Sermon Cloud

As we prep to jump into our passage this week, we need to keep in mind several themes that are running through the book of 1 John.  Let’s keep in mind that John is trying to describe what it looks like to be part of the family of God.

·        For example, a few weeks ago, we saw a list of attributes that define the family. 

o       A believer will be characterized as being humble understanding that they are a sinner.

o       Recognizing that sin means that the child of God will live a consistent life of confessing that sin to God.

o       That confession and repentance will cause them to walk in the light or live a consistently growing life of obedience.

o       Walking in humility, confession, and obedience, will cause them to be honest about that sin never pretending to be perfect.

o       Each individual believer then will be part of the fellowship of other believers in a community designed by God before the foundations of the world.

·        Building on those characteristics, John also has been developing a few themes.  For example.

o       A child of God will be in Jesus and Jesus will be in them.

o       A child of God will be in the word of God and the word of God will be in them.

o       However, the child of God will be in the world, but the world will not and should be in the child of God.

·        That was the theme of last week where John talked about not loving the world and all that is in it, but instead, we are to have our hearts and lives centered on the cross of Christ and all that Jesus has done for us. 

·        This week, however, John takes a turn in his teaching.  Instead of explaining what the child of God looks like, he is going to describe a person who is NOT a child of God.  What characterizes their lives, and what attributes describe them?  Though we could probably assume the opposite of everything said about the child of God, John wants to be very specific.

·        In addition, perhaps in our lives, we have known people who appeared to be strong Christians.  Their devotion to scripture and obedience appeared stronger than even our own.  Yet, at some point and time, they just…walked away.  We see that and we quite honestly worry about ourselves.  We think, “Well if that gal who was so Godly can walk away, what hope is there for me?  They had to be believers.” 

·        John is going to and see what the life without Christ looks like.  In it, I think we will find plenty of application for our lives.

I John 2:18 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.

·        Well, we see a couple of things right out of the gate.  The last hour, or the end times, started the moment Christ ascended into heaven as John writes this within the generation of Jesus’ leaving.  So, the end times are not to be viewed as a small period of time, but they should be seen as every moment of our lives awaiting Jesus’ return. 

·        John says that in that time, there is an antichrist and many antichrists coming.  Now, what does that mean?  Who is the antichrist?  Is the antichrist someone of middle-eastern descent or someone whose letters of their name add up to 666 or what?

·        Now before we get started, we are going to run across some controversial language in this passage.  We are going to see John use the word “antichrist” this week.  As we move forward, I will make the same comment that I made when we saw the word come up in the book of Luke. 

o       Every single generation since the day Jesus ascended into heaven has declared that this is the generation that Jesus is coming back. 

o       Every single generation  has picked one or more really bad people and labeled them the one and only anti-Christ

o       And guess what?  Every single generation has been wrong.

·        That does not mean that being mindful of the times and the people of those times is not important.  It just means that we should tread lightly and carefully before we start throwing labels and titles around. 

·        To be honest, we have made a joke out of Christianity in most every generation. 

o       We have been so quick to declare that Jesus is coming around the bend that we have neglected our responsibilities in the here and now.  We have been content to let this world go to h-e-double hockey sticks in a handbasket.

o       And any one that we didn’t vote for or any terrorist, dictator, or despot on the landscape has been declared the anti-Christ. 

·        And you know what?  We look like idiots, folks.  Let’s not let give the impression to the world that we are ready to start stockpiling weapons and freeze dried meals in order to stock our militia camp in the woods with a bunch of hillbillies that look like the guy from the front porch of the movie Deliverance. 

·        Instead, let’s be wise students of scripture and our time, all the while holding to the mandate to proclaim Jesus while demonstrating love, mercy, and justice to a hurting world.

·        In the Greek, the prefix for “anti” means, “in the place of” so Jesus is speaking of someone who comes in the place of and stands in opposition to Jesus.

·        John also affirms that many people have come in the place of Jesus and stand opposed to Him.  Their presence is proof of our living in the last hour.

·        John though does not seem to be concerned at this point and time with identifying one person who is or will be the antichrist…at least not here.  Instead, his focus is on the plural, antichrists.

·        So who are these antichrists?  Look in verse 19.

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.

·        Did you notice a repeating word in verse 19?  John uses the word “us” 5xs.  John’s point is clear.  These antichrists are people who have left the fellowship of believers and the church.  What defines these antichrists?

o       They left the fellowship of believers because they were not believers.

o       If they had been, they would have continued on or persevered. 

o       They are not people who had saving faith in Christ and then lost it.  They never had it in the first place, so apparently they must have appeared to have faith for a time while in fellowship with believers.

o       How do we know?  According to John, we know because they abandoned the church and those who truly have faith in Jesus and that makes it plain that they were not believers in the first place.

·        Now, this answers some pretty tough questions for us.  Perhaps in our lives, we have known people who appeared to be strong Christians.  Their devotion to scripture and obedience appeared stronger than even our own.  Yet, at some point and time, they just…walked away.  We see that and we quite honestly worry about ourselves.  We think, “Well if that gal who was so Godly can walk away, what hope is there for me?  They had to be believers.” 

·        John says, “No, they weren’t.  They proved they were not believers because they did not persevere and they abandoned the people of God.”  True believers persevere to the end and do not abandon the people or family of God.

·        Now, you may hear that and think, “Well, what if that happens to me?  What hope do I have of not walking away?”  As if John knows we have those fears, he addresses them in verse 20.

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.

·        Our hope of persevering is not our fortitude or even the personal strength of our faith. Our hope comes from the same place our faith comes from:  our hope is the gift of God.  This doctrine is called “the perseverance of the saints” which means that God preserves and enables His children to persevere in that faith to the end.  How does he do that you might ask?

·        He enables believers because they bear the anointing of the Holy One.  So, who is the Holy One and what is that anointing? 

o       2 Corinthians 1:21 - And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us,

o       Mark 1:24 and Luke 4:34 - “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”

o       John 6:69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

·        So we can see that the anointing is done by God the Father, but more specifically by Jesus the Son, the Holy One.

·        What exactly is the anointing? 

o       Well in Scripture, an anointing always symbolizes consecration as priests, kings, and prophets were anointed and consecrated to the task at hand.

o       Typically, most theologians feel that this anointing refers to the gift of the Holy Spirit that consecrates us and separates us from the rest of the world.  We see this in a few places in scripture but specifically in the John’s other boo of the Bible, the Gospel of John.

o       John 14:17 “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.

o       John 15:26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

o       John 16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

·        This anointing of the Spirit leads us in knowing the truth as all believers are defined in verse 20 as those that know the truth.  That truth resides within the Scriptures themselves and the anointing of the Holy Spirit guides believers in that truth.

·        Therefore any teaching that is contrary to Scripture stands opposed to God Himself, even if people claim that that teaching comes from the Holy Spirit.  We know that is false because the Spirit of Truth leads believers in all truth and all knowledge.

·        Anyone who denies that is called by scripture “a liar” as is seen in verse 22.

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.

·        The liar is the one who denies Jesus the Christ.  That expression, “Jesus the Christ” is another form of calling Jesus “the anointed one.”  So those who are true believers have the anointing and bear the name of Jesus while those that deny Jesus are denying the anointed one.

·        John says you are anti-christ if you deny the Father because by denying the Father, you deny Jesus the son.  That makes sense because it is God the Father and God the son that do the anointing as they are one.

·        Notice here that anyone that denies Jesus is called a liar.  How is denying Christ lying?  Well denying Jesus is denying the truth of who He is.  Confessing Jesus for who He is is truth.  Denying Him is a lie because you would be in essence saying, “Jesus is not the anointed one of God.

·        Look at it in this simple diagram:

Negative                     Positive

No one who                 whoever

Denies                          acknowledges

The Son                       the Son

Has the Father              has the Father also       

                        (Diagram from Simon Kistemaker)

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.

·        What John offers here is a blessing on those that are reading this letter and to us as well.  Jesus, the one who is from the beginning abides in you.  If you examine your heart and within in it abides that which you have heard, then you abide with the Son and the Father who are from the beginning of all things.  Before there was anything, they were. 

·        How do we know if that which we have heard abides in us?  That goes back to the description we gave at the beginning of the sermon: 

o       The word is in you and you are in the word.

o       Those that know the Son walk in the light which is saying they obey which of course is evidence that of the abiding presence of the Truth.

·        The ultimate promise of all of these things is of course eternal life in glorious fellowship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

·        John continues his encouragement by saying in verse 26

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.

·        Folks, we do need to be mindful of who we are listening to.  There are plenty of people, even with the guise of Christianity who would desire to deceive you about the truths of scripture. 

·        Specifically in John’s day, there was a group called the Gnostics that taught that Jesus never physically had a body but was pure Spirit.  They of course were the conduits of true knowledge and experience with the spirit Jesus.

·        Today that looks like the opposite.  People will tell you Jesus was a good man and a good teacher but He was not God.

·        But John encourages the readers of that day (and us as well) that we can trust that the anointing of the Spirit of truth protects us and we don’t have to be taught by anyone who teaches us falsely. 

·        Now when we read verses like “You have no need that anyone should teach you,” it would seem that we should just all pack up and head home, or at least you should, because you don’t need to listen to me or anyone else anymore. 

·        Does this verse mean that biblical teaching is unimportant?  Doesn’t Jesus’ great commission of in Matthew 28:19-20 state “19 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, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

·        Well, obviously if biblical teaching were unimportant then the very fact that John wrote a letter with teaching and instruction would be contrary to what he just said. 

·        John is not saying we don’t need biblical teaching.  He is saying we don’t need these extra-biblical and heretical teachers teaching us how to discover Jesus.  We have the anointing of the Holy Sprit of Truth who guides us in all the truth of Scripture.

·        To that end, John gives this blessing in verses 28-29

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.

·        John encourages us to abide in Jesus so that when He does appear, we stand gloriously before Him and do not have to shrink in fear

·        Knowing Jesus as the righteous one of God leads us all in practicing righteous because we are born of Him.

·        Thinks about this for a moment.   If God is going to send His Son to save His enemy, if He is going to take the care to provide for you the truths of scripture so that you might know Him, if He is going to provide the Holy Spirit to both guide you in truth and protect you from error, then you can trust that He will preserve you in the anointing to make sure you persevere to the end. 

·        God is no gentlemen.  Don’t be fooled.  He doesn’t ask you or anyone else for permission.  He does as He sovereignly wills.  He calls you and saves you and preserves you.

·        Some people will be attracted to the church and even this community.  They may for a period of time seem to profess Christ.  But if they deny the truth of Christ, they were never part of the church.  Some might even teach doctrine that is opposed to Christ, but God is gracious and protects His believers.

·        The definition of one who believes in Jesus?  They persevere until the end with Christ and His community by the preserving grace of the Holy Spirit.

·        The definition of one who does not believe in Jesus?  They lie and deny that Jesus is the Christ.  They either never join other believers in worship, or they join and leave.  Either way, it is Christ that preserves His children. 

·        When offering the truths of the hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to someone who does not believe, we do so trusting that it is God who works and saves and preserves and perseveres.  Our task is to faithfully proclaim Jesus in truth to ourselves and the rest of the world.  God takes care of the rest.