1 John chapter 2. If you're a guest with us here tonight, we have been in a series in the book of 1 John on Sunday evenings for a little while now, and wanna continue that. So we're gonna begin in verse 18, and Lord willing, make our way down to verse 27 here this evening. So follow along as I read, little children. It is the last time, and as you've heard, that Antichrist shall come. And even now, there are many antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father, but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you. But as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. Father, tonight I pray that you would take your word, and as we often ask, Father, just speak to us. Lord, as John lays out some warnings here to his readers, I pray that we would understand them and accept them as warnings to us here this evening. Lord, I pray that you'd be pleased and honored with the preaching of your truth tonight. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. You know, as we have made our way through the book of 1 John, we've tried to make it clear and plain that John is laying out some tests. As we looked at early on in the book, there were realities about Christ that he said that believers really adhere to and accept. There's realities about salvation that we looked at. And then he gave some very clear tests in chapter two about obedience. about love and that Christians love one another. And a couple of weeks ago, Pastor Andy, our staff evangelist, went through verses 15 through 17 about believers do not love the world. And, you know, tonight we come to a section that I've just simply titled, Warnings. You know, sometimes there are warnings that are frivolous. If you have a chainsaw, you know, it's particularly for the guys here tonight, there may be a warning you find somewhere in the literature that says, you know, do not grab the chain while it's running, you know, or something like that. And you go, duh, you know, you know, if you're running a table saw, you know, don't put your hand, you know, near the blade. Okay, all right, yeah, that makes sense. And you know, sometimes there are not warnings where we need them. You know, just this past week, I was taking my car to be serviced, and I use a place on the corner of 10th and Midhoffer. And so I was making my way across what is now the old decrepit Washington Square parking lot, and there was a kind of an area of ice and snow, and all of a sudden, I thought my car had dropped in a hole to China. You know, I was kind of moving along and all of a sudden it just, you know, kind of goes down. And one of my daughters was behind me and I was trying to, you know, to wave her off. And she said, Dad, I thought you like disappeared or something, you know. And, you know, it would have been really nice to have a warning there to say, you know, hey, big hole, don't drive through here. And really, that's what John's doing tonight. He's giving us a warning. He's saying, look, there are many antichrists. We're going to look at what that means. And you've got to hold fast to the truth. So let's jump in here. Number one, he says, be alert. Antichrists are abundant. Antichrists are abundant. He starts out in verse 18. He says, little children. He addressed them as children in verses 12 and 13 earlier in this chapter. And as we know from those verses, he says, you're little children and you have believed in the Father. So he's addressing believers. He says, little children, it is the last time. What's he mean by the last time? Literally, if you were to translate this from the Greek, it would be this, last hour it is. It's the last hour. It refers to the present evil age. It's the time period from Christ's first coming to his second coming. And so it really encompasses a vast period of time. from the first time that Christ came to this earth until the time that he comes again to set up his kingdom and his rule and reign is really referred to in scripture as the last days or the last hour, if you will. So that's the timeframe for which John is referring to. We find this in the book of Hebrews, chapter one, verses one and two. God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath what in these last days spoken unto us by His Son?" Go to 1 Peter 1. Peter reminds us that we're not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you. You know, really what Jesus had predicted in Matthew 24, John saw coming to fruition in his day. For Jesus said in Matthew 24, and as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately saying, tell us, when shall these things be and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world? And Jesus said, and many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many. So the last times, and he refers to it twice in verse 18, once there towards the beginning and once at the very end, is really a period of time from Jesus' first coming until his second coming. Now, he says that you have heard that Antichrist shall come, and there are many Antichrist. What does Antichrist mean? Well, if you take the word anti, it means against or in place of. against or in place of. So it literally means someone who stands against or in opposition to Jesus Christ or they claim to be Christ and therefore they would be a false or pseudo Christ that they would be in the place of Christ. So it's one who stands against or in the place of, most often the meaning is against, one who is opposed to Jesus Christ. And John says that there are many, and really from Jesus' day to this present day, there are many who blatantly, ardently oppose Jesus Christ. How many of you would agree with that? All right, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out, does it? You know, that there are many, many, many, many people who oppose what you and I believe. And it's not just that, yeah, you can believe what you want, and we'll believe what we want, there are many of those as well, but there are many who would stand in fierce opposition to what you and I hold to very dearly. So in one sense, there are many, and there is one. He says, you've heard that Antichrist shall come. This is the satanic controlled leader who will one day control the known world during a period that we call the Tribulation. We're going to look at that more closely here in just a moment. How would they have heard this? For John's readers, how would they have known about this Antichrist? Well, they could have looked at books such as Daniel, chapter 7 and chapter 11, and they could have read about what Daniel prophesied about this coming Antichrist. Although John is the only one who uses the term Antichrist, he was certainly written about in other areas. They certainly could have known of the Olivet Discourse where Jesus spoke and He refers to the abomination of desolation and He writes in Matthew 24, we find that, here is Christ or there believe it not for there shall arise false Christ and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders. So it was possible that they could have heard through what Jesus spoke years before. It's possible that they could have read what Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica. He would have written in Thessalonians some 40 years prior to this. And Paul writes to the church at Thessalonica, he said, that ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us as that the day of Christ or the day of the Lord is at hand. Let me talk to you a little bit about what is the day of the Lord. It's a period or a time frame of judgment. It begins with the rapture of the church of Jesus Christ and many would see it continuing technically through the millennial reign. But there comes a specific time or day of judgment, and many would see that as the second coming. It's both a period of time as well as a specific time where Jesus comes, he stamps out his enemies, and he sets up his rule and reign on this earth. But most prominently, it's referred to, again, as a period of time, the day of the Lord, a period of judgment. And Paul continues to write, let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first. What is this falling away? Well, most commentators, most authorities in this area would say it probably refers to a specific time in the middle of a tribulation where the Antichrist does something blatantly in a blasphemous way against God and that there is a turning at that point of that three and a half year period. Now, this probably refers to a time, a historical event that will be duplicated in some sense by the Antichrist. The historical event would go back to 167 BC with a Greek man by the name of Antiochus Epiphanes where he came in to Jerusalem, he came into the temple in Jerusalem and he set up an altar to Zeus. And then as really an ultimate blasphemy both to God and to the Jewish people, he offered a pig on the altar and really was just a blasphemous action on his part. So that is referred to as the abomination of desolation, which Jesus refers to in Matthew 24. Now Jesus is speaking some 200 years after this event and really is prophesying about an event that will take place yet in the future. somewhere at that halfway point of the tribulation period, that three and a half year period where the Antichrist will really show his true colors, he will come out in blasphemy against God, and that is what Paul writes about here as there will be a falling away, a particular falling away. "'And that man of sin, the Antichrist, shall be revealed.'" He's also called the son of perdition. "'Who opposeth and exalteth himself "'above all that is called God, or all that is worshipped, "'so that he is God, he is as God, "'sitteth in the temple of God, "'showing himself that he is God.'" And a little bit later in that Thessalonian passage, he says, "'Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish." So John says, hey, you've heard this. There are multiple ways you may have heard it. And I want to tell you, he shall come. In the passage we find there in verse 18 of 1 John, chapter two, he says, look, the future coming is as certain as the present reality. He will come. I'm gonna invite you to take your Bibles and turn to Revelation 13 for just a moment here tonight. We're not gonna spend a long time with this, but I want us to look at what the scriptures say, at least in part, about this person, this individual yet to come, who is called the Antichrist. in chapter 13 and verse 1, and I stood upon the sand of the sea. Now right out of the bat here, we have a bit of a manuscript difficulty. And it's probably better to understand this is that he stood, referring to the dragon of chapter 12 and verse 17, and the sand of the sea would be the nations. "'and saw a beast, the Antichrist, rise up out of the sea, "'having seven heads and ten horns, "'and upon his horns ten crowns, "'and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.'" Boy, there in verse one, we have a boatload of stuff, don't we? Just all of a sudden, right out of the chute about this Antichrist. He has horns, which represent strength and power. He has crowns that represent regal authority, kingly type authority. I think we quickly understand from this text that the Antichrist represents a kingdom and he is also an individual, he is also a person. There are ten nations in this kingdom that He has rule and reign over. And it says He bears the name of blasphemy. We'll talk more about that here in just a moment. In verse 2 it says, this Antichrist or this beast which I saw was likened to a leopard. And many would liken this to Greece and their power and their conquest and the speed and the viciousness of a leopard. Like a bear. referring probably to the Medo-Persian empire and the ferocity and the strength and stability that came with that empire. And like a lion of the Babylonian empire with a fierce consuming power. And so really he's a conglomeration of all these previous empires and if we kind of incorporated it all into one, there would be ferocity, there would be viciousness, there would be swiftness or speed and strength. That's what typifies his kingdom and his rule. In verse 2, at the end of the verse, we find, and the dragon, and he's identified in chapter 12 and verse 17 as Satan, and the dragon gave him his power. And so his power comes directly from Satan. And then in verse 3, it says, and I saw one of the heads, as it were, wounded to death, and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered after the beast. One of two things here, it's either that the Antichrist actually dies and is raised from the dead, or it appears as though he dies and is raised from the dead. And I tend to believe the latter, that it appears as though he is dead, and that he is one who has power over death, and as a false Christ, as a pseudo Christ, really one who stands in opposition to Christ, he would be falsely replicating the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ Himself. But I think the important thing is this, that those who are in the world would perceive Him and look at Him as one who can conquer death. And that's the perception that He gives. And then in verse 4 and verse 8, And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast, and they worshipped Go down to verse 8, So all those who are not believers in this time frame, all those who are unregenerate people, will worship the Antichrist. he is that powerful, he's that persuasive. We find in verse 5, And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months, three and a half years. And he opened his mouth and blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven. He makes no pretense. There's no deceit involved here. He's openly in opposition to God. He's openly blaspheming the name of God. And then in verse seven, and it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. To overcome them means to kill them. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, under the rule and reign of Antichrist, you will be a hunted individual. He will seek you out, he will attempt to wipe you out and kill you, and power was given unto him to do that. And the last part of the verse, and power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations. He is the supreme ruler of the world in this timeframe. So, we come to verse 9, and really there's encouragement in verse 9 and 10. If any man have any ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity. He that killeth with a sword must be killed with a sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. And so what John is writing in the book of Revelation is this, he's saying, look, this Antichrist lives and dies by the sword, and he will be judged. There will be a day of judgment that he will be conquered by God himself and be cast into the lake of fire forever and forever, and this is great encouragement to the saints. This is where they derive their patience from, their endurance from, that they know that there's coming a day of judgment for Antichrist. So just in a very quick summary fashion, let's take just a few minutes to look at what the Bible says about this individual. Not trying to in any way speculate who it is, what country they might come from, or any of that tonight. But this is clearly what the Bible says about this individual and about his rule and his reign and the power that's given unto him. All right, back to our text in 1 John 2. So we said initially, look, be alert. Antichrists are abundant. There's many and there's one coming supreme Antichrist yet in the future. Number two, be aware. There are counterfeits among you. Be aware, there's counterfeits among you, for he says in verse 19, they went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. What's he saying? Look, some of the antichrist, that would be the many. Some of the Antichrists were once sitting in the pew in church. They once came every Sunday in our common vernacular. They once were involved in ministry, but there came a point at which they showed their true colors and they went out, and the idea there in the language is they went out voluntarily. They went out of their own accord because they couldn't be around the truth any longer. They went out and they showed their true colors that they were not genuine, true believers in Jesus Christ, but genuinely they were antichrists. So John says, look, there will be some who will just simply depart. These antichrists of their own accord go out and they depart. You know, if there's someone who you know and I know that would claim to be a genuine believer in Christ, And somewhere in life's journey, they take a left-hand turn. And they just, what we might say, abandon the faith. They turn against God. They oppose God. They don't want anything to do with Christianity whatsoever. What a heartbreaking thing that is. And what a heartbreak it must have been to John's readers to realize that as they read this, maybe they could think of certain individuals that were once here with us, but they're no longer here. And in fact, they are opposing us. They are anti-Christ. And then John goes on to say, they not only depart, but they deny the truth. Look at verse 22. He poses the question, who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? You know, it could have been that as John was opposing the Gnostics of his day, who really claimed to have a higher understanding of the truth, he's saying, look, I want you to know something, they don't have the truth. They deny Jesus Christ, and they are a liar. And let me remind us here tonight, that anyone who denies the incarnation of Jesus Christ, anyone who denies the deity of Jesus Christ, anyone who denies the fact of the substitutionary death of Christ, anyone who would deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ is a liar. You know, John says that clearly, and I'm just repeating his words, and those are direct words, but they're true words, that if you deny the truth of Jesus Christ, you are lying, you are a liar, and the truth is not in you. And I think we need to be reminded of that tonight, because there are many in our culture, in our world, that would want us to believe something different about Jesus Christ, and we've got to hold fast to the truth, and say, I believe what God's word says. about my Savior, the Son of God, Jesus Christ. He says that they deny the truth. In verse 23, whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father. He's saying, look, you don't believe the truth about Jesus Christ. You cannot legitimately claim that God is your Father because He's not. because you do not have a genuine relationship with him through Jesus Christ. And then John goes on in verse 26 to say, hey, these antichrists are deceitful. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. They come along, they sound persuasive, they have a cunning approach, they want to kind of woo you in, and John says, hey, you've gotta be careful. They're deceivers, they are liars, they're not giving you the truth. It may sound good, it may sound appealing, it may sound enticing, but you must stand for the truth of the Word of God. So, kind of piecing some of this text together, he says of these antichrists, Many of them are some who've departed from you, or at least some of them have departed from you. They deny the truth, and they're deceitful in what they propagate. Thirdly tonight, he says, look, be confident, hold tightly to the truth. Be confident, hold tightly to the truth. Now, let me remind us a little bit about what John was facing. I mentioned a moment ago the Gnostics. The Gnostics were a present-day evil, if you will, a present-day false teaching that John was opposing. These were false teachers. Gnosticism taught that matter was inherently evil and spirit was good. We've been over this, but I just want to remind us of it here tonight. There would be some who would accept some form of Christ's deity, but would deny the fact of His humanity because material, physical is inherently evil. Some would say that Jesus' body was not a real physical body. Some would say that his connection with his body or the fact that the spiritual part of Jesus came upon him at his baptism and left him just before his crucifixion. Now, if that were true, then his death on the cross would have been invalid because it takes a God-man, a man who is fully God and fully man for the substitutionary death of Christ to be sufficient and accepted by God the Father. Also, they would believe that since the material was inherently evil, that the body didn't really have a direct effect on the spirit, and so sins that were committed with the body, you know, really didn't have an effect on your spiritual standing, and so really kind of anything went. That as far as the body would go, that there were not really any restrictions per se. And so that was in part Gnosticism of what John was writing and combating. And he says, look in verse 20, but ye have an unction or an anointing from the Holy One, and ye know all things. What's he saying here? He's saying, look, as a believer in Jesus Christ, you have the Holy Spirit indwelling you. That's what the anointing is. We find in Romans 8 and verse 9, but ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. So it goes part and parcel that if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you have the Holy Spirit of God living in you. If you are an unbeliever, you do not have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you. 1 Corinthians 1, 21 and 22, Paul writes, now he which establish us with you in Christ, speaking of God's gracious work of salvation, and hath anointed us is God. who hath also sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." The anointing that he refers to again is the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God which empowers us and directs us and enables us. And he says that the Holy Spirit is our seal or But it refers to a stamp or an identifying mark on something. The Holy Spirit identifies us as gods, as belonging to God. And He's given us the earnest or the down payment or the pledge. The Holy Spirit is the down payment or the guarantee of a believer's eternal inheritance. And so that's the Holy Spirit of God within us. That's the anointing that John refers to. And I did not put this verse on the screen, but John 16 and verse 13 says this, "'Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you'..." What? "...into all truth." And so, it's the Holy Spirit of God that will help us understand and adhere to truth from God. And that's why John writes, he says, look, you have an unction, you have an anointing, it's the Holy Spirit of God, and he will set you in good stead. The Holy Spirit will not direct us and guide us into error. He will not guide us and direct us into false teaching. He will guide us into truth. At the end of verse 20, He says, and ye know all things. John is not necessarily saying, look, you literally know everything. But he's saying, look, you know what is truth because of the Holy Spirit that dwells in you. And again, he may have been pinpointing the Gnostics who claimed that they possessed the knowledge of the truth. And he's saying, look, I want you to know that you all really know the truth. It's from God. Verse 21, I have not written unto you because you know not the truth. He's not really disseminating new facts or new truth because he says they know the truth and that no lie is of the truth. He's just trying to bolster them. He's trying to encourage them. He's trying to remind them, look, you have the truth. Do not believe a lie. And really, I want to do that for us tonight here. that as a believer in Jesus Christ, we have the word of God, we have the truth of the word of God, and boy, we have to hold on to that, and grab a hold of it, and not let go, and be convinced and confirmed in our own mind that what we believe from God's word is rock solid, and it is true, it's not a lie. He goes on in verse 27, referring again to this anointing, Now is somehow John saying, look, you don't have any need of pastors or teachers because you know all things. That's not what he's saying at all. He is saying this, you do not need an individual who claims a higher understanding of truth like the Gnostics did to somehow open up secret mysteries of the scripture that you can have a fuller and complete understanding. He said, really what they are feeding you is false, it's not truth. And you don't need that because you know the truth from the indwelling Holy Spirit of God. He goes on in verse 24, and kind of skipping around in this on purpose, let that therefore abide in you which you have heard from the beginning. What's he saying? Hey look, what you've heard from the beginning when you believed and trusted in Jesus Christ as your Savior. You hang on to that. What's Paul write to Timothy? But continue thou in the things which you have, what? Learned. How many of you have been to the wilds in North Carolina? All right, many, many, many of you. As you leave the campsite, there's a sign there, and I think it's been there since the inception of the camp, that just says, but continue thou in the things you have learned. You know, I think an important part of the Christian life is continuation. It's faithfulness. It's hanging on to the truth. It's not looking for something unique. It's not looking for something different. It's not looking for something that kind of wows us and is even Paul refers to as tickles our ears a little bit and some new insight that we just have to hold on to the truth. We've got to be people of the book and I've said that here recently. We've got to know the truth and hang on to it. Is that true of you tonight? Are you someone who just, you're kind of looking for something new and different and unique? Or are you one who just says, you know what, I'm going to believe the truth of God's word, and that's where we need to be. And he says, look, Once you have come to the truth, and you've believed the truth, and you've put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation, and you hang on to that truth, then you are assured of an ongoing relationship with Christ. Your salvation is secure in Him, for He says, "'Ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father.'" And then verse 25, "'And this is the promise that He's promised us, "'even eternal life.'" So, just two summary thoughts. Number one, be alert to those who deny and oppose God's truth. There are many anti-Christ, those who would stand against and oppose Jesus Christ. We've got to be alert to that. For some young people tonight, it may come in the form of a high school teacher or a college professor. and that professor's going to really debunk some of the things that you have adhered to from the word of God. For some tonight, it may come in the form of maybe a coworker challenging your beliefs, maybe a neighbor, maybe a relative, and saying, hey, come on, you can't believe that. Surely you can't adhere to that. and we have to be alert to that, and secondly, be confident and steadfast in God's truth. Be confident, be steadfast in God's truth. Don't waver, don't wonder, don't doubt. Boy, I kind of wonder, and it's not a sin to question, but when we question, we go to the word of God, and we look for answers, and we look for the truth, and we delve into it, and we come, to a conclusion that yes, this is what God says. And we hold onto it very firmly and very tightly. So I think in essence, this is what John is saying. Hey look, there's a lot of antichrist. Be alert to that. Be alert to those who deny the truth. But you as a believer in Jesus Christ, you hold on to the truth. No matter what the attacks may be, no matter how subtle, no matter how persuasive, you hold on to the truth. If necessary, you come back, you explore it, you dig into it, you find answers. But you hold on to the truth that we find in God's word. Father, tonight I pray that that would be true of every one of us here this evening that know Jesus Christ as our Savior, that we would be people who, number one, are alert and mindful of those who oppose your truth, but that we would be people who hold on to your truth confidently, ardently, steadfastly, that we would hold to your truth. Father, I pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.