Alright, brethren, if you will, we'll be turning to 1 John 2. 1 John 2, we'll read our text first. It's going to be verses 18-28. 1 John 2, verse 18. Little children, it is the last time. And as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there 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 have no doubt continued with us. But they went out. that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But you have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you, because ye know not the truth, but because ye 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. And now, little children, abide in him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming." Now today, I feel this morning like I'm going to be a little bold. You probably won't think so. And I feel this evening I'm going to be very bold. And you probably won't think so. But to me it is. This is a bold passage. There's some bold statements here and there's some of it that's often quoted. I've quoted some of these scriptures many a time. But I've stopped short a lot of times. Stopped short. What we're going to look at today, the title of the message is, Perseverance Manifested. The believer's perseverance is manifested in these things. It's shown to us. Perfected. There in verse 18, John writes to his little children, At this it is the last time, and as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time." Now if we turn over to Acts chapter 20, we know we live in the last days because there are many antichrists, as Christ warned us that there would be. In the beginning of this verse, John begins by saying, it is the last time. He says it's the last hour, and that's for John. Because he's in his last hour. He's getting old. He was the last apostle to be living. And he knew he was about to go home. He was about to go be with the Lord. And he's warning us the same thing that Paul tells these Ephesian elders here in Acts chapter 20. In Acts 20 verse 28, It says, take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers. Now he's speaking to these elders and these preachers. To feed the church which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also, of your own selves shall men arise for them people that's already in that local assembly. Those wolves are going to come out of them. Speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. After them, not after something else, after them. Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I cease not to warn everyone night and day with tears. If I warn you, night and day, and I'm crying when I do it, I warn you with tears, it's probably important. And if I've done that for three years, that's probably something we ought to heed, isn't it? Now in the time that the Apostle John was alive, many antichrists were already on this earth. They were dividing the church, and they were trying to draw away disciples after themselves. with strange and different doctrine. Something that departed from the simplicity of Christ. They were anti-Christ. They were opposed to Christ. Adversaries of Christ. That's what the word means. But because we know that there are anti-Christ, we know we're living in the last days. He says there, back in our text, 1 John 2, As ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time. Now these last days that he's speaking of, they began when Christ came in the flesh. That begins the last days. The Hebrew writer said, God, who at sundry times in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son. When Christ came, that began the last days. And Christ warned us of in these last days, people draw on others after themselves to follow them, to follow a person. He said in John 5, I come in my Father's name and you receive me not. If another shall come in his own name, him you will receive. Now like everything else on and in this world, Antichrist, those that are opposed to Christ, the gospel of Christ, they are under the sovereign rule of God Almighty. The devil sows tears amongst his sweep, but only by the consent of Christ. He allows it to happen, and he does it to accomplish his purpose. And as much as it hurts us, Watching men and women that profess to believe the gospel, sit with us, seem to worship with us, they support a local ministry, and we watch them leave. We watch them go out from us. As painful as that is, we have to remember that the Lord is performing His will in it. He is fulfilling the scriptures in doing so. Now our sovereign God has a permissive will and He has a determinate will. I can't really explain that. I caution you to get somebody that could. But I know it's so. There's times He permits things to happen. He permitted Adam to fall in the garden. And there's other times He has a directive will. He sends the rains and the snows and whatever it is in our lives. But either way, it's His will and He's in control and He's sovereign. Now one of those permissive acts is He allows Satan to sow tares in with the wheat. Now John does not speak of Antichrist as one person. That'll show up here in the last days. It's not just one person. He said, even now are there many antichrists. But in 2 Thessalonians, Paul describes antichrist as one man. Why is that? Let's turn over to 2 Thessalonians. He's describing that great falling away of men and women who together, as one unit, with one voice, just like they're one person, they oppose the true and living Christ. be in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Now Christ is the head of the church, his body. He's the head of it. And when every elect child is called to know the truth, when that last one's called, he brings that last saint to know Christ. Then the scriptures say we will be one body. And it says we'll be a perfect man, the stature of the fullness of Christ. However, that one body with one head, it's one man, it's made up of many members. I'm one Kevin, but I got a whole lot of bones and I got a lot of different parts, don't I? Just like that church is. Now the devil always tries to copy, tries to replicate what the Lord does. Man does too. We butcher it. We set up monarchies. We try to imitate God, and it doesn't work for us. We try to use that pattern, but Satan is the head opposer of Christ. He is the chief opposition of Christ. And his body is so united in opposing Christ, that they're just like one person that's opposing him. And that body, that one man, is made up of many members. It's made up of many people that oppose Christ, that are anti-Christ. The devil and his seed are so united in opposition to Christ that the scriptures say he sits as one man in the temple of God. Look there in 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 3. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come. What day is he talking about? The day of Christ's returning. For that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition." Now here's the pattern, in verse 4, of the son of perdition, of the devil, and of those many antichrists, his members, that make up his body. Here's their pattern. who oppose and exalt himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." That sounds foolish. I hope that would frighten anyone. I wouldn't sit in my dad's recliner. If I knew he was going to come home from work, why would I sit in the throne of God and act as if I was God? That shouldn't incite fear in everybody. But it happens. It happens all the time. Just like those graves those people walk over that they don't know they're walking over. But there's a man over in Italy that calls himself a vicar. Mediator is what the word means. He says, I'm between you and God. He puts himself in the shoes of Christ. Now that man is an singular. He is an antichrist. He's one of many. But in our day, we see the same thing in so-called churches all over this nation and all over this world. Everywhere preaching the message of man's will. universal redemption. They exalt sinners and they put the work of God and salvation into the hands of a sinner. They put the sinner in the place of God. Now, the most dangerous are those preaching the gospel, but they mix in a little bit of leaven. They tell so much truth, but they put one drop of poison in it, which cancels out any truth that they had already said. Now, other cunning ones, those teach the truth, but they live contrary to the Word of God. They seek personal gain. They seek glory for themselves. We were speaking this morning, we had trouble with the internet. It may be up now, it may not. But I thought I had this in my notes and I took it out. It's such a blessing the Lord's gave us the technology to be able to listen to sermon audio. We can download messages and listen to them. We can tune in live. And there's so many brethren that can't physically make it or through other means. The Lord's put things in their lives that they can't come to services or they live too far away and they can't move. That's understandable. But if you only listen, you cherry pick those messages you want to hear. You only listen to this guy on this subject and that guy on that subject and don't assemble with the saints. One, that's what we was talking earlier, you might be getting fed but it's like eating fast food. It ain't good for you. It ain't gonna sustain you forever. And also, you don't understand the character of those brethren and that man standing in the pulpit. I could stand here and tell you the truth about what the Word of God says about Christ and about man, but if I step out of here and that camera goes off and I live like a heathen, and I'm just spewing divisiveness and trying to split the church and divide and telling you, spreading rumors and just doing all kinds of nasty things, I shouldn't be a man you follow. You need to sit underneath one person and get to know them. Try the spirits. But those people that do those things, they may tell the truth in a recorded message. They may tell the truth on TV. Next thing you know, well, they was at this church for a while and then they got a promotion. Now they got more people and more money. And then they go to another place with a little better paycheck, a little better honor, a little better prestige, and they keep moving up. That's a poor sign. That's a dangerous sign. But they sowed discord among those brethren all along the way at every place. Those are anti-Christ too. They're against the gospel, against Christ. So we know we're living in the last days, but we're not alarmed. Why? That's exactly what Christ told us would happen. He said, these last days will come, they're going to be rough. But He's ruling all things well. Now in our text in verse 19, We see where this Antichrist comes from. 1 John 2, 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. I always stop there. I've quoted this scripture several times. You all probably don't. But I stop there. There's more to it, isn't there? Keep reading. But they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. Now in this life, those people that leave, they sit underneath the sound of the gospel, sometimes for a long time, and they leave. You think it's manifested to them? They're doing something wrong? No, they think they're doing what's right. If I thought I was doing something wrong, I'd stop doing it. It's manifested to us. It's manifested in the ones that the Lord sustains, the ones the Lord keeps. But it says there, they went out from us, are those that leave the gospel and they go to preach or to sit under preaching of those that tell lies. They are those that leave for the world who do not assemble at all, but they separate themselves completely from the sound of the gospel, from the truth of the gospel. True children of God will not and cannot fall away permanently. Now, it may happen for a season, but those that the Lord bought with His blood, those that are His, His children, they will be forever preserved in Him. He will return them. And He'll put them back under the sound of the gospel. He'll keep them. How do we know the difference? We don't. How do we treat them different? Well, you left. I'm cutting you off. I'm never going to talk to you again. Well, no, that might be the Lord's child. This might just be for a season. That ain't our business to worry about it, and that ain't our wisdom to know to sort the difference between the wheat and the tares. So we treat them the same. Love them to Christ. But me turning over to Matthew chapter 13. We looked through this last year, Let's take a look at it again. Matthew 13. I've seen many people come and hear the Gospel preached once, and they turn around and they leave. They run away. And I've seen several people attending faithfully for a while, maybe even a couple of years, and then they walk away. And I've seen some people profess to believe the Gospel for many, many years. 30, 40, 50 years, long time, longer than I've been alive, and they turn from it. And I've seen a handful of preachers proclaim to profess Christ and have preached Christ and truth for a long time, for a good while, a good season, and then they move on to what they think is a better doctrine, or a better position, or a better position of honor. It happens. Now Christ said some of these that stick around for a long time are stony ground hearers. Matthew 13 there in verse 20. It says, but he that received the seed into stony places the same as he that heareth the word and anon with joy receiveth it. Anon means immediately. And he immediately with joy received it. hath he not not root in himself but doreth for a while for when tribulation or persecution arise because of the word by and by he's offended a person hears that word of truth and they profess they believe it It is received with joy. Oh, this is wonderful news. They're excited. But then hardships or harassment come. That's what the tribulation and persecution means. Hardship and harassment come because of the Word. Because of what's being preached. And they're offended. They become offended. They may be a family member that gives them trouble about what's preached. And they ride them and pick on them. How can you listen to that? Maybe a brother or sister that's in the church that offends them. They do not see eye to eye with something. They don't agree with how things are being done or what thoughts are. There may be others that attack the church or they attack the preacher because of the preaching of Christ alone or that they preach Christ too much. I've heard that one before. All you preach down there is Christ. I hope so. But they don't want to get grouped in with those people. They see trouble brewing for a group of people or for a gospel being preached and they don't want to get drug into it. But sooner or later, whatever is offending them, sooner or later the offense becomes more important than the truth. Me being offended takes priority over the truth of Christ. It happens. And they'll walk away. My pastor always brought this out. Have you ever been offended at your job? You ever had a boss or subordinate or a peer make you mad and you get offended? Did you walk away from your job? Well, no, I need that to live. How much more so do we need this to live? And what does that do? This may be furthering my notes. If I tell it to you twice, that's okay. This is manifested to believers. They went out from us to manifest to those that the Lord keeps. What does that manifest in my heart when I watch them leave? How fast could I leave? What keeps me here? Lord, thank you for preserving me. How prone I am to wander and how fast I'd run if He had left me. But no, He keeps me in His grace and His love and sustains me. That humbles us. That humbles a believer. But a person that is against Christ, that's anti-Christ, will sit under the gospel only so long. And then it comes time to bear that cross of sacrifice, that cross of burden, cross of shame, and commitment, and he's gone. Spurgeon said once that a lie can sit next to another lie for a long time, but a lie cannot sit beside the truth but for a moment. And that's the truth, isn't it? You get two liars together and they'll They'll make for a good vacation, but you put them with somebody that tells the truth, they can't stand it. Look here in verse 22, Matthew 13, 22. Christ said, others depart who are the thorny frown hearers. Matthew 13, 22. He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word and the care of the world. And the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful." Now he receives the word and it seems to be that they're united for a little while. Then he comes into success, or he gets a promotion at work, or he gets some honor, and those things of the world choke out the word. If he's a preacher, he may see opportunity for more honor and more money at a bigger church. And he will have to change his message a little bit. He'll have to tweak the Word to be able to get that promotion. But Christ said, "...and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the Word, and he becometh unfruitful." Why does Christ allow false preachers, false brethren, false Gospels to thrive in these last days? Why does He allow that? said, but they went out from us that it might be made manifest that they were not all of us. He's doing it to work His will. He's fulfilling the Scriptures. One of the reasons they're going out manifest to the saints that Christ is using His gospel to do His winnowing work. We get discouraged when we see folks come and go. It happens too often. But we shouldn't. It reminds us to continue preaching Christ and Him crucified alone. Because that's the winnowing hand of Christ, His Word. And He's doing His work purging His floor. And I wrote that and I thought, there may be someone who does not know what that is. So the wheat and the tares grow up in the field. And you don't pull up the tares that are next to the wheat because it damages the root. It'll hurt the wheat, so you let them grow up together. And when they harvest, they go to a winnowing floor. And normally they'll have a big old sheet or a blanket, and they'll put all that wheat and the tares down, and they'll bounce that sheet. And there's people there, big old fans, huge fans, and they'd swing them, and it would create a breeze. Well, as that wheat and that chaff separated, it would blow the chaff away, and the tares were lighter, and it would shift them a little bit, and they could go through and sort them easily then. But that's what's happening. That wheat and that chaffs together and Christ's Word goes out. It's like that big old fan. He separates it. We don't separate, we cause damage. It's His Word being done. Now the second reason made manifest is to test His people and to prove who are His. Does He need that proof for Himself? He knows His people. He proves it to us. And Deuteronomy 13 says, Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God proveth you to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. He puts those in our way to prove to us that He's given us life, that we're His. The Lord in His infinite wisdom gives us proof that He keeps us. 1 Corinthians 11 says, For there must be also heresies among you, there must be heresies among you, that they which are approved may be manifest among you. The Lord sends it on purpose. Now what keeps God's elect under the gospel? When these heresies come up, because it's not normally a quiet thing. It's loud. And they're trying to get people and the disciples to follow them, to follow a person, to follow a perverse doctrine. Look here in 1 John 2.20. 1 John 2.20 says, But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I'm thankful I got to study that this weekend. I always thought I have an unction. In my head, that's gumption. They used to call in the old days moxie or drive zeal. It's not gumption. Unction is something different. It's not motivation. Unction is a balm. It's a salve. It's an anointing. Something that's applied to us. We've had something applied to us from the Holy One. And because of that, we know all things. Now God's true sanctified child has been born of God and taught of God. 2 Corinthians says, Now He established us with you in Christ and hath anointed us, gave us unction from God, who hath sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. That Spirit's been applied to us. Now when Christ sent this Gospel to us and we heard it, the Scriptures say, but of Him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. We know all things. Not just intellectually, but you have a new man created in you which Christ has given you an understanding to truly know all things. How do we do that? We know all things because God's made Christ our wisdom. We have the mind of Christ. We have that divine discernment given to us because it's His, given to us. He's our wisdom and we know through that wisdom that Christ is our righteousness. That blood has purged me of all my sins and in Him I'm completely righteous. We know Christ is our sanctification. It's not Christ plus my works that make me holy. Christ alone sanctifies. Today has sanctified us once and it's done. We know Christ is our redemption. Scripture says, Son shall set you free and you shall be free indeed. We know all things because we know Christ is all. He's our all in all. And if we know that, what else do we need to know? I don't know why there's a hurricane. You don't need to. Christ is always in it. Alright, we turn over to John chapter 10. By this anointing, by this unction that's put on us, we know His voice from the voice of strangers when we hear the Gospel preached. We know the difference between somebody stands up and they preach a different Gospel. We might not be able to explain it, but we know there's a difference. Look here in John chapter 10, verse 4. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers." Now keep your finger there in John 10. Those who can go away from Christ, who rebel against Christ, He says this in verse 27, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father which gave them Me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand. Sheep only follow the voice of our shepherd. We don't follow a stranger. We will not follow the voice of someone preaching a different gospel. There's a message in this world and most so-called churches, they love to hear it. Cross sheep can't stand to hear it. They won't be able to tolerate it. And likewise, on the opposite, there's a message that we love. Lord's people love where Christ gets all the glory. He's the one exalted and the world can't stand it They're against him anti See that All right back back in our text. Let's look over chapter 4 first John 4 Verse 5 Verse John 4-5, They are of the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. They are accepted. We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us, and he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. That's how we can tell the difference. They don't want to listen to what we have to say, and we don't want to hear what they have to say. The Lord has put a difference between us. While those who can go, those that can, the Lord allows, go out from us, they walk no more with Christ. Christ says to us in John 6, Jesus said unto the twelve, will you go away also? That's what he says to us. He doesn't beg us back, does he? He doesn't chase us down the street and go out in the parking lot. Please! We need people. He put a billboard up, begging people to come. He said, if you want to leave, go ahead. You want to go with them? Pack your stuff if you want to. What did Peter tell him? Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Peter knew that anything else wasn't the truth. Anything else was death. Christ was what had life. And he was sure that Christ was the Son of the Living God. If we are His, we won't be able to hear lies about Christ for very long. I don't like to hear lies about my loved ones in this earth. You talk about my earthly father, or my wife, or my children, and you come tell me lies, we may not talk indoors too long. We may go out back, won't we? I won't be able to tolerate that. I don't like to hear lies about my Heavenly Father either. But if they're not His and they go out and they stay there and they commit that sin unto death, that's the only way we know the difference, until we're dead. So it's not for us to judge. But John said here in our text, you have an unction from the Holy One and you know all things. Those planted by the Lord never go out because we are kept by the power of God through the faith of Christ. That's the only reason we don't go away. This is how we persevere. In the face of every trial, in the face of every offense, in the face of all that persecution and harassment, while others go out from us, no matter the case, we say with Paul in Romans, for I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." God's love for us and His keeping us, preserving us, is manifested in these afflictions we face. They're manifested in those times. This happens for each and every one of His sheep. I've heard that said before, they said, if you've got a marriage and you've never had a fight, and you've never had an argument, and you've never been upset, you might be in trouble. It's like in this life, we don't face any trials at all. We're not being chastened. We're not having that winnowing fan blew on us in hard times. That's not a good thing. It's good for the Lord to chasten His people, to send us trials, be hard on us. But when Christ sent His gospel and power and truth to us, He brings each one of us, He calls into the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, Paul wrote to Ephesians. So we, being many, are but one body in Christ and every one member is one of the other. I go through the same thing you go through. Might be different trials, might be different times, different ages, different periods in this world, but the Lord deals with us the same way. We're all His children. And as many members we make up that one body. He knits us together of one flesh. So we're all made of one body. And it's about these members in this body, not me. The Lord starts showing us that over time. It's about the other one, not me. Put them first before myself. And if I do that, I can't cut myself off from them. That hand's on my arm. There's no stitches. That wasn't put there. The Lord made it one. It came together. It was formed together. I can't cut myself off. Christ suffered for each member of His church to make us one. How can I not suffer a little bit with Him? How can I not suffer a little bit for them? How can I not bear a little bit of offense? That makes it easy to be long-suffering, doesn't it? How can I separate from them? How can I not do whatever it takes to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace? That's my goal. Keep peace, unity. Why? Because then you ain't worried about nothing else but listening to the Lord. Honoring Him, giving Him the glory. Now here's our application, and I'll hurry. I went over too far. 1 John 2, 24. Everything John's just told us. Verse 24. Let that abide, therefore abide in you. Let that soak in and live in us. 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 eternal life. That even is italicized. Here's His promise, eternal life. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. If we let that abide in us, we give ourselves over. I pray I can give myself over and I pray you can give yourself over to growing in grace, to growing in knowledge of Christ. I'm going to commit to it and let it abide in us. Remember how Eve was deceived? She debated with the serpent, didn't she? Adding to and taking from the Word of God. And then she parted from the Word of God altogether. She went her own way. But how did that all start? She gave ear to the serpent. She listened to something different. After him, something perverse. 2 Peter 3 tells us, Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also being led away with the air of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to Him be glory both now and forever." That should be our goal, our application. Then 1 John 2.27, but knowing that it's the anointing of the Spirit that's going to keep us. Verse 27, 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. Now little children, abide in him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence and be and not be ashamed before him at his coming. Our preservation from the Lord is manifested in the saving work performed by Christ and him alone. He shows us that and he reminds us of it through every message and through every trial and through every affliction and through every good time, every joy and celebration. And now, after He does that to us, we are made to know we shall abide in Him. Look into Him in our final hour, the same as we did in our first hour. He's all. I hope that was a lesson to you. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we're so thankful for Your Word today. Lord, thank You for the trials You send us. Thank You for making Your love manifest to us in us. Lord, keep us always. We're so weak and prone to wonder. Keep us trusting only in Christ and not another. Allow us to give glory only to Christ and not another. Keep us until that day, Lord. Make Your Word effectual in the heart of Your sheep. Comfort them with it. Give us that peace to know we won't be ashamed in that day of your coming. Thank you, Lord. It's in Christ's name that we ask it. Amen.