into the church.”

In other words, the threat isn’t only out there — sometimes it’s in here… It’s not just worldly temptation; it’s spiritual distortion.

There are false teachers everywhere we look… people who twist the truth, they redefine who Jesus is and was, and they are leading others astray at a rapid rate.

John says that “We need to be alert. We need to be able to recognize deception… and we need to stay rooted in what’s true.”

And that’s what our passage points towards today… how to stay true in a deceptive world.

Because if the enemy can’t get you to love the world, he’ll try to get you to believe a lie.

Lets see what John has to say…

(Read 2:18-23)

Meat:

Just from the first two words of our passage, we can see that John loved the ones to whom he was writing… He addresses them as children… not in a demeaning way, but in a compassionate and loving way…

He saw them as part of his spiritual family and wanted to make sure that they were protected from the deception that Satan would try to get them to believe through false teachers.

So before he tells them what to do, he helps them understand what’s really going on. He reminds them that the world is full of spiritual counterfeits… these false teachers who sound very convincing but lead people away from the truth and lead people away from Christ.

That’s why he starts by saying, “Children, it is the last hour.”

In other words, “Pay attention. The clock is ticking. The spiritual battle is real.”

If we’re going to live authentically in a deceptive world, the first thing we need to do is…

1. Recognize the Reality of False Teaching.

One of the greatest dangers facing believers today isn’t just the false teaching itself… it’s being unaware of it or pretending it doesn’t exist at all…

John isn’t warning us about something far away; he’s saying, “It’s already here.”

The Apostle Paul gave a similar warning in…

2 Corinthians 11:13–14 NASB95

13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

In other words, deception rarely looks evil, in fact... it often looks appealing.

A.W. Tozer once said, “The devil is a better theologian than any of us and still a devil.”…

That’s because he knows how to wrap poison in sugar.

I know its gross to think about, but so is sin when seen for what it really is… so I’ll give you the illustration anyway…

But think about rat poison… you know, the little box of pellets that we stick out to keep the mice and rats away…

95% (or more) of the recipe for rat poison is made up of edible fillers... grains, peanut butter, sugar, or seeds… different foods that rodents love.

The actual poison only makes up about 5% (or less) of the finished product… and that’s what makes it work… The rat thinks it’s getting a treat, but it’s actually eating its death.

That’s how false teaching works — it sounds almost right, but that ‘almost’ can be deadly… and the closer we get to Christ’s return, the more deception will increase.

When John said “It is the last hour”, this was his way of letting his readers know that…

1.1 We are Living in Critical Times

John is not trying to scare his readers, but rather, he is trying to get them to recognize the time in which they were living…

When we look at verses like…

Hebrews 1:1–2 NKJV

1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son…

and then Peter, repeating the words of the prophet Joel in…

Acts 2:17 NKJV

17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh…

Along with other passages that talk about this period of time… we can see that the last days’ began when Jesus rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, and poured out His Holy Spirit on the believers in Acts chapter 2.

For 2,000 years, God has been patiently working His redemptive plan through the church, calling people to repentance, spreading the gospel across the world, and preparing His people for the return of His Son, Jesus Christ.

We’re not waiting for the last days to start; we’re living in them right now… We are living in critical times… We are living in the final chapter of God’s story of salvation…

We can also see that…

1.2 False Teachers are Nothing New

From the very beginning, the enemy has tried to twist God’s truth and distort the gospel. Every generation has faced its own version of spiritual deception.

The tactic that Satan has used since the Garden of Eden has been to distort the truth just enough to sound believable.

And that’s why John reminds us that we shouldn’t be surprised by it… but we should be ready for it.

1 John 2:18–19 “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.

When John uses the word “antichrist,” he’s not only talking about one future world leader who will oppose Christ… but he goes on to explain that anyone who denies the truth about who Jesus is and spreads lies about Him, they are in fact being controlled by an antichrist spirit.

This antichrist spirit often shows up in what’s called the prosperity gospel or word-of-faith teaching. It promises health, wealth, and success as proof of faith, and it treats Jesus less as Savior and more as a means to personal gain.

Their message denies the true heart of the gospel.

They teach that Jesus came to make us rich… but Scripture says He came to make us righteous.

They teach that Jesus’ mission is to give us everything we want… but Scripture says His mission is to save us from sin and unite us with God.

John is stating that anyone who denies the truth about Jesus Christ—who He is, what He taught, and what He accomplished—and seeks to distort or replace that truth with something else, is a type of antichrist…

If we are going to live authentically in a deceptive, we have to recognize the reality of false teaching...

Secondly, We must…

2. Remain Faithful When Others Don’t

Not everyone who starts strong in the faith finishes well.

It’s easy to begin with excitement, but perseverance is what proves authenticity. Just like during a marathon race, there are always plenty at the starting line, but fewer at the finish.

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 they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.”

John is reminding us that…

2.1 Perseverance Proves Authenticity

Anyone can claim faith for a season, but real faith lasts for eternity. Time and testing reveal whether our commitment to Christ is genuine or just emotional.

John says “They went out from us, but they were not of us”

In other words, they looked like believers, talked like believers, maybe even (for a time) acted like believers… but they didn’t persevere… eventually their true colors came to the surface…

Judas is a perfect example of this…

He followed Jesus for three years. He heard every sermon, saw every miracle, and still turned his back on Christ.

What’s even more surprising is that he deceived the other disciples…

When Jesus said at the Last Supper, “One of you will betray Me,” no one pointed their finger at Judas… No one said, “Oh yeah, we knew it!”… Instead, each of them asked, “Lord, is it I?”.

That tells me that Judas looked so much like the real thing that no one suspected him.

He talked like the rest of them. He ministered with them. He handled the money bag. He even performed ministry alongside the other apostles when Jesus sent them out two by two.

On the outside and by all appearances, Judas fit in. However, on the inside, his heart had never truly belonged to Christ.

John MacArthur says that “Judas is the greatest example of wasted opportunity and the most tragic case of self-deception. He walked with the Truth Himself, yet chose a lie.”

That’s the danger of deception… A person can be around truth, agree with truth, even serve in the name of truth and still not be transformed by it.

Billy Graham use to have a close friend and preaching partner, Charles Templeton. Thousands came to hear him preach. But over time, he began to doubt the Bible’s authority and ultimately renounced his faith, claiming he no longer believed in Jesus… He knew the message, preached the message, and yet eventually walked away from the message…

Billy Graham, when asked about his former friend, said that “He knew the gospel as well as I did — maybe better. But somewhere along the line, he let his intellect take the place of his faith”

From the Garden of Eden to the present day, Satan has always recycled the same old lies in new packaging.

The names and faces change, but the strategy stays the same… … twist God’s truth just enough to lead hearts away from Christ.

John says in the rest of v.19…

“… if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.”

2.2 Falling Reveals the Heart

This is something that we need to understand… falling away doesn’t cause someone to lose their salvation; it exposes the fact that they never truly had it to begin with.

That phrase “that they might be made manifest” means to make visible or to bring into the open.

In other words, time and testing expose what was already true beneath the surface.

It’s like the difference between a storm and a foundation. When a storm hits a neighborhood, all the houses get the same wind and rain — but only those with solid foundations remain standing.

The storm doesn’t cause the weak foundation; it reveals it.

In the same way, trials, temptations, and time don’t make someone fall away — they simply expose whether the foundation of their faith was real.

John MacArthur explains it this way:

“Departure from the faith is the final proof of a false profession. Perseverance is the hallmark of the saved. The test of genuine faith is endurance.”

So when John says, “they went out that they might be made manifest,” he means that God allows time and testing to act like the storm… not to destroy someone’s faith, but to expose whether or not it is authentic.

Which also means that… When someone walks away from the truth, it’s not that God has failed them … it’s that the storm revealed what was beneath the surface all along.

Next… if we, as believers, are going to stay true in a deceptive world… we must…

3. Rely on the Spirit’s Guidance

After John gives a strong warning, he transitions into reassurance…

v.20…

1 John 2:20 “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.”

The deceptive world claims to have the real truth — new insights, hidden knowledge, and secret revelations that supposedly go beyond what Scripture teaches.

You see it today in so many forms:

“progressive” theology that redefines sin,

New Age spirituality that mixes Jesus with self-enlightenment,

or prosperity teachings that make faith all about getting instead of giving.

It all sounds deep, but it’s designed to draw people away from the simplicity of the gospel.

In his commentary, Dr. Tony Evans says “Whenever the world claims to have new truth that adds to or corrects God’s Word, it’s not enlightenment — it’s deception. Truth isn’t discovered; it’s revealed in Jesus Christ.”

You don’t need some secret code, hidden book, or mystical experience… Through the Holy Spirit, you already have access to the truth that sets you free.

Through the Holy Spirit we are…

3.1 Equipped to Discern

John said, “You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.” Meaning that, God hasn’t left His people in the dark.

Every true believer has been equipped by the Holy Spirit with the ability to recognize truth and detect deception.

This ability isn’t something mystical and its is not reserved for the so called spiritual elite…

Jesus said in…

John 16:13 NKJV

13 … When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth… and He will tell you things to come.

The moment that you put your faith in Christ, God gave you His Spirit not just to comfort you, but to guide you… to help you discern truth from error.

Warren Wiersbe explains it this way…

“The Holy Spirit does not add new truth to the Bible; He helps us understand and apply the truth that is already there.”

When we rely on the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we will be equipped to discern falsehood from the truth and we will realize that the Spirit…

3.2 Confirms God’s Word

As stated before, Satan loves to twist God’s Word, and one of the deceptions he uses is to convince people that the Bible is full of contradictions.

But that’s just another one of his lies… From the very beginning, his strategy has been the same — to make people doubt what God has said.

Satan knows that if he can get you to question the reliability of God’s Word, he can weaken your confidence in God Himself.

But John says in v.21…

1 John 2:21 “I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.”

John is saying you know the truth of the gospel…

you know that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone…

You know you have received the Spirit of Truth as was seen on the day of Pentecost…

You know that you can confidently stand on God’s Word as the only reliable and errorless source of absolute truth!… because truth and lies cannot mix.

Warren Wiersbe says it well…

“The Spirit of God teaches the truth from the Word of God, and He will never teach us anything that contradicts what the Bible says.”

That’s why we rely on the guidance of the Holy Spirit — He’s the one who helps us see the unity and consistency of God’s truth from Genesis all the way through Revelation.

The Spirit confirms God’s Word and silences the lies of the false teachers.

And finally… If we are going to stay true in a deceptive world… We must…

4. Stay True To Christ

John is getting to the heart of the issue… it all comes down to what people believe about Jesus Christ…

v.22…

1 John 2:22–23 “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.

23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.”

False teachers in John’s day, and many of them today claim to believe in God but deny that Jesus is the divine Son of God, who came in the flesh, to pay the penalty for sin.

John says, “That’s not a small error… that’s a lie that comes straight from the spirit of antichrist…

Denying Jesus’ true identity — that He is fully God and fully man, the only Savior — cuts a person off from fellowship with God.

R.C. Sproul puts it this way…

“To deny the Son is to reject the only revelation of the Father we have. There is no such thing as faith in God apart from faith in Christ”

When John says “whoever denies the Son does not have the Father,” he’s drawing a clear line in the sand.

There is no question about what he means…

And when John says the one who “acknowledges the Son” — who openly confesses Christ as Lord and Savior — “has the Father also.”

We need to understand that the word acknowledge means more than just a verbal agreement… more than just saying it with you mouth… It means to publicly affirm, to hold to, and to align one’s life with.

Confessing Christ isn’t just saying His name — it’s standing firm on who He is, even when the world says otherwise.

This is why I encourage you, on a regular basis, to live out what you say you believe… Don’t just say you are a child of God, live like it!

Because Authentic Living begins and ends with Christ. Stay true to Him, stay grounded in His Word, and you’ll never be led astray.

Closing:

As John has reminded us throughout this passage, we’re living in a time of great deception — but also of great opportunity. The world around us is filled with spiritual counterfeits, false teachers, and voices that distort the truth of God’s Word.

Yet, in the middle of all that confusion, God has given us everything we need to stand firm.

We have His Word — the unchanging, infallible truth that exposes every lie.

We have His Spirit — the indwelling presence of God who guides, convicts, and confirms what is true.

And we have His Son — Jesus Christ, the cornerstone of our faith and the light that shines in the darkness.

So don’t lose heart.

Don’t be swayed by every new idea that sounds spiritual but strays from Scripture.

Don’t let the world’s confusion shake your confidence in what God has already made clear.

As the deception increases, and it will, let your discernment deepen.

And as the world drifts further from truth, let your faith and love for Christ grow even stronger.

Because the more you know the truth, the easier it is to spot the counterfeit.

The more you walk in the Spirit, the harder it is for the Satan to deceive you.

And the more you cling to Jesus Christ, the more anchored you’ll be — no matter how deceptive the world becomes.

So stay true to Christ. Stand on His Word. Rely on His Spirit. And live authentically in a world that desperately needs to see what real faith looks like.

Prayer: