Thursday Night Study (I John 2:18-29)

I John 2:18-29

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“The Lord's Line Of Defense” •  5.7.20  •  Calvary Christian Fellowship, Thursday Night Study (Covid-19 #9)

Intro.

- The Apostle John has concentrated his efforts upon the behavior of those that are truly walking in the light. These are holy, as their Lord is holy.

- They have an aversion to sin and have been warned of the dangers of loving this world. Still, there remains the ever present challenge of deceit.

- One could imagine the trauma of seeing seemingly solid Christians enticed away from the truth wondering, "Could I be next?" "What makes my position stronger than theirs?"

- In the section before us, John outlines several points of defense that the Lord has set up for His people to dwell safely with Him. The first is "Advance Awareness."

Text

• I John 2:18 : "Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour." : "It is the last hour." This is the final season or time. Jesus has come, redemption has been accomplished.

- All that is left on God's calendar is to gather His Bride and ultimately, to exercise judgment upon wickedness, powers and authorities that oppose Him.

- Remember when John is writing. This is the end of the first century! He declares plainly, truthfully, that humanity is in this final stage of God's redemptive timetable.

- Biblically speaking, we have been watching time draw to a close. God is and has been wrapping things up for 2,000 years! What does that tell us about the Father's perception?

- For one, we do not have the corner on "last days" proclamations. It has been the "last days" since Jesus ascended into heaven!

- What is always true, no matter the reference to our time, is that the end is nearer today than it was yesterday!

- If John wrote about the last hour from the beginning of that hour, we are certainly down to minutes, if not seconds on the clock!

- Along with the revelation of the last time, the church in Ephesus had already been told of the coming of the Antichrist. They had already heard these things. This should be expected.

- They have been given an advance awareness of that which is to come. No surprise here!

- Note the distinction. "THE" Antichrist. Some manuscripts omit the definite article, but not the capital. There is a person who is coming, that the church needs to be aware of.

- We are not called to obsess over him or endless seek to find him. In fact, I'm certain the church will not know him because we will be gone before he comes to power!

- As my Bible professors once told me, so I tell you: "We are not looking for Antichrist. We are looking for Jesus Christ!" What do we learn here about the Antichrist?

- His designation, Antichrist, doesn't mean opposed to, but rather to be in the place of Christ. The Antichrist will want people to respond to him instead of Jesus Christ.

- He will want to steal the allegiance due to Jesus Christ, to shift attention from the Lord.

- It's bad enough that there is a single being who is considered the Antichrist, but before he comes, there are several other antichrists that were already on the scene.

- The main Antichrist will be able to come because the little "antichrists" will have set the stage.

- These taut themselves as messengers of religion, but slowly shift the focus away from the Lord. How do they do that?

- By unseating a believer's confidence in or concentration upon Christ and placing it in something else. The fact that they exist at all points to the reality of God's timetable.

- You cannot present an addition to Christ without there having been the True One! From what John is about to tell us, the matter is even worse. Verse 19.

• I John 2:19 : "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." : These antichrists were not coming from an unknown or obscure place. They were not coming from Satan's Church down the road.

- This group emerged from their own group! Remember who John is speaking to. He is one of the elders of the church in Ephesus.

- That city's name may not mean much to you, but pertaining to history and theology and historically amazing teachers, this church was about as "rich" as you could get!

- From what we can tell, the church's roots grew under the influence of Apollos and, by extension, Prisca and Aquila. (Acts 18:24-26)

- When Apollos left for Achaia, the region of Corinth, the Apostle Paul found himself in Ephesus, where he met 12 men who had only been instructed up to the point of John's baptism.

- Paul shared with them the good news that there was a baptism into the body of Christ that was available to those that believed. Listen to what happened next.

• Acts 19:5,6 : "When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied." : This was the beginning, the impetus behind the wonderful and unrivaled growth of the work of God in Ephesus.

- The rest of Acts 19 detail marvelous revival like activity in and around the city of Ephesus.

- After teaching in the local synagogue for three months, Paul rented out the "School Of Tyrannus" and taught there for 2 years.

- By the end of that time, it was reported by Luke that the whole of Asia had heard the word of the Lord Jesus! (Acts 19:10) Please take the time to read the rest of the chapter on your own.

- Ultimately, as is almost always the case with brother Paul, he left the city under riotous conditions, spending some time in Greece, where he decided to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

- On his way to Jerusalem, he stops by Ephesus to meet with the elders of the church on the beach of Miletus. It's on that beach that Paul utters these ominous words.

• Acts 20:28-31 : "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." : Even after warning them, writing them a letter, leaving them with Timothy, even then, Paul's words came true!

- Did you follow that progression of spiritual leaders? Apollos, Priscilla and Aquila, Paul, Timothy and now John the Beloved have all sown the seeds of Christ's teaching into this church!

- There has not been a better succession of teaching Pastors in history! There has not been a better set of true Apostolic representation in history!

- Right from among their own number, these Ephesian believers had members that sought to draw away disciples after themselves!

- Thirty plus years after Paul wrote this, John sees it has come to pass! They came out from among the assembly, the physical group, but they were never attached to the group spiritually.

- They were not OF the church. They did not embrace the teaching of the church, nor were they ever truly submitted to the Lord's Spirit. The NLT renders this that they "never really belonged."

- This wasn't because people ostracized them, but because these men had an agenda that wasn't in keeping with the leaders of the church!

- This has been an oft repeated tale throughout modern times as well. I wish I felt confident that everyone listening to my voice would be fully convinced in their own spirits of the truth of God.

- Statistics tell us otherwise! The visible church will always be a place where wolves frequent until they can no longer stand it! Eventually, their appetites must be satisfied!

- If these men had been truly been in league, in agreement with the elders regarding the truth of the Lord, they would have continued along the same course as the leadership did!

- When they did go out, it became clear that they had never committed to the ways of the Lord and were thus open to the errors that the Gnostics were proclaiming!

- Please tune your ear to this: If you will not obey and keep yourself in the truth, you will eventually fall for a lie! Please, take no comfort in "belonging" to a Bible believing church.

- Don't hang your hat on being a part of a doctrinally sound fellowship. Hang your hat on a vibrant, ever growing embrace of the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! That is your safety!

- How is that safety communicated and extended? John exposes a second defense and answers that in verse 20.

• I John 2:20-23 : "But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. 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." : You have an "Advance Awareness" and you have "An Anointing." Notice the contrast: "But you." As opposed to these that have gone out.

- You faithful believers, in contrast to these that have taken on an "antichrist" spirit.

- You have an anointing from the Holy One! "Anointing" refers to the application of an ointment. Such an action historically signified the entrance into Priestly ministry.

- A person who is "anointed" is endued with power, granted a level of authority from an institution or person, in this case, the Holy Spirit!

- Understand that this "anointing" is not reserved for special emissaries or for "super" apostles. This is what every believer has, whether they exercise it or not! It is a protective coat of discernment!

- These "others" that had gone out from the church of Ephesus, had gone out on their own authority, without an anointing from the Holy One!

- They likely pointed to their own authority based upon the response of those that were sympathetic to their teachings. "Look at the numbers!"

- Who wouldn't want to indulge themselves in sexual and physical fantasies while at the same time, elevating their own supposed intellects by receiving special knowledge?

- Any clown can fill a tent and the larger the church, often times, the lighter the message! No wonder the goats are inclined to show out!

- These men had gone out proclaiming to know all things, but that proclamation rang hollow.

- The ones that John wrote to, they knew all things! They had come to fully comprehend the truth. That's the word that John chose.

- They understood the full scope of all things pertaining to the faith. They understood properly. This why John has written to them.

- They have the ability to discern between what is true and what is a lie! No lie can ever come from the truth properly understood. They know this!

- It follows then that a person who flatly refuses to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah, must be a liar, especially if he or she calls themselves a Christian! John calls them a "falsifier."

- A third definition for this word according the Blue Letter Bible lexicon is that they are a "false and faithless."

- That person cannot have received an anointing from God if they have missed the very meaning and intent of all of God's scriptures!

- Who would be bold enough to read the gospel of John and not come to the conclusion that Jesus wasn't God or the promised Messiah!? I'll tell you: The Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, et all!

- That person that does cannot claim to be true to the scripture if they boldly assert that Jesus is not the Messiah! They can't claim that the Bible doesn't teach that. They must be liars!

- They are purposely veiling the truth about the Lord's mission, identity, as well as His person!

- These false teachers continue to lie about the Lord's relation to His Father! The truth is that you cannot have one without the other! Jesus is the perfect reflection of the Father!

- If you deny the Son, you have no claim to the Father! The person who acknowledges the Son has the Father.

- Are you not reminded of John's gospel and the times when Jesus identified this very principle as true? Jesus says that He deserves the same honor as the Father. (John 5:23)

- To know Him is to know the Father! (John 8:13, John 14:9,10) To hate Jesus is to hate the Father! (John 15:23,24) Jesus even made this claim: "I and my Father are ONE!" (John 10:30)

- There is no separating Christ and His Father! One cannot be known, loved or acknowledged without the other! John is crystal clear in this regard. Verse 24.

• I John 2:24,25 : " Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life." : The people that John wrote had an "Advance Awareness," "An Anointing" and and "An Abiding" relationship with the truth! "Therefore."

- Because you know and acknowledge the relationship of the Father with the Son.

- "Let that truth that you heard from the beginning abide in you!"  In our language it sounds like a request, but it's a command! You must let the truth comfortably remain settled within you.

- Don't allow anyone to attempt to unseat it. New truth related to relating to God is never necessary! We have all that we need and we have not need aside from going deeper into it!

- What the Ephesians had heard from the beginning of their Christian lives was just as valid and powerful on this day as it was on the day that they received it!

- If that commitment to what has been received will remain, there is a guarantee that the person will remain in the Son and the Father!

- What we believe about God and His Son has not only temporal affects, but it has eternal implications! To live out my life believing what I have received gives me access to His promise.

- In other words, this is the promise that God has made to those that believe upon His Son: They have eternal life! Verse 26.

• I John 2:26,27 : "These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him." : John has taken the time to write these truths again to them to work against the ones that are trying to deceive them!

- Notice that John knows that these false teachers are making a concerted effort to deceive.

- The word refers to making one wander or stray. That concept continually shows itself in the writing of scripture!

- This is why the nature of the business of shepherding God's people is so taxing! You know the truth, you have studied the truth, but the people you lead, are often not looking for truth!

- Often times, they are more ready to wander than they are ready to obey what they know. These false teachers prey upon that very undisciplined sensibility! Guess where they find it?

- Unsatisfied church members who remain on the fringe, who never fully commit to a lifestyle centered in receiving the scriptures with other believers.

- These Gnostic teachers are trying to seduce away their own friends who have no doubt, shown a sympathy to their cause, who don't see anything "wrong" with their methodology.

- These people are not mistaken, as some can be in matters of theology. They are well outside the lines and they are intending to invite your attention to something less than Jesus!

- Here again, the work of God's Spirit, His endowing you with His own sensibilities, lives in you presently. That sense given to you from the Lord cannot be removed from you.

- You have already received it and now, His Spirit's power operates in you. You already have the Teacher abiding in you! You don't need anyone to teach you!

- John doesn't mean that a church should go without a Pastor. Heaven forbid! Rather, the context demands that the church has no need for someone to teach them something new about God!

- One commentator even mentioned that the tense of the phrase might be better translated, "You don't need someone to continually be teaching you something new!"

- If anything, this is precisely WHY a church needs a Pastor! There is a need for a person to keep God's people from wandering, to reinforce what has already been accepted as truth!

- That is what is needed! A person that has trained themselves for novelty is of no value to the people of God! The Lord's anointing protects His people from biting down upon the lie!

- What do false teachers live on? Something new with every season. They have a "new word" and a "new message" and a "new revelation." That is a sure sign of falsehood!

- His anointing is true and not a counterfeit. As you receive and abide in that, so will you abide in Him! Our defense against false teachers begins with an "Advance Awareness."

- We have also been given "An Anointing" by the Holy Spirit to detect error. We have "An Abiding" relationship with God's truth as it has been delivered to us from the beginning.

- Our final defense is found in His "Anticipated Arrival!" Verse 28.  

• I John 2:28,29 : "And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him." : John began this chapter with the term "little children." He began this section with it and now, he concludes it in the same way! John loves his little children!

- At this particular time, he employs the phrase which refers to born ones! If you have been born again, continue to abide in Him!

- He loves them enough to command them to settle themselves in the Lord Jesus!  Be always and ever in the state of abiding in Him. Why? Because He is coming!

- We are to beware of the Antichrist's coming and to equally BE AWARE that Jesus is coming!

- A time is coming when Jesus will be manifested physically for all to see. When that time comes, the one that is presently abiding in Christ will stand confident and not ashamed before Him!

- We've examined this word "confident" before. It refers to a bold and unreserved manner of speaking. It's how you speak when you are among those that you love and that love you.

- In the legal world, this is a person who has no guilt or need to hide anything from the court that is examining them! They are out front and clear in their presentation!

- They are willing to allow you into every room, into every relationship. They have nothing to hide! This is not the shy whispering of a person unsure of their footing.

- This is a person who has been accepted and who has lived a life of integrity! That's the way I want to talk when I see Jesus. How about you? Are you abiding in Him?

- That's the way that godly confidence is arrived at! He does not want us to behave in such a way that the Lord's coming would cause us to blush.

- But then, John adds the opposite circumstance of not being ashamed. The word is defined by the word "disfigurement." Think about what John is telling them.

- He wants them to be bold and confident, but to lack a genuine relationship with Jesus will make you feel as though you are managing a disfigured body.

- One who has the misfortune of living with a disfigurement always knows that uncomfortability is coming in one form or the other.

- The entire time a person stands around in such an exposed way, they feel endlessly self-conscious. John does not want his children to feel out of place!

- That belief should have direct application to how we behave! If you are abiding in Him, you know that He is righteous. If you will be confident and not ashamed righteousness will be your habit!

- Notice, John is not expecting the perfection of righteousness. He expects to see the "practice" of it in those that live for Jesus!

- How they live in this material world reflects their hearts for the spiritual world! Those two items, despite what the Gnostics claimed, were inseparable from one another!

Conclusion
- What a wonderful defense perimeter we have! We have been given God's Word that predicts the Apostasy that will take place in the end. We've been given "Advance Awareness."

- Additionally, we have "An Anointing" from the Holy Spirit who teaches us to discern truth from error, right from wrong, as it pertains to Christian theology.

- We have been given "An Abiding" relationship through the message that we first heard, the gospel of Jesus Christ, which was good enough to save us and powerful enough to keep us!

- Finally, we "Anticipate His Arrival." The Antichrist might be coming, but Jesus is coming sooner! That belief causes us to live in such a way that produces boldness and averts shame.

- Let us thank the Lord for the way He has protected us. May we be wise to not to seek what is beyond this perimeter, knowing that nothing good for our souls can exist outside of it!