Got it. Turn to 1 John, chapter
2. What a beautiful morning out
there, isn't it? Wow, that's beautiful. I'm glad North Carolina
has cool weather. Vicki stole me the other day.
I called, it was when it was hot here. It was probably Wednesday
or Thursday. And she said, it is a perfect
day here. I said, well, it will get here
sooner or later. We are going to look at verses
18, 19, and 20. 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. They went out from
us, but they were not of us. Or 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.
But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. Let us pray. Our Father, thank
You for Your mercies. Thank You for this day that You've
given us. Bless this service for Christ's sake. Instruct us
by Your Spirit. Lord, teach us. Arrest our attention
this morning. Enable us to set our affection
on things above where our Lord sits at Thy right hand. And what
we pray for ourselves here this morning, we pray for all your
people and your servants throughout this world. And we pray, Father,
for them here who are under heavy trials, whose hearts are aching. Lord, you know them. You know
them. You know all things. We know that all things are of
God. We know this. This is our hope
and our confidence. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Now we know, we know by the Scriptures
that we are in the last days. That ought to really rest our
attention right there, shouldn't it? We are in the last days. The last days began when Christ
came into this world, when He became incarnate. He died, went
back to glory, and that's been 2,000 years ago already. 2,000
years ago. And there's something I think
that's interesting in the Scriptures. We are told that there was 2,000
years between Adam and Moses, and that there was 2,000 years
between Moses and Christ, And now it's been 2,000 years again,
since Christ has died and gone back to glory. It was 2,000 years
between Adam to Moses, 2,000 years from Moses to Christ, and
now it's been 2,000 years since then. And we've been in these
last days for 2,000 years. I truly believe we're in the
last hour. I do, I believe we're in the
last hour of the last day. Now John says little children.
He continues to speak to them as a father would speak to his
children. I believe one of the greatest
blessings that God can give his preacher, pastor, and his church is to give his pastor, his preacher,
a heart to preach with. I give him a heart to, God speak
to my heart that I might speak to your heart. I don't want to
just hear someone repeat doctrine or Calvinism. I want someone
to tell me, give me the message that God has given you. I had
a young man ask me, He said, how do you go about preparing
a message? And I knew what he was talking about, I've been
there. And I know he's talking about how do you go looking for
a message when someone asks you to preach next week, so you open
a scripture and you start looking for a message. And I told him,
I said, the best messages that I've learned now by experience
are not the ones I'm working on, it's the ones working on
me. I said, give them that. Don't
worry about trying to get this, how many X amount of points in,
or I said, take that message that God has laid on your heart
and that you have experienced and give it to the people. That's
what the Lord said to that demonic man. He said, go back and tell
them what great things the Lord's done for you. That's the best
way to preach, is telling men and women what God has done for
us. And so John says, and God gave
him a heart. God gave that, he's called the
beloved John. He gave him a heart to preach
with and to communicate the gospel with. And that's why he says,
little children. I don't know how many times,
I meant this morning to go back and look and see how many times
he repeats that word throughout his epistle. Little children.
It is the last time. It's been that way, as I just
said, for 2,000 years. And the Scriptures tell us that the last
days will bring perilous times. Look over 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter 3. In 2 Timothy 3, look at verse
1. This know also that in the last
days perilous times shall come. It's not going to get better.
He's telling us, He's warning us about this. It's not going
to get better. The human race is not going to get better. Education
is not going to make the human race better. It might make them
behave a little bit better, but it's not going to get better.
They're not better. You can teach a person manners,
or you can have a redneck, but you still have a rebel. You still
either have a redneck rebel or you got a polite rebel, but a
rebel's a rebel. That's what he is. This know also that in the last
days perilous times shall come. Men shall be lovers of their
own selves. It's me first. Boy, do we see
that, me first. Covetous, that is idolatrous.
Boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents. Kids
get right up in your face. You know, kids, there was a time
There was a time, at least when children were respectful around
adults. But I go to the YMCA and actually,
I'm telling you, me and my wife was talking about this, how rude,
how rude that they are to adults. They'll tell you to get out of
the way. I've heard them stand there and cuss an adult out. It's just disobedient to parents. that's unrespectful, and I tell
you what, if they're disobedient to their parents, they're gonna
be that way to everybody else. Everybody, if they don't respect mom and
dad, they absolutely have no respect for anyone else at all. Unthankful. Unthankful. They think they oughta have it.
They oughta give it to me, you know. No, we ought to be thankful
that God's given us what we have. Unthankful, unholy, without natural
affection. Truth breakers. You can't take
them at their word no more. False accusers, incontinent,
fierce. Despisers of those that are good. Traitors, heady, high-minded. Lovers of pleasures more than
lovers of God. Having a form of godliness. These
people that he just described here, They have a form of godliness,
they're religious, they claim to be saved. But it says here,
but denying the power thereof, from such turn away. But this
is the last time. He said this is what's going
to happen. This is the type of people that,
I tell you what, this is the type of people that false religion
begets. Right there, that's what it begets. Now how long will
these last times last? I don't know the day and the
hour, I don't know that, but I do know this, they're going to last
until Christ has saved that last sheep that He came to save. That He came to die for, it may
be another 500 years, it might be tomorrow. It could be this
day right here. That last sheep could be brought
into the fold and this could be the day that the Lord comes
back. You believe that? We really don't
ever think much about that anymore. We get so caught up in everyday
living. How long are these going to last?
Till He has subdued all things to Himself. In 1 Corinthians
15, 24, then cometh the end. when He shall have delivered
up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when He, Christ, shall
have put down all rule, all authority, and all power." That's exactly
what's going on right now. Christ has put Him down. All
rule, all power, and all authority. And when He brings that last
sheep in, then He's going to deliver it up to the Father.
It's complete. Complete. Not one missing. Not one child
of God missing. It's complete. But he says here,
and as you have heard, that Antichrist shall come. They heard this before. Antichrist is nothing new. The
spirit of Antichrist had been around since the fall. It's been
around since the fall. Listen, everyone, I was thinking
about this when I was putting this together yesterday. Everyone
that does not believe on Christ is of the spirit of Antichrist. Everyone. It says in Matthew
12, 30, He that is not with me, Christ speaking, He that is not
with me is against me. What is it to be against Christ?
It's to be Antichrist. It's of that spirit of Antichrist.
He that gathers not with me scatters abroad. Joe Terrell said one
time, I've never forgot this, he said this years ago. And he
said that, he said, it's interesting that the spirit of Antichrist
is leading the search for Antichrist. And I knew what he meant because
when I was 19 years old, the place I worked, I was on an evening
shift, and someone brought a book in, The Late Great Planet Earth,
Hal Lindsey. And when they started, somebody
read it, then they started talking about the Armageddon, and then
the Antichrist, and the, you know, the Mark of the Beast.
I'm telling you what, there were men, I've never seen this happen
before, there were men leaving work, and this one religious
guy, he was taking them over to his pastor's house, and then
he's coming back. I got saved, I got saved. But
everybody was scared to death of the Antichrist coming, Armageddon,
I mean, They must have been all this six, seven, eight men. It
didn't last. It didn't last at all. But for
a while, they were scared to death. They went and got saved. And I remember that just as so
plain. And when Joe said that, I thought
that's exactly what false religion is doing. They're not looking
for Christ. They're not preaching Christ,
but they're leading this search for Antichrist, the very spirit
of it is Antichrist. It's interesting. Henry said
one time, he said, when all religion is going this way, God's going
this way. Wherever the crowd's going, it's the opposite. It's the opposite. John says here, he says, even
now are there many antichrists. He says it's nothing new, but
there are many antichrists. Christ said there would be many
come claiming to be Christ. There will be many false preachers. For every place where there's
one true preacher of the Gospel, I'm telling you, there will be
a thousand false preachers. There'll be a thousand antichrists,
false prophets. And he said there'll be many
false preachers in the last days. And some of them, and here's
the scary part, here's the scary part. Some of them will be so
close to the truth that if it were possible, they would deceive
the very elect of God. That's how close, that's how
close they'll come to it. Look over in Matthew 24. In Matthew 24, verse 24, I want you to see this in the
Scriptures. In verse 23, Then if any man
shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe
it not, believe it not, for there shall arise false Christs and
false prophets, and they shall show great signs and wonders. insomuch that if it were possible,
they shall deceive the very elect." If it were possible. It's not
possible. It's not possible. God will not
let that happen. He will not allow His chosen
ones to be deceived. He'll not let it happen. But
He says that they'll be so close to it. And that's the danger
of it. That's the danger of it. And
I've seen this over the years. I've seen men stand in a pulpit.
I've seen them preach the doctrines of grace. I don't know if I want
to call it preaching, but they repeated them anyway. And then
I've seen them go off. Go off on something else. John knew that his time on earth
was short. And his heart goes out to God's
children, even to us, not just the ones that were there at that
time, but to us also. He knows what we're going to
go through. He knew it. God revealed it to him. And so he warns God's
children of the trouble that's going to come. He knew, John
knew that heresies would surely arise out of the church. It says
this in 1 Corinthians, for there must be also heresies among you. There's going to be tares among
the wheat. They're going to always be sheep. I mean, wolves among
the sheep, there's going to be wolves. Christ said they'll come
to you, the wolves will come to you dressed in sheep's clothing.
What is sheep's clothing? It's the gospel. They'll use
the language of the gospel. They'll use the name of Christ, they'll take the doctrines of
grace, and they'll stand and they'll say, whoa, yeah, I believe
in election. They'll talk to you about election
all day long. But sooner or later, a wolf has to be a wolf. Sooner
or later, the nature comes out. A wolf has to have, he has to
devour. You know, a wolf is a killing
machine. That's what it is. And sooner or later, that person
will be revealed. God will make it evident sooner
or later. But he says it must come here
in the last days. There must be heresies. But when
we see these things, what are we to do? What are we to do when
we see these things? Well, the Scripture tells us
this. Look up. for your redemption draws nigh."
Look up. Look to Him. Because we are in,
I do believe we are in the very last hours of it. And he said,
and by this, whereby we know that it is the last time. This
is how we know we're in the last hour when all these things come
to pass. And John says, now these antichrists,
these ones who are against Christ, They went out from us. For a
while, they were among us. For a while, they claimed to
believe the gospel we believe. For a while, they crept in, they
masqueraded, living and acting like sheep. He said, these antichrists, these
false preachers, they went out from us. And this is what's so,
this is so sobering to me. They were with us for a while.
But they said, but they were not of us. They never were of
us. You know, tares could be among
the wheat, but a tare is a tare. And it always will be. It always
will be. They were never of us. They were
never born of God. They never believed the gospel
of the grace of God. They never tasted of the grace
of God. They were pretenders. They were
pretenders. For if they had been of us, if
they had been born of God, if they had been granted faith and
repentance, they would no doubt have continued
with us. They'd be here this morning.
They'd still be with us. But they went out. They went
out, they left us. And here's why. God sent trials. Something came along that finally
revealed who they were and what they really believed. God sent
a trial. God tries not only us as individuals,
but God tries His church. And in trying his church, it separates the wheat from the
tares and the sheep from the goats. Trials will do that. Trials,
you know, a person who's born of God, God sends that child
a trial. It will draw that child closer
to the Lord. It will produce humility. It will create and bring out
the love. Peter said, Lord, you know all
things. You know I love you. When the Lord said, Peter, do
you love me? It's after he denied him. When God sends one of his
children to trials, it brings that child closer, not further
away. It doesn't drive him away or
her away. It brings closer. But now, let
that same trial come to one who is a false professor, one who
just makes a profession. He or she gets upset with God. Why is God doing this to me? They get offended. Offended that
God would send a trial and that God would take this from me. It has an effect, but it has
a different effect on a child of God than it does a false professor.
And a false professor will eventually leave, fall away, you won't see
him no more, or they'll go to a religion that suits their need. 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. Not all. The Scriptures teach
us that there's always tares among the wheat. There's always
goats among the sheep. We've been taught by the Word
of God and by the Spirit of God and we know what the gospel is.
We know that God has chose us, God has called us, God has saved
us, and He has regenerated us, but a tear, that's never happened
to Him. It's never happened to Him. You love Christ. You're here because you love
the Lord Jesus Christ, not because it's Sunday. It's what we're
supposed to do. You love the Lord Jesus Christ,
but a tear, A goat has zero love for Jesus Christ. No love whatsoever. But he says here, in closing,
in verse 20, But you have an unction from the Holy One, and
you know all things. God's taught you. It says in
the Scriptures, All thy children shall be taught of God." He never
leaves His children alone. He never leaves His children
untaught. He teaches them. You have the
anointing of the Holy Spirit. You are sealed with the Spirit
of God. I know this, even standing here,
you know, it doesn't look like it. You look at me, it doesn't
look like it. But you literally now, you have the Spirit of God
dwelling in you. And He teaches you. He instructs
you. John's saying He will guide you.
You're not in this alone. You're not alone. You are the Lord's anointed ones. You are true believers. You know that, let me see how
the scripture here I wanna read. In verse 21, look at this. I have not written unto you because
you know not the truth, that's not why I'm writing, but because
you know it. You know the truth, you know
the gospel, you know who God is. You know and you know that
no lies of the truth. That's why he's saying here,
you have an unction from the Holy One, you know all things,
you've been taught of God. The anointing of the Holy Spirit
is more than just quickening and giving life. It's a teaching ministry that
He has. Christ said, He shall take the
things of mine and show them to you. He'll instruct you. He'll guide
you. He will mature you. You know
this. You're not going to be fooled
by Antichrist. And I'm not looking. I'm telling
you the truth. I'm not looking and I'm not concerned about Antichrist
as far as being concerned and looking for him and worried.
I'm not worried. I'm not worried. Vicki told me
that gave us a password for our Internet here. when they installed
it. She said the password on it was
bread666. And she said, that guy said, he said, you might
not want that, because I'm not worried about that. She said,
don't worry about that. I told her, I said, I guarantee
you somebody did that on purpose. I said, they probably, somebody
said, here's a church, let's put 666 on this thing. Let's
mess with them. They're not gonna mess with me.
You know Christ. I'm not looking for antichrist.
I'm not worried about antichrist. I've got one concern for me and
for you. And that's our relationship to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Our union to Christ, that you
and I would grow up in Him and mature in Him and follow after
Him and seek after Him until He comes and takes us home. I'm
not gonna get off on a tangent here on the Antichrist and who
I think it is and when I think it's gonna happen, Armageddon.
I mean, I went through that years ago. Scared to death, Armageddon
was about to happen. Scared to death, Antichrist was
coming. Christ said, let me, Christ said, I'll tell you who
to fear. Fear him who's able to cast both body and soul into
hell. Don't fear them who can just
destroy the body. Don't fear a man that can just
hurt my body. Christ said, don't ever fear
a man. He said, fear Him. I don't fear hell. I don't fear
the devil. I won't deal with him. I don't
fear him. But fear God. He said, fear Him. Have a reverent
awe and respect for God. When you think upon Him, think
upon Him with reverence. Think upon Him as He is revealed
in the Word of God. Never use His name in vain. I don't use my father's name
in vain. I live back in West Virginia. I don't do that. And why would I use my Heavenly
Father's name in vain? We don't do that. But you have
an option from the Holy One. You've been told of God. He's
enlightened you. You have an understanding. And
you know the living God. You know the nature of the fallen
man. You know that. You know the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You know the Gospel. God's taught you. He's taught you, so don't be
scared and taken up with when these people, you know, come
at you with Antichrist and the number 666 and all this. I thought that was so funny when
Vicki told me that. I said, well, I'm glad you answered that way.
I'm glad you answered. It's like, we're not superstitious. We're not superstitious. I told a young man, the same
young man that worked with me, he was talking about being lucky.
I said, there's no such thing as luck. There is no such thing
as luck. Everything is providential. Everything
is ordained of God. He brings everything into our
lives that He has absolutely ordained and decreed before the
foundation of the world. So everything that I deal with
and go through, my Heavenly Father, your Heavenly Father has ordered
it. It's divinely ordered. And if
it's divinely ordered, I wouldn't have it changed. Not at all. Not at all. You say, well, what
about this in my life and that in my life? You know, if you
could go back and change, if you could go back and change
things in your life, He says things I wish I hadn't done.
And I can say that too. But you know, if we'd go back
and change those things, we'd be so self-righteous. It'd just
add to our self-righteousness, is what it would do. He let us
go down that path that He may magnify His grace. All right.