Protection from Deception: The Doctrinal Test

1 John 2:18-27 The Doctrinal Test (Protection from Deception) Introduction: We’ve been talking about how easy it is for us to be deceived as to our spiritual state, especially if we are using subjective experiences or subjective truths to judge that spiritual state. Again John here shows the threat of spiritual deception and the safeguards against it. John, again, writes as a concerned spiritual father. You can hear his tone: “Children, it is the last hour and as you have heard antichrist is coming.....” This should raise the hair on our necks. John has turned now from encouragement and exhortation to warning! There are deceivers that have crept into the Church and they are teaching strange things that have truths intermixed in them. And when people have no theological depth and no vital experience of the Holy Spirit they are sitting ducks for the deceiver and the antichrist. 1. The Last Hour a. “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. 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. 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.” i. This phrase and similar phrases like “the last days” refer to the period of time from Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem to the Second Coming. The kingdom has come, but is not yet fully consummated.The scripture uses the terms the last days, the last hour, the last time, the last times interchangeably, they all mean the same thing. ii. Twice John tells his dear children that it is the last hour. Since the new age had dawned with the coming of Christ, Christians knew themselves to be living in the last days. The new age had come, already the world and the darkness were passing away. John’s reasoning for believing it was the last hour was that even at that time many antichrist had come. b. Antichrist i. Though we have many thoughts on the antichrist - who he is and what he does. John is actually the only Biblical writer to use this the name Antichrist though we find references to the same end-time person in other biblical writers: (1) Daniel (cf. 7:7–8, 23–26; 9:24–27; (2) Jesus (cf. Mark 13; Matt. 24; (3) John (cf. Rev. 13); and (4) Paul (cf. 2 Thess. 2). 1. This is how John describes the antichrist. a. 1 John 2:18 “Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come.” b. 1 John 2:22 “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.” c. 1 John 4:3 “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.” d. 2 John 7 “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. e. None of these verses here have to do with taking a mark, a world ruler, 666, being killed for professing Jesus name,etc which is usually the way that Christians think of the Antichrist. i. John is not demythologizing the coming Antichrist, but he is saying that there are many antichrist that serve as forerunners to the coming Antichrist. f. The work of antichrist’ as John shows is much more subtle than the coming antichrist. It isn’t a blatant rejection of Jesus, but a rejection that he is the Christ or that he has come in the flesh. i. Anti, in greek, can mean either against or instead of. 1. So we are often times faced with teaching that is not necessarily dealing with a blatant rejection, but a substitute of Jesus Christ. 2. History is filled with those who have opposed God and His Christ: a. Antiochus Epiphanes (little horn of Daniel 8; 11:36–45) b. Nero and Domitian (claimed deity but not Messiahship) c. Atheistic Communism d. Secular Humanism e. But also this is matched by those who are not against Christ, but claim to be the Christ (use #2). f. The false teachers of Mark 13:6, 22 and Matt. 24:5, 24 g. Modern cult leaders - Mohammed and Charles Russell and Joseph Smith and Mary Baker Eddy and Jim Jones and Sun Moon, etc. h. The Antichrist (Dan. 7:8; 9:23–26, 24–27; II Thess. 2:3; and Rev. 13) i. Christians in every age will experience both false teachers who deny Christ and false Messiahs who claim to be Christ. However, one day, the last day, one special incarnation of evil will do both! 2. The scriptures tell us that we are living in the most heightened era of spiritual deception in the history of the world. Therefore we should be on our guard and that’s why John writes to warn us and them of deception. a. 2 Timothy 3:1,7 “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.... always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.” b. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” c. Matthew 24:23-24 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.” i. “There are many dangers in the Christian life, but perhaps the very worst is that of false teaching. It has such an inoffensive look, and as such is unlike anything immoral. It often deceives, because it seems to suggest new ideas. The soul would quickly reject anything openly and avowedly sinful, and yet may easily succumb to the fascination of novel thoughts and ways”. 2. Two things that protect us from Antichrist. a. “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. And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life. I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 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.” i. Although the spiritual deception is great, John says there are two things that Christians have that will guard them and preserve them from deception. 1. The Word a. Vs.24 “let what you heard from the beginning abide in you.” i. The word they heard from the beginning is the gospel. This was the apostolic teaching, that had been the original message preached. ii. The original and authentic saving message of Christ’s death for sin and his conquest of death. 1. This is the message that these false teachers these antichrist were denying or moving away from. iii. John’s instruction is “to see that it remains in us”. Which implies that this is something that must be worked for, and safeguarded. iv. Therefore the Christian is not one who is looking for something new, or the latest ideas. These are actually the marks of heresy. 1. “Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God.” a. Remember the greek word for goes on ahead is “progress”. It’s progressive, it’s new, and that’s how we know it’s heresy. b. The continuous obsession for new ideas was the mark of the Athenian not the Christian. (Acts 17:21) v. The Christian should always be skeptical of “New Doctrine”. vi. If you stay Biblical, you’ll stay true. 1. “The Apostolic testimony is directed essentially to the Son. That is why it will keep us true to him if we remain to true to it. Moreover we will remain in the Son and in the Father, in the sense of experiencing an intimate spiritual communion with both.” -Stott 2. The Anointing of the Holy One. a. Vs. 20 “But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.” b. Vs.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. i. What is John talking about that we don’t need to be taught and if that is true, why is he teaching them? 1. John is here referencing Jeremiah 31:34, “And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. 2. Jesus also spoke of this “It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.” a. John is speaking of the anointing with the Holy Spirit that each believer has received upon entrance into the family of God. ii. What John is saying is that the Holy Spirit, not the gnostic false teachers, is our ultimate and indispensable teacher. 1. John 14:26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” a. However, this does not mean that the office and gift of teacher is not active in the early church and today (cf. Eph. 4:11; Acts 13:1; II Cor. 12:28). It simply means that basic things concerning salvation come from the Holy Spirit and the Bible, not from any special, gifted, human teacher, although He often uses them as a means. iii. But how does the Holy Spirit protect us from false doctrine? Don’t most false teachers claim that they have a message from the Spirit? 1. This is how we know: The Holy Spirit does not expand the apostolic teaching of Christ. On the contrary, the Word tests the Spirit. 1 John 4:2 says, "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses that Jesus has come in the flesh is of God." The Spirit agrees with the apostolic doctrine or it is not the Spirit of God. This is why we reject the teaching of Mr. Moon (and other cult leaders). Not because we can boast of different revelations from the Spirit, but because his claim does not square with the faith once for all delivered to the saints in the teaching of the apostles. 2. So the work of the Holy Spirit is not to take us beyond the teaching of the apostles. It is to help us accept and abide in that teaching. It helps us grow in our understanding of that teaching. It strengthens our power to practice that teaching. It increases our confidence in the truth of that teaching. But it does not change the teaching. It does not expand on the teaching. - John Piper a. 1 Corinthians 2:12 “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. Conclusion: We cannot underestimate the importance of the Word of God and the experience of the Holy Spirit in our lives! John gives us two imperatives in the face of false doctrine! 1). Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. 2).But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him. 1. Paul tells us in Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” 2. Paul says in Ephesians 5:18-20 “be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ a. Deception is a serious thing for the individual and for the Church. Do you want to be safe from deception? Then do these things, Let the Word of God abide in you and abide in the Holy Spirit. b.