song. Would you take God's Word tonight, please, and open to the book of 1 John, the book of 1 John. It's good to see you this morning here on God's house. I know it's evening, but this is the morning sermon, so I switched them around, so it feels like it's Sunday morning to me. But so 1 John chapter 2, and look at verse number 18 is where we'll be looking tonight, and we'll look at verse 18 down to verse number Verse 18, little children, it is the last time. As you 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 had they been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that it might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But you have an unction from the Holy One, and you 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." I remember years ago, I was on a long international flight, about 12 hours, and I was going through customs after the flight, and I had realized that I didn't have my iPhone with me. I kind of retraced my steps and tried to figure out where I could have set it down, and I realized I had set it down at a certain place for a second, and it was stolen. It was just simply stolen. It had all my information on it, even my banking info. Now, of course, all of it was password protected, and I had the service on the iPhone shut down immediately. But that's quite an unnerving experience when someone takes something like that and they have access to your identity. It's traumatic when a thief will steal your identity. But there's something far more traumatic for those who name the name of Christ, and that's when false teachers and deceivers will come along and steal your identity in Christ, or make you doubt your relationship to Christ, or make you feel like that your union with Christ is not enough. that there has to be something more than what you have in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what John is dealing with here in 1 John when he's writing this letter to these believers here. They had been infiltrated by a group of Gnostics who pretended to be Christians, and these Gnostics basically told these believers here that Christ was not enough. That, you know, you're identified with Christ and that's good, but there's something that is new and improved. There's something that you're missing, that you're lacking. And we happen to have this new knowledge. We happen to have this elite spiritual experience that you're lacking. And in fact, if you don't have this, it's very doubtful that you're genuinely a Christian, that you really do belong to God if you don't have this. And so this left this little community of believers completely shaken. Not only did they have this spiritual elitist attitude, not only did they say that they had more than what they had, they had extra knowledge, extra spiritual experience, but they treated this group that was left behind with disdain. They treated them with scorn. Eventually they, out of their pride and feeling like they were better than this group, they completely came out among that group and they went out and they did their own thing, they started their own thing and they left behind a group of believers that were basically completely shattered spiritually and they began to question everything. They were questioning their own identity in Christ, they were questioning their salvation, they were questioning the things that they were taught. the doctrines that they had learned, all of that was in question. All of that had been thrown up into the air. And John is writing these believers to encourage them. He's writing them to help them just work through all of the devastation that had been left behind. That's why we see over and over again the expression, we know, we know, we know, because John wants to assure them. And we saw the last time we studied 1 John, actually two sermons ago, if you're counting, but where John is encouraging them. He says, look, I'm writing you because... I see in you the evidence of salvation. I see in you a growth. I know that you have been forgiven of your sin and you have that sense of being forgiven and that you're strong and you're overcoming the wicked one. I can see that in your life. I can see you having this relationship with a father. I see all of that. So he was trying to be encouraging to these believers, but he was also teaching them to discern between what was true and what was not. what was authentic and what was not authentic. And so in all of this, John is giving tests for us to use, objective tests that we can use to weigh our own salvation to make sure that we are in Christ. John's not writing this to create doubt. He's writing to give a biblical foundation of assurance. He wants believers to have assurance in Christ. And so he gives the test of fellowship. If you really know Jesus, you're going to have fellowship with Jesus, a spiritual fellowship. Jesus will be real to you. There's the test of sin and confession. When you become a child of God, you will have a new sensitivity to sin and you'll be confessing your sins all the time because you want to maintain that fellowship with Christ. Sin will be much more real to you. It will be much more sensitive to you. In fact, John said, if we say we have no sin, we what? We deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us. And then there's the test of obedience. John says, hereby we do know. This is how we continually know that we've already come to know him if we keep his commandments. A true child of God is going to want to obey Jesus. You're going to want to do what the Lord says. So there'll be a pattern of obedience in your life. But there'll also be a love, a new love that's been planted in you by the Holy Spirit and you'll love others. That old commandment of love will be new in you. It'll be new in its quality. It's an old commandment and yet it's new because now you have a new resource. First of all, you have a new example. You have Jesus who basically personified this kind of love. And you have a new resource. You have the Holy Spirit that is helping you to love the way God wants you to love. And so you'll love others. That'll be characteristic of a true believer. And then we also see the test of worldliness. What did John say? Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loved the world, what? The love of the Father is not in him. So you, as a true believer, you will no longer be lured in by the lusts and the temptations and the allurements of the world. The world is kind of like an old girlfriend. You're now married to Christ, you now have a new master, and the old world is still trying to lure you back in, still trying to pull you back in. But because you have a new master and a new love, a love for God and a love for the things of God, you're no longer easily drawn in. to the things of the world. I'm not saying that a Christian can't lapse into worldliness from time to time. When that happens, what does the Bible call that? It calls it spiritual adultery, right? Friendship with the world is enmity with God. And then James rebukes them saying, ye adulterers and adulteresses. If you're lured back into the world, you have an affair with the world, you're committing spiritual adultery because you have a new love. You have a love that surpasses anything that the world can offer. But here's the next test John is giving us. A true believer has the ability to discern between truth and error. And therefore, they abide in the truth. They will persevere in the truth. And this is the point that John is making here. In fact, this passage has a clear and purposeful contrast between those who go away and those who stay. We saw those who go away, look again at verse 19, they went out from us. but they were not of us. For had they been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. But they went out that it might be made manifest that they were not all of us." These are those who go away. They don't persevere. They ultimately walk away from the faith. It was Adrian Rogers that first said, the faith that fizzles before the finish had a flaw from the first. Not easy to say that. Say that three times. And that's so very true. If you walk away, if you don't persevere, that means that your faith was not genuine from the very first. So there's a contrast between those who go away and those who stay. Look at verse number 24, let that therefore abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If that which ye heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father. You will persevere in the truth that you have learned from the beginning. And you'll stick with that truth. But here in this passage, John is going to give us several instructions. We could call these warnings, just facts that we need to be aware of. that you need to be aware of as you understand that as a true believer in Christ, you do have that ability to discern between truth and error. But here's the first fact, number one, regarding the Antichrist, you're living in dangerous days. You realize that? You're living in dangerous days. Again, in verse number 18, little children, it is the last time. And as you have heard that an Antichrist shall come, even now are there many Antichrists. And John is reminding this church of the dangerous days in which they live. In a sense, he's saying, look, keep your guard up. Be on the alert. Be vigilant. Be watchful. Now, if that was true for the believers in John's day, how much truer is it for us today? We, likewise, are living in dangerous days. And notice the age. He said it's the last time. The last time refers to the age that began with the first coming of Christ and will end with the second coming of Christ. We are in that era of the last days. 1 Peter 1, verse 20, you might want to write these verses down. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last days or last times for your sake. This is the last times, Hebrews 1.12, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son. These are the last days, and the Bible says that these last days will be perilous days. They will be dangerous days. Jude 1, or verse 18 rather, it's only one chapter, where he says, in the last time there will be scoffers following their own ungodly passions. And 2 Peter 3.3, knowing this first that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts. And again, 2 Timothy 3.1, know this also that in the last days perilous times shall come. It was a common Jewish belief that evil would multiply in the end, in the end days. So I think the closer that we come to the return of Christ, the more insidious the time is, the more dangerous the time is. Satan is working furiously to deceive so many people. He is that roaring lion that goes about seeking whom he may devour. Now, if it was the last days in John's day, again, how much more is it in our day? Literally, the Greek reads like this, it is the last hour, not just the last days, we're in the last hours of the last days. And so we need to understand that, but also the Antichrist, notice verse 18 again, he says, as you have heard that Antichrist shall come, Even now are there many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time. Now, antichrist is a compound word. Anti means against or instead of. It can mean both. And the term can, depending on how it's used in the context, can be interchangeably used with both of those meanings. But notice that this word antichrist is used twice in this verse. Once it's singular, antichrist shall come. And then once it's plural, even now there are many antichrist plural. The first time he uses this word, I believe that he is referring to a person. The Bible predicts that there is coming an Antichrist, a world ruler, who will dominate the world, who will promise peace, yet he will bring the world to the edge of extinction. The Bible is clear about that. 2 Thessalonians 2, verses 3, the day of the Lord shall not come except there come a falling away first and the man of sin be revealed the son of perdition who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God showing himself he is God. So he will oppose God, he will exalt himself, He will sit on God's throne, passing himself off to be God. This is the Antichrist, this will happen in the last time. Revelation has a lot to say about that. Revelation chapter 13, also in chapter 16, and so on. And so, John I think is referring to the person. But then, when he says Antichrist, plural, I think he is referring to a principle. And that is to say that this principle, this system of Antichrist, it's already happening. It's already around us. What is the principle? What is the system of the Antichrist? It's all about deception because when the Antichrist comes, what will he do? He will deceive, right? He'll deceive multitudes. In fact, people that maybe even pride themselves on not being able to be deceived will be deceived. So deception is his forte. And John is saying we're seeing that spirit of deception. We see the spirit of the Antichrist even now already. We see it all around us. It's dangerous. You look at church history, you'll see that principle of deception. The church throughout its history has had to deal with different types of error that has creeped in. In the fourth century, that was the most prominent dangerous age. because it was the development of the Holy Roman Empire under Constantine, and it developed this sacramental system of salvation where salvation was by a ritual, where you didn't really put your full faith in Christ, you kind of plugged into the system that they set up under the church, and the church became like this surrogate Christ where you connected to the church and not to Christ. and they were able to hold people into bondage. And they told people that you're saved through baptism. You're infused with grace when you get this baptism, but you can lose that grace with your mortal sins. And so therefore, you have to get your salvation back. And how do you get it back? Well, you get it back by doing all these works of penance, by depending upon the merits of the saints that are already in heaven. by going to a priest and confessing your sins and getting absolution from your sins. And they had this whole system of works that you add. They said, you know, faith is necessary for salvation, but it's not sufficient. You have to add all these other things. And how did you do that? Well, it's through the church. And essentially, the church became a substitute for Christ. And millions of people were deceived. And millions of people were basically their soul was destroyed by connecting to this system. But then of course there came the Reformation and the gospel and all of its purity was rediscovered and people were set free from blindness. But in the 18th century, there was another attack on the church. That was a rise of rationalism out of the Renaissance, and now the Industrial Revolution came this rationalism where man began to discover things. He began to invent things, and he began to feel his own freedom, and he began to worship his own mind. And his mind became God. Human reason became his idol in God. And Thomas Paine, during that time, wrote the book, The Age of Reason, the book where he debunks the Bible and he affirms the superiority of the human mind and reason. And the Bible then was a slave to rationalism. They assaulted the Bible. They assaulted all the miracles of the Bible. That was another dangerous time and a time of deception. But then following this was the 19th century came dead orthodoxy where there was a mass printing of the Bible, but it didn't seem to matter because the orthodoxy was dead and it was cold and there lacked a zeal and a spirituality. And then there came politicism where the church became preoccupied with political power. It developed a social gospel and reconstruction and liberation theology. And then you get to the 19th and 20th century, and you have ecumenism. And that's the idea where, let's just lay aside all the dogma. Let's just not be so petty over our doctrines. Let's just all love each other. We heard about that, right? Don't be so picky about your doctrine. But beloved, can I remind you that doctrine matters, especially the core doctrines of the faith. But during this era, doctrine was laid aside for sentiment. And then there came experimentalism, truth by feeling. Truth by intuition, by visions, by dreams, by special revelation. It was no longer the objective word of God. And then after that, there came subjectivism and psychology that invaded the church, and then mysticism, and then pragmatism, where the end justifies the means. And then this post-modern era where you can basically make the Bible say whatever you want it to say. You really are the one that determines meaning in the scripture. The meaning comes from you, the reader, not what the Bible says. And that opens up the Bible for anything. You can come away believing anything from that. And so these are just dangerous times that have assaulted the church, especially here in this modern era. And by the way, these errors, these deceptions, they don't go away. They're just multiplied. They're just added. They're still here. All those things that I talked about, they're still here. And then there's more things that are added all the time. There's new things. Everybody's looking for new truth, something new. That is exactly what John was dealing with, with these Gnostic false teachers trying to tell the church that they needed something new. And so, this is why 1 John is so needful for this day. Again, John writes with certainty. He says, you can always be certain. about these truths, but this is what the Antichrist is trying to do. He's trying to deceive the principle of Antichrist. It's been around since John's day. It's been working through all that time. It's working even till today. It is that spirit of deception. Look at 1 John 4 and look at verse number three real quick. Notice what it says. Well, actually, we'll just start, look at verse one. Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits where they're there with God, because many false prophets are going out into the world, and hereby I know you the spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. Every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. This is the spirit of what? Of Antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now already it is in the world. So there's the age of the Antichrist and also the apostasy. Right after that, we see again verse 19, they went out from us because they were not of us. Now John is identifying the people who were a part of this system and they were actually there in that community, in that church for a time. They're the ones that left and left the devastating community of believers behind. And John is encouraging those that are left behind by saying, look, they went out But they were never really of us. Their faith was never really genuine. In other words, you don't need to doubt your faith. You were real. You're genuine. It's those that went out. Those were the ones that are deceivers. They were never of us. For had they been of us, they would have continued with us. They came out from among them, and they write in their own assembly. And here's the thing that we need to realize, that the principle of anti-Christ is at work in the church, in the church. When you look for error, one of the first places you need to look is in the church. Look inside the church. I remember reading about a 17-year-old high school student. In order to graduate, he had to write an essay on religion. And he chose the subject of the union of the believer with Christ, which is really a great subject. He chose it according to the gospel of John. Let me just share with you a portion of that essay. This is what he wrote. He said, our heart, reason, history, and the work of Christ convince us that without him we are doomed by God and only Christ can save us. These are the thoughts of a 17-year-old boy. And he's revealing really a wisdom here at his age. These are words from one that had been baptized at six into the Lutheran Church. He was confirmed at 16. You want to know the name of this guy? His name was Karl Marx. Just nine years after writing those words, he abandoned any Christian commitment He would go on to become one of the most influential atheists of all history. And of course, we know all about his ideas and the damage that they caused. Did you know that some of the most dangerous cultic leaders have come from solid Orthodox churches? Churches that preached the word, that stood firm on Orthodoxy. Sun Yung Moon, the founder of the Moonies, was born into a Presbyterian family. Joseph Smith, the originator of the Mormons, was reared in a Presbyterian home. William Miller of the Seventh-day Adventists was licensed as a Baptist preacher. Ellen White, the famous prophetess, was reared in a Methodist home. Charles Taz Russell from the Jehovah Witnesses was brought up as a Congregationalist and a Presbyterian. And on we could go. You say, how can this be? How can it be that people in the church come out of the church and teach these false doctrines. Well, you remember what Jesus said in the parable in Matthew 13, wherever God plants wheat, Satan is gonna do what? Plant tares. There's always tares that he mixes in among the wheats. And when they leave, when they go out, what is that called? That's called apostasy. where they looked like they had received the truth, they embraced it, but they end up leaving it, and they end up ridiculing the truth, rejecting the truth, and replacing the truth. And Paul said, in the end times, there's going to be a massive departure from the faith. These are dangerous days, and John is warning us all. because he wants us to be ready for it. But here's the second instruction he gives us. Not only the Antichrist, you're living in dangerous days, but number two, the anointing. You have been given the ability to discern. Look at verse number 20. But you have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things. I've not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Also, look at verse number 27, just drop down there. 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 teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, even as it is taught you, ye shall abide in him. So we see the word unction, we see the word anointing over and over again in this passage here. It's the Greek word charisma. And this might be a play on the word Antichrist because Christ means anointed and it comes from the root word charisma. The Antichrist of verse 19 are contrasted with the true believers who have the charisma or the anointing, excuse me, and John is making a point. that what God has given believers is far superior than the knowledge of the Gnostic deceivers. You see, it was these words that the Gnostics used all the time. They used words like anointing or charisma. They would say, we have received a special charisma from God. God's given us superior knowledge. They claim to have this elevated knowledge. God has given them, you know, extra revelation and all of this. And John, what is he saying to them? Look. You have received an anointing. You have the charisma. You already know everything you need to know. You don't need to know anything outside of what you already have been given, no matter what others may try to tell you. You don't fall short in anything if you know the Lord. You have that charisma. You have what you need. So notice some sub-points under this. The Spirit is our teacher. The Charisma speaks about the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian. Now, in the Old Testament, a king or prophet or priest, when they were set aside for ministry, they were anointed with oil. And that would be symbolically referring to the Holy Spirit. And what is meant is that they were set aside for a special service. And so the anointing is a reference to the Holy Spirit who is in the believer. The Holy Spirit will empower the believer. The Holy Spirit will teach truth to the believer. I can teach to you outwardly, but it must be the Holy Spirit inwardly who opens up the eyes of your heart so that you receive the truth. That's what the Holy Spirit does. Notice verse number 26. These things have I written on you concerning them that seduce you, verse 27, but the anointing which you have received of him abideth in you, and you need not that any man teach you. And verse 27 is kind of in the source of some misunderstanding. What does John mean when he says, you know all things, and you need not that any man teach you? I wish I had known this before I went to seminary. paid a lot to go to seminary. Is that what this is talking about? When he says, you know all things? This is obviously is not what he means. We don't have, we're not omniscient, we don't know everything. Martin Lloyd-Jones said to believe this, that this means the Holy Spirit, to believe that this means that the Holy Spirit will give us knowledge in the secular realm, like astronomy, geometry, and the classics, he said, you know, that idea is ridiculous. That's what some have actually said. You know, if you have the Holy Spirit, he'll teach you all these things. And believe me, in some of the final exams I took in Hebrew and Greek, I prayed for the Holy Spirit to give me knowledge. And it's good to pray, but it doesn't replace study. It's not what he's talking about here. He's not saying that, you know, the Holy Spirit is going to give you all this learning and knowledge. What is he talking about? The context of this is what? Discerning error. God will give us all the help we need when it comes to discerning truth from error. He will help you in that. What about where it says you need not that any man teach you? Again, that's another area of misinterpretation. In fact, the Quakers said that this means inner light. That means you don't need to depend upon any man because the Holy Spirit will give you inner light directly to your heart, so you really won't need any outside teacher to teach you at that point. But again, the whole context of this is not that they're gonna get extra revelation because John is gonna point back to the fact that you already have been given the truth. The Holy Spirit is not gonna add to you something extra. You've been given the truth already. He's not talking about new revelation or some new inner light that you're gonna get. Some say that this means that we don't need human teachers like a pastor or Bible teacher. All of that is unnecessary. Well, I hope that that's not what that means because that means I'm done. You don't need human teachers. Why am I here? Why do we have Bible teachers? Again, that's not what John means. In fact, we know that's true. Why? Because in other places in the Bible, what does the Bible say? Like in Ephesians 2, that God has given to the church, what? Pastor, teachers. Why? So that you can grow and mature, so that you can be perfected in your faith, so that you can do the work of the ministry and be used by God yourself. One of the qualifications of being a pastor is he has to be didaktikoses, the Greek word, skilled in teaching. And the Holy Spirit gives the gift of teaching to some. So he's not saying that you don't need human teachers because we do need spirit-filled teachers in the church. What he's basically saying is we don't need human teachers teaching secular wisdom, teaching things outside of Scripture. You don't need to add to what God's given you in the Word of God. You don't need extra revelation. You don't need, specifically when John is referring to here, is these Gnostic teachers that had left this community behind and broken, who were always saying, you need this extra knowledge, this mysterious spiritual knowledge, you need all that. And John says, no, you don't need that. You don't need these human teachers. You don't need what they have to say. Why? Because you've already been given all things. You've been given what you need to know. You'll be given the Holy Spirit who will guide you and lead you into all the truth that you have already received. That's part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And so we know that in 1 Corinthians chapter two as well, right? That we can't receive truth unless the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to receive it. We don't need more truth, we just need the Holy Spirit to teach us the truth that we already have. So we don't need any human wisdom. We don't need outside revelation. We believe the Bible is sufficient. The truth that God has given us is already sufficient. This leads us to the next point, the scripture is our text. We've already noted that what the Holy Spirit teaches is not new revelation, but the truth. We've been given the word of God. And if you want to be strong in the faith, then what you need to know is the truth. That's what you need to know because that will help you to know when error comes up. And you've heard the illustration before, I'm sure, that the United States Treasury Department have a special group of men that are trained to detect counterfeit money. You say, how do they do that? Well, they don't spend time looking at all the counterfeit money and studying that. They are men who are expert in the real thing. They know the real currency. And by doing that, they know whenever a counterfeit bill comes up, they know it automatically. And the same is true for us spiritually. We just need to know the truth. Look again in verse number 21, what John says. He says, I have not written unto you because you know not the truth. John says, I'm not writing to you to give you anything extra or some new revelation. You know the truth. You already know it. And that no lie is of the truth. The truth is written in the Word of God. The Word of God is our text. The scripture, the revelation of God, that is our text. We don't need anything outside of that. So the Spirit is our teacher, the scripture is our text, and the next thing, the Son, is our test. This is another tool for discernment, and that is simply this one question. You can really know error by just asking this one question, what do they teach about Jesus? What do they teach about Jesus? Because I wanna tell you, there's all kind of bizarre things out there being taught about Jesus. under the guise of being orthodox or fundamental. Anyone who denies Christ is anti-Christ. Anyone who doesn't teach the Christ of Scripture, the Christology of the Word of God, they are anti-Christ. They are in serious error. And John, again, makes this very clear. In 1 John chapter four, verse two, look at it again. Hereby I know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, verse three. And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. That is the spirit of what? Of antichrist, wherever you have heard that it should come. And that's the basic test. That's the acid test of a person's salvation. Salvation is based on one answer to this question, is Jesus God in human flesh? Is he God in the flesh? In 2 John 7 it says this, many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ cometh in the flesh. Some Gnostics said that Jesus was Not really in the flesh, he was a phantom, he was a ghost. He only appeared to be in the flesh, but he was never really a man. And John is denying all those lies because if Jesus didn't come in the flesh, that attacks the incarnation, that attacks the crucifixion of Christ, what happened at the cross, that attacks the resurrection of Christ. That's the very foundation of all of Christianity. And so there are a lot of people out there teaching a lot of bizarre things about Jesus Christ. So that's the one thing that you want to focus in on. What do they teach about Jesus? Because all these religions and all these false teachers, they have their own version of Jesus. But it's not the Jesus of the Bible. It's not the Jesus of Scripture. But then here's the third thing. The Antichrist, you're living in dangerous days. The anointing, you've been given the ability to discern. You have the Holy Spirit who will lead you in the truth. And here's number three, the abiding. You must abide in the truth that you've been taught. And again, this is what John emphasizes. Look again in verse 24, let that therefore abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If that which you heard from the beginning shall remain in you, you also shall continue in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us even eternal life. Look at verse 28 and verse 29. 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. Again, he's saying you have to abide in what you have been taught. And we notice the word abide and remain and continue. All these three words come from the same word in the Greek, and it's the word meno. The word meno. And it has the idea of you remain in. You're consciously holding on to the truth. If you're a true believer, you will persevere in the truth. It's your responsibility to persevere in the truth of Scripture, in the truth of the gospel. Now, there's really two sides of this. First of all, the Holy Spirit will teach you and lead you in the all truth. You are preserved because you are saved, and you can't lose your salvation. You can't lose it because you're being kept, you're being held by the Holy Spirit. Okay, that's God's side, but that doesn't eliminate the human responsibility that we have to persevere ourself in truth, to abide in the truth, to remain in the truth. John is saying you have to continue in what you've heard. And if you do that, then it will reveal that your faith is a real faith. Those who are true believers will stay in the faith. Those who are not will depart. So true Christians hold tenaciously to the truth. I'm not saying that a true believer can't be deceived, that a true believer for a time can't walk away. But ultimately, God will bring them back. Ultimately, the Spirit of God will lead them back. into the truth, and in the end, when it's all said and done, you'll be left there standing in the truth. I've seen believers go astray for a time. I've seen them be deceived by other doctrines and different things and different ideas and philosophies that come down the pike. I see believers being deceived all the time by that. But if you're a true child of God, you're going to continue in the truth, and the Holy Spirit is going to overcome that, and he's going to bring you back into that place where you need to be. You're going to persevere and hold on to the end. You will not walk away from the truth of the gospel and never return. That's the whole point. You will not apostatize completely and finally. You'll continue in the word of God. Jesus said this, if ye continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. That'll prove that you really are his disciple if you continue in the word of God. Paul said to Timothy, Timothy, continue thou in the things which thou has learned. And so the word of God is clear. The Christian life is not automatic. The Holy Spirit secures us. He guarantees us against defection. But at the same time, the Bible instructs us to fight. for the faith to continue in the Word of God. And there's a sense in which what I spoke about this morning applies here. Remember that holy violence that we need to have? That's part of your Christian walk, that zeal for truth, holding on to what you know about the gospel and the kingdom. So that's the character of the believer. The confidence of the believer, we saw in verse number 28 and verse 29, he says that when he appears, we might have confidence and not be ashamed when the Lord comes. So we can be confident if the Lord would come that we're standing in truth. That's our goal. We don't want to be ashamed when we stand before the Lord Jesus Christ. And that one thought right there will help us to fight against temptation and going astray. Because one day when we stand before Jesus, we don't want to be ashamed. We want to have confidence when we stand before the Lord. I heard about a missionary to the Indians in America who took a converted Indian chief to Los Angeles. And they were walking down the street, and there was a false teacher standing on the corner just spouting out all his false theology. And the missionary was kind of afraid that this new convert would be drawn in. And he let him stand there and listen for a moment, and then they continued to walk. And he looked at the Indian chief. He said, what did you think about what you heard? He said, well, I'm not really sure. But I had something inside of me telling me over and over again, liar, liar, liar. And that's the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will guide us into the truth. And so, how do we have assurance that we're a child of God? Do you have the ministry of the Holy Spirit working in you who bears witness to the truth, who has shown you clearly the message of the gospel and the Jesus of Scripture? And He will guide you into all that truth. He will give you the ability to discern between truth and error. He will keep you in the truth. He will guide you in the truth. And you will experience this ministry of the Spirit in your life, opening your eyes to the truth of Scripture and sealing it into your heart. Doing that work deep in your heart so that you become passionate about the truth and you won't go true and fro. You'll grow to the point to where you won't be led astray. It's like John said about the young men, you'll become strong and the Word of God will abide in you and you'll be able to overcome the wicked one and you'll be able to overcome the deception that is all around us. And beloved, it is all around us. Especially those that call themselves Christian. When anybody uses the adjective Christian in front of something else, always let your antennas go up. Because they're trying to baptize some kind of worldly philosophy to make you think it's Christian. You need to be discerning, you need to use the word of God to test it out. So, let's bow for prayer together tonight. Father, thank you for the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our life that leads us and guides us into all truth. And this is another evidence of true salvation that we are given this ability to discern between what is true and what is error, between solid doctrine and what is false. Father, thank you for that work of the Holy Spirit. I pray, Lord, that that in itself will be a source of comfort to those who may at times struggle over the assurance of salvation, that that ministry of the Holy Spirit will seek to bring peace and comfort, that they truly are a child of God because they have that anointing. And they know the truth, and that no lie is of the truth. And you've given us the ability, you've opened our eyes to the truth so we know what it is. We see it, and we stand firm in it. And we thank you, Father, for this, and we pray in Jesus' wonderful name.