True or False

1st John Sermon Series

GETTING BACK TO THE BASICS

Part 7

TRUE OR FALSE

Scripture: 1 John 2:18-23

Before we dig in the Word that God has for us today, let’s take a moment in prayer.

Hey, welcome back to our sermon series “GETTING BACK TO THE BASICS” as we walk the road of faith together through the Book of 1st John.

If you have your Bible with you today, and I hope that you do, open it with me to the New Testament book of 1st John chapter 2.

By now many of you have it booked marked, but if you are unfamiliar to where it is, you can find 1 John by going to the back of the Bible and working forward 5 books, Revelation, Jude, 3rd and 2nd John, then you will find 1st John chapter 2 is where we will be this morning.

Let me remind you that John wrote this letter to the 2nd and 3rd Generation born-again believers in Asia Minor, which is present day Turkey.

It is also important to note that in biblical days, especially when the Apostle John wrote this letter that there were some problems that rose within the church community. This caused confusion for some of the believers, some were following a cult called Gnostic’s, others were being led astray by false teachings in the church. So, John writes to the brothers and sisters as a father or grandfather figure, emphasizing that the church community needed to get back to the basics.

Meaning they needed to get back to the fundamentals that they were taught in the beginning.

Now, I used to golf a lot, in-fact at point in my life I golfed almost every day. Golf is a game of fundamentals. Fundamentals are the necessary base or core of what you do. A basic fundamental of a golf swing is that you must keep your head down and your eye on the ball. This is at the core of your swing. If your head is not down and you are not looking at the ball, then you will miss it every time. Or take baseball for example in order to hit the ball you have to keep your eye on the ball, football the same.

Now wouldn’t you agree with me that all things in life have some sort of basic fundamentals?

Think about it a home budget for example has some basic fundamentals. Christian financial advisors say the basic foundation is returning a portion back to God, then pay yourself and certainly don’t spend more than you have. AMEN?

Driving a car has basic fundamentals as well; gas, break, steering wheel, stop- go- yield, look both ways- don’t take your eye off the road -or you will run into the car in front of you. Right?

But here is the thing the thing, when we mess up what we are doing, whether it be sports, driving, blowing the budget or anything in life, 99% of the time it’s because we have abandoned the basics.

When I would have a bad shot on the golf course I would hear my buddies say- “keep the fundamentals”…. but you know sometimes through the busyness of life, the pressures of life, the problems of life even through the busyness of church or an attempt of serving God we can take our eye of the ball, we can lose the fundamentals.

Church attendance begins to drop or people forget why we are supposed to give back to God, what our purpose is all about.

It is at these moments that we must get back to the basics. And that is what we see in this book. John is calling the believers who have lost their way, people who might have gotten sidetracked with the false teachers, side tracked because the first-generation believers are gone and they don’t have others to keep them on track.

For some life has gotten in the way of church, these are people just like us. So John is teaching the church community to get back to the basics of their faith.

If we are all honest we all from time to time in life have to get back to the basics of our faith. We all have to sure up the foundation. And that is what I love about this sermon series.

If we take the Word of God that John is teaching and apply it to our lives, it will keep us with the basics of our faith. And the basics of our faith will drive what we believe what we say and do for the Kingdom of God.

So far John has really hit the nail on the head; would you say? He began this letter talking about the vital sign of life as a born-again believer is having fellowship with God and other believers. He said that Spiritual Fellowship is the pulse of the Disciple.

Then John went straight for the jugular when he said that God is light and as those who have fellowship with God we are to walk in God’s shoes- and we should then illuminate the World by reflecting God’s light.

He then reminds us that as children of God we have been pardoned from the death sentence of sin.

John continues by taking the old command to love God and others and describes it as a new command as Jesus came to earth to show us what love supposed to look like and how as disciples we are to love others.

Then he tells us of the often-forgotten spiritual growth is process.

And each stage brings with it revelation of Scripture, revelation of God, Revelation of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Then last week was something, where we discovered that the decisions in life are based from the priorities that we have. John gives a command not to love the world. He said don’t place your priority on the world because it’s the wrong choice. Because when you love the world it is an obstacle to loving God, the world is driven by the lust of the flesh and the world is passing away. But rather we should love God- and by loving God we will doing His will in our lives.

All these things are about the basics and foundation of our faith that we have in God.

Today the Apostle John teaches us about knowing the difference between True and False.

So, if you are there in the Book of 1 John chapter 2 begin reading with me from the 18th verse.

This is the Word of God and it begins like this: 1 John 2:18-26

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. 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.

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.

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 the Son has the Father also.

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. And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.

Amen and amen

WOW! John is not holding back. He is telling it like it is. I think we need that more from the church today.

WHICH BRINGS US TO OUR TAKE-HOME TRUTH TODAY:

THE TAKE HOME TRUTH IS:

WE ARE LIVING IN THE AGE OF DECEPTION.

Notice with me the beginning words of verse 18: John again speaks as the authority figure in the lives of the believers.

Look what he says:

“Little children, it is the last hour” then look at the last few words of verse 26, He says “These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you”

What is the age that we are living in? John calls it the “the last hour”, The Apostle Paul calls it “the last days”.

They are defined as the period of time after the first coming of Jesus Christ, some 2000 years ago, and before His second coming in the future to establish a new kingdom. This period of time is marked by two happenings, noted in the books of Acts and 2 Timothy and in what we read this morning. The first happening is the gift of the Holy Spirit to born-again believers. The second happening is the increase of opposition by unbelievers against God and God’s ways.

It is so important for us to recognize that we are living in the last hour. And i want everyone to know that we think we have forever to get right with God, or that we have plenty of time to go back and forth with our beliefs, we are in the last hours.

This much we know about the “last hour.” God’s measurement of time is not same as ours. The Bible tells us in 2 Pet 3:8 “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” Then in verse 10 it says: “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.”

But notice with me when the end does come – it will surprise all people – including believers.

The Bible tells us in Matt 24:44 that Jesus said, “This is why you also must be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

The last hour or the last days are times of DECEPTION, and the deception is a tool which slowly takes people away from our true purpose and worship of God and here’s the thing; this deception has become normal to us.

In today’ world people are taken advantage of others through deceiving them. Deception for some has become a way of life. In today’s lifestyle we are deceived with phone scams, internet scams our older generation have lost millions to people deceiving them. Then there are credit card scams. Then of course there is identity theft. People have push the envelop so much that they are now scamming our tax returns. Completing tax returns sending them to the IRS getting the money for it. And now they are even posing as the IRS. Then of-course the media is deceiving writing their own narratives on what we should believe.

And if that is not bad enough there are people infiltrating the church who are deceiving others into believing NOT WHAT the Word of God says but rather using it to abuse the church and take advantage of people in an attempt to pull people away from God.

Deception in these last days are creating ethical and doctrinal issues within the church.

This is not something that has just come to light. If you study the Bible and the New Testament Church you will find that since the creation of the church there have people against the church.

And this is why John is addressing to the church community then and to us today. John isn’t telling us something that we don’t already know, he is speaking about things that we already know are going on in the world and in the Church.

It is the age we are living in.

WE ARE LIVING IN THE AGE OF DECEPTION.

So John gives us three facts about living in the age of deception or the last days.

The first fact that we are living in the last days is there are two types of people.

The first type of people John addresses are the antichrists.

Now notice with me that John is describing two things; a future event that has yet to take place and the current situation that is happening as he is writing this letter.

Notice V18: “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come”

Then look at V 22 “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.”

The title antichrist can have two meanings. It can mean “in opposition to” or “against Christ" or it can mean “instead of.” So an antichrist is either one who stands in opposition to Christ or one who stands in the place of Christ.

The antichrist is both in a sense is the opposite of Jesus Christ, but also, and primarily, is someone who comes in the place of Jesus Christ, trying to take His place in our lives.

This term also describes any person who opposes Jesus Christ and what He stands for.

The Bible teaches that at some point in the future a person will arise who embodies this opposition to Christ. Paul calls him the "man of lawlessness" in the book of 2 Thessalonians, and this figure "will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God" (2 Thess. 2:4). This person will embody every hostility toward Christ that’s ever been expressed in all of the world’s history, all in one person.

But notice that John isn’t saying that the single Antichrist has come, but rather the people who oppose Christ Jesus are the precursor of the coming of the antichrist.

And as he writes in v18 “many antichrists have come”

Notice with what Jesus said about this in Matt 24:24 “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”

These antichrists are people who do not believe in Christ Jesus- they are in opposition to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

Now notice with me that there have been antichrists within the church- John says in verse 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.”

These people, were people who were in the church- notice the words “they went out from us”John is describing people who were part of the church and then left it.

s Notice what he says “they did not belong to us; for if they belonged to us, they would have remained with us”

DID THAT JUST BLOW YOUR MIND?

Listen folks you can be present in the church and not be part of the body.(X2)

John’s idea here is that these people had been believing and even teaching heresies in the church, departing from the truth of God, and it got to the point where they left the church.

They began in the church, but they did not belong to the church, in other words they never experienced the saving grace of Jesus Christ. As John says that if they truly belonged to the church, they would not have left it and become antichrists.

Let me make this point here; GOD NEVER PUSHES PEOPLE OUT OF HIS CHURCH!

HE INVITES US TO BECOME PART OF HIS CHURCH.

Proverbs 14:25 “A true witness delivers souls, But a deceitful witness speaks lies.”

The first type of person is the antichrist- those who opposes Christ.

The second type of people are believers, disciples, Christ followers:

Look at back at verse 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.”

The HOLMAN CHRISTIAN STANDARD BIBLE SAYS IT THIS WAY:

“What you have heard from the beginning must remain in you. If what you have heard from the beginning remains in you, then you will remain in the Son and in the Father.”

John reminds the church community and us today that if we stay focused on what we heard in the beginning of our faith. That Christ died for our sins and that our redemption comes from His blood and resurrection then we will remain in Him.

Becoming or restoring yourself as a child of God has always been easy, easy as ABC.

Admit - to God that you are a sinner.

Believe - in Christ Jesus – John 3:16 whoever believes in Him will not perish.

Confess - with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believing in your heart that God raised Him from the dead.

Believers- Disciples- Christ followers are not a perfect breed of people. In-fact, the Church is far from perfect. We have difficult folks, but we are a family. Listen, You were born into it through your new birth in Christ Jesus.

The Apostle John says first that there are two types of people those who are true believers and those who are the antichrists.

Then He continues to tell the church that because we are living in the last days that there is there are two types of truth.

The first truth is false truth.

Notice what verse 22 tell us. John speaks of the antichrist- “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.”

The antichrists were telling people a false truth. They were giving people a false narrative and Paul points out that they are liars.

The Bible says that in John 8:44 Jesus speaks of the devil and says that the devil “does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.”

“When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of liars.”

Folks, we live in a day and age that so many things are being reported as truth that we often don’t know what is the truth.

False truths in this age can be defined as fake news, rumors, fake beliefs and even gossip.

Its purpose is to deceive you into believing things that what they seemed to be. The end result is disbelief in what is true.

It is not okay to have false truth about Jesus!

Mormonism is fake truth- sure they are good people, the have a great emphasis on family, but what they believe about Jesus is not true- no lie that misguides anyone of who Jesus is can be of truth.

Muslims proclaim that Jesus is not the Son of God, but rather a prophet, listen to me- it is fake news, its fake beliefs, they have it all wrong.

Every modern cult goes astray on the person and work of Jesus Christ. Some deny his death on the cross, some deny his deity. Some talk in mystical fashion of the “Christ within” each of us.

But by denying the Son of God they prove they do not have a relationship with the Father. And in the words of John they are liars, deceivers and antichrists.

False truth is all over our world today, infecting our young people, infecting our older people, infecting the church.

For example: The border patrol on horses with whips, whipping people. when the truth they where holding their reigns and not whipping them but trying to stop them from crossing the border.

False truth is out of control in these last days.

The second truth is true truth: or absolute truth.

Look back at verse 20 with me:

“But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. 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.”

This word know means truth. And this truth that the early believers had was the truth of the Gospel, Verse 24 John explains it “what you have heard from the beginning” Clearly this is a reference to the Gospel that has been given to them from the Apostles.

Since the days of creation Satan has actively opposed the truth of God’s Word. In the early church he opposes God’s truth especially with regard to the gospel. In today's times the enemy continues to oppose God.

Too many times in life people know that true truth is there, but they are guided by false truths of the world.

For example, when we use a compass the compass directs us to Magnetic North, yet magnetic north is not the absolute or truth north.

While we have both magnetic North and true north they are not the same thing. Magnetic north is always moving, (the margin of error is called declination) this is the difference between true north and magnetic north. Although with short distances the declination may be only a few feet of difference long distances can take you completely off course.

This the same with fake or false truth, you can never put your finger on the place of truth because it is always moving to keep you guessing.

While true north never moves it is according to the earth's axis.

Listen to me God set the earth in a rotating way on what we call the axis, so true North was set by God in the beginning . And although we know that there is a true north we have managed ourselves to be dependent on magnetic north.

When Jesus was standing before Pilate before He was sentenced to die on the cross. Pilate asked Jesus if He was a king, Jesus replied:

“I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.”

While the worlds focus is on magnetic north – false truth- Believers, Disciples- true Christ followers know and understand that the Gospel is for true salvation and that God’s Word according to the Bible is the very inspiration of God and as Paul writes to Timothy, In 2nd Timothy 3, he says that the truth makes the man of God complete for every good work.

Psalm 119:105 “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path”

What is the one thing in this world that we can be assured of? The absolute truth?

The very truth of God is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

First the Apostle John says there are two types of people. He then explains that there are two types of truth.

He then does on to the third fact: There is only one promise.

Look back with me to verse 25:

“And this is the promise that He has promised us- eternal life”

But notice the John had laid the foundation of receiving Christ in verse 23- “He who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.”

The promise of eternal life is found all throughout the Bible. The antichrist knows of this promise. All those who stand against Christ know this promise, the question is do you?

The rich man and a beggar called Lazarus is a great illustration of eternity is in the book of Luke chapter 16:

We are all destined to God’s promise. God promises eternal life to all, but where you spend it is up to you.

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

Jesus is the way to heaven; all His words are absolute truth and all who believe in Him shall receive the reward of promise which is life in Heaven with the absolute truth for all eternity.

Do you know how long eternity is? You could write down the word forever, forever and just when you think you are done eternity exists forever past that.

Beloved, we are living in the last days where it is a time of deception:

In these days there two types of people, two types of truth, but only one promise to get you to heaven.

I want to close with three questions that each of us need to ask ourselves today:

In today’s age of deception:

1. What type of person are you?

2. What truth do you believe in?

3. What eternal life will you experience if you died today?

Application: Becoming a a true believer is not hard it’s all about surrendering it all to God.

Most of you have already done that. Once you have become born- again the next thing is to invest in your new identity by praying, reading your Bible each day, living out the truth that you have and becoming part of the body of Christ.

Becoming a member of the Body is more than just showing up, it is also doing and living life with the rest of the body. It is connecting with others in Bible studies, it loving others when they might not deserve it. Its being committed to the rest of the body.

It is acknowledging the truth, of “what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.”

Invitation:

Its been reported that in 2020 there was 3.4 million deaths in the U.S.

I wonder how many of them thought they had more time to get right with the Lord.