"Believing the truth over a lie proves it"

Or to put it another way, when people do not have theological depth and do not have vital experience of the Holy Spirit they are sitting ducks for the deceiver and the antichrist.

Pluralism's Basic Premise is that All Religions are True

In his recent book, author Mark Clark wrote: If you want to understand the dogma of religious pluralism, consider a scene from the comedy movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

If you haven't seen it, Ricky is a professional race car driver whose car crashes during a race. Thinking he's on fire, he runs around the track crying out, "Help me, Jesus! Help me, Jewish God! Help me, Allah! Help me, Tom Cruise! Use your witchcraft on me to get the fire off of me! Help me, Oprah Winfrey!"

In other words, when it comes to god, you'd best hedge your bets. One god doesn't necessarily exclude the other gods, so don't limit yourself to just one when you can believe in all of them at once! This concept has its roots in Hindu and eastern philosophy, and has largely been adopted in Western culture. It can be found in several popular versions:

I am absolutely against any religion that says one faith is Superior to another. I don't see how that is anything different than spiritual racism -Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

My position is that all great religions are fundamentally equal. -Mahatma Gandhi

One of the biggest mistakes humans make is to believe there's only one way. Actually, there are many diverse paths leading to God. -Oprah Winfrey

Pluralism’s basic premise is that all religions are true, or at least partially true; and have value. And in our culture, it is considered narrow-minded and judgmental to believe anything else. So how do we respond to the theology of Ricky Bobby?

1 John 2:18–25 ESV

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.

BIG IDEA: True Believers will Remain in Fellowship with Christ.

THREE WAYS WE BELIEVE THE TRUTH OVER THE LIE

1. We should all be spiritual clock watchers.

(All creation is marked by hostility from the world, we are in the end times.)

The Increasing activity of the spirit of the antichrist.

John points out that not only has the last hour come, “but you have heard that the antichrist us coming, so many antichrists have come.” The last hour is a time when many antichrist will be present.

Note: The word antichrist means against Christ or against the Church.

Daniel calls the antichrist, “the coming prince.” (Daniel 9:27).

Paul calls Him “the man of lawlessness.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3).

John will picture him as “the beast from the sea.” (Revelation 13:1-10).

*Clock watchers live with a sense of urgency.

The Antichrist has a Period of time

John says at the beginning and end of verse 18 that “it is the last hour. John is saying that it is the last our over 2,000 years ago. Jesus inaugurated the last hour.

This is the time between the first and second coming of Christ.

Acts 2:16–17 ESV

16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 17 “ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;

1 Corinthians 10:11 ESV

11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.

John is specifically speaking of Jesus warning in Matthew 24:5;24 where he says “many will come in my name, saying I am the Christ, and they will lead many astray …

John see’s not only the spread of the gospel throughout the earth but also will be many false Christs and false prophets who will lead many astray.

*Clock watchers recognize Spiritual Error.

But we are tempted to shrug off these warnings because of the relativism of our culture.

All around us people are saying, ‘It doesn’t really matter what you believe so long as you believe it sincerely.’

What they mean is that we no longer believe in the truth. We no longer believe in anything objective out there that corresponds to reality (let alone anyone!) All that we know is that we cannot know.

So with the enlightenment of contemporary intellectual tolerance, Christians are permitted to believe in God, if they insist, but not to propagate such beliefs or expect others to get involved.

It is just one package on the shelves of the ideological supermarket, looking a bit passé these days; but if you like it, you buy it. ‘If it’s true for you, that’s fine; we all have our own beliefs. Sincerity rules, OK?’

Note: it is possible to be sincerely wrong. As much as we might try to live in a world where there are no absolutes in practice none of us can live that way.

They are liars who deny that Jesus is the Messiah

Their method is deception and seduction.

They do not directly appose Jesus Christ, they redefine Him.

“He may have died on the cross as a martyr,” they affirm, “but He did not die as a Savior.”

THE ANTICHRIST

The Resistance

v.18 - anyone who apposes Christ and His work is an antichrist.

John does make the distinction between the anti-christ who will come at the end of the age and the antichrists that are already here among us. The antichrist at the end of the age will appear someday. He will be the counterfeit Christ who will come on the scene in History and the whole earth will marvel at him and follow him.

Newsweek recently reported that 19 percent of all Americans and 50 percent of those who accept Biblical prophecy believe that the antichrist is already among us. Whether he is already here I cannot nor should I speculate. What I do know is that he will come and the spirit of antichrist is alive and well today. People are being deceived everyday by false teachers and false doctrines. So, be on guard against those who attack the Biblical teaching of Christ.

The antichrist is a usurper, he is one who takes a place of authority that he was never intended to take.

The reaction—v. 19. Some people are not willing to pay the price and follow Christ.

John 6:66–68 ESV

66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,

ANTICHRISTS ABANDON THE CHURCH

We have had people at the Journey who professed at one time to be followers of Christ who have now abandoned the faith.

When it came to the cost for following Christ they were not willing to pay the price.

The greatest dangers of the Church are from within the walls of the Church not the outside. Satan is a master deceiver and strategist. He knows that if he can discredit the Church and get it to turn on itself he can win the battle.

He deploys his spiritual Trojan Horse

Recall the story of the original Trojan Horse. It was a wooden horse used by the Greeks during the Trojan war to enter the city and win the war.

In the computer war a Trojan Horse is any malware misleads users to its true intent.

Trojans generally spread by some form of social engineering; for example, where a user is duped into executing an email attachment disguised to appear innocuous (e.g., a routine form to be filled in), or by clicking on some fake advertisement on social media or anywhere else.

Although their payload can be anything, many modern forms act as a backdoor, contacting a controller who can then have unauthorized access to the affected computer. Ransomware attacks are often carried out using a Trojan.

This is exactly what we do when we ignore or allow those who are not truly followers of Christ to infiltrate our ranks and lay Trojan horses into our midst.

Physically they desert the Church

2:19 “Perseverance is the proof of possession”

“Us and Them”

1st The “they” team did not last they abandoned the faith.

2nd Their departure proves that they were never really apart of us to begin with.

The “us” team remains in fellowship, they endure to the end. We call this eternal security, “perseverance of the saints.”

John addresses this truth in John 10:27-29 where He say’s “My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

All true Believers endure to the end. All true believers are kept and sealed by God’s hand.

Picture a Father’s or Mother’s hand protecting their child from running out in the road, or the natural instinct if you slam on the brakes to throw your hand out to protect your child. The hand of God that placed Moses in the cleft of the rock holds you.

“Our Granddaughter Evelyn tells her new baby sister, I got you, I got you.” That is what God tells us today “ I got you, I got you.”

BEHAVIOR

Ultimately the antichrist will dissociate themselves from those who hold to orthodox Christian doctrine, but they are extremely dangerous because they have been birthed out of the church and often take time to surface.

We may think of the contemporary sects and extremist groups which have done so much damage to the Christian cause. John point out that their eventual apostacy proves that they are not simply confused, untaught Christians. Because they so vigorously oppose the truth, they cannot co-exist with strong biblical teaching. Their behavior confirms their heresy of belief.

Of course this does not mean that everyone who leaves the Church is an antichrist; but when a group separates itself into an elite, holier-than-thou-huddle, claiming that they have a deeper understanding or experience than other gospel people, beware.

1 John 2:26–27 ESV

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.

2. The Word of God and the Spirit of God Protect us from Deception.

Without taking the time to reflect on our desires and thoughts, we can deceive ourselves into thinking we are exempt from repentance—or even become blind and numb to struggles we were unaware of.

Looking at ourselves objectively is the key. In one scene from the movie Shrek, Lord Farquaad uses a magic mirror that is supposed to reveal the truth to him. However, Farquaad and his pride end up forcing the mirror to lie and tell him what he wants to hear and see about himself. In a similar way, we can suffer from self-deception when we chose to skip over a right examination of our lives

*Knowing the Truth is a gift of the Holy Spirit

The antichrists are prolific in their arguments, these false teachers could easily discourage us. They are, after all, intellectual heavyweights with persuasive arguments and personalities.

John makes it clear that they are committed to our defeat. However, John say’s that we should not despair because we are from God.

1 John 4:4 ESV

4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

John reminds us that we have a twofold arsenal against Satan.

verses 20-21

1) We have the anointing of the Spirit.

You have been anointed (set apart) by the Holy one so you know. The anointing that you receive from Him abides in you. The anointing refers to truly receiving the Holy Spirit.

John 14:17 ESV

17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

We now have an internal abiding ‘Teacher who will guide us in all knowledge and truth (vv.21,27). And, by abiding in Him, no like will seduce us, deceive us, and lead us astray.

v. 27 seems to imply that having been given the Holy Spirit that we no longer have need of any earthly teachers.

1 Corinthians 12:28 ESV

28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.

Matthew 28:20 ESV

20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The fact that John wrote this letter makes it clear that at the time he wrote this letter, the antichrists and the false teachers, were insisting that the teaching of the apostles was to be supplemented with an additional “higher knowledge,” an “advanced knowledge,” that they claimed to possess.

John’s response is that there is only one truth under the spirits teaching through the apostles.

LET THE HOLY SPIRIT BE YOUR GUIDE, NOT ANOTHER SPIRIT.

BELIEF

Note: You have an anointing. The word here is chrisma. Christ is the anointed one, who has given the chrisma to every believer in Him.

This makes us all christoi, anointed ones or Christians. The thrust of verse 21 is for us to hold onto what we already know, not to give up ground to some new speculative theory or to teaching which actually denies the essentials of the faith.

THE ANSWER TO DOUBT LIES NOT SO MUCH IN FAITH BUT IN TRUTH

What do you know to be true?

Note: For many faith becomes a subjective exercise we go through. Faith becomes based on what we see wit our eyes. Whereas truth has an objective reality outside of ourselves that we live in everyday. We would be fools not to believe it!

We know and believe that all life is sacred and created by God (TRUTH).

We know that God created sexual relations between a man and a woman to be something sacred reserved for a Husband and Wife in marriage (TRUTH).

We know that God created us male and female to have heterosexual relationships with one another (TRUTH).

We know that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit therefore we are to honor God with all of our body (TRUTH).

This is why John is writing telling us that we know the truth and there is no lie in the truth.

The same way in John chapter 1 we read that God is light and in Him there is no darkness. We go a little bit further to 1:7 “if we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship with God. We continue in verse 8 where John confesses that if we say we have no sin we make God out to be a lier and the truth is not in us.

Christians tend to worry more about the things that they do not know instead of focusing on way more things that we do know to be true.

2) We have the word of God

John now reintroduces a theme that is near and dear to his heart: abiding. (verse 27) “Abide in Him.” He will use this term Gk. meno; translated to English “abide” or “remain.”

23 times and 7 of which appear in 2:18-28. It conveys the idea of both communion and union

WE MUST UPHOLD THE AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE

Jesus+Nothing = Everything

Jesus+Something Extra = Heresy

False Teachers will attempt to deceive you to thinking you need something more than Christ.

The Spirit of the Apostles teaching (the Word) and the Holy spirit always agree.

1 John 4:1 ESV

1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

We are called to test the spirit to see whether they are from God. When we test the spirit we are testing whether it is from God.

Anyone who claims that they have a new revelation are antichrists they are not from God.

This is what virtually every cult claims claims to have a new revelation apart from God’s revealed word.

Historically the Church has several hills to die on and one of those is that all roads do not lead to the light. Any teaching that denies the deity of Christ in any way is antichrist.

HOW DO WE COUNTERACT THE ANTICHRISTS

Just recognizing that something is not true many times is not enough. We must firmly hold to and live out the truth.

Note: We must not just give lip service to the world. They need to see our faith lived out.

John plainly points out in verse 20 “you have been anointed by the Holy Spirit and you have knowledge.”

1 John 2:28–29 ESV

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.

3. The Habit of righteousness is the proof of the Relationship.

Confidence for the End

John states that we can face the final day with confidence because we have Christ abiding in us.

Few Christians take the time to allow the majestic truths of our faith to truly sink into their conscience.

We spend more time focusing on our experiences of living the Christian life and not so much dwelling on the character, and amazing nature of our God and king.

As infants we are fed the milk that our body needs to start the growing process, however, the milk will not do the trick the further you grow in your Christian walk.

I am convinced that many people in the Church today may have been walking this walk for centuries however their faith is a mile wide and an inch deep.

A baseball player spends hours a day of his life practicing his swing or how he fields the ball. A hockey player literally makes 100’s of practice goals each week to prepare for the game. Why do we not treat the Christian life this way.

John is telling us that it is not until we allow the word of God to sink deeply into our spirit and soul that we will remain in God. (James 1:22)

WHAT ARE THE HABITS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS?

*The Habit of Perseverance

The Lord Jesus Christ is returning we will meet Him either full of Joy or Shame.

Hebrews 4:14–16 ESV

14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Confidence: is a place where someone feels completely open nothing is hidden. Many times rendered as trust.

Note: John notes those who went out from us were never really with us from the beginning. Basically what John is saying is that there are those who made an outward profession of faith, and Jesus makes it clear that it is possible for a person to do this even when he does not possess what he’s professing.

Jesus said, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” (Matt.15:8) Jesus even warns at the end of the sermon on the mount (Matt.7:23) that there will be those who say to me, “Lord, Lord, didn’t we do this in your name?” He will send them away, saying: “Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you.”

James also speaks in James 1:12 about the one who perseveres under trials that he will receive his crown of life. Just as the true believer will be eternally secure in his Salvation, his faith will also persevere in affliction, sickness, persecution, and the other tirals of life that come his way.

*The Habit of Fruitful living

John 15:5 ESV

5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

This is the only way that we can stay on course as Christians and fulfill God’s purpose of fruitful living.

Notice that John says’ that Christians approach the throne of grace with confidence. Believers should be some of the most confident people in the world today.

What is your is your attitude towards daily fruitful living?

There is an organic union between the stem and the branch which enables the latter to be fruitful. So it is with the Christian. ‘I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing’.

This is the only way that we can stay on course as Christians and fulfil God’s purposes of fruitful living. If this world is passing away and if it is the last hour, then we, of all people, should have a clear vision of our future.

What is your attitude towards the imminent return of Christ? Does it affect how you live your life today?

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO ABIDE IN CHRIST?

Sinclair Ferguson

First, Union with our Lord Depends on His Grace.

We are actively, personally united with Christ by faith. Remember that it is the Father who has grafted us into the vine of Christ. It is Christ, by His Word, who has cleansed us to fit us for union with Himself (15:3). All is sovereign, all is of Grace.

Second, Union with Christ means being obedient to Him.

Abiding involves our response to Jesus teaching, “If you abide in me and my words abide in you.” Colossians 3:16 “let the words of Christ dwell in you richly.”

In a nutshell abiding in Christ means allowing His word to fill our minds, direct our wills, and transform our affections. Basically our relationship to Christ has a great deal to do with what we do with our BIBLES!

Third, Union with Christ rests on His love

We must never let ourselves drift two far from daily contemplation of the cross as the irrefutable demonstration of that love, or from dependence on the Spirit who sheds it liberally upon our hearts. (Romans 5:5) Remaining in Christ’s love comes to the very concrete expression: simple obedience rendered to Him is the fruit and evidence of our love for Him.

John 15:10–14 ESV

10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.

Finally, we are called, as part of the abiding process, to submit to the pruning knife of God in the providence by which He cuts away all disloyalty and sometimes all that is unimportant, in order that we might remain in Christ.

1 John 2:28–29 ESV

Note: Practicing righteousness means that we are pursuing the character of Christ and desire holiness more than fleshly indulgences. Remember last week we looked at Johns warning against loving the world and the things of the world but doing the will of God brings abiding with Him forever. (John 15:5 “Apart from Christ we can do nothing)

1 John 3:1–3 ESV

1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. 3 And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Confidence through being called a Child of the King

One of the facts of life is that we cannot choose our parents. We owe so much to them in every aspect of our makeup, and we might be tempted to wish that things were other than they are - the nose a little shorter, the temper a little longer, the frame a little lighter. But the fact of the matter is that we cannot avoid being like them.

Likeness is the proof of the relationship.

King David noted in Psalm 139:13,16 “You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb....All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them cam to be.”

John now applies in terms of our spiritual relationship with the Heavenly Father is evidenced in our likeness to Him. If we say we are God’s children (‘born of him’, 2:29) we are to prove it by how we live our lives.

TWOFOLD FOREVER LOVE

(1) We are now called the Children of God.

(2) This is truly who we are (new identity)

Dating God’s Daughter

When I was dating Diana, I was dating God’s daughter. Whatever her earthly father thought of my treatment of her pales in comparison to what her heavenly Father thought! Today, I am married to God’s daughter. Although the status of our relationship changed at marriage. He remains vitally interested in how I care for His little girl!

That affects the way I love and serve my wife!

In passing John says that the world does not understand this kind of remarkable relationship. This truth should not really surprise us. John also pointed this out in John 15:18-19 “If the world hates you, understand that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own, However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you.

CLOSING

The Already but Not Yet of the Christian Life

We are in a constant tension between the “already/not yet” of Christian Salvation. We are already, today, children of God. However, we do not yet fully realize or experience all of the benefits that salvation promises for God’s children.

We are still in process, a work under construction, a divine work of art that is not yet complete. We cannot imagine the glory in store for us.

1 Corinthians 2:9 ESV

9 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—

Paul continues to flesh this out in 1 Corinthians 13:12

1 Corinthians 13:12 ESV

12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

One of the Greatest Truths of the Bible: “We know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him as He is” Praise the Lord!

Johnathan Edwards

“Grace is Glory begun and Glory is Grace Completed.”

1 John 3:3 “And everyone who has this hope in him purifies themselves as he is pure.”

Pure: Free from contamination.

J. I. Packer on Being God's Child

"You sum up the whole of New Testament teaching in a single phrase, if you speak of it as a revelation of the Fatherhood of the holy Creator. In the same way, you sum up the whole of New Testament religion if you describe it as the knowledge of God as one's holy Father.

"If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God's child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all."