1 John 2:18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.
1 John 2:19 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.
1 John 2:20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.
1 John 2:21 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.
1 John 2:22 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.
1 John 2:23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
Review – “Many antichrists have come…”
The Bible teaches that when the Antichrist comes in the end times, he will try to be the Christ that men are looking for. I believe he will take advantage of the turbulent times in which we are living and bring about a false sense of peace. Later he will turn against Christ and demand people to worship him as God. If you don’t worship him you will die.
Then the Bible also speaks of a “spirit of Antichrist.” The spirit of Antichrist has always been in the world. It has manifested itself both in open opposition to Christ and in subtle attempts to replace Christ.
John proceeds and tells his readers how to recognize some who are against Christ. He essentially teaches how we might recognize those in the church who are antichrist and does not really belong to us.
It is amazing that in verse 19 he gives just one characteristic of this kind of person: They leave. But don’t get John wrong; he is not speaking of leaving the church; he is not referring to the person who takes his name off the church roll.
John writes in verse 19, “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 Greek the words “out form” and “of” in this verse are the translation of the preposition ek which Greek scholars say is followed by the ablative case.
The word ablative means, “that which is borne away or separated. The ablative case in the Greek denotes separation. It is involved not only in the literal removal of one object from the vicinity of another, but in any idea which implies departure from the relationship of origin.
In verse 19 there are two occurrences of the ablative case:
They went from us… This is called the ablative of separation.
Here John is referring to the person who leaves, or departs from a specific teaching or doctrine. In this context, the person who leaves, departs or separates from the doctrinal position of the church concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the person who has a mental assent to the teachings concerning Jesus Christ but not a heart acceptance of these teachings so it is easy to leave these teachings.
They were not of us… This is called the ablative of source.
Here John shows his readers that the antichrists did not have their source in the Body of Jesus Christ, which is composed only of true believers. They were merely members of the visible, organized church on earth.
When Peters says Christians are “partakers of the divine nature…” Well, these people who “were not of us” as John writes, did not have this divine nature or life that animates the Christian. They were like a toy in the toy box without its batteries.
They were in the church but did not have the Spirit of God indwelling them.
They were in the choir but when they sang, they may have sounded good but they didn’t have the Spirit.
They were in leadership but it wasn’t the Spirit of God who put them there it was their own fleshly motives.
No, they didn’t leave the church; they left the doctrines or teachings of the church concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. And, since they never held forth to the teachings of the Bible concerning Jesus, they were never with us.
Sometimes when a person leaves the doctrines of the Bible, they leave the people who hold these teachings as precious.
An Example of One “Went Out From Us…”
In 1852 a man was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania to Presbyterian parents; His father was a Presbyterian minister. He claims to have tried to convert an agnostic and was defeated in his arguments, leading to his time of being a skeptic. He claims that he could not believe in a gospel in which there was a literal hell, so he set out on a quest to find a belief that did not include a hell. At the age of seventeen he was a skeptic and disbelieved the Bible.
Listen to his words:
"Brought up a Presbyterian, indoctrinated from the Catechism, and being naturally of an inquiring mind, I fell a ready prey to the logic of infidelity, as soon as I began to think for myself. But that which at first threatened to be the utter shipwreck of faith in God and the Bible was, under God's providence, overruled for good, and merely wrecked my confidence in human creed and systems of Bible misinterpretations." -Charles Taze Russell (Watchtower magazine, 1916)
His wavering faith was re-established in 1870 after dropping in on a Second Adventist Bible study conducted by Jonas Wendell. Soon after this meeting, he organized his own Bible study with a circle of friends who came to regard him as their pastor.
His writings promoted a denial of every major evangelical belief: a total rejection of the Trinity, deity of Christ, person and deity of the Holy Spirit, denial of a physical resurrection, a rejection of any eternal punishment for the lost, and a denial of one’s conscious awareness after death.
Although this young man believed that the Second Adventists were "called of God" and he never renounced them, a miscalculation concerning the Second-Coming of Christ caused him to re-evaluate Adventist teachings.
In response, he, together with his organized Bible study group, determined that Christ's return would be an invisible or spiritual one and believed that Jesus had invisibly returned to earth in 1874 to set up his kingdom, and that in 1914, at the end of the "Gentile Times", Jesus would come to judge the earth and annihilate the wicked.
When nothing supernatural happened in 1914, his group started transferring all of the doctrines about 1874 to 1914. They explained that Christ's kingdom had been set up invisibly in 1914, and that although secular governments were still in place, their rule was no longer valid. Based on his group’s writings, they looked forward to momentous events in the year 1918. Sadly, the founder, the young man who started this study died in 1916. But the society chose a successor.
When nothing supernatural happened in 1918, the society, which had now grown to hundreds of thousands, looked forward to momentous events in 1925.
When nothing supernatural happened in 1925, the society lost three quarters of its members.
When the society was first established, followers believed their founder to be the "Faithful and Wise Servant" of Matthew 24:45-47, but by 1928 the Society applied that to its leaders. They taught that the scripture was a prophecy, and that in 1918 they had been chosen by Jesus "over all that he hath". Since they believed Jesus was ruling the world invisibly, they claimed for themselves a position as God's channel of communication with mankind.
The Society checked its predictions and explained that all of the prophecies in Matthew 24 and 25 would take place within a "single generation" (Matthew 24:34), so the time of "the end of the world" (Matthew 24:3) could be delayed as long as 30 or 40 years. In 1929, the Society built a mansion ("Beth Sarim") to house the resurrected prophets, who were expected to arrive soon. The new definition of "generation" promised momentous events during the 1940's.
When nothing supernatural had happened by 1945, the Society extended the meaning of "generation" to 80 years (the maximum lifespan of a typical man, as explained in Psalms 90:10). "Beth Sarim" was eventually sold.
Although 1914 plus 80 equals 1994, in 1966 the Society decided that the year 1975 was "significant", because they had calculated that it marked the end of six thousand years since the creation of Adam and Eve. Their publications strongly hinted that "the end" would come in 1975.
When nothing supernatural happened in 1975, the Society lost many members. It explained that the time between Adam's creation and Eve's creation was not known, so the 1975 date was only speculative.
In 1980, the Society suggested that their leaders and the publishing staff had been overly enthusiastic about the "possibility" of Armageddon in 1975. This failed to lure back thousands who had left, but regular door-to-door preaching restored the rapid growth the Society had enjoyed since the "significance" of 1975 had been announced.
When the year 1994 arrived (1914 plus 80 years), nothing supernatural happened. The Society had not ascribed any special significance to 1994, but the "generation" issue was becoming awkward. The ranks of the Society's special members (the 144,000 who were "anointed", based on an interpretation of Revelation) were dying out. The claim that Jesus had appointed the Society special status in 1918 was becoming hard to defend.
In 1995, the Watchtower Society decided that "generation" did not mean a physical generation (i.e. 80 years) but meant "age", as in "era". This extended the "end times" indefinitely, although when the last of the 144,000 special members die out, the Society will have to be run by regular members.
A close inspection of Matthew 24:34 in context makes the "age" interpretation hard to understand, since Jesus speaks of the generation "passing away" (which sounds like a physical event). The Society states that it alone understands that "generation" means "age" because it has special status, which was granted to it in 1918.
You may have concluded by now that the history of the “society” we have been reviewing is none other than the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the founder was a man by the name of Charles Taze Russell, one raised in a Presbyterian home, left or departed from the teachings of the church concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.
When it comes to the history of Mormonism, their founder Joseph Smith started out believing in some of the essential doctrines of the faith and then abandoned them.
The Mormons, who also go by the name of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, are the people who have those nice commercials about the family and relationships and then at the end of the commercial offer you a free video or Bible or the Book of Mormon.
Their founder, Joseph Smith started out, in 1830, teaching that there is only one God but by 1844, Smith is declaring full-blown polytheism (i.e., many Gods):
Joseph Smith also started out teaching that God is spirit. And, just as he changed his doctrine of one God to many Gods, Smith, changed his teaching that “God is spirit” to “the Father has a body of flesh and bones.”
The Apostle John is writing to warn his readers about antichrists, those who leave, or depart from a specific teaching or doctrine of the Bible and thus prove they were never a part of the Body of Christ as a true believer.
He goes on in verse 20 of our text to teach his readers how they can discern the difference between one who is antichrist and the one who is in Christ.
1 John 2:20 - But you have an anointing from the Holy One and all of you know the truth.
The true believer has an anointing from the Holy Spirit
The word anointing is the Greek word chrisma, khris'-mah and means ointment or smearing. It refers to the act of applying something to something else for a certain purpose.
During these times one act of anointing was greasing the yoke-band of an ox so that it would not irritate its hide. The act of anointing was applying lotion to a sick horse. Thus, the anointing from the Holy One or the Holy Spirit refers to the act of God the Father, in answer to the prayer of God the Son, sending the Spirit to take up permanent residence in the believer.
Jesus spoke of this in John 14:
John 14:16 "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever;
John 14:17 "the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
Jesus is speaking of the initial coming of the Holy Spirit into the heart of the believing sinner at the moment he places his faith in the Savior.
When one calls on the Lord Jesus Christ to save them from their sins, immediately, the Holy Spirit comes to indwell this person, cleanses him from sin and seals him as God’s child unto the Day of Redemption.
2 Cor 1:21 Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God,
2 Cor 1:22 who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
This is the anointing that John was writing about. Sadly, some have gotten the teaching concerning the anointing all wrong:
During the last presidential campaign, T.D. Jakes and other pastors invited their preferred candidate, Democrat Al Gore, into the pulpit of Jakes' 26,000-member Potter's House church. They laid hands on Gore to give him the "anointing" he would need for the presidential campaign.
If you are a Christian, the Bible says you already have the anointing; you have the indwelling of the Spirit of God.
In the Old Testament there were occasions when people were anointed with oil such as in Exodus 29:7 "And you shall take the anointing oil, pour it on his head, and anoint him.” This act set the priest apart as “holy to the Lord” (vs.1) and the oil may have been symbolic of the presence of God.
In the Old Testament, not only were people set apart with the anointing but things or objects were set apart by the anointing as well:
Exo 30:25 "And you shall make from these a holy anointing oil, an ointment compounded according to the art of the perfumer. It shall be a holy anointing oil.
Exo 30:26 "With it you shall anoint the tabernacle of meeting and the ark of the Testimony;
Exo 30:27 "the table and all its utensils, the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense;
Exo 30:28 "the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the laver and its base.
Exo 30:29 "You shall consecrate them, that they may be most holy; whatever touches them must be holy.
Exo 30:30 "And you shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister to Me as priests.
Exo 30:31 "And you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'This shall be a holy anointing oil to Me throughout your generations.
However, in the New Testament, we are set apart by the Spirit of God who comes to indwell the believer.
But I cannot stress enough that as a result of the death of Christ, Christians receive an anointing at the moment they place their faith in the Savior. As in the Old Testament, the anointing was symbolic of the presence of God, in the New Testament, the anointing is God’s indwelling.
In Luke 4, Jesus announces that God anointed him:
Luke 4:18 "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
Luke 4:19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."
Another thing we can learn from the Scripture is that the anointing is never repeated.
Exo 30:32 'It shall not be poured on man's flesh; nor shall you make any other like it, according to its composition. It is holy, and it shall be holy to you.
Exo 30:33 'Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it on an outsider, shall be cut off from his people.'"
The Old Testament priests were anointed with oil just once, when they were inducted into their office. The New Testament priest (the believer) is anointed with the Spirit just once, when he is saved and inducted into his office as a priest.
Why the anointing? This leads us to the second way one can tell the true believer from one who is antichrist.
2.) The true believer knows the truth.
1 John 2:20 - But you have an anointing from the Holy One and all of you know the truth.
Without getting into a full-blown teaching on the person and work of the Holy Spirit I will say that the anointing is given to the believer so he might know the truth and walk in it.
One of the ministries of the Holy Spirit when he comes to indwell the believer is to teach the believer the Word of God.
John 14:26 - "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.
As a result of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Christian is given the ability to know God’s truth.
The word for “know” in our text is not the Greek word ginosko, “to know by experience” it is oida, “to know absolutely and finally.”
Thus John writes:
1 John 2:21 - 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.
John says, “No lie comes from the truth.”
The reason the cults are teaching lies is because they think they know the truth.
The reason they do not know the truth is because they do not have the anointing.
The reason they do not have the anointing is because they have not trusted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
This is the third way we can tell a true believer from one who is antichrist.
1 John 2:22 - 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.
3.) You can tell a true believer from antichrist by his or her testimony concerning Jesus.
Do you want to know how to determine whether those “Witnesses” knocking on your door are carrying the truth? Just ask them the following question, “Who is Jesus?” Better still, ask them, “Is Jesus God?”
Matthew 16:13-16 records that when Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" They said, "Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
When Peter answered this question, he was giving up more than information about what he felt about Jesus. He was giving more than his opinion. He was giving up more than others were saying about Jesus.
Little did Peter know that he was speaking forth revelation from God Himself. After Peter speaks Jesus says to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”
Jam-packed into Peter’s confession was an entire discourse concerning Jesus.
You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!
The disciples thought Jesus to be merely a prophet. But here He is confessed to be the Christ, the promised Messiah which not only includes His prophetic office in a higher sense than they understood it, but His offices of Priest and King.
The disciples thought Jesus to be a good man. But here Jesus is the Christ, the Christ of God; the true Messiah that was promised by God, prophesied of by all the prophets, from the beginning of the world, and expected by the people of God.
He is the promised Messiah, the position that includes all His offices, of prophet, priest, and king, to which he is anointed by God.
This Messiah was not a mere man, but a divine person, the Son of God; not by creation, as angels and men are, nor by adoption, as saints, nor by office, as magistrates, but by nature, being God’s own Son, His proper Son, the only begotten of the Father, of the same nature with him, being one with Him, and equal to Him.
Jesus is acknowledged to be the Son of God, a phrase expressive of His divine nature, and distinct personality. Here Peter calls Him the Son of the living God, as having the same life in Him the Father has.
John says, “Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. Such a man is the antichrist--he denies the Father and the Son.”
The one “who is the liar” according to John is a habitual liar. The article coupled with the participle denotes habitual denial that Jesus is the Christ.
Most translations have John asking the question, “Who is the liar?” They are correctly translating the sentence with the definite article before the word “liar.”
John is saying that the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ is the representative liar. He is in essence saying, “One can’t tell a greater lie than this, thus the one who lies about Jesus puts himself at the top of the list of liars.”
John Gill makes this amazing statement: “the devil himself, who is a liar, and the father of lies in other things, knew and owned Jesus to be the Christ; so that those that deny him are the worst of liars, even worse than the devil himself.” (Say that to a JW the next time they knock on your door)
Lastly, John writes:
1 John 2:23 - No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father
4.) You can tell a true believer from one who is antichrist because the one who is antichrist denies the Son.
John is not speaking of the person who denies the Son has ever existed—though many try to deny that Jesus ever existed.
John is not referring to the person who denies the Son’s involvement in their lives—though many do that in our time.
John is referring to the person who denies that Jesus is God. These are they who deny Jesus Christ to be the true, proper, natural, essential, and eternal Son of God.
John further states that “to deny the Son is to deny the Father.” Before you say “Amen” , think of the consequences of this kind of denial.
To deny the Father is to disbelieve the Father. Most people who deny the Son still want to believe in the Father.
But consider this: There cannot be a father without a son. Jesus cannot be the Son of God without being of the same essence of the Father.
As a result, he that honors not the Son, by acknowledging Him as such, honors not the Father. Whatever reflects dishonor on the Son, reflects dishonor on the Father.
If Christ is not truly and properly the Son of God, the Father is not truly and properly the Father of Christ.
If Christ is only a Son in a figurative and metaphorical sense, the Father is only a Father in a figurative and metaphorical sense.
If Christ is a Son only by office, then the Father is a Father only by office, which is stupid.
John, the “apostle of love” is saying, If you deny the Son, you deny the Father and you are a stupid liar.
So to deny Jesus, the Son, is to deny the Father. If you don’t have the Father you are not saved. Do you think God is going to let you into His heaven if you do not believe in Him?
You say you believe in Him? Well, do you believe and honor His Son as of the same essence of the Father. In other words, is Jesus God?
The Bible speaks of a “spirit of Antichrist.” The spirit of Antichrist has always been in the world. It has manifested itself both in open opposition to Christ and in subtle attempts to replace Christ.
How do we recognize someone who is against Christ? How do we know who is antichrist?
People who are against Christ leave the essential doctrines or beliefs of the church concerning Jesus Christ. Though they may have started with Christ on their mind, they leave without the person of Christ ever having penetrated their heart.
The world is full of antichrists.
This is why we are strict concerning who we have teaching and preaching from our pulpits.
This is why we are not quick to allow men and women to come and stand before this flock as teachers.
This is why when people have come to our church and said unbiblical things in the form of “testimonies” and “words of encouragement” they are confronted with the truth.
When Paul exhorted the elders of the church of Ephesus he had this to say:
Acts 20:27 "…I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.
Acts 20:28 "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
Acts 20:29 "For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
Acts 20:30 "Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.
Acts 20:31 "Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.
Acts 20:32 "So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
Peter warned the churches in Asia Minor:
2 Pet 2:1 …. there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.
2 Pet 2:2 And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.
2 Pet 2:3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber.
Later in chapter 4 of 1st John, John writes:
1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
1 John 4:2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,
1 John 4:3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.
How can we know when one is antichrist? I believe the Scripture is clear in it’s teaching on how to recognize one who is a false teacher.
Let me briefly introduce you to our outline for next time:
False teachers indulge the flesh. 2 Peter 2:10 says they, “…walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness…”
False teachers despise authorities. 2 Peter 2:10 also says they, “…despise authority…”
False teachers are characterized by brazen arrogance. “…They are presumptuous, self-willed…” They seem to have a super confidence. But it's not holy boldness. It's brazen arrogance. There is a difference.
False teachers do not have proper respect for Satan and the demonic world. They are not afraid to slander celestial beings like the devil and his demons. We are not talking about a trembling fear of Satan and his power, but a healthy respect for him, considering that there is no one on earth that can take him out except for God.
False teachers have no more spiritual perception than the animals. 2 Peter 2:12 – “But these, like natural brute beasts made to be caught and destroyed, speak evil of the things they do not understand, and will utterly perish in their own corruption…”
Many people, some who are probably your favorite TV preachers, have these characteristics.
Check out what they are saying about Christ.
Check out how they are amassing millions of dollars from the trusting and unsuspecting. Investigate where they are living and what they are driving and flying.
Check out what they are saying about authority—how many of them are submitting under the authority of anyone else but GOD?
Check out some of their arrogant statements and teachings.
Check out how they do not have a healthy respect for Satan and his demons. They are quick to say things like they can grab Satan by the throat or put him under their feet.
Check out how they can say some of the most absurd things and try to justify it with Scripture. Investigate how they take a verse out of its context in order to create a spiritual principal.
