Reading: 1 John chapter 2 verses 18-19.
Ill:
• 4 boys in secondary school had a reputation of playing truant;
• One morning they turned up very, very late for their lesson,
• They told the teacher they were late because the car bringing them had a puncture.
• Looking at them they could tell that the teacher was not too impressed.
• Nervously they started to embellish their story by saying;
• “Honest sir, in fact we had to fix it for ourselves so that we could get here”.
• The more that they spoke, the less convincing they sounded
• So the teacher said to them; “Show me your hands”,
• They were spotlessly clean
• And so he decided to get to the real truth.
He ordered each boy to stand in the corner of the room facing inwards:
• He gave them all a small piece of paper and a pen,
• And told them of his simple test to determine the truth!
• “One question I want you to write the answer to it”, said the teacher.
• “Which wheel had the puncture?”
• If those boys were found out not to be telling the truth:
• Then they would have to face the consequences!
So far in this short letter:
• The apostle John has warned the Christians about:
• The conflict between light and darkness (chapter 1 verse 1 to chapter 2 verse 6)
• The conflict between love and hatred (chapter 2 verses 7-17).
• In this section this morning;
• The apostle John warns them about another conflict,
• The conflict between truth and error.
The issue in this section is truth-or consequences!
Ill:
• A pig ate his fill of acorns under an oak tree and then started to root around the tree.
• A crow remarked,
• “You should not do this. If you lay bare the roots, the tree will wither and die.”
• “Let it die,” said the pig. “Who cares as long as there are acorns?”
• When we ignore or reject the truth;
• That course of action will always lead to negative consequences.
• The apostle John is writing to warns these Christians;
• That the actions false teachers will only cause them destruction and death.
Now Before we pull out our key thoughts this morning:
• I need to explain two unusual phrases that occur in verse 18:
• An understanding of these will help us with the other verses.
(a). "The last hour".
• K.J.B: "The last time".
• Amplified: “It is the last time” (hour, the end of this age).
• The term that is used is describing a kind of time,
• Not a duration of time.
Ill:
Chapter 2 verses 12-14.
• John wrote to three groups of people.
• ‘Little children’, ‘young men’, ‘Fathers’
• It was not physical ages but spiritual ages that he had in mind.
• E.g. ‘Little children’ were recent converts who needed milk not solid food to eat
In a similar way John uses this term:
• N.I.V: "The last hour". K.J.B: "The last time".
• Not as a duration of time, but to describe a kind of time,
• That is the time period between the ascension of Christ and the return of Christ;
• Is referred to in the New Testament as “The last days” or by John (only) as “Last hour”.
Ill:
• Parents know that when driving a long distance with small children.
• No matter how many activity books, games and tapes you bring,
• It’s never really enough.
• Sooner or later you hear that drone of, "Are we there yet?"
• There are of course many ways to answer;
• One parent was heard to say: "We’re closer now than the last time you asked."
(b). “Antichrist”.
• The second term, "antichrist," is again a phrase uniquely used by John;
• In both this letter and also in 2 John.
• ‘Anti’ simply means; ‘against, in opposition to, hostile or antagonistic’.
• ‘Anti Christ’ is therefore anyone that is hostile, opposed or antagonistic to Christ.
This term, "antichrist" describes one of three things in John’s letters:
• (1). A spirit in the world that opposes or denies Christ.
• (2). Any false teachers who embody this spirit.
• (3). Referrers to a person who will one day lead the final-world rebellion against Christ.
• The ‘Antichrist’ (singular) is the appearance of a "satanic world leader";
• He is also called "the man of sin" (or "lawlessness");
• Read about him in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verses 1-12.
We are concerned in these verses with ‘antichrists’ in the plural:
• That is false teachers who pretend to preach and teach the truth;
• But actually are preaching and teaching lies and falsehood, that which is ‘anti’.
Ill:
• In the early days of the Church,
• As happens still today, e.g. your preacher today.
• Itinerant Bible teachers would move around from place to place;
• Teaching the people of God and building up the Church.
• Unfortunately some false teachers had mixed in with them & were also doing the rounds;
• And the Christians who had no New Testament to check them out,
• Were having trouble spotting the good teachers from the bad.
• So John wrote his letter to help them hold onto the truth and reject the error.
John's letter gives us three outstanding marks of the false teacher (those who are ‘antichrist’);
(1). They Depart from the Fellowship
(verses 18-19):
N.I.V:
“They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us”.
The Message:
19”They left us, but they were never really with us. If they had been, they would have stuck it out with us, loyal to the end. In leaving, they showed their true colours, showed they never did belong”.
The word "us" refers, of course, to the fellowship of believers, the Church.
• It is a reminder & a warning that not everyone who is on a membership list;
• Or a regular in the congregation; is necessarily a true member of the family of God!
• Ill: Parable of the sower that Jesus taught (Mark chapter 4);
• The seed (word) caused four various responses & only one produced good fruit.
The New Testament presents the Church in a twofold way:
• (1). As one worldwide family,
• (2). As local units or assemblies of believers.
• Ill: Entered the human family.
• Ill: Entered a local family.
If & when you became a Christian you became part of the:
• ‘Church’. ‘Body of Christ’. ‘Family of God’.
• Now there is only one church, the church of Jesus Christ.
We split it up and call ourselves:
• Brethren.
• Baptists.
• Anglican.
• Pentecostal.
• Methodist's
• United Reformed etc.
• Now there are some good reasons for that,
• But there are also some bad ones.
• Possible Joke: A man was answering questions for a national poll.
• When asked for his church preference, he responded, “Red brick.”
• Now as far as the God is concerned, there is only one church,
• Which is made up of every believer in the Lord Jesus. (Despite the label we give ourselves.)
All Christians are people:
• Who are born again by the by the Holy Spirit,
• And have a living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
• Therefore it should be natural that they want to enjoy fellowship & to share with one another.
• The word fellowship actually means "to have in common."
• When people have spiritual realities in common,
• They want to be together.
Quote:
“When you were born, your mother brought you to church.
When you were married, your wife brought you to church.
When you die, your friends will bring you to church.
Why not try coming to church on your own sometime?”
• Genuine Christians will have that desire for coming together.
• For fellowship, support and encouragement.
But the "counterfeit Christians" mentioned in 1 John chapter 2:
• Did not remain in the fellowship. They went out.
• This doesn't imply that "staying in the church" keeps a person saved;
• Rather, it indicates that remaining in the fellowship;
• Is one evidence that a person is truly a Christian.
• The people John has in mind, left the fellowship because;
• They did not possess the true life and the love of Christ was not in their hearts.
Ill:
• If you will investigate the history of the false cults;
• You will find that in most cases their founders started out in a local church!
• Check out the histories of groups like ‘Mormons’ or ‘Jehovah Witnesses’;
• In most cases their founders started out in a local church!
• They are historical examples of those who were "with us'; but not "of us,"
• So they went out "from us" and started their own groups.
• Often these groups follow human leaders and the books men have written,
• Rather than the true faith which is Jesus Christ and based on God's Word.
(2) They Deny the Faith (verses 20-25):
“But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.
21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth.
22 Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist— he denies the Father and the Son.
23 No-one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
24 See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.
25 And this is what he promised us— even eternal life”.
The false teachers had a wrong understanding and appreciation of Jesus Christ:
• False Christians in John's day used two special words to describe their experience:
• Verse 21: "Knowledge" or “Knowing all truth” and "Unction." Or “anointing”.
• Theses false teachers were called Gnostics.
• ‘Agnostic is someone who does not know, a Gnostic is someone who claims to know!
• These Gnostics claimed to have a special unction (anointing) from God;
• Which gave them a unique knowledge and put them above the other believers.
• They were "illuminated" while the rest were still in the dark;
• They claimed to be living on a much higher spiritual level than anybody else.
Ill:
• We see it today in the false cults and sects.
• Mormons, Christian-Science who have additional books (special insight & ‘knowledge’).
• Or in groups like the J.W.’s;
• Who claim ONLY the watchtower organisation can interpret the Bible (‘unction’)
Notice:
• That John points out that all true Christians know God;
• And they all have received ‘have an anointing from the Holy One’ the Spirit of God!
• There are no second class Christians;
• God treats us all the same!
Quote: Ephesians chapter 1 verses 13-14 (N.L.T.):
“And now you also have heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14The Spirit is God's guarantee that he will give us everything he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people”.
The Message:
13”It's in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free--signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit”.
Now every Christian has an ‘anointing’ an ‘unction’ that is the Holy Spirit!
• When you became a Christian, As Jesus into your life etc,
• Weather you realised it or not, the Holy Spirit took up residence in your life.
Ill:
The word Ghost is the Anglo Saxon word for Guest.
• In fact the Bible says in Romans chapter 8 verse 9, talking about the Holy Spirit:
• "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ".
• Again in places like: 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verses 12-13, Chapter 6 verse 19.
• "Our bodies are a temple and that the Holy Spirit lives in us".
With that in mind remember this, NO-one gets more of the Holy Spirit than anyone else:
Ill:
• A doctor who becomes a Christian, gets no-more than a tramp who gets converted.
• An adult gets no-more than a child who gets converted.
• A thief who becomes a Christian, gets no-more than a policeman who gets converted.
• A professor who becomes a Christian, gets no-more than an illiterate person……...
• You get exactly the same amount of the Holy Spirit as....
• Billy Graham, John Wesley, Martin Luther, even the apostle John himself!
• It is never a question of how much of the spirit do you have,
• But how much has he got of you.
Ill:
• Same amount of time each day as President George Bush or Prime Minister Tony Blair.
• It is a question of how you use it, are you wise or unwise?
• They cram so much into 24 hours; At times we can cram so little.
• The difference is not the amount of time you have, but how you use it.
Sometimes we misunderstand things:
• Quote D.L. Moody:
• "Why do I need to be filled with the Holy Spirit?" His answer: "Because I leak"
• That's a humorous quote but it is wrong;
• We are not like car tyres that get punctured, the Holy Spirit is not air.
• The correct answer to the question how much of the Holy Spirit do you have?
• Is the same answer for every true Christian, we can all say 100%
Ill:
The truest illustration I can think of is a house:
• The Holy Spirit is living in the house,
• But we have the say where he can and cannot go.
• Are there certain rooms we will not allow him to enter, we lock the door,
• You can come into the front room and the kitchen but not the bedroom!
The reason some people are more spiritual than others:
• Is not that they have more of the Holy Spirit,
• But he has more of them, allowed to influence all over their houses.
SO THE APOSTLE JOHN WRITES TO HIS READERS AND SAYS (VS 21):
• And because they have believed the truth,
• They should recognize a lie when they meet it.
• On twenty-five occasions in John’s three short letters;
• He uses the verb ‘to know’.
• He believed knowledge was important for the believers;
• Especially in view of the so-called ‘higher-knowledge’ claimed by the false teachers.
Ill:
George Whitefield, the great British, evangelist of the 17th century.
• Was speaking to a man about his soul.
• He asked the man, "Sir, what do you believe?"
• "I believe what my church believes," the man replied respectfully.
• So Whitfield asked him; "And what does your church believe?"
• The man replied: "The same thing I believe."
• "And what do both of you believe?" the preacher inquired again.
• Once again the man refused to give a straight answer and said:
• "We both believe the same thing!"
What we believe is very important (that’s why we have a New Testament!):
Ill:
The father of Scottish historian and essayist Thomas Carlyle;
• Was discussing the kind of minister his parish needed,
• He said: “What this parish needs is a man who knows Christ other than second hand”
• Unlike the false teachers that were trying to influence the Church;
• John the apostle had met Christ face-to-face (heard, seen, looked at, hands touched).
True doctrine is based on what God has taught us through his apostles:
• Today we would say;
• “What God has taught us in this book”.
• Why John earlier commended the ‘young men’ (chapter 2 verse 14)
• Because ‘the word of God’ lived in them!
Ill:
A person is not saved by assenting to a church creed.
• They are saved by trusting the living Christ!
• That is what sets a Christian apart from all other cults and sects:
• Our very salvation depends not just in knowledge.
• But in a relationship ‘knowing’ the risen Christ?
• That is why John will labour the point all through this letter.
• If you are wrong about Jesus you are wrong about everything else!
So throughout this letter John emphasises to his readers key truths regarding Jesus Christ:
• The false teachers denied the deity of Christ (that he was fully God).
• The false teachers denied the humanity of Christ (that he was fully human)
• The false teachers denied the incarnation (Jesus became a real human being).
• The false teachers denied the work of Jesus (saved by faith alone).
• The false teachers claimed to worship the Father, to believe in God the Father;
• But John says in verse 23 to deny the Son means that you are denying the Father also.
• After all Jesus himself said; ‘No-one comes to the Father except by me’.
• John chapter 14 verse 6.
• Jesus himself had already taught in John chapter 5 verse 23.
• That true believers honour both the Father and the Son:
That all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father. He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father, who sent him”.
When John wrote his letter he emphasised that he had not come with a new message but an old one:
• Chapter 1 verse 1:
• “That which was from the beginning”,
• Chapter 1 verse 5:
• “This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ”
We need to be wary of:
• Any religious leader who comes along with "something new,"
• That is additional knowledge or unique, exclusive insight
• Something that contradicts what Christians have "heard from the beginning";
• Is not to be trusted.
• That is why later John will tell his readers to
• "Try the spirits, whether they are of God" .(l John chapter 4 verse 1).
(3) He Tries to Deceive the Faithful
(1 John verses 26-29).
“I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray.
27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit— just as it has taught you, remain in him.
28 And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.
29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. “
Antichristian groups like nothing more than:
• Trying to convert professing Christians;
• And especially church goers to their own doctrines.
• Why because unlike unbelievers, professing Christians & church goers are half-way there
• They believe in God, want to understand the Bible etc.
• So false teachers set out to "seduce" the faithful.
• To prove us wrong.
• The word "seduce" carries the idea of "being led astray."
• The New Testament warns us that this would happen (1 Tim. Chapter 4 verse 1).
Ill:
• On a wall near the main entrance to the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas,
• Is a portrait with the following inscription:
“James Butler Bonham—no picture of him exists. This portrait is of his nephew, Major James Bonham, deceased, who greatly resembled his uncle. It is placed here by the family that people may know the appearance of the man who died for freedom.”
• We have no literal portrait of either God or the devil;
• But their likeness will seen in the lives of there true followers.
• In our next section which we will look at tonight;
• We will see what God’s likeness is like.
• But in these false teachers we see them resembling their father, the devil;
• Whom Jesus called Satan the "father of lies" (John chapter 8 verse 44).
The devil's purpose is to lead Christians astray by teaching them false doctrines:
• We should not accept everything a person tells us;
• Simply because he or she claims to believe the Bible.
• It is possible to "twist" the Bible to make it mean almost anything;
• Quote: “Take a text out of its context and you are left with a con!”
• Quote Campbell Morgan: “Christian doctrine is not built on ‘it is written’.
• It is built on ‘it is written’ and again ‘it is written’ and again ‘it is written’.
The devil's purpose is to lead Christians astray by teaching them false doctrines:
• Satan is not an originator; he is a counterfeiter.
• He can only ever imitate the work of God.
Ill:
• On one occasion President Calvin Coolidge;
• Invited some people from his hometown to dinner at the White House.
• Since they did not know how to behave at such an occasion,
• They thought the best policy would be just to do what the President did.
• As each course came to the table, they watched his every action;
• Then they copied him picking up the exact piece of cutlery that he used.
• The time came for serving coffee.
• The people again watched the President and imitated his every action.
• The President poured his coffee into a saucer.
• As soon as the home folk saw it, they did the same.
• The next step for the President was to pour some milk;
• And add a little sugar to the coffee in the saucer. The home folks did the same.
• They thought for sure that the next step would be;
• For the President to take the saucer with the coffee and begin sipping it.
• But the President didn’t do so.
• He leaned over, placed the saucer on the floor and called the cat.
Like those people sooner or later these false teachers will be found out:
• The best way to detect an imitation;
• Is to put it next to something genuine.
Ill:
Arlo & it used to work with Kathy;
• We could give them plastic money and pretend it was real.
• We could give them toy mobile phones and pretend they were real.
• But that only worked for a short while;
• As they grew up they could see the imitation for what it was – false.
• The toy money & phone promised so much;
• But could not deliver on its promises because they were fakes!
The best way to detect what is false and an imitation:
• Is to compare it with the real thing.
• Jesus Christ is the real thing.
• He is ‘The Truth’ so we must keep close to him.
• Or as verse 24 puts it: “Remain in him”.
Verse 27: is not saying that we do not need human teachers:
• In fact the very opposite is true;
• God has gifted people for that very purpose.
• What it is saying is that each of us has the Holy Spirit;
• And under his guidance we must test the teaching we receive.
Ill:
Bereans (Acts chapter 17 verse 11).
Ill:
• If a business man picks up a Bible in a hotel and reads it and believes it;
• He will become a Christian.
• If a poor person in a third world country picks up a Bible in a hotel and reads it and believes it;
• He will become a Christian
• They will only become a J.W. or a Mormon;
• If they are given additional books and teachings!
• I think this is what John means by saying; “You do not need anyone to teach you”.
• God has given you both his Holy Spirit and his word – the Bible!
(C). Three ENCOURAGING WORDS:
• Verses 28 and 29 are like a bridge:
• They takes us from the teaching about fellowship (chapters 1&2).
• And they bring us to the teaching about our son-ship (chapters 3-5).
• We have been ‘Born of God’ & therefore we are the ‘Children of God.’
• In these two verses there are contained three key words;
• That ought to encourage us to live in fellowship with the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
(1). ‘Abide’ or ‘Remain’ or ‘continue’) (vs 28a):
“And now, dear children, continue in him…….”
• This is a word you will have met before in chapters 1&2.
• In fact, this has been the theme of the first two chapters of this epistle.
• We are told to abide in Christ by:
• Believing the truth, obeying the truth, and loving other Christians.
• If as a Christian you find yourself out of fellowship with God,
• It is because you have disobeyed one of those three things.
• That is we have disobeyed His Word,
• Lacked love for a fellow Christian, or believed a lie.
The solution to regaining that fellowship;
• Is laid down in chapter 1 verses 8-9, to confess your sin and to claim God's forgiveness.
• And once again start to abide in Christ.
(2). ‘Appear’ (verse 28b).
“And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming”.
• This is the first mention in this epistle of the promised return of Christ.
• Not all Bible students are agreed as to the details of future events,
• But all evangelical Christians agree that Christ is coming again.
• Quote: Tony Campollo:
“I don’t know the details of Christ’s return because I’m on the welcoming committee not the planning committee!”
Quote Verse 28 in the J.B. Philips translation:
Let us so live consciously in Him, “that if he were suddenly to reveal himself we should still know exactly where we stand, and should not have to shrink away from his prescience”.
• John reminds us that the facts are simple: Somewhere, sometime we shall meet the Lord,
• If we are holding onto the truth, then we shall meet him with confidence.
• But if we allow ourselves to get side-tracked by false teachers;
• We will be those who will have to recoil from his appearing.
John the apostle is saying:
• The fact that Jesus Christ may return at any moment:
• Ought to be an incentive for you to live in fellowship with Him;
• Ought to be an incentive for you to be obedient to His Word.
• Ought to be an incentive for you to live right with other Christians.
(3). Ashamed (verse 28c)
“When he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming”.
• Sadly some Christians will be "ashamed”;
• When Christ returns.
• But please remember that:
• All Christians are "accepted," in Christ.
• But there is a difference between being "accepted";
• And being "acceptable."
Ill:
• A disobedient child who goes out and gets dirty will be accepted when he comes home,
• But he will not be treated as though he were acceptable.
Quote Warren Wiesbe:
“No matter in which direction a Christian looks, he finds reason to obey God.
If he looks back, he sees Calvary, where Christ died for him.
If he looks within, he sees the Holy Spirit who lives within and teaches him the truth.
If he looks around, he sees his Christian brethren whom he loves;
He also sees a world lost in sin, desperately needing his godly witness.
And if he looks ahead, he sees the return of Christ!"
The return of Christ is a great inspiration for godly living:
• The apostle John has written about light and darkness,
• Love and hatred, and truth and error;
• And in verse 29 he sums up the whole matter of Christian living in one phrase;
• “Does what is right” or "doing righteousness."
A child bears the nature of his father,:
• And a person who has been "born of God"
• Will reveal the characteristics of the heavenly Father.
• God is righteous;
• And he wants his children to be righteous as well.
