Last week we studied through verse 17, so tonight we'll begin in verse 18. 1 John 2, 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." Now most of the old writers agree that John is not referring to what we call today the end times, but the last times of the apostolic age. He was the last of the apostles. the lone survivor. And I don't disagree with that. That could be very much what he was referring to. Others seem to think that he may have been referring to the destruction of Israel. I just don't know. I don't know for sure. And I know this, that he says it's the last time. And some might say, well, If he meant the end times, it seems as though his prophecy is not true, for look at all the thousands of years that have passed since the death of John. And there are some, I'm sure, somewhere that would like to debate this. But it's not my responsibility to debate. what I know or don't know, but to proclaim who I know. So I know this much. John knew that all things are accomplished. Nothing no longer is prophesied, typified, or promised concerning redemption. That's what the Old Testament was. All things now are accomplished concerning redemption and the Lord Jesus Christ. I know that. And I believe that's what John is saying. Christ is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. He's the fulfillment of the Old Testament law. Christ is salvation and all things pertaining to salvation are in, through, and by Him. Nothing remains undone except His coming one day to gather His own. So in that sense, this is indeed the last dispensation. And dispensation simply means God dispensing. I hear old writers say this dispensation, that dispensation. That's all it means, God's dispensing. God dispensing all things that have been arranged in His purpose and in His providence. And it's all in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the great mediator, is He not, between God and man? Man needed a mediator. Christ is that mediator. Hebrews 1 tells us, you've heard this quoted, many, many times, God who at sundry times in divers, various manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets. That's how God spoke in the Old Testament, through the prophets. But He hath in these last days, the same phrasing that John uses here in our text, hath in these last days spoken unto us, how? by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds." When we keep in mind the eternity of God's kingdom, God's not bound by time like we are. We're so bound by it that we're oftentimes in bondage to it. God's not within time. He's eternity. He's always been, He is, and always will be. But when we keep in mind the eternity of God and His kingdom, the time between Christ's death and resurrection and the time of His return, In God's eyes, and will one day appear to us, is just a moment. Just a moment. 2 Peter 3a says, But, loved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. God's not bound by our time frame. And then notice in our text that John tells us, he says, you've heard and you've been warned that Antichrist shall come. Antichrist. I really like what Brother Mahan said on this. He said, those who think that the Antichrist will only be one man are mistaken. You know, I've heard all my life, the Antichrist. We've seen painters' drawings and all these things of this One who would deceive the world. But John says here, even now, right now, as of the writing of this letter, he says, there are many Antichrists. Our Lord, since our Lord was crucified, died, and rose again, the church has steadily moved toward that day of apostasy and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, of His return. And I believe we are in the last days. And even if Christ's coming doesn't happen for another thousand years, it's just one day with the Lord. So, often times our mind gets in the way because we're so bound by time. Also, I ought to mention here that when John speaks of Antichrist, Antichrist means just what it says, anti, against. Those that are against Christ. He speaks of those who set themselves against Christ, those who were and are opposers of His person, His incarnation, His divine nature, His office. Anyone who is against Christ, as He's revealed in the Scriptures, is Antichrist. He speaks of those who deny that Jesus was the Christ. He speaks of those that deny that He came in the flesh. To deny that Christ came in the flesh is to deny the very thing, dear friends, that is an absolute necessity for the redemption of sinners. Christ had to become a man in order to redeem fallen man. To deny that it was necessary for Christ to come in the flesh is to deny the necessity of His incarnation. You see, I know God can do anything and everything. I know He's in the heavens and He does whatsoever He pleases. But it would have been against His justice and His honor if He had just waved His hand and said, all sinners be cleaned. God is bound by His law, bound by His justice. So in the redemption of His people, He sent His Son to become a man, yet without sin, and live perfectly. in this life. It was necessary that God took upon himself flesh and bones. As I mentioned briefly in a past message, It blows my mind to think of old Simeon there in that temple, holding God of the universe in his hands. It's amazing to me that God subjected himself and humbled himself to be a child, a young man, obedient to his parents. There he is in the temple at 12 years old, confounding. Those who were experts of the law. That was God. Oh my. Those who deny... Look over it just a second, John. Just real quick. It's just one chapter. So, verse 7. John says, For many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. This is a deceiver, and what? Antichrist. Those that deny that Christ come in the flesh. Now I've heard it said by many preachers whom I respect so much in times past that it's impossible for God to suffer and die, and indeed it is. And at the same time, it's absolutely impossible for man to make himself righteous and live. So God and His divine purpose in the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, did both. God suffered, and man was made righteous, and the sinner lives. Only God. This is accomplished in the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. For God to satisfy His justice, redeem His people, He must come in the flesh. Romans 3.26 is to declare. It doesn't say to debate, does it? to declare, I say at this time what? His righteousness. That's what we talk about. His righteousness. We don't dare talk about our own. We don't have any. And we talk about His righteousness that He might be just and justifier. That's the beauty of the Gospel. Christ honored honored God's justice and yet justified His people. Only in the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, could that be accomplished. So to say that Christ didn't come in the flesh is to deny the very thing that you and I hold dear to our hearts in the redemption of our souls. If Christ didn't come, we're in trouble. We're in trouble. We're redeemed by a man, but that man was God. And another thing, I thought about this. When we talk about His righteousness, we're not speaking of His righteousness as God. Of course, God is holy and righteous. But we're talking about His righteousness as a man. Never sinned. He who knew no sin. was made to be sin for us. That's the only way it could be given to us. It was given to us by a man who was perfect. Kept God's law perfectly. Didn't even know sin. Never thought a sinful thought. Never did a sinful thing. He was perfectly righteous before his Father. And John says, those that are Antichrist, they deny the truth of His incarnation, His birth, His sovereign deity, His God. Though He acted and conducted Himself as a man, we've talked before about His temptation in the wilderness. Everything that He was tempted with, He could have just done at ease, no trouble. But he was walking and living and standing and dying and rising again in Gary Borders' place. Therefore, what did he do? He did the only thing that we can do. It's written. It's written. This is our lifeline through the Lord Jesus Christ. We declare His righteousness. We don't debate it. We don't argue with people about it. We just declare it. That's what we do. Now I'll be the first to admit to you that worldwide things are in a sad state today concerning the preaching of the truth. Men have made what they call the gospel to be nothing more than a works religion. And they attempt, and I use that word strongly, attempt with no success to produce some righteousness of their own to stand reconciled before God. It will never happen. God says there's none righteous, there's none that doeth good, there's none that seeketh after God, there's none that understandeth. Oh, it's going to take the divine intervention of God to show a man that he's got to take himself completely out of the picture. He's got to trust, lean, everything on Christ. It doesn't work. by trying to produce righteousness of our own. And unfortunately, preachers, for the most part, have become nothing more than just spiritual cheerleaders, rooting for men to do more for God so he can do more for them. Help God to help you. That's what men preach. That's not at all. It doesn't even resemble what this book teaches. Churches have become nothing but huge social clubs. Now, I pretty much have lived in a small town all my life. I remember the first time was when Glenn or Gary Wundt picked me up at the airport and brought me here. Stayed in the apartment in the back right there on 59. We passed that Second Baptist Church, and I thought, my, is that a college? It was a church. Build these big buildings and they're nothing more than social clubs. They got itineraries all day, every day, something for everybody. I don't see that in the scriptures. Religion is just rampant. It is. I recently heard that in a little town, Groom, Texas, any of y'all know where that is? I think it's outside of Amarillo, that men have erected a 190 foot cross. 190 foot tall. They showed pictures of it on the internet. I got on there and looked, and man, looked like just a little old toy soldier up compared to that. 119 stories tall. And that was not only amazing, but sickening to me. But what was even more amazing and sickening is that that's not the biggest one. There's one in Illinois that's 198 feet tall. Here's what I'm trying to say. Men worship the cross instead of the Christ of the cross. That was the instrument God used to kill the Son of God. And men want to put it around their necks and hang it on their wall and everything else. Religion is rampant, but it's really nothing new. You see, even in the days of John, we see that there were many antichrists against Christ. Many, this is the word he uses, who were opposed to God's truth about Christ. There are many, there were many of them. Is that not what he said? Even now are there many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time. Even now. And as I said, Antichrist means an adversary of Christ, against Christ, opposed to Christ. Today we don't have to go far to find them. Anyway, and I don't want to get off on religion, but I will say this. that any claim other than that of free, sovereign grace in Christ, God's free, sovereign grace and gift to chosen sinners in Christ, to proclaim anything else is worse. That's right. You see, I was raised in an Armenian Southern Baptist church and it was all about decisions and deciding and walking an aisle and free will. To claim salvation is by a free will decision that you make is to claim salvation as it works. Isn't it? Really? Something you did? To claim salvation is by something righteous in you. I remember they used to say, straighten up and fly right. Turn right and go straight. They had all the little sayings. Problem is, I couldn't do it. I still can't. God has to divinely intervene. There's got to be an intervention. God's got to intervene. And to say, oh this one really gets me, to say that the election of God was God looking ahead in time and seeing who's going to be good and who's going to be evil, who's going to believe, who wasn't going to believe, and then elect a person according to what he found. by looking ahead in time, is nothing, absolutely nothing but works religion. It's saying that it's based on something the sinner did. We don't believe that for a minute, do we? It all began with God. He's the first cause of everything, especially our salvation. God elected a people on purpose. He's a God of purpose. before any sinner had ever done any good or evil. If God looked ahead in time to see if I was going to choose Jesus, that I'd have never been elected, I'll tell you that, because I would have never chosen Him. God makes us willing in the day of His power. That's the only hope you and I have, that God makes us willing. And we say this all the time, salvation is of the Lord. It's by the Lord Jesus Christ. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's through the Lord Jesus Christ. Wasn't it last week we opened Ephesians and read all those in whom, by whom, through whom? Gary read Sunday that passage, he, his, him. That's what this is about. I don't know, it seemed like everybody would see it, but I didn't until God gave me eyes to see, so I don't know why I'm surprised. But once you see it, you think, how in the world could anybody see anything else? Okay, salvations of the Lord, we know that. And to be otherwise minded is to be antichrist. Now 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." These false professors, these antichrists, find and have found their way into the church. And for a time they keep up their little masquerade, but sooner or later they fall away, they depart from the fellowship. and the gospel of the truth in the Lord Jesus Christ. Their departure clearly reveals what John's saying here, that they were never members of the body of Christ. They were never believers in Christ. You know, people say, well, that proves right there that once saved, not always. No, it doesn't either. It doesn't prove no such thing. What it proves is that they never were. a child of God. They put on the exterior, said the right things, did the right things, but the Bible is clear about those that endure to the end, shall we say. If I wake up tomorrow and say, you know what? I don't believe a thing that I've been preaching. I'll tell you right now, I never was a child of God. I just didn't all of a sudden backslide and go off the deep end. I never was a child of God. And to be honest with you, that scares me sometimes. You know why? Because I can look in here instead of looking to Him. These folks were never truly regenerated in love with Christ. John said if they'd been of us, they would have continued with us. And what this group of believers have done? Continued. Continued on. Got to trust Him today. Got to trust Him tomorrow. Got to trust Him the next day. We lean on Him and Him alone. If they'd been truly redeemed, they no doubt would have continued with the believers. Truth of the matter is, most men won't have a sovereign God to rule over them. They don't want a boss. They don't want somebody else to be in control other than themselves. A sovereign God is not a popular God in the world today. And friends, if you rejoice in the fact that you have a sovereign God, and you'd have it no other way, I'm going to tell you, God's done something for you. Because you cannot believe that by nature. You can't work that up and say, you can't convince yourself of that. God has to convince you of that. Well, I think immediately of a couple of verses of Scripture. Job 17 and 9 says, The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. That's in Christ, isn't it? We lean on Him day after day. and become stronger and stronger only in Him. Old Job, I tell you, he learned it. He learned it, didn't he? Anytime you want to feel a little bit sorry for yourself, read his story. And he said in Job 13, 15, he said, though He slay me, though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. Isn't that what he said, Ray? I trust in Him. that I will maintain my own ways before him." God wills and we shall. That's what scripture proclaimed. Jeremiah 32, 40. Write it down if you want to look at it later. I won't take the time to turn there. I want to try to finish up here. But it says this, and this is God speaking. He says, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. Who's the them? His people. I will, he says. And he says, this is the covenant, this part of the covenant, this is the promise of the covenant, that I will not turn away from them. He'll never leave us nor forsake us. I won't turn away from them. I will not. God said it. That means something. I will not turn away from them to do them good. God's going to do all things work together, what? For the good of them that love the Lord, who are thee called according to His purpose. It's all in one verse. He said, but I will put my fear in their hearts. Now that word fear means reverence, respect, reverential respect. It doesn't mean that we walk around like scared little beaten down dogs all the time. That means that we're in awe and fear, reverence, respect of who God is and what He's done for us. Reverence. I will put my fear in their hearts. And the last line of that verse says that they shall not depart from me. God's people don't depart. That's right, they don't. Never ever forget that our coming and our staying is of God. People say, well, you know, I've been a believer for 35 years. If you're bragging about it, I've got my doubts. The man that has faithfully served for 35 years is going to say, God's kept me for 35 years. He's preserved me. He's caused me to persevere. God did it! The same God that saved me keeps me and He won't let me go. No man can pluck Him from my hand. Oh, isn't it wonderful to serve a God like that? To be in His hands? You bet it is. We don't turn away from God. Do you know why? Because He doesn't turn away from us. That's the only reason. God does not turn away from us to do us good. That's good news. It is God Almighty making an everlasting covenant with Christ in us. in for us. And this is the covenant of grace. God puts this fear in our hearts and causes us to never depart from it. I will, I will, I will, and they shall. Nothing reveals to us more clearly that salvation, sanctification, righteousness is of the work of God in us and for us than when we see men leave and try to work that perfect righteousness out for themselves. That's what John, they went out from us, but they were not of us. You know, probably everyone here can quote Ephesians 2, 8 through 10. For by grace are you saved through faith. That's not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not by works, lest any man should boast. For we are what is workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. We're taught these things by God. by the Holy Spirit and through the Word in the preaching of the Gospel. Paul told Timothy, he said, study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed. Rightly dividing the Word of Truth. That's what's wrong with people today. They take a verse here, a verse there. They can make the Scripture say anything they want to. We rightly divide the Word of Truth. God's got to show us that. I've said to my own shame many times that unfortunately it's the truth, but if it wasn't my job to bring a message three times a week, I don't know that I'd ever study. That's just the way I am by nature. Paul says, study to show yourself approved unto God. It's for our good, isn't it? God help us to have a hunger for the Word of God. We're taught by the Word and the Spirit that it was God who chose us, called us, and revealed Christ to us. It's all Him. Salvation is of the Lord. Okay. Verse 20. I'll tell you what the cry of the believer is before we read that. The cry of the believer is, salvation is of the Lord. The cry of the believer is, I am what I am by the grace of God. And this is why, verse 20, but ye, but ye, two little words that mean so much, but ye have an unction. from the Holy One and you know all things. And once again here we see the beauty of who makes the difference. But ye have an unction. Now that word unction means an anointing or an enduring. An enduring. That kind of fits it better for me. By God the Holy Spirit. And oh what an infallible teacher God the Holy Spirit is. Man, you're talking about a teacher. What a teacher we have. He's infallible. The unction of the Spirit gives light to our spiritual eyes. Have you ever just been reading? I know Ray and I have talked about this. Just reading, you've read something hundreds of times. And all of a sudden, boom, it's just like neon lights flashing out on the page. You know what that is? That's the unction of the Holy Spirit, the anointing, the enlightening, giving us eyes to see. It's God's doing. We have an unction. And where, and I should say, who does that unction come from? from the Holy One, the Lord Jesus Christ. God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit. We say salvation is of the Lord. Do we believe it? It comes from a person. I know that. The only perfect man that ever lived, the Holy One, Christ Jesus. Paul said, Paul believed it so much that he wrote, "...for of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things." All things. You reckon that all things there means salvation too? You think it means preservation, keeping? I'd say it does. It says all things, doesn't it? Oh dear friends, in Him to be glory, forever and ever. And I'll tell you this, it's also of Him and through Him that John says here, you know all things.