The Last Hour

Introduction

Welcome

Remember today is our evangelism Sunday

We are meeting here at 2:00 today to carry the gospel into our community

We need prayer warriors here and workers to take the gospel out

Our message today is under this title: “The Last Hour”

John 2:18 “Little children, it is the last hour....”

The age in which we live is the final age of time

We are living in the day of deception

We are living in the day when the church is pulled between truth and error

We are going to deal with three main points today: deception, truth, and perseverance

There are many who fall into error through deception.

True believers cling to truth

Perseverance will determine our destiny

Prayer

1 John 2:18-23

The spirit of the antichrist confirms we are in the last days

(v 18) “Little children, it is the last hour....”

THE LAST HOUR

What John is talking about here is a period of time

Its not a length of time but time in its final stage

We call this the church age

BC is before Christ

AD anno domini: “in the year of our Lord”

We are living in the last hour

This is the church age

When Christ died on the cross he took away the power of death

The kingdom of God has come in the form of the Holy Spirit but not in its final form

The fullness of the kingdom will come when Christ returns in His second coming

We are in the final days of time

Nothing has to happen for Christ to return

The earth is ripe for judgement

The second coming is imminent

We do not know the day or the hour but we know it will be the next major spiritual event

Scoffers may scoff

Mockers may mock

BUT the Word of the Lord stands forever

And we know this is true because the presence of many antichrists

(v 18) “...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”

THE ANTICHRIST IS COMING (v 18)

This is who Paul calls the son of perdition

This is the one who Satan will empower to deceive the entire world

He will be a world leader

He will come a s a peace maker

But he will be the devils hero

The world has not known wickedness like what this one will bring

He will be like Satan incarnate

And Jesus said, the Great Tribulation will unlike anything this world has ever seen

Worse than the plagues upon Pharaoh

Worse than the black plague

Worse than Hitler

Worse than 911

But its not the Antichrist but many antichrists who John says confirm we are in the last days:

antichrists:

one who is opposed or comes instead of

When the Holy Spirit came down Satan immediately began a ministry against Him

And in these last days there are many antichrists

An antichrist is anyone who is opposed to Jesus

All other religions oppose Jesus Christ because they teach there is another way and Jesus HE WAS THE ONLY WAY

Forces on the outside of the church oppose Jesus Christ…politics has a history

But not juts outside the church, but from within the church that oppose Christ

(v 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.”

SCHOLARS CALL THEM SECESSIONISTS

There was a group of people who walked away from the Christian community while still claiming to be saved

And many people in the church were wondering why they left

And they were questioning their own salvation because these people claimed to have the real thing

And in their leaving they were trying to get other members to leave also and follow them

The point John makes here is that, “if they has the real thing they never would have left”

If they truly had a saving faith in Jesus Christ they never would have left the true fellowship of believer

Is this only true for the John’s church? NO

It is true for the church today!

“.....but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us”

I BELIEVE THIS CORONA VIRUS IS MANIFESTING THIS TRUTH TO THE CHURCHES TODAY

Just about every church in our nation is down in attendance

Many are struggling financially

Many have closed their doors and many more will in the future

That is because this virus has given many people a legitimate excuse to stop attending

Some are not coming for health reasons and I’m not talking about that.

I am speaking about those could come but use the virus as an excuse not to

This is not appointing fingers

This is not a word of condemnation

It is because of the grace of God

God is showing who is truly apart of the church and who is not

When everything in the church is stripped away you’ll see who the true church is

When all the activities and meals and festivals and parties disappear the church will still be there

When the excitement is gone and things get tough the church will still be there

When it comes to a point where coming to church could cost you something, the church will still be there

When there is nothing left but the Word of God and the people of God, the church will still be there

The people of God do not stay together for what they can get out of it

The people of God come together because its who they are

Look at the next verse:

Believers are anointed with truth

(v 20-21)“But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. 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”

BUT YOU

This contrasts those who walk away from the church

He speaking directly to the true church now

They are clearly different and here is the distinguishing mark:

THEY HAVE AN ANOINTING FROM THE HOLY ONE

“Anointing” here refers to being born again spiritually

Acts 10:38 “You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power”

Isa 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the Lord has anointed me”

Anointing here means that the Spirit of God has come to dwell within an individual

No one is truly saved until they have the Spirit of God within them

The Spirit of God is our seal and guarantee that we have eternal life

And no one is true member of the church without the Holy Spirit of God within them

All God’s people are anointed!

“and you know all things”

EVERYONE WHO HAS THE SPIRIT OF GOD KNOWS TRUTH

When God anointed you with His Spirit He also anointed you with truth

It is not a just a hope that we possess that Christianity is the right way

It’s not just a practice that we do or a religion

Our faith in Christ is based upon the fact THAT WE KNOW!

“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”

The people of God will not leave the church because the church is the pillar and support of the truth!

1 Timothy 3:15 NASB95

but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.

It stands for who we are!

It proclaims what saved our souls

It confirms the anointing God gave us!

The church is God’s household of truth!

WHAT IS THE TRUTH?

(v 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. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges (confess) the Son has the Father also.

I don’t like that word, “acknowledge”

He who confesses the son has the Father also

John 14:6 NASB95

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

The truth is that Jesus is the only way to God the Father!

The truth is the incarnate Word

The church is the pillar of truth because it proclaims and affirms the truth!

And the reason these people fell away from the church is because they did not believe the truth

John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth”

They left this church because they did not believe the truth that was proclaimed

“Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son”

Anyone ever watch shark tank?

These entrepreneurs try to get investors to buy into their products

And a key to them investing is if they believe in the product or believe it works

No one wants to stand behind something that they believe doesn’t work

Same principle here

They left the fellowship of the church because they do not believe the message of the church

They may say they believe

They may claim to have the Father

So did these secessionists

But they don’t have a saving faith

Because if they did they would anointed with the truth

Jesu said this about the end of this age:

Matthew 24:13 NASB95

“But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.

Our salvation is not marked by endurance

Those who continue on regardless of the situation

Those who press on do so because they know the truth

(v 24) Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.

Those who abide in the truth receive eternal life

Notice how John repeats himself:

“let that abide in you” and “If what you heard in the beginning abides in you”

What dis they hear from the beginning?

The truth Gospel of Jesus Christ!

What John has been teaching them in this letter!

To not love this world!

It means to be in true fellowship of the church

It means to keep the commandments of God

It means to love your brother or sister in Christ

It means to walk just as Jesus walked

What John is teaching is not new teaching but that which was taught from the beginning

If we keep the truth in our hearts, then that truth will keep us in Christ

If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.

Christians: DO NOT FALL AWAY!

Keep what you heard in you

Don’t disregard it!

And you will have eternal life

(v 25) “And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.”

To be anointed by the holy One is to have that promise

To remain in Christ

They don’t only remain in Christ, but they remain in the church

And they do this because they remain in truth

And by remaining in the truth they know they have eternal life!

(v 26-27) “These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you. As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.

Christians abide in Him

Don’t walk away from the truth in these uncertain days

Don’t look at others and think its ok to live like that

Don’t use this virus as an excuse to stay out of the church

We are living in the days of deception

People are doubting everything they have ever been taught about Jesus

Our world is in an immoral chaos

Our children are being taught things we would have never dreamed of at their age

Believers Abide in Him!

Don’t walk away from Him!

Hebrews 10:25 NASB95

not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Embrace the truth of the gospel

Do not love this world!!

Do not love the things of this world!!

Remain in truth

And we will remain in Him

Are you a true member of the church?

I think this corona virus is God’s grace to make manifest who truly belongs and who does not

You may disagree, but I believe God wants everyone saved

And I believe this virus has made manifest those who are not truly of the church

And I believe this is so they will come to faith in Christ

You cant be saved unless you know your lost

Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost

This is the age of salvation

And if you are not saved, you come and and give your life to Christ

~Prayer~