Words Of Warning Series

A deaf but pious English lady visiting a country town in Scotland

went to church with an ear trumpet. It was a new device then, and

the elders of the church had never seen one, and they viewed it with

great suspicion. After consultation one of them walked over to her

and waging his finger at her warningly said, "One toot and ye're

out." This, of course, was a warning that was unneeded.

Not so the warning a man received in New York. He was

walking down fourth Ave. and stopped on a temporary bridge to

watch some work being done on the subway. A worker told him to

move on, for he was in danger of being hurt. He said he had a right

to be on a public street, and he refused to move. A few moments

later he was struck on the head by a piece of metal and was severely

hurt. He sued for damages, and the courts decision is of real

interest. The court agreed with him that he had a perfect right to

stay where he was. However, since he was warned of the danger of

doing so, it is presumed that he accepted the risk involved, and,

therefore, could not collect damages. The contractor had no right to

remove him by force, and so had fully done its duty when it gave

warning. Here was a warning that was needed, but was unheeded,

and so was of no effect in preventing what it was meant to prevent.

To be forewarned is not to be forearmed if the warning is ignored.

In Scripture there are no warnings but those that are needed, and

so we ought to make sure that we give heed to every one of them.

Our study of I John has brought us to a warning concerning

antichrist, or antichrists. John only mentions the anti-Christ, but

his warning covers his numerous predecessors which he calls

antichrists. The thing that impresses me about this passage is the

fact that John is judging who these antichrists are, and he lays down

a standard by which Christians of all time can judge the antichrists

of their day. From a superficial point of view this would be contrary

to the words of Christ that we judge not. These words of Christ are

so often quoted and given such an absurd application that I wanted

to call your attention to the fact that there are clear areas where

they do not apply. This saying comes up all the time in

conversations where the character and conduct of persons are being

discussed. Even non-Christians quote it to throw up a smoke screen

to avoid being examined.

Nothing can be more absurd than to suppose that Christ meant

for us to suspend our critical and moral faculties, and refuse to

determine the worthiness of any man's character and conduct. Such

an application of the words of Christ would lead to the neglect of all

the warnings of Scripture to beware of false prophets. It would

make John's warning and advice both wrong and worthless. Not

applying the truth of the Bible to life is a common problem, but to

give it an absurd application is even worse. A boy said to his father,

"Dad, did you go to Sunday School when you were a boy?" Dad

said, "Why yes son I always went to Sunday School." The son

replied, "Well then, I think then I'll quit, it isn't doing me any good

either." Lack of application of what one learns leads to no good, but

an absurd application of what one learns can lead to definite harm.

Therefore, let us give heed to these words of warning by John, and

recognize that some things we must judge. The first thing we must

judge is-

I. THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES.

In 3:1 John says it is the last time, and we know it by the signs we

see. All of the New Testament authors indicate that Christians will

be able to know when the end is near, for there will be signs. In

Matt. 24 the disciples asked Jesus what the sign of His coming will

be, and of the end of the world. They assume there would be signs of

the end of history. Jesus told them not to be alarmed at false

messiahs, wars, and rumors of wars, nations rising against nations,

famines, and earthquakes in various places, for all of these are to

characterize all of history and not just the end. Many have perverted

the clear words of Christ and quoted these things as signs

of the end, but Jesus says they are only the beginning of sufferings.

Jesus goes on to say there will be much tribulation for the church to

go through, and there will be a great falling away, and many false