Knowing and Abiding in the Truth

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.

28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

Introduction: We Must Not Only Know the Truth, We Must Abide In It.

Introduction…What Time Is It?…It’s Late.

What comes to mind when you hear the words: Antichrist…the last hour?

Do you think of a great world leader who persecutes the church at the end of time? Do you think of a well-dressed business executive with the nations bowing to his economic and political prowess in the future? Maybe you think of a person dressed in red tights carrying around a pitched-fork with horns coming out of their head roaming the earth today. Some think of a First Century Roman Leader who destroyed the temple in Israel, or personalities like Hitler, Mussolini, Linen, or Castro…Historical figures who caused great harm in the world in the past and opposed the cause of Christ.

Some of these ideas are valid and many have fulfilled the role of Antichrist in there day. Historically, some have viewed the Pope in Rome to be the embodiment of the antichrist, but who is this mysterious person? And how can we know who them if we encounter them? When can we expect to see their rise in the world? Is there just one who fulfills this role or will their be many?

The reason I am probing so deep with this question is the answers John gives us in the passage we are about to read might surprise us. He unmasks the antichrist and helps us discern how to live with gospel hope in the age of the antichrist. So who is the antichrist? When will the antichrist arise? And how can we know? Let’s listen know to God’s Words through the apostle John:

— 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. 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. 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. 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.

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.

28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

When I was a child there was a great deal of interest in the end times, the antichrist, naming dates when Jesus would return, and interpreting middle-eastern events and wars in the light of the book of Revelation. Much of what was being preached, written, and peddled throughout the church was based on fear and poor readings of scripture. Televangelist would make predictions and encourage people to buy their books, but there was little preaching of the cross and the hope of the Christian in tumultuous times. Fear, anxiety, and doubt were the fruits of many of their so-called “ministries”. So to be completely honest texts like we have opened up in front of us this morning give me a little anxiety because they were verses just like these that caused me to have great fear and to question my salvation. But John’s aim is not cause of fear and anxiety, but to strengthen our faith and devotion; He aims to warn us against fear, strengthen us to abide, and rely on God’s promises when the world seems to be falling apart. It is interesting that the antichrist is someone who distracts us from Christ causing fear and distress in the community, while the Spirit points us to greater faith and knowledge empowering us to abide, not doubt.

We think the antichrist will be someone who rises up from out there, but John tells us that antichrists will rise up from in here.

I. Antichrists: The Dangers of Knowing and Not Abiding.

A. Knowing and not abiding leads to division in the community (vs. 19).

Knowing the Truth But Not Abiding In It Leads To Division in the Community.

B. Knowing and not abiding leads to denying the person of Christ (vs. 20-24).

C. Knowing and not abiding leads to deception (vs. 26).

II. Children of God: The Blessings of Knowing and Abiding.

A. Abiding in the truth means we have union with the Son and the Father (vs. 24).

B. Abiding in the truth means we have the promise of eternal life (vs. 25).

C. Abiding in the truth means we are able to defend against deception (vs. 20-21; 27).

III. The Holy Spirit (The Anointing): Key to Knowing and Abiding.

Institutes of the Christian Religion Chapter I: What is Declared Concerning Christ Rendered Profitable to Us by the Secret Operation of the Spirit

there is an internal teacher, by whose agency the promise of salvation, which otherwise would only strike the air, or at most our ears, penetrates into our minds. Similar also is his remark, that the Thessalonians were “chosen by God through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth;”g by which connection, he briefly suggests, that faith itself proceeds only from the Spirit. John expresses this in plainer terms: “We know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.”() Again, “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.”i Therefore Christ promised to send to his disciples, “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive,”k that they might be capable of attaining heavenly wisdom. He ascribes to him the peculiar office, of suggesting to their minds all the oral instructions which he had given them. For, in vain would the light present itself to the blind, unless this spirit of understanding would open their mental eyes: so that he may be justly called the key, with which the treasures of the kingdom of heaven are unlocked to us; and his illumination constitutes our mental eyes to behold them. It is therefore that Paul so highly commends the ministry of the Spirit;() because the instructions of preachers would produce no benefit, did not Christ himself, the internal teacher, draw to him those who were given him by the Father.m Therefore, as we have stated, that complete salvation is found in the person of Christ: so to make us partakers of it, he “baptizes us with the holy Spirit and with fire,”() enlightening us into the faith of his Gospel, regenerating us so that we become new creatures, and, purging us from profane impurities, consecrates us as holy temples to God.

Institutes of the Christian Religion Chapter I: What is Declared Concerning Christ Rendered Profitable to Us by the Secret Operation of the Spirit

there is an internal teacher, by whose agency the promise of salvation, which otherwise would only strike the air, or at most our ears, penetrates into our minds. Similar also is his remark, that the Thessalonians were “chosen by God through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth;”g by which connection, he briefly suggests, that faith itself proceeds only from the Spirit. John expresses this in plainer terms: “We know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.”() Again, “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.”i Therefore Christ promised to send to his disciples, “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive,”k that they might be capable of attaining heavenly wisdom. He ascribes to him the peculiar office, of suggesting to their minds all the oral instructions which he had given them. For, in vain would the light present itself to the blind, unless this spirit of understanding would open their mental eyes: so that he may be justly called the key, with which the treasures of the kingdom of heaven are unlocked to us; and his illumination constitutes our mental eyes to behold them. It is therefore that Paul so highly commends the ministry of the Spirit;() because the instructions of preachers would produce no benefit, did not Christ himself, the internal teacher, draw to him those who were given him by the Father.m Therefore, as we have stated, that complete salvation is found in the person of Christ: so to make us partakers of it, he “baptizes us with the holy Spirit and with fire,”() enlightening us into the faith of his Gospel, regenerating us so that we become new creatures, and, purging us from profane impurities, consecrates us as holy temples to God.

Institutes of the Christian Religion Chapter I: What is Declared Concerning Christ Rendered Profitable to Us by the Secret Operation of the Spirit

there is an internal teacher, by whose agency the promise of salvation, which otherwise would only strike the air, or at most our ears, penetrates into our minds. Similar also is his remark, that the Thessalonians were “chosen by God through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth;”g by which connection, he briefly suggests, that faith itself proceeds only from the Spirit. John expresses this in plainer terms: “We know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.”() Again, “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.”i Therefore Christ promised to send to his disciples, “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive,”k that they might be capable of attaining heavenly wisdom. He ascribes to him the peculiar office, of suggesting to their minds all the oral instructions which he had given them. For, in vain would the light present itself to the blind, unless this spirit of understanding would open their mental eyes: so that he may be justly called the key, with which the treasures of the kingdom of heaven are unlocked to us; and his illumination constitutes our mental eyes to behold them. It is therefore that Paul so highly commends the ministry of the Spirit;() because the instructions of preachers would produce no benefit, did not Christ himself, the internal teacher, draw to him those who were given him by the Father.m Therefore, as we have stated, that complete salvation is found in the person of Christ: so to make us partakers of it, he “baptizes us with the holy Spirit and with fire,”() enlightening us into the faith of his Gospel, regenerating us so that we become new creatures, and, purging us from profane impurities, consecrates us as holy temples to God.

A. The Holy Spirit is the anointing we have received.

B. The Holy Spirit is the

“…there is an internal teacher, by whose agency the promise of salvation, which otherwise would only strike the air, or at most our ears, penetrates into our minds… John expresses this in plainer terms: “We know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.” Again, “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.” Therefore, Christ promised to send to his disciples, “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive,” that they might be capable of attaining heavenly wisdom. He ascribes to him the peculiar office, of suggesting to their minds all the oral instructions which he had given them. For, in vain would the light present itself to the blind, unless this spirit of understanding would open their mental eyes: so that he may be justly called the key, with which the treasures of the kingdom of heaven are unlocked to us; and his illumination constitutes our mental eyes to behold them. It is therefore that Paul [and John] so highly commends the ministry of the Spirit; because the instructions of preachers would produce no benefit, did not Christ himself, the internal teacher, draw to him those who were given him by the Father. Therefore…complete salvation is found in the person of Christ: so to make us partakers of it, he “baptizes us with the holy Spirit and with fire,” enlightening us into the faith of his Gospel, regenerating us so that we become new creatures, and, purging us from profane impurities, consecrates us as holy temples to God.”

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord....Crucify him.