A few years back when I began training college students on how to study the Bible and to lead Bible studies, I decided to first teach on the authority of the Bible for our faith. So after a bit of singing, I got up to teach. I began with prayer, and half way through my praying, I stopped and said, "I can’t do this."
And people opened their eyes and looked up. I continued, "I’ve been doing some studies outside the Bible, and I found that much of what I had learned from the Bible just aren’t true. In fact, I’ve been having doubts about Jesus Christ. I’m not even sure I’m a Christian anymore."
I looked around the room and saw mouths wide-open, trembling lips and watery eyes. Then I packed up my Bible and walked out. Those statements paralyzed everyone in that room. Only one person came after me passed the door. I told her this was joke. We waited 30 seconds and walked back in. I announced, "That was drama 101."
A few people looked at each other, and they began to understand that I was only acting. Then four guys came after me saying some very unchristian things, so I ran as fast as I could. They finally caught up to me, and one after another piled on top of me.
After I recovered from the dog-pile, I asked, "How many of you had your faith shaken?" "How many of you questioned the authority of the Bible? How many of you almost became an atheist?"
As I prepared for this morning’s message, I thought about doing the same thing with you all, but since two of the three Elders are away on vacation, I didn’t want to give Elder Bill Woo a heart attack. Besides, I’m too old to recover from being dog-piled.
Yet, I was tempted to see how you would respond if your pastor renounced his faith in Jesus Christ. While what I pondered was a planned test of your faith, the passage we are studying this morning is not hypothetical. Certain people from the church to which John wrote did renounce their faith in Jesus Christ and tried to mislead others.
So John wrote to teach the church to overcome such deception. We continue this morning in our study of 1 John. Let me begin by reading this morning’s text: 1 John 2:18-29. (READ)
Before we look at the main teaching, I want to define two terms, so that we can better understand the passage. First, I want to define the term, "last hour." John’s use of this term is similar to what other writers in the Bible call the "last days."
The last hour or last days is a period of time after the first coming of Jesus Christ, some 2000 years ago, and before His second coming in the future to establish a new kingdom. This period of time is marked by two happenings, noted in the books of Acts and 2 Timothy and in what we read this morning. The first happening is the gift of the Holy Spirit to believers. The second happening is the increase of opposition by unbelievers against God and God’s ways. We live in this time of last days or last hour.
Second, I want to define the term, "antichrist." This term is associated with the last hour and last days. Jesus in Matthew 24:24 tells us, "For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect--if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time."
An antichrist is one who opposes or denies who Jesus Christ is or His work on the cross. An antichrist usually will not be an obvious enemy. He can be tactfully misleading about who Jesus Christ is and whether Jesus Christ is sufficient to offer a right relationship with God and eternal life.
Who is Jesus Christ? John’s record of Jesus’ life tells us, "In the beginning was the Word [a metaphor for Jesus Christ], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Furthermore, is Jesus Christ sufficient to offer a right relationship with God and eternal life? John 14:6 records the words of Jesus, "I [Jesus] am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father [God] except through me."
When people come knocking at your door or stop you in the parking lot to talk, find out if they agree with what the Bible says about Jesus Christ and God’s way to eternal life. If they agree that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the only way to a right relationship with God and eternal life, then you can tell him you believe the same and that you worship at Marin Community Christian Church.
If he becomes tactfully unclear about Who he believes Jesus is, or if he says that Jesus Christ is an angel, a prophet, the created Son of God or a god, you are talking to a genuine, modern-day antichrist. He will also give you a list of things to do to get to heaven for eternal life with God.
You should kindly let him know that you read about him in the Bible, in 1 John 2:18-29. If you feel really mean that day, let the person know Jesus in the Bible told you about him ahead of time in Matthew 24:24.
Spiritual deception does not only occur outside the church and in discussions, but spiritual deceptions can occur inside the church and through action. As in this morning’s passage, spiritual deception occurred in the leaving of certain people who denied that Jesus was the Son of God and the way to eternal life with God the Father. John points to two ways to overcome spiritual deception. Let’s look together.
First, we overcome spiritual deception by having within us the work of God’s Spirit. We see this in verses 18-23.
When John speaks of the anointing of the Holy One, he is talking about the presence and work of the God’s Spirit. The Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:10-12, "The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us."
Jesus said in John 15:26, "... the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me [Jesus Christ]."
Most people who are deceived into following cults or false teachings are people who do not have the work of God’s Spirit within them. Without God’s Spirit in you, you can be prime target for religious conmen and cults. Your mind and emotions can be manipulated in regard to what you believe is spiritually true.
But even those who have God’s Spirit in us can be manipulated if we are not allowing God’s Spirit to work in us. There are at least two ways that we hinder the work of God’s Spirit in our lives.
First, we hinder the work of God’s Spirit when we do not know God’s Word, the Bible. John 14:25-26 tell us, "All this I [Jesus Christ] have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."
God’s Spirit can put truths into our minds, but the most common way that He works in our lives is to remind us of what we have read or heard from His Word, the Bible. But if we don’t know what the Bible says, we hinder the work of God’s Spirit. When cults or religious conmen come our way, we have nothing to judge their teaching by. So we need to read and study the Bible, which fuels the work of God’s Spirit.
Second, we hinder the work of God’s Spirit by living in disobedience to God. Ephesians 4:30-32 tell us, "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."
If we live in bitterness, rage, anger, argument and gossip, we are prone to be manipulated because our conscience is guilty. Furthermore, when our actions, emotions and thinking are not under the control of God’s Spirit, and false teachings can manipulate us. So we need to live in obedience to God, which encourages the work of God’s Spirit.
First, we overcome spiritual deception by having within us the work of God’s Spirit. Second, we overcome spiritual deception by staying with the basics taught by Jesus Christ. We see this in verses 24-29.
The basics include answering: Who is Jesus Christ? How do we come to a right relationship with God the Father and how do we inherit eternal life?
Jesus answered all three questions in John 14:6, saying, ""I [Jesus] am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father [God] except through me."
Jesus is the Way. The way to God and eternal life is through trusting in Jesus Christ. John 3:16 reads, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son [Jesus Christ], that whoever trusts in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
Jesus is the truth. The truth about God and eternal life is seen in Jesus Christ. In John 14:9, Jesus said, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father [God]." 1 Corinthians 15:12 reads, "But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?" We believe in eternal life because Jesus Christ died and rose again from eternal life.
Jesus is the life. The new life God wants us to live can only be lived with Jesus Christ’s help. 1 John 2:29 reads, "If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him."
In recent times, a cult from China, called the Lightning from the East, has been circulating in the Bay Area, trying to deceive and lure away Christians from the Christian Church. They teach that Jesus Christ has reincarnated as a woman in the early 1990s in China. They teach that the way to a right relationship with God and eternal life comes from absolute submission to this woman Christ. In addition to the Bible, they claim to have new revelation recorded in their book.
Another cult that may come to your door or even through the television commercial is the Mormon, the Church of the Latter Day Saints. They teach that Jesus Christ is one of many gods. They teach that the way to a right relationship with God and eternal life comes from faith in Jesus Christ, plus baptism by immersion, plus obedience to the teachings of the Mormon Church, plus good works, plus keeping the commandments of God. In addition to the Bible, they have added the Book of Mormon as God’s revelation.
John says, "we do not need anyone to teach us," because nothing new needs to be added on top of what Jesus did or taught in regard to having a right relationship with God and eternal life. There is nothing we can add to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. When we try, we are either saying to God, "We don’t trust You," or "We have a better way." Yet, many still try to add new teachings. We can overcome spiritual deception by staying with the basics taught by Jesus Christ alone.
Someone has said, "Living life is building a bridge into eternity." The world’s religions require mankind to build his own bridge with his own resources. Christianity, on the other hand, provides the bridge. Not only that, the Builder of that bridge will journey with you to ensure that you get to your eternal home safely.
