1 John 2, let's read verse 18 and verse 19 again. Little children, it is the last hour, and as you've heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they'd been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. Some people have realised that if you want to make money out of the Christian book market, then you write a book on the Antichrist. You title it The Coming World Ruler or 666 His Identity or the Roman ruler on his way and if you write a book like that and you title it that, you'll sell books. You'll sell a lot of them. You'll have a DVD set to go with your book. And there's a fascination today with Antichrist. Biblical prophecy is a fascination for people and I suppose that's understandable given the fact that the Bible has been correct in so much of its prophecy. The Bible has predicted so many things in the past that have come true People are looking to the Bible again to say, well, what's the future going to be like? But very often this fascination becomes, I think, a little bit unbalanced and there comes with it a kind of obsession with the future until the researching of biblical prophecy becomes more and more and more the focus. Eventually, people themselves are growing cold in their hearts. They're not loving Christ. They're not growing in grace and in knowledge. They're not focused on being Christ-like to their neighbors. They're not evangelizing. They're not seeking just to know Christ and make Him known. They're so fixated on a future timeline and on biblical prophecy that they really are missing the whole point of the Christian life. And at a certain point, I think it can really become a kind of divination. You know, I want secret knowledge, and I'm going to use the Bible to get that knowledge, but without a submitted, dependent heart relationship upon God. Is it wrong to study biblical prophecy? Not at all. It's an important part of Scripture, and we should. But when it gets out of balance is when people are so completely focused on Antichrist that they're no longer focused on Christ. So John here tells his readers that they've heard that Antichrist is coming. And I wonder if he wasn't, for a moment, just trying to grab their attention. Writing about the year 90, he says to his readers, OK, you've heard about a man who is coming. We don't know how far Paul's letters had circulated, but probably by this time his readers in Asia had a copy of 2 Thessalonians. And they would have read there about the man of lawlessness. You want to turn there for a moment and see that 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 3 is a reference to the final Antichrist. Only John of all the New Testament writers actually uses this term Antichrist in the Greek. He's the only one who uses the term, but they're referring to the same person. 2 Thessalonians 2, look at verse 3, Paul writes Let no one deceive you by any means for that day, that's the day of tribulation, will not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of sin or the man of lawlessness is revealed the son of perdition who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he sits as God in the temple of God showing himself that he is God. So this is one of the references to Antichrist. There's more references in Revelation. And I know you're dying for me to get into that more, but that's exactly what John's not doing. John is not getting into the topic of Antichrist. He's saying to his readers, I know you're familiar with that concept. I know you might remember the words of Jesus talking about the abomination of desolation standing where Daniel said he would stand. They knew probably vaguely there was some kind of world ruler coming who would act like Messiah. And they knew that. And John, here in 1 John 2, doesn't try to get them to focus on him, or to spot him, or to identify him. He doesn't say, you need to be looking for him and know who he is. His reason is very clear. He says, there are plenty of little antichrists that you should spend your time identifying. He said, yeah, the big final antichrist is on his way, But in the meantime, there are plenty of false teachers, false prophets, false messiahs before Christ's return, seeking to lead people away from the truth. Look there in 1 John 2.18. Little children, it is the last hour. And really, the last hour is from Christ's appearance to the very end. It's a reference to the last segment of human history. And he says, and as you've heard that the Antichrist is coming even now, many Antichrists, have come, by which we know that it is the last hour." Well, the New Testament makes this clear again and again. Turn back one book to 2 Peter chapter 3. The Bible warned us there would be a lot of antichrists, false teachers on the loose in the last days. 2 Peter 3 and verse 3, Peter says, knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts and saying, where is the promise of his coming? For since the father's fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. You loons, do you really think you're going to see Jesus popping through the clouds one day? I mean, nothing's changed. Go back a few books to 2nd Timothy. Find 2nd Timothy chapter 4. And 2 Timothy 4 and verse 3, Paul here says, "...for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables." They'll heap themselves teachers, you know? You know, he who He who pays the piper chooses the tune. So I'm going to choose the teacher, I'm going to heap him up and I'll tell him what to say. And I'll hold him financial hostage if he doesn't say the right things. This is what Paul says is going to happen in the last days. If you turn back one book to 1 Timothy, same prediction. 1 Timothy chapter 4. Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times Some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. This is, again and again, Jesus, Mount of Olives, final Olivet discourse, he says, Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many in the last days and you know Christians many Christians are looking for the final Antichrist and they don't see the many antichrists right under their noses They're so fixated on 666. They can't see that there's tons of antichrists on TBN on radio stations putting out books in the Christian bookstores and even in our local churches. And it would be a painful thing to allow a big rat into your home, which makes havoc of your whole house, while you stand at the window looking to see if there are any lions in the neighborhood. And so everyone's looking for this final Antichrist. I'm not saying it's wrong, necessarily, to take the Scriptures and try to understand what kind of person he'll be. But in the meantime, John says, hey, pay attention, there's Antichrist right in front of you. And so here in 1 John, he's giving a pastoral warning to his little children about the dangers of these people. He wants us to be able to identify them. And he's going to tell us about their origin, he's going to tell us about their message, he's going to tell us about their actions. So look in 1 John chapter 2 and let's at least get an idea of who these antichrists are. 1 John 2, let's begin with their origin. Their origin. In verse 19, John says this, They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. John gives a shocking statement. He says they emerged from our ranks. We knew them by name. We had them over for lunch. We were in their homes. They sang the songs together with us. Together we confessed the creeds publicly. Oh, we closed our eyes in prayer together. We greeted them kindly and vice versa. They were the very last people we ever would have thought would turn out to be a little antichrist. And yet John's very clear, they came from among us. There's no getting around it. There is no school of false prophecy. Well, there is. But there's no particular seminary that advertises, we produce false prophets. Come to us for a diploma in anti-Christianity. We'll fix you up, you'll be an antichrist. And everyone goes, oh, he went to the antichrist seminary. It doesn't work that way. They come from our midst, they come from among us. And Paul had the same chilling words to say to the Ephesian pastors in Acts chapter 20. Look in Acts chapter 20. These are his last words to some pastors that he would never see again. And he's, you know, departing words are always poignant words. They're always profound words because you want to say what you can't say again. And here in Acts chapter 20, look what Paul says to these Ephesian pastors. Verse 28. Take therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God which he purchased with his own blood. For I know this that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock also from among yourselves. Men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone, night and day, with tears." You know, it's a strange thing, but it's been proven again and again. The worst heresies that have ever affected the Christian church emerge from within the church. The worst church splits always occur from entrenched members within the church. Jesus himself was betrayed by one of the 12. Even David speaks about the heartbreak in Psalm 55 of not an enemy who reproached me, but my own equal. We went to the house of God together. We prayed together. Paul was deserted by demons. He knew of this truth that the origin of false teachers often comes from within. However, back in 1 John, John explains something to us that I guess ought to comfort us. He tells us back in verse 19, they went out from us, but they were not of us. He tells us that in fact they were never of us. What does that mean? They were never true believers. I don't think he's saying they were never church members, because they were. He's saying they were never of us. Now, notice if you believe that you can lose your salvation, John doesn't say they were once of us and they lost it. What does he say? They were never of us. Never. They weren't of us. None of them were of us, he says at the end of verse 19 again. Yes, we believed their testimony of salvation. They stood up here and they gave it and we nodded and we believed it. Maybe we even cried. It was moving. And we rejoiced at their baptism. And when they covenanted with us together in membership, we rejoiced, and we felt they were genuine and sincere. But in fact, as we often find out, only the Spirit knows what's in the heart, and they were never of us. They were never true believers to begin with. How do we know? John tells us, if they had been of us, what would they have done? According to the Scripture, what would they have done? For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. Had they been true believers, they would not have forsaken the gospel. Had they been true believers, they would not have gone off on a tangent and believed and taught something completely contrary to the scriptures. See, one sign of true salvation, believers, is this. You hold your profession of the gospel to the very end. Hebrews 10 verse 23 says, Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. We talk about the perseverance of the saints, and what that means is true salvation keeps persevering. The true work of God doesn't cease halfway through your life. You meet people who say, well, you know, I accepted Jesus as my Savior and, you know, I was saved, but I don't believe that anymore. Well, that's impossible. It's scripturally impossible. If you've trusted Christ and that real work has taken place, one of the effects is going to be a profession of faith that lasts you to the very end. And when we buried some of our dear folk, the joy has been to say, to the end they professed that gospel, right? To the very end. So let me say to you, beware of novelty when it comes to the gospel. Be very careful of people who tell you, I've got a new spin on the gospel. In the end, the persons whose departure they depart from amongst a Bible-believing church reveals what they were. By the way, I'm not saying that if people leave our church, they're apostates. I'm saying that if people depart from the gospel and go off and start teaching something false, then this has come true. They couldn't stay in a gospel teaching church because they couldn't abide the gospel. Eventually, it just didn't fit. And they moved on. So what is their message? What do they teach? Look at verse 22. First John 2 verse 22. Their origin, they're from amongst us. What is their message? Verse 22. Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either. He who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. So here comes the message that they teach. And what is it? They deny that Jesus is the Christ. Which is another way of saying they deny that he's the savior. Which is another way of saying they deny what? The gospel. They deny the divine relationship between father and son. To deny the father is to deny the son. To deny the son is to deny the father. And John says a person who denies the gospel in such a way is antichrist. See, he opposes Jesus and he substitutes something in the place of Jesus. He opposes the gospel message and has his own message. You see, I want you to understand the severity of this error. This kind of person that John's talking about doesn't just disagree on some point of doctrine. It's not like somebody leaves us who believe strongly necessarily say in infant baptism and that can be a fatal error if you think that baptizing children saves them. But let's say we find someone who believes in the gospel of grace. They believe that you're saved by grace alone. They say I just think we should bring children into the covenant. I think that's a pretty serious difference. It doesn't make that person an apostate or somebody disagrees on the second coming and they tell us Okay, you're pre-millennial, you believe that there'll be a literal kingdom on the earth. I don't believe that. I believe that we're the church and the church is the kingdom. Well, that's a serious difference, but it's not a denial of the gospel. You can still be saved and have different views on that. The severity of this error is that the false teacher has denied something of the gospel itself. And that makes it what we call catastrophic error. You've pulled out one of the stilts of the gospel itself. How do I know that? Well, later on in the same book, John gives another example of the kind of error he's talking about. Look at chapter 4, verse 2. By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you've heard was coming and is now already in the world. See, once again, a denial of his humanity. That's catastrophic. You can't have the gospel if Jesus didn't actually become a man. I think what John is doing here is he's giving us samples of fatal error. Samples of fundamental error which completely compromised the gospel. Other examples would be things like a denial of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. A denial of the virgin birth, that Jesus was actually miraculously conceived in the womb of Mary. A denial that He was the substitutionary atonement for us, that He was sinless. If you deny that, you've denied the gospel. A denial that He rose bodily, that He wasn't just a phantom. and that he's coming again for us physically. If you deny any of those, you're denying the gospel. You can no longer hold to the Christian gospel if you don't believe Father, Son, Holy Spirit, if you don't believe virgin birth, if you don't believe bodily resurrection. We call those doctrines the fundamentals of the faith. Why? Because they're fundamental to the faith. Take one of them away, the whole system collapses. In the early 20th century, there were schools of German higher criticism that took those very fundamentals and said, look, we don't need to believe that Jesus literally bodily rose. Why don't we just accept that science has proved those things aren't true. Let's just say that Jesus rose in our hearts and that if we live charitable, sacrificial lives, then we live in light of his resurrection. Fundamental error. Or they said, you know, we don't need to believe that there was an actual virgin birth, we just need to believe in the total purity and the moral life of Mary and the wonderful upbringing that Jesus had, His uniqueness. Catastrophic fundamental error. And so, I don't really like the term fundamentalist, because in our modern era it gives people visions of blowing up buildings. But if you want to Put it this way, every true Christian should be a fundamentalist in the sense that they hold to the fundamentals of the gospel. And they defend those fundamentals of the gospel. And now I hope you see why you ought to understand the gospel very well. You know, there's really no limit to the amount of perversions and false teachings that can come up to pervert or twist the gospel. You may know that very often bank tailors, when they're training, What they'll often do is when training them, they'll keep them just with genuine money. They'll train them to the feel and the look and the size and the smell of genuine money until they are so accustomed to the feel of genuine banknotes that when the counterfeit comes, they immediately sense it. They don't train those bank tellers with all kinds of counterfeit notes because there's almost no limit to how many ways you can counterfeit a banknote. So they just give them the true, the true, the true, the true, until eventually they're so used to it, they pick up accounts of it and they say, this doesn't feel right. And I exhort you, spend your time understanding the doctrine of the gospel. If there's any teaching you're going to give yourself to, it should be the gospel. If there's anything that you should know, any doctrine you should understand, it should be the gospel. So that when it's perversion comes, you immediately pick it up. Say, wait a minute. See, even last week, someone came up to me and questioned me just about a turn of phrase that I'm using. And I was glad for that. I was glad to hear someone say to me, so, are you telling me that Jesus died in hell for us? And I said, no, I don't mean that. Jesus paid for our sins on the cross. And it was paid in full there. It wasn't this heresy that he somehow spiritually went out of existence. But you see, I was glad for that because it showed that the individual was thinking about the precious gospel. The gospel. So, you need to be studying that. What does it mean? What are the heresies that perverted? What are its components? What truths in scripture are essential to the gospel? The branches that come off the gospel, if you cut this off, at what point have you cut the jugular of the gospel? You need to know that. You say, well, I'll just trust you. Bad idea. You know, how do you know I'm not going to turn down the road? As I stand here before you, I can say, humanly speaking, I will never, ever turn away from the gospel. But you know what? I'm still human. And you need to study the gospel. So that if anyone ever stood in this pulpit and said something contrary to the gospel, you would say, oh, wait a minute. There's something wrong with that. And the encouraging thing is this chapter, which we'll look at in a future time, tells you that God gives you built-in discernment. There's something in a true believer that hears the voice of the real shepherd and little alarm bells go off when the false shepherd's there. And you might not even know all the gospel, but you'll hear, oh wait, something's wrong with that. But nevertheless, as in all things in Christianity, you do your part 100%, God does his part 100%. Well, thirdly then, what do they do? What are their actions? How do you think these antichrists spread their false ideas? Look at verse 26. It says, These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. There you see their actions, their origin, their message, and their actions. Notice something very clear here. John says they're trying to do what? Deceive you. They're not quiet about their heresy. They are not passive. They want to draw people after themselves. And very often what they do is they don't typically go somewhere else and just start from scratch. They go to where the people are. The parasite goes to where the food actually is. And so they set up camp within the church. And within the church they slowly start to disseminate their error. A little bit of a twisted question here. A little bit of a pamphlet there. A recommendation of a funny website over there. Distributing an odd sermon over there. Say, you should really listen to this. Distributing a funny DVD. Just watch this. It's really interesting. Whole new take on it. Never thought about it that way. And once the little antichrist is found out, and the pastors and the shepherds move in to protect the sheep, they react with horror. that anyone would say this about their false doctrine and all kinds of mud starts to fly. This church is made up of dictators who just want control. There's a thought police in this church. There's an intellectual autocracy and they're just trying to screen out ideas. The pastors are insecure with new ideas. But this is all very disingenuous because when you become a member of our church, what do you do? You take that statement of faith. You read over it. And eventually you say, that's what I believe. That represents the truth. And when you stand in front of us and you covenant with us, you know what you say? You promise before God and the angels to support the doctrine, discipline and God ordained leadership of the church. And so to turn around then and act like a wounded party is just some kind of deception. But unfortunately, it very often rattles the cage of the church. Not infrequently, such little antichrists draw people off to their cause. And you know, they portray themselves as the victimized freedom fighter. And very often, young Christians can get shaken up by that. You know, are our pastors really a bunch of insecure bullies who are just trying to hang on to their jobs and their traditions? And they sometimes draw people off to them to follow them in their heresy and in their discontent. And not only do they deceive with their message, but they deceive once their actions are found out. They turn the tables around and make out like they're the victims. And do you know something? Go right through the New Testament and do you know who is responsible for division in the church? It's not those who are seeking to promote true doctrine. It's the heretics. In fact, do you know that the word heretic and divisive are related? To be a heretic is to be one who divides the church. The one responsible for disturbing unity are the false teachers. It's not when the shepherd steps in to exercise church discipline. When the shepherd steps in to say, out! That's preserving the unity, friends. The real disturbers of the peace are false teachers and wolves who try to rip a chunk out of the church before they go. So what should a believer's response to this kind of stuff be? Well, as I've said, firstly, the good news is God has built discernment into you if you're a true believer, and we'll look at that the next time. But then there's also a response that we should have when we hear somebody really perverting the gospel. I want to show you just four scriptures from the New Testament, and we'll be done. 1 Timothy chapter 6. I want you to see the very clear commands of Scripture. 1 Timothy 6 verse 3. If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing. But he's obsessed with disputes and arguments over words from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. Boy, haven't we seen that today? What does it say now? From such, withdraw yourself. Here you're told to withdraw yourself from false teachers. Withdraw yourself from when they teach or preach Withdraw your ears from the phone if they call you withdraw your feet from their company That's strong, isn't it? Wow God clearly regards this kind of heresy as so infectious He says get away from it You're in Timothy turn over one book to Titus two books to Titus chapter 3 and Titus 3 in verse 9, he says, but avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable and useless. Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition. In fact, if you have the old King James, the word divisive is translated heretic. Reject him. Reject him. Two warnings, followed by rejection. Turn back to Romans 16. Romans 16 verse 17, he says, Now I urge you, brethren, Note those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple." This is not, you know, sentimental Christianity, is it? Gospel is denied, you note them, and you reject them. You avoid them. And that applies, by the way, in a mass media age to the TV sets as well. If they are preaching heresy, if they have said, like Benny Hinn has said, that the Trinity is nine members, or like Copeland or Hagen have said, that Jesus died for your sins in hell, you note them and you avoid them. You say, well, I just want to watch it to kind of get a kick out of it. Okay, well, You know, get five minutes of a kick out of it and switch it off. Don't take that stuff in. Beware. Finally, 2 John. 2 John. After 1 John, a small letter of 2 John. 2 John 1 verse 9. Once again, here's the fundamental attack on the gospel. It's not brothers and sisters who disagree on some serious doctrines and we're not able to cooperate. We still love each other, but we can't cooperate. It's not that. This is a denial of the gospel. Second John, verse 9. Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him, for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds." Wow. He's not saying, by the way, that if you work with a Jehovah Witness or a Mormon, you can't smile at them, shake their hand, cooperate with them, treat them like your neighbor. He is saying, when the Jehovah Witness is walking through your streets with watchtower, and they ring your bell, at that point, you do not extend Christian fellowship to them and say, hello brother, hello sister, you don't say that. In fact, instead, just to be literal with this, which I think we should be, don't bring him into your home, go out to him on the road and say, you wanna have a chat? let's open John 1.1 and meet them on the road and typically what will happen is they'll move on and if it's my neighborhood I'll tell them please leave my streets alone and take your heresy somewhere else. Please leave your Christ denying heresy, take it somewhere else and that's the idea. It doesn't mean you don't love them, you must still love them as neighbors but you never extend Christian fellowship to them when that Elder Bob or Elder Mike, you know, is at your door. You don't say, God bless you, brother. Thanks for your charity. You don't do that. It seems like painful steps to take, doesn't it? But doesn't this show you what the heart of God is towards his gospel? Doesn't this give you an idea of how precious it is to him? God knows the gospel is the door of salvation. This is what saves souls. To pervert that is for people to go to hell. This is why it's so critical. In 1 Corinthians, Paul talks about how sin spreads like leaven and perversions of the gospel do the same thing. You may have heard of the tragedy of Jim Jones and his cult in 1978. Jim Jones had a California-based cult known as the People's Temple. and he operated in Guyana in South America at least some of the time. And you may know the awful story of how a US government official went down to investigate. He was shot and eventually when all the soldiers went in to see what had gone on, Jones, Jim Jones had talked to all his cult members and he talked about, over the loudspeaker, about the beauty of death and the certainty that they'd all meet together. And several hundred of those cult members gathered around the pavilion, and they were surrounded with armed guards to force those who were unwilling. And a big vat of Kool-Aid, of juice, mixed with cyanide was brought out. And most of the cult members drank it willingly, but others were forced to. It started with the babies, At least 80 infants and children were fed the deadly poison and then the adults took it. Everything was calm for a few minutes, but then as that cyanide-induced convulsions began, it all got out of order. Children were screaming, mass confusion, and shortly afterwards, 780 people were dead. I realize that not every false teacher ends up producing that kind of physical tragedy, but every false teacher brings moral calamity. And that's why it said the Apostle John, who wrote this epistle we're studying, once went to the public baths in Ephesus. And once inside the public baths, he saw present the heretic Serinthes. Serinthes taught that Jesus Christ was not the God-man, but that the Christ came upon the man Jesus and left him. He denied that Jesus was fully God, fully man. John was probably referring to Serinthes in chapter 4 when he says, If you deny that Jesus came in the flesh, you're a heretic. And the story told by Polycarp, the disciple of John, is that when John saw Serinthes in the public bath, it said he rushed out of the bath shouting, let us flee, lest the bath house fall down, for Serinthes, the enemy of the truth, is within. See, that's how John saw the gospel. Deadly serious. regarded those who denied it as enemies of the truth and therefore enemies of the human soul. True Christians know the gospel. And if you love the gospel, you will hate what threatens it. False teachers. So, the exhortation from scripture today is firstly, understand the gospel. Make it your first study. Delve into it. Ask us for books. We'll give you books. Tons of books. Defend the gospel. Have your ears open for perversions of the gospel. And then, as you've read, avoid those in presence and in hearing their teaching who pervert this precious gospel of Jesus Christ.