1 John 2:12-27

The Letters of John  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  21:20
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Can you lose your salvation? Why are false teachers dangerous? These are a couple answers we will be searching for as we continue through our letters of John.

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Pancakes or Waffles?

Can you lose your salvation?

1 John 2:12–14 ESV
I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
I wrestled a lot with this section of scripture. Upon reading one might assume that John is addressing His letter to 3 differently aged audiences. Children, young adults, and parents. People of differing maturity. But a have found an interpretation that Church history has backed up and a find very helpful. That each of these addressees is actually referencing just the recipients of this letter, Christians in 3 different ways.
We are children because our sins are forgiven and we know the Father. We have been born again. Now characterized as children of God the Father.
We are Fathers or Parents in that We know Him who is from the beginning. We have saving knowledge of Christ, the one who is from the beginning, the eternal one who stepped into our temporal world, and as parents raise up their children and pass on knowledge, we pass this saving knowledge on to others.
Finally, the Young adults. As people more mature in the faith, through the word of God abiding in us, we are no longer of the world, but residents of the kingdom of God. Referencing back to how Jesus, as a young man overcame Satan in the desert answering back with the word of God. We rest in the power of God and the saving work of Christ our savior to overcome the evil one.
1 John 2:15–16 ESV
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.
Here we see the instance in which the word World represents all that is opposed to God, not every single man woman and child.
Do not love the world, the sin that runs this world or the ruler of this world, Satan. Because if you love these things, a world that is opposed to God, then you clearly don’t know the Father. Because Everything the world love the Father hates, and everything the Father loves and Adores the world hates and tries to destroy.
However, this love and hate of the world is not just to show alignment inside or outside of the kingdom of God, this is also practical advise.
1 John 2:17 ESV
And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
The world is passing away. Putting your hope in the desires of this world and off your sinful flesh may satisfy for a short time or season but will leave you empty, longing for the next thing and the next thing. However, following the will of God, and His desires, having been enabled by the Holy Spirit, you find satisfaction in something eternal, never changing, and never disappointing. Christ.
Now we are about to get into a bit more of a serious topic.

What does it mean to be a false teacher and why are they dangerous?

1 John 2:18 ESV
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.
John and many of the New Testament Authors speak of the last Hour, or it is also mentions as This age and then there is an age to come. The last hour mean the time between Christ’s Life, death, Resurrection and ascension and His triumphant return. As foretold, there will be people who rise up to oppose God and His Christ. These people know as antiChrists, children of Satan, the original one opposed to God.
1 John 2:19 ESV
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.
This verse lays out a very reassuring doctrine for the Church. In response to these people rising up that were in the Church, leaving and opposing the Church, John tells us this.
These people went out, they left us, but they weren’t really one of us. They were not a true Christian. Because if they were a true born again believer, they would have continued with us. But they went out, they left so that it might become plain that they are all not truly of us. They were never truly Christians.
Ladies and gentlemen. This verse shows us that in regards to Salvation, if you have it you’ll never lose it, and if you lose it, you never had it. A non Christian can become a Christian. One opposed to Christ can come to Christ and be redeemed. Once redeemed, once saved, once you have eternal life, you can’t be unsaved, you can’t be unredeemed, and you can’t lose eternal life. Because then it wouldn’t be eternal life, it’d be temporal life. Frail and Fragile. Friends lets take a quick detour to another book written by John, His gospel.
John 10:28–30 ESV
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
Friends if you could lose your salvation, you would. Because you aren’t saved because of your obedience. You aren't saved because you prayed a prayer one time. You aren’t saved because you were baptized. You aren’t saved because you hold tight Jesus. You’re saved because you are secure in His hand, and He isn’t letting go. He started a work in you and he will finish what he started.
John’s next verse carries on this idea. Following up his spiel on people who walked away from the faith, he assures those He is writing to.
1 John 2:20 ESV
But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.
You have recieved the Holy Spirit. The seal of your salvation. You have recieved saving knowledge of the way, the truth, and the life, Jesus Christ the righteous. You have a new heart and new desires, you are a new creation. You now no longer want the things of this world, but that of God and eternity. You now have saving knowledge that only comes from God.
1 John 2:21–23 ESV
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.
Paul is showing the danger of a false teacher and how to identify one. In contrast to those his letter is addressed to, Christians, those that know the truth, those who do not know the truth spread lies. The lie in view here is that Jesus is not the Christ. He is not the messiah, the anointed one sent by God to redeem His people from their sins.
This is what makes someone an antichrist, He who denies the Father and the Son. Because no one who denies the Son has the Father, but who ever confesses the Son has the Father also. The hinge here being Jesus, because as we saw earlier in this chapter He is our advocate, our intercessor, the only mediator between God and man. That is why modern day Jewish people are not saved, Muslims are not saved, they may read the old testament and believe in the Father but have rejected the Son and in doing so have rejected the Father also. There are not multiple ways to heaven. That is why Jesus says:
John 14:6 ESV
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
One way to the Father, through Jesus. Anyone else is still in sin and in desperate need of the Gospel.
1 John 2:24–25 ESV
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.
We had established earlier in this chapter that what John is referencing to here is the Gospel. If the gospel abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and the Father. As Jesus taught, He is the vine, and if we as believers abide in him, we will bear eternal fruit, and if we do not, then we will be chopped off and thrown into the fire. This promise that was made as a result of repenting and believing in the Gospel, Eternal Life. Life everlasting in perfect unity with each other and God.
1 John 2:26–27 ESV
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.
John now zero’s in on why he wrote this past section. To show his addresses those whoa re trying to deceive them. But the anointing, the spiritual regeneration caused by the Holy Spirit, that you recieved abides in us, Christians. And you should have no need that anyone should teach you.
Guess i’m out of the job.
No, John here is not saying that there is no need for good teachers in the life of a believer, as teachers are one of the blessings that Jesus has blessed the Church with, and John himself is teaching by writing to these believers,
Ephesians 4:11–12 ESV
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
and there is a need for better teachers in the 21st century church.
1 John 2:26–27 ESV
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.
You can see by the next 2 sentences what John has in mind here. The Holy Spirit teaches us everything and is true, is no lie, abide in Jesus. We have no need to be taught by false teachers, but by the instruction and conviction of the Holy Spirit brought about by the Word of God. And if anyone teaches anything contrary to this or apart from this, they are a false teacher and there is no need to be taught by them.
But you, believer, who come to church every Sunday, maybe you were raised in the church, you come in and out each week and receive knowledge from the Word and pray with the fellowship of believers. I’m going to show you a well known passage of Scripture, known as the great commission: This is Jesus Speaking
Matthew 28:19–20 ESV
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Not every one of you in here is called to be a pastor, and indeed many of you should not be, James tells us that we will be judged more harshly. But all of us are called to share the gospel and tell others everything that Jesus has told us, everything that Jesus has commanded us. We as the body of Christ have the great commission as our mission.
My high school friends, Go out this week. Walk in the light and reflect the light as you go into this world of Darkness and lies. Confront error with truth. Confront Hatred with love. Warn people of the bad news and proclaim with all authority the good news. Tell people that they are sinful and in rebellion against a Holy, Just, and Sovereign God. His wrath and His Judgement is building up against you each day until you turn from your sin and believe in the finished and perfect work of His Son Jesus Christ, who died and absorbed and satisfied the wrath of God on the believer’s behalf. Not only did He die, but He rose again, and not only did He raise again, but He is now seated at the right hand of God the Father with all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him, and He is interceding on behalf of the believer. His bride. His body. Invite people into the Body of Christ, this unity of believers. Eternal life.
Lets pray.
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