First John 2 18 Little children it is the last
time And as you have heard that Antichrist shall come even now
are there many Antichrists Whereby we know that it is the last time
and 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. If it was the last time, when
1 John was written, then where are we now? There's a lot of
speculation about that, but what we know is that we're in the
last time. We're in the last, last time,
likely. And there are also now, as he said then, many Antichrists. The prophecy that Antichrist
would come, you know, many say that that's a single person.
Many say it's not. John said it's not. What are you saying? You know,
many say that it's like a single person that's going to rise up
in power. That's very dramatic and all, but it's not scriptural.
There are many antichrists now. And, uh, these were perceived
to be antichrist by the apostle long after Christ had left this
earth. And so in other words, we don't need a divine revelation
in the strict sense of a divine revelation. to identify an antichrist. We need perception given us by
God. It's not natural to us. We're
easily deceived by nature now. We do need perception from God.
But we know them, he said, by his grace, by his giving us some,
some perception of that, some discretion, some understanding
of that. We know them by their words,
know them by their fruits, by what they produce. And Satan, he knows what he's doing in this,
doesn't he? Satan's a fool in many regards, but this is what
he's best at. In the garden, what he was offering
there was an antichrist message. You've been doing this a long
time. It was free will, wasn't it? It was, I know God said this,
but you can make up your own mind about it. You can decide
if you want to eat this, you know, just exercise your free
will. It was a free will antichrist
lie that was instrumental in our original fall. So Satan's
been at this a long time. It was a decision that needed
to be made and it still is. In the gospel, there's not a
whole lot of deciding on our part. The gospel is about what
God decided to do. But this anti-Christ thing, it
still has to do with a decision. It has to do with free will.
If you ever hear a preacher preaching a gospel that hinges upon a decision
that you make, You just heard an Antichrist false gospel preacher. Nothing hinges upon our decision.
It never has and it never will. Nothing good, let me just put
it that way. Satan, you see, he has a flavor for everybody,
too. Here's the thing, it's one, Antichrist
is just what it sounds like. It's anything that's not Christ.
And that's revealing right there, isn't it? What is a false message?
Well, it's anti-Christ. That says a lot, doesn't it?
If it's against Christ, if it's contrary to Christ, if you remove
them from the all-inclusiveness that's in Christ, you're anti-Christ. It's everything else. There are
different flavors of it though, aren't there? He has a false,
Satan has a false gospel for the emotional. We got one for
the sentimental. He's got one for the ritualistic. You know, if you want to count
beads and go to confession and you don't have all your little
religious ducks in a row, he got something for you, doesn't
he? If you want to dance, some people
just want to dance and see a magic show. He got one of those for
you. He got a bunch of that for you.
But here, here's what I want to warn us about, too. If you're
a Calvinist, he got something for you, too. If you're a doctrinal
thinker, you're a fundamentalist, when your doctrine becomes a
law and you begin to trust your adherence to doctrine, no matter
how sound the doctrine is, and Satan has accomplished what he
accomplishes with all of these anti-Christ brands. He has caused
you to trust in yourself and not in Christ. And do you think
he really cares whether or not you're trusting in your rituals
or in your knowledge? He doesn't care as long as it's
anti-Christ. If it's not Christ, then it's Satan. It doesn't matter, your knowledge
now without the love of God, Paul said, and by the way, do
you remember what last week's lesson was about? Had quite a
bit to do with love, didn't it? Love, the same context here,
1 John chapter two. Your knowledge without the love
of God is just gonna puff you up. And that is Satan, isn't
it? Pride, puffed up. I know what
God said, but I got a little scoop for you here. I know something
that God didn't tell you. If you understand all mysteries,
Paul said, and have all knowledge, and have not love, you're nothing. You're absolutely nothing. Oh
yeah, there are many, many antichrists. It's one message in a sense. It's everything but Christ. Anything
but Christ. But there are many of them, aren't
there? There are many of them. Whatever it is you like. And
we like all kinds of things other than Christ by nature. Fundamentally,
they're all preaching now the same free will message. It's
the same man-centered message. It's always going to have to
do with trusting yourself. It's works or grace. But there
is an antichrist for every personality type. Satan is very thorough. If you don't care about doctrine
at all, you may not give a hoot about
doctrine at all. We don't want to hear doctrine.
We just want to be uplifted, you know. That's exactly what
Joel Osteen, I heard him say it one time. People, they don't
want to hear doctrine. They just want to be encouraged,
uplifted. If that's you, Satan has a Joel
Osteen for you, and many like him. Many like him. If you want
a spectacle, a lot of drama and emotion, but no substance, there's
a Kenneth Copeland for you, or somebody just like him. If you're a little more old-fashioned
now, a little more fundamental, If some doctrine's important
to you, some doctrine, well, there's probably a Graham
for you, somebody like that. And if you're a strict Calvinist,
I got some names for you there, too. And Calvinism, by the way,
is becoming more and more fashionable. But Christ is not. Christ is not becoming more powerful The gospel is not getting more
popular Here's what I'm saying there are many Antichrists Many
there's just one Christ. It's one truth one gospel Verse
19 they went out from us and what a warning this is Is this
sobering to you they went out from us and They weren't one
of us. If they did, what about us? You remember when the Lord said
to his disciples, one of you shall betray me. And you remember, they all began
to ask, Lord, is it I? The Lord had taught them enough
that they knew. The minute we start thinking
it's not me, Guess who it is? Because the one that it's not
doesn't think like that. By God's grace. Is it I? Verse 20, but ye. But ye. You see those words, isn't that
beautiful? But ye. But you, now. You're not saying
but some, but you. He could say that with confidence.
But you. And here's why. He didn't say,
but you are smarter than them. He didn't say, but you are better
than them, but you are more spiritual than them. No, but you have something
from God that makes you different. You see that you have something
from God. There's the difference. It's his grace. He has decided
to bestow upon you an anointing. That's what the word is there.
Notice a couple of things about this. The obvious, it comes from
Him. It comes from God. Not you, not
your nature, not your heart. It comes from God, not from a
convention. What sets you apart now is not your doctrine. This is what many believe. We
don't believe that, we believe this. And that's the difference
between us and them. You trust in your knowledge. The difference is God gave you
something. The difference didn't come from
a convention or some conference of men. This is not a set of
doctrines that man has devised that sets us apart from others
who have devised, in our estimation, less accurate sets of doctrines.
This is an ability from God to discern truth. It's called in
the scripture, the spirit of truth. It's called here, an anointing
from God. The reason, the thing that sets
you apart and causes you to know things that others don't know.
Paul said, the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit
of God, Neither can he know them for their spiritually discern
their foolishness to him and their spiritually discern, but
we He's revealed to us He's revealed unto us And we have the mind
of Christ and we discern all things. What's the difference?
God Bestowed upon you Look at it, but ye have an unction from
the Holy One That's Christ particularly, but that's God You have an unction
from him. This is an ability from God to
discern truth. And it's an unction. Did you
know that's the word that defines the Lord Jesus Christ in the
scripture? His very title, Christ, is the anointed one. And I tell you this, it defines
you too. What defines you is something that came from God.
It's an unction, it's an anointing. Christ is the anointed one, and
we are his anointed ones. Christ has this anointing without
measure, and we have it in some measure or other, according to
the gift of his grace, as we saw in the book of Ephesians.
We have it in some measure or other, and it's this that makes
us different. It is an anointing from God.
Let's talk about what that is for a little while. Look at Exodus
chapter 30. I guarantee you, when Paul uses
this word, he has reference to this Old Testament passage, among
others. Exodus 30, verse 22. Moreover, the Lord spake unto
Moses, saying, Take thou also unto thee principal spices of
pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so
much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus
two hundred and fifty shekels, and of cassia five hundred shekels,
after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of olive oil and hen. Thou
shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, and ointment compound
After the art of the apothecary, it shall be in holy anointing
oil. And I shall anoint the tabernacle
of the congregation therewith, and the ark of the testimony,
and the table, and all his vessels, and the candlestick, and his
vessels, and the altar of incense. Why? Because Christ is the anointed
one, and all of these things picture him. All of them, every
one of them. And the altar of burnt offering,
with all his vessels, and the laver, and his foot, And thou
shalt sanctify them, that they may be most holy. Whatsoever
toucheth them shall be holy. And thou shalt anoint Aaron and
his sons, here's Christ also, the high priest, and consecrate
them, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office.
And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, this
shall be an holy anointing unto me throughout your generation.
Upon man's flesh shall it not be poured, That's just any man
discriminately. And neither shall you make any
other like it after the composition of it. It is holy and it shall
be holy unto you. Whosoever compoundeth any like
it or whosoever putteth any of it upon a stranger shall even
be cut off from his people. And the Lord said unto Moses,
take unto thee sweet spices. These sweet spices with pure
frankincense of each shall there be a like weight, and thou shalt
make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary,
tempered together pure and holy, and thou shalt beat some of it
very small and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle
of the congregation where I will meet with you. It shall be unto
you most holy, and that's for the perfume which thou shalt
make. You shall not make to yourselves according to the composition
thereof. It shall be unto the holy for the Lord nothing else
like it Whatsoever whatsoever the shelf I'll make lock into
that to smell there to shall even be cut off from his people
You remember Psalm 133. Let's turn over there So this
was special it was prescribed by God Psalm 133 It was applied to who he said
to apply it to. Not everybody, not everybody
could have this. And there was nothing else like
it. And listen to what David compares it to here in Psalm
133. Behold how good and how pleasant
it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. What do we have in
common? What's our bond? Christ. His word, his truth. If you depart from the truth,
we have nothing, do we? We just don't. If I depart from
the truth, what do we have? Light can't walk with darkness. Well, that's kind of like that
precious ointment upon the head. That ran down upon the beard,
even Aaron's beard. That went down to the skirts.
of his garments. It's like that, it's that anointing. It's precious. It's a gift from
God. It's prescribed by God. There's
nothing else like it. And it only goes on who he says
it goes on. That's what Paul is saying, or
John is saying here in our text. If you're not anti-Christ, it's
because God has poured some of that oil on your head. The sweet-smelling
savor of Christ. Only the brethren, only the saints
of God are anointed with this oil. And it's because of that
that you know what you do. That you rejoice in what you
rejoice in. Look at 2 Corinthians 1 verse
19. 2nd Corinthians 119 for the Son
of God Jesus Christ who was preached among you by us even by me and
Silvanus and Timotheus was not yea and nay but in him was yea
and you know there are others preaching the false gospel he
warned them about them and he called them by name in many cases
and here he said what we preach it wasn't yes and no there wasn't
any equivocation to it There wasn't any compromise, it was
yes. For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him,
amen, unto the glory of God by us. He's talking about the gospel
that we preach. All of God's promises are yea and amen. In
Christ, only in Christ, we preach Christ crucified. Verse 22, who
also hath sealed us and given the earnest of the spirit. Verse
21, I'm sorry. Now he which establisheth us
with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God. That's why we preach Christ unto
you. That's why we know what we know. We know him. That's
why we know the gospel. That's why we're not like those
that preach enticing words of man's wisdom. We're not of those
who say yes and no. We preach Christ and everything
that God promised is yes in him because God has anointed us to
do that We could go to quite a few scripture in the New Testament
about this anointing And you know all things you see that
First John 2 And you know all things You have an unction from the
Holy One, and you know all things. This anointing brings knowledge
with it. And when we say now that knowledge
only will puff a sinner up, just knowledge, that's what Paul said,
knowledge puffeth up, but love buildeth up. Knowledge with love. We're talking about just The knowledge of man, the knowledge
that man can acquire without grace, at least without special
grace. The knowledge, the kind of knowledge
that does puff up, just knowing your doctrinal talking points,
you know. You can just hear them rattling them off sometimes.
But we're not contradicting the fact that it is by knowledge
that God saves us. But God saves us by knowledge
of a person. But wait a minute Chris, it says
all things. It doesn't say a person here, it says all things. Yes,
but look how all things is expressed in the next verses. Look at verse
22. He said all things. What do you mean by that, John?
Look at verse 22. Who is a liar, but he that denieth
that Jesus is the Christ. He denies a person. He denies
that he's who he said he is. He is antichrist that denieth
Father and the Son, because if you honor not the Son, you honor
not the Father. Everything hinges on the Son.
The Son hath revealed the Father. Verse 23, whosoever denieth the
Son. You see that? You know all things. What things? Well, whatever's
included in Him. Whatever has to do with Him.
The gospel Paul said in Romans 1 concerns Him. You deny the
Son. If you're anti-Christ, you deny
a person. The same hath not the Father,
verse 23, but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. You see, everything is contingent
upon what think ye of Christ. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. Let that therefore
abide in you, verse 24, which you have heard from the beginning.
If that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain
in you, ye also shall continue in that, those doctrinal truth,
no, in the Son. There's a difference now. I know
many don't see it. I'm sorry if you don't see it,
but there's a difference. Knowing some facts and knowing
him there's a difference the things All that which you've
heard from the beginning if you really heard it you'll continue
in the person You'll be in him and you'll stay in him. You'll
remain in him. You'll abide in him and he in you you see that It's the difference between the
false and the true now I The difference between Christ and
Antichrist is not a set of doctrines. It's a person. You shall continue in the Son
and in the Father. It's simple, isn't it? It's so
simple. Everything that is known Everything
that can be known every spiritual desirable Wonderful truthful
thing that can be known is known by knowing him And you can know a lot of true
things now without knowing him But you can't know him Without
knowing all things that are good and true. I One thing about verse 21. We kind of skip past that I want
to look at. 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. Remember he said that already
about talking about loving one another and about not sinning. He said, I'm not writing unto
you to stop sinning because you don't know the truth, but because
you do. If you didn't know God, I wouldn't say to you, stop sinning.
I'd say, flee to Christ. But now that you have, honor
him, follow him, love him, obey him. And he's saying here, now
he's warning us, not because we don't know him, but because
we do. Because we know some things. We know some truth. We've at
least given the appearance of believing on him. If you know
the truth, here's the lesson here now in this verse. If you
know the truth, you know what you need? To hear the truth. He said, I'm telling you the
truth because you know the truth. Not because you don't know it.
Those who know Christ never graduate beyond Christ. Those who know
him need him. All him, only him, always him. Now let's look at verses 22 through
24 a little closer. We just read them. Let's look
at them a little bit closer. Who is a liar, but he that denieth
that Jesus is the Christ. He is antichrist that denieth
the father and the son. Whosoever denieth the son, the
same hath not the father, but he that acknowledgeth the son
hath the father also. You see, it's the son. You can
talk about God all you want to, if you haven't bowed to his son,
you don't know God. You don't know the Father. You're
not gonna get to the Father, but by the Lord Jesus Christ. You haven't seen the Father,
he said, unless you've seen me. If you've seen me, you've seen
the Father. If you haven't seen Christ, you haven't seen God.
And so, for a person that rests in doctrine, and I used to be
one, And I know quite a few of them that I fear are doing this. And I know this is a danger because
the scripture warns us of this. But for those that trust in anything
other than Christ, let me just put it that way. Those who are
anti-Christ, other than Christ, against Christ, opposed to Christ,
this just ain't gonna be enough. Knowing Him. Have you ever heard
somebody that Is a deep doctrinal thinker trying to explain a verse
like this where the different you just continue in the sun?
To them, there's just more to it than that, isn't there? There's
just more to it than that. You've got to know this and this
and this. Wait a minute. John seems to think all you need
to know is Christ and just continue in him, abide in him, have that
relationship with that person and everything else falls into
place. But this is just not enough. Just knowing that Jesus is the
Christ? Is that enough? To know that Jesus is the Christ
and to continue in the Son? I've witnessed over and over
that it's not enough to many. You know, you just have to take
a stance, you know, on a position. Some position, rather. This position,
that position. You have to be a superlapsarian
You have to be pre-millennial. You have to take a stand on the
doctrine of eternal justification. I beg your pardon, I refuse to
take a stand on any doctrine. I've got no interest in that.
And when I say doctrine, when people talk about doctrine, they're
not talking about the word of God. They're talking about the
system that they've come up with. You know that, right? And so
that's what I'm talking about. The man-made system that is really
them saying, here's what God meant by what he said. I just
want to know what God said. I don't want to know what you
think He meant by what He said. I've got no interest in that.
I've got to take a stand, you know, on the doctrine of eternal
justification. No, I don't. No, I've got no use for that.
I've got to take a position on this doctrine, on that doctrine. Let me just repeat the words
of John to you, because I love you. From verse 28, look at what
He said. There's no relationship more
precious in this world and more loving and more protective than
a father for his children. And so that's how I address you.
That's how John addressed these believers. That's how I address
you, my little children. Now, now, that's a key word too,
that now, little children now, abide in That too simplistic for you?
That's not complicated enough for you? How do you stand on
this or that? Abide in Him. That's where I want to stand.
And that's what I want for you very dearly. That you stand in
Him. Abide. And oh, I can hear it
now. I can hear it now. You can't
abide in him without taking these positions on these doctrines.
Oh, yes, you can. In fact, you must. You must. Do you know why doctrine exists?
And now I'm not talking about the man-made system. However,
however accurate now, however true in and of itself, however
true. Now, though, when I say, do you
know why doctrine exists? I'm talking about this book.
And it's two different thing. Now, when people say, well, this,
I believe in the doctrine of justification, you know what
they're talking about? They're talking about a section 10 article
three in some manmade document. That's what they're talking about.
That's what I believe. What do you believe about just, well,
let me get the Westminster confession out here and I'll show you what
I believe. Abide in him. But you know why true doctrine,
real doctrine, good doctrine, Christ's doctrine exists? To
reveal Him. He doesn't exist to set you on
to the right doctrines. The doctrines exist to set forth
Him. It's a difference now that's
life and death. Not talking about the Westminster
Confession now or some So-and-so's body of divinity. I'm talking
about this book. You know why this book exists
This doctrine the doctrine of Christ The Apostle John said these are
written that you might know that Jesus is the Christ That you might believe that he
is and that believing you might have life through his name. It
doesn't exist so you can dot all your i's and cross all your
t's. It exists so that you might know him and believe on him. You see the difference? Abide
in him. I'm my little children now. Abide
in him. My little children, I don't want
you to know this book so that you might take positions on things. But that you might know him.
Doctrine, true doctrine is a revelation of him. That's what it is. It's not an end in itself. These
are not written that you might take positions and call everybody
a heretic that doesn't take the same position. These are written
that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that believing, you might have life through his name. And
if you want to know if somebody's a heretic or not, if you want
to know whether somebody's an anti-Christ or not, you don't
need to know what kind of lapsarian they are. Just listen to what
they say about your Savior. You listen to what they say about
Him. It'll take you about three minutes to figure out. Maybe
less, whether they're anti-Christ or not. You don't need to know where
they stand on this position or that position. Find out if they know Him or
not, if they preach Him or not. And that won't take long. If the Jesus that they preach
is this one, two, got a wonderful plan for your life, trying his
best, you know, Jesus, that's anti-Christ. Because the Christ
of the Bible is not him. If they preach the sovereign,
almighty, victorious savior of sinners, who the Father sent
down here. Jesus is the Christ. Do you believe
that Jesus is the Christ? Who's the Christ? God's anointed
Savior. God's anointed Messiah that he
sent down here to accomplish his purpose. Thou shalt call
his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. If you believe he is and he did,
then you abide in him. If not, you're anti-Christ. Letting
the very name pretty much tell it all. Anything other than Him,
anything opposed to Him is false and soul damning. God's anointed Christ, the Savior
of His people from their sins, as revealed in this book, not
as revealed in some systematic theology, pinned by men, again,
however true, however accurate, but as revealed in this book,
if he's preaching this Christ, listen to it, and abide in him. It's a lot simpler when God says
it, doesn't it? The way God presents it, it's the simplicity that is in
Christ. May God cause us to fall in love with Him, to
embrace Him, to lay hold of Him, and never let go. Let's pray.