Living The Life: Counterfeit Christianity
Scripture Reference: 1 John 2:18 – 27
Introduction
There was a game show that debut on television December 18, 1956 entitled, “To Tell The Truth”. Three contestants claim to be the same person. A celebrity panel asks them questions, and must guess who’s telling the truth.
There were two contestants that were false; one contestant was the real person. The catch phrase from that program was, “Will the real ______ please stand up.”
Here is the question of the morning, how many of you have your neighbors as panelists on to tell the truth about your faith? Your Christianity? Your Discipleship? Are they having to guess whether or not you are the real Christian in the neighborhood?
What about where you work, where you shop regularly, your children’s practices? Will the real Christian please stand up! Why do I ask such questions, because there are a lot of people claiming to be Christians in this country at this very moment.
They’re in the mall not having been to church but once a month this year. They’re on your job regularly using the world’s philosophy rather than the Word’s of truth to answer life’s challenges and problems.
They’re at your children’s school having been wet with the waters of baptism but since that time haven’t darkened a Sunday School classroom. They’re in your neighborhood having hidden behind the excuse that the church is full of hypocrites thus it is not worthy to request their presence any longer.
They’re on television and radio participating in compromising and questionable roles while claiming that it is just a way to earn a living and that these roles cannot in anyway affect their soul and spirit. They have the name and the claim, but don’t have the acclaim of heaven.
This series has been about living the way God has intended for you to live. Some folks have defined living not according to God’s word, but according to how much cash you have.
A woman by the name of Sophee Tucker was quoted as saying, “from birth to 18 a young girl needs good parents, from 18 –35 she needs good looks, from 35 – 55 she needs a good personality, but from 55 on she needs cash.
Chuck Swindoll a famed pastor/teacher stated from his series on Contagious Christianity: What Does It Mean To Really Live asks the question, “since when is the good life the real life?” Far too many people could have written on their tombstones “died at 31 buried at 73.”
“Far too many die before they are buried because you have defined real living by the cash, or how young you feel, how comfortable you are, how educated you have made yourself, how productive, or even how organized you are. But we all know a lot of people who fall in one or more of those categories who are not really living.
Transition
Listen, John made it clear back when this text was written and the Holy Spirit makes it relevant today that we are in the last times or the last hour. John was not referring to the duration, but a kind of time.
In other words, John was declaring one of the evidences of last times is the increase of false Christians, false church members, false teachers inside the church and outside the church.
Jesus predicted back in the gospels that this would occur…
Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves.
Matthew 24:11 And many false prophets shall arise, and shall lead many astray.
Matthew 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
Now if John was raising up this issue back then, where do you think we stand today? John is giving both warning and word about the false Christians and the anti-christs living among them.
A couple of Sunday’s ago we defined the term “antichrist”. The “spirit of antichrist” (1 John 4:3) has been in the world since Satan declared war on God (cf. Gen. 3). The “spirit of antichrist” is behind every false doctrine and every “religious” substitute for the realities Christians have in Christ.
That prefix anti actually has a dual meaning. It can mean, in the Greek, both “against” Christ and “instead of” Christ. Satan in his frenzy is fighting Christ and His eternal truth, and he is substituting his counterfeits for the realities found only in our Lord Jesus.
The “spirit of antichrist” is in the world today. It will eventually lead to the appearance of a “satanic superman” whom the Bible calls “Antichrist” (capital A). He is called (2 Thes. 2:1–12) “the man of sin” (or “lawlessness”).
In these so call last days you must know what truth is and live according to that truth so that no one can mistaken you as a counterfeit. (Expound on the two extremes)
John gives three excellent marks of the false teacher controlled by “the spirit of the antichrist.”
He Departs from the Fellowship (1 John 2:18 – 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 they might be made manifest that they all are not of us.
The New Testament presents the church in a twofold way: as one worldwide family, and as local units or assemblies of believers. There is a “universal” as well as “local” aspect of the church.
When a sinner trusts Christ as Savior, he receives eternal life and immediately becomes a member of God’s family and a part of Christ’s spiritual body.
He should then identify himself with a local group of Christians (a church) and start serving Christ (Acts 2:41–42). But the point here is that a person can belong to a local church and not be part of the true spiritual body of Christ.
One of the evidences of true Christian life is a desire to be with the people of God. “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren” (1 John 3:14).
When people share the same divine nature (2 Peter 1:4) and are indwelt by the same Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:14–16), they want to enjoy fellowship and to share with one another. As we have seen, fellowship means, “to have in common.” When people have spiritual realities in common, they want to be together.
But the “counterfeit Christians” mentioned in 1 John 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.
In the statement, “They went out from us,” we have the ablative of separation. These false teachers (antichrists) went out from the true believers in the sense that they departed doctrinally from the position of the Church as to the Person of the Lord Jesus, a position that they had held only in an intellectual way.
It was a mental assent to the doctrines concerning, not a heart acceptance of, the Person of Christ.
In the words, “They were not of us,” we have the ablative of source. That is, the antichrists did not have their source in the Mystical Body of Christ composed only of true believers.
They were merely members of the visible, organized church on earth. They did not partake of the divine life animating the members of the Body of Christ, made up of true believers.
He Denies the Faith (1 John 2:20 - 25)
The key question for a Christian is: Who is Jesus Christ? Is Christ merely “an Example,” “a good Man,” or “a wonderful Teacher”; or is He God come in the flesh?
John’s readers knew the truth about Christ, or else they would not have been saved. “You all know the truth, because you have the Spirit of God, an unction, and the Spirit teaches you all things” (cf. 1 John 2:20, 27). “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His” (Rom. 8:9).
False Christians in John’s day used two special words to describe their experience: “knowledge” and “unction.” They claimed to have a special unction (anointing) from God, which gave them a unique knowledge.
They were “illuminated” and therefore living on a much higher level than anybody else. But John points out that all true Christians know God and have received the Spirit of God! And because they have believed the truth, they recognize a lie when they meet it.
The great assertion of the faith that sets a Christian apart from others is this: Jesus Christ is God come in the flesh (1 John 4:2).
Not all preachers and teachers who claim to be Christian are really Christian in their belief (1 John 4:1–6). If they confess that Jesus Christ is God come in the flesh, then they belong to the true faith. If they deny Christ, then they belong to Antichrist.
They are in and of the world, and are not, like true believers, called out of the world. When they speak, the world (unsaved persons) hears them and believes them.
But the unsaved world can never understand a true Christian. A Christian speaks under the direction of the Spirit of Truth; a false teacher speaks under the influence of the spirit of error—the spirit of antichrist.
It is important that you stay with the truth of God’s Word. The Word (or message) Christians have “heard from the beginning” is all you need to keep you true to the faith.
The Christian life continues just as it began: through faith in the Bible’s message. A religious leader who comes along with “something new,” something that contradicts what Christians have “heard from the beginning,” is not to be trusted.
If false teachers were content to enjoy themselves in their own meetings, it would be bad enough; the tragedy is that they try earnestly to convert others to their antichristian doctrines. This is the third mark of a man who has turned away from God’s truth
He Tries To Deceive The Faithful (1 John 2:26 - 29)
It is interesting to observe that antichristian groups rarely try to lead lost sinners to their false faith. Instead, they spend much of their time trying to convert professing Christians (and church members, at that) to their own doctrines. They are out to “seduce” the faithful.
The word “seduce” carries the idea of “being led astray.” We have been warned that this would happen: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and teachings of demons” (cf. 1 Tim. 4:1).
Jesus calls Satan the “father of lies” (John 8:44), The devil’s purpose is to lead Christians astray by teaching them false doctrines (2 Cor. 11:1–4, 13–15).
We should not accept everything a person tells us simply because he claims to believe the Bible, for it is possible to “twist” the Bible to make it mean almost anything (2 Cor. 4:1–2).
Satan is not an originator; he is a counterfeiter. He imitates the work of God. For example, Satan has counterfeit “ministers” (2 Cor. 11:13–15) who preach a counterfeit gospel (Gal. 1:6–12) that produces counterfeit Christians (John 8:43–44) who depend on a counterfeit righteousness (Rom. 10:1–10).
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.
The word anoint reminds us of the Old Testament practice of pouring oil on the head of a person being set apart for special service. A priest was anointed (Ex. 28:41), and so was a king (1 Sam. 15:1) or a prophet (1 Kings 19:16).
The Spirit of God anoints a New Testament Christian, not with literal oil, but—an anointing that sets him apart for his ministry as one of God’s priests (1 Peter 2:5, 9).
It is not necessary for you to pray for “an anointing of the Spirit”; if you are a Christian, you have already received this special anointing. This anointing “abides in us” and therefore does not need to be imparted to us.
We are warned against letting any man be our teacher, for God has given us the Spirit to teach us His truth. This does not deny the office of human teachers in the church (Eph. 4:11–12); but it means that under the guidance of the Spirit you must test the teaching of men as you search the Bible for yourself (cf. Acts 17:11).
A missionary to the American Indians was in Los Angeles with an Indian friend who was a new Christian. As they walked down the street, they passed a man on the corner who was preaching with a Bible in his hand. The missionary knew the man represented a cult, but the Indian saw only the Bible. He stopped to listen to the sermon.
“I hope my friend doesn’t get confused,” the missionary thought to himself, and he began to pray. In a few minutes the Indian turned away from the meeting and joined his missionary friend.
“What did you think of the preacher?” the missionary asked.
“All the time he was talking,” exclaimed the Indian, “something in my heart kept saying, ‘Liar! Liar!’ ”
That “something” in his heart was “Someone”—the Holy Spirit of God! The Spirit guides us into the truth and helps us to recognize error. This anointing of God is “no lie,” because “the Spirit is truth” (1 John 5:6).
The fact that Jesus Christ may return at any moment ought to be an incentive for us to live in fellowship with Him and be obedient to His Word. For this reason, John uses another word:
•Ashamed. Some Christians will be “ashamed before Him at His presence” (1 John 2:28). All believers are “accepted,” but there is a difference between being “accepted” and being “acceptable.”
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. “Therefore also we have as our ambition... to be pleasing to Him” (2 Cor. 5:9, NASB).
A Christian who has not walked in fellowship with Christ in obedience, love, and truth will lose his rewards; and this will make him ashamed.
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!
“And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure” (1 John 3:3). The return of Christ is a great inspiration for godly living.
John has written about light and darkness, love and hatred, and truth and error; and in 1 John 2:29 he sums up the whole matter of Christian living in one phrase—“doing righteousness.”
The life that is real is a life of doing, not simply talking (“If we say,” 1 John 1:8–2:9) or giving mental assent that a doctrine is correct. “Not every one that saith unto Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 7:21, italics added). Christians do not simply believe the truth; they do it (1 John 1:6).
A person who professes to be a Christian, but who does not live in obedience, love, and truth, is either deceived or a deceiver. Live the life. Be a true believer according to the word not according to standards that are most comfortable to you or match closely matches your experiences.
Final Points
Lead A Quiet Life – Take care of your yard, keep your car up, tend to your clothes, do your best to finish your education, live responsibly in your community.
Tend To Your Own Business – Work at your assignment in your life. Focus on your work not to be so fanatical that you are distracted.
Work With Your Hands – Labor so that you earn the right to be heard.
Lifestyle Evangelism – When you are at an event.
Conclusion
Non-believers are watching and wondering so conduct yourself with wisdom
Non-believers are listening and learning so speak your words with grace.
Non-believers are individuals and an important so respond with dignity and sensitivity.
An effective form of evidence is what God has done in our lives. The world hungers perhaps without even knowing for the evidences in people’s lives that God is at work. They want to know if God works.
Does God make a difference in your self-esteem? Does He make a difference in your marriage, the way you raise your children? The best testimony that a married couple could give is a reasonably good marriage. We don’t have to live a Barbie doll couple on top of a wedding cake.
We all have our struggles and dashed expectations, but somebody ought to know that God makes the difference. If we can offer the world a reasonably good marriage, a reasonably good church, a reasonably good fellowship we can impact our community more than you can ever imagine.
“Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!” (2 Cor. 13:5, NASB) Does your life bear the marks of obedience, love, and truth? Is your Christian life something real—genuine—authentic? Or is it counterfeit?
It is a question of truth—or consequences! And if you do not face the truth, you must pay the consequences!
