We're breaking in the middle.
John has written a great book. He continues to go back and forth
between those that are saved do not continue in sin and warning
about false prophets, teachers, and such like. So this morning
in verse 18 through 23 of chapter 2, Little children, it is the last
time. And you have heard that Antichrist
shall come. And even now are there many Antichrist,
in the plural, whereby we know that it is the last time. 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. But ye have an unction from the
Holy One, and ye know all things. 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. Who is a liar but he that denies
that Jesus is the Christ? He is an antichrist that denies
the Father and the Son. Whosoever denies the Son, the
same hath not the Father, but he that acknowledgeth the Son
hath the Father also. Now, as we get nearer to drawing
our series unto a close or an end, I confess that A rather
large section of Christendom does vehemently reject and deny
and contradict the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints
of God. Some have even called it the
teaching that leads to licentiousness and false security and a false
notice of one's condition. They've condemned it as a doctrine
of devils. I've heard it called that. Responsible
for many living out a life of licentiousness and then falling
down into ruin and destruction. And I think they often use the
threat of the loss of salvation as a motive or a whip for the
back of the people that they might keep them in line. Now
do this or that or keep this or that or else you will fall
under condemnation is their warning. Now as to the charge that believing
in the final perseverance of the saints of God will cause
many to turn grace into lasciviousness and live a licentious and scandalous
life and take sin to be a light thing and nothing to be worried
about, and that they believing that will live carnal life. Now
we, for the record, remind you all and our adversaries that
there are many who hold to the doctrine that salvation can be
lost who do also live scandalous lives. There are many in that
movement who live scandalous and shameful lives. that even
the possible loss of their soul does not keep them from sin and
it does not make them holy beings. Not even the threat or the danger
of hellfire can keep some back from the power and the allurement
of sin and by being overcome by that sin that is about them
and as that is in them. Now that being said, we concede
that the supporters of falling out of grace would bring forth
their proof text from the scripture and bring them before us that
we might hear. Big blast, they think, from these
texts of scripture. God willing, we will look at
that in one final study. The scripture that are used to
prove or to produce the doctrine of falling out of grace. But I will remind us that using
scripture, Pelagians and the Papists and Arminians all agree
upon one thing, and that is they agree that a truly saved and
regenerate person may totally and finally fall away. That one that is at one time
fit and ready for heaven may lose all of that and perish without
the salvation of the Lord. Now, again, I'd like to kind
of look at it historically if we might. Some older Wesleyans
we found way back in history using a text like that one in
Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 6 taught that Though true grace may be
lost, true grace may be had, and then it may be lost, and
yet the recovery of that one is an impossibility. Based upon Hebrews 6 and verse
6, that said, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance,
seeing they crucify the Son of God afresh and put him unto an
open shame. I got a surprise reading from
R.L. Dabney, who wrote that some of
the older so-called reformers modified this doctrine in the
following manner. They held that an elect person
may totally fall away, quote, but that God's purpose of grace
towards them is always effectuated by their recovery before the
hour of their death, unquote. This is how they dealt with people
such as King David over in the Old Testament after his sin with
Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11 and 12. It's also how they dealt
with Solomon, of whom it is written in 1 Kings 11 and verse 3, when
Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods,
and his heart was not perfect, Read an amazing thing, I think. in Psalm chapter 18 and verse
20 through verse 24, not now, but at another time, of what
David had to say about himself. Now, according to Dabney, these
reformers took the position that David, after his sin with Bathsheba,
and during the time that he was unrepentant, they held this position,
quote, faith and spiritual life had utterly died in him." There
was not a spark of spiritual life left in David's soul while
he was unrepentant and before he was recovered. That was the
position of some of the Reformers. Well, that leads us to ask the
question, what then of the Apostle Peter from the time that he denied
the Lord went back under his nets and his fishing until the
Lord came and restored him again? Thus we can see that there are
not a few very different opinions on this matter and on this subject. We do not deny that some fall
away from a profession of the gospel. Who could deny that in
reading the scripture and in observing history in the period
in which they live. We read in the scripture, John
6 and verse 66, from that, that is from this, as a result of
this, in consequence of this, from what they had just heard,
many of the disciples did two things. Number one, they went
back Rather, they went away. They went away from following
after the Lord and being his disciple. Now, the tense here,
I understand, in the Greek, is in the eros. It is in the past
tense. These went away from following
the Lord. And the second thing we read
They walked with him no more. It was a final cleavage of their
fellowship and their association with the Lord. They severed themselves
from the company and under the instruction of the Lord. And it is worth noting, I think,
that there in John 6 and verse 66, that the word time, T-I-M-E,
in the English King James Version is italicide, which as you probably
know means that there was no Greek word in the text that correspond
under that. The thought is not of time. The thought is not in point of
time. only but is occasioned by what
they had just heard from the mouth of the Lord. A hard saying
in verse 60 of that chapter that the flesh gives no profit in
spiritual matters in verse 63 and that some of you are not
believers in verse 64. Plus the fact that our Lord had
said Except you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have
no life in you." And they said, this is a hard saying, who can
hear it? And they went away and they walked
no more with the Lord. Now, let's consider the stony
ground era in the Lord's parable of the soil, of the seed, and
of the sower. This hearer, this particular
hearer out of the four that are described, Matthew 13, 20 and
21, Mark 4, 16, and 17, and Luke's
account in chapter 8 and verse 13. Now, this sort of hearer
received the word initially with joy and with gladness, we're
told in this parable. And the soil, however, was over
a rock shallowly buried in the earth, and it lacked any moisture
because of the rock, and it soon withered away. That which had
begun in seemingly a promising way, then withered away. This here is all whoopee in the
beginning of his confession but he is offended then by and by
by the word and he falls away and actually this is one of the
proof texts of those who teach and preach falling out of grace. Again, we have something from
Paul in 2 Timothy 4 and verse 10. Demas had forsaken me, having
loved this present world, literally this present age, and he is departed
unto Thessalonica, gone away from the apostle. 1 Timothy 1,
19 and 20. We read of Hymenaeus and Alexander,
who made shipwreck of the faith, saying that the resurrection
had already passed. And Paul said of these two scoundrels,
whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they might learn not to
blaspheme, 2 Timothy chapter 2, 17 and 18. So, we have conceded, as must
any who are honest with scripture, that multitudes of professors
have fallen away, do fall away, and will fall away from a profession. Upon this, there is not a contention. However, this does not lay the
matter to rest for a final thing, for some questions yet remain
about this matter. Number one, from what did they
fall? They fell away, but what did
they fall from? Did they fall from true grace
and real salvation? Number two, were such real Christians
or only empty professors? Which were they that for a while
endured and then fell away? Were they such as were only running
on emotion and excitement? Were they real Christian or were
they hypocrites simply playing a part? Were they born of God? Were they born from above? Were
they born again by the sovereign spirit of God? Or were they only
outwardly reformed? And were they called by God into
that profession? Or were they manipulated by a
persuasive preacher of some sort? I think, just to throw this in
for free, that one of the worst practices that ever entered in
and was embraced in the Christian churches was that of the invitation
system. That may surprise you, but then
I ask, search the scripture. Where would you find either Paul
or the apostle using any practice of the invitation system? Now, these that fall away, Have
they embraced the Lord Jesus Christ as the only savior of
their soul? Have they embraced him as the
one who is able to save them, save them from their sin, and
give them everlasting life? Or have they embraced Christ
as a therapist? I think there's a lot of that
going on in the world today. Or have they embraced Christ
as Santa Claus? Gimme, gimme, gimme. Gimme this,
gimme that. Or have they embraced the Lord
as a doctor? Heal me, heal me, and then I
will serve you. Or have they embraced Christ
as a banker or an ATM machine? Make me rich, make me prosper,
give me much of this world's good. And if these things are
not forthcoming, then some have no further interest than that
in the Lord. Now, coming to our text in 1
John chapter 2, and we'll be here for the rest of our study
of the day. We have read it, now let's look
it over. John is warning his, quote, little
children, unquote. That's the tender term by which
John speaks unto his disciple to whom he is writing this epistle. And he's writing this epistle
in part against the false teacher and their pernicious doctrines
that they were bringing among them. And you notice that he
spares not. He calls them what they are,
Antichrist, and paints them as being the forerunner of the great
Antichrist that was to come. And I tell you, you probably
know this, but some of the old timers, and especially of the
Puritan stripe, thought this Antichrist to be the Pope and
Romanism. And when you read their writing,
you'll find how often they call them that and refer to them. Now, these that John is describing
and that he is warning again, they denied or they perverted
the doctrine and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. They denied or perverted the
doctrine of the Holy Trinity. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Spirit, three in one. And they perverted the doctrine
of salvation by grace and denied the special operation of the
grace of God, denied the hypostatic union of the Lord Jesus Christ,
denied full blood atonement, and many other such like things
did they deny. Now coming to verse 19 in the
passage that we read, what a powerful and expressive verse is there. We might sort of look at it and
outline it for our better getting a grips on it. Notice, they went
out from us. And the they, no doubt, refers
to the false teacher and those that were drawn away by them,
which are being discussed in the preceding verses. And the
us, US refers to John and to the saints in the church and
in the churches who stood by and Steadfast to the doctrine
of Christ and the person of Christ now notice what he said They
went out from us because they were not of us they went out
they were not of us and They went out. They were not of us. Now, notice something. Count
them, if you will, but John uses the word they six times in this
one verse. They six times in verse 19. And he uses the word us five
times in this one verse. They and us. They went out from
us. They were not of us, and so on. But John says that their serving,
or rather leaving, as dramatic as it might have been upon the
saints of God in the church, John said that their leaving
served a purpose, and it proved a point. It made manifest that
they were not all of us. They made manifest who they were. It brought to light their true
character and the true falseness of their profession. I want you
to consider, as a comparison and a proof text, Judas was numbered
with the apostles, Acts 1 and verse 17. But being the traitor,
as he is called in Luke chapter 6 and 16, he was never of them. He was numbered with them, but
he was never of them. Even as many in Israel which
were of Israel were not Israel at all. Romans chapter 9 and
verse 6. There's an amazing statement
by Paul. in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and
verse 19. We do a double take, perhaps,
when we read these words from the apostle. There must be heresies
among you that he that is approved of God might be manifest. Heresies, therefore, have a way
of revealing or uncovering one and revealing another. Now, concerning
the verses in our text, verse 18, and verse 19, we ought to
consider them not only in their original context, but also in
their historical setting. The first application being the
existing situation at the time that John wrote this. It was
near the end of the apostolic era. It was near the close of
the apostles being among and over the church. Christ's personal
ministry is now over. He has died, resurrected, and
ascended back into heaven. And almost immediately there
were heresy that were creeping in and like fires in a forest
that needed stamping out and extinguishing. The Lord's Christ
warned of such to come. Matthew 24 and verse 24, there
shall be false Christ false prophet and they shall show great sign
and great wonder that if it were possible they would deceive even
the very elect and Peter warned In 2 Peter 2, verse 1 and 2,
there shall be false teachers among you who privately shall
bring in damnable heresy, even denying or denying even the master. and bring upon themselves swift
destruction. There were false teachers among
Israel, there shall be false teachers among you privately,
secretly, covertly bringing in damnable heresy and bring upon
themselves and any that follow them swift destruction. Paul
in 2nd Corinthians 11 and 13, warned of such as are false apostle,
deceitful worker, transforming themselves into the apostles
of Christ. Transforming themselves as if
they were true and real apostles of the Lord. Now be that as it
may, John says in our text of these antichrists, they went
out from us. Now that means that they were
once among them. That means that they once were
in their midst and were among them. And they were in the bosom
of the church here. They had been there for a time.
under a standard profession of the gospel and of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then they went out. They
went out, they left, they separated, they departed. And their going
out could have happened in two ways or for two reasons. A, their disdain for the person
and the doctrine and the Christian gospel, that they had come to
hold in disdain and distasteful the gospel of Christ. And they freely then rose up
against it and they left. Or B, it could have been that
they were excommunicated for their heresy. Titus 3 and 10,
a man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition
reject. 2 Thessalonians 3 and verse 6,
withdraw yourself from every brother that walks disorderly
and not after the tradition which he received of us. Be that as
it may, by either manner, they went out from us." Now, it is
sobering when we realize what Samuel Pierce wrote on these
verses in his rather long commentary of this book, and that is that
the majority of the heretics and the cultists that attacked
the churches are such as had themselves been in the churches
at one time. They rose up in the churches
and then they went out. They went out from them. Such
men we have named in the scripture Hymenaeus, Philetus, Ebion and Cyrenthias, men like
that, who came and troubled the early churches with their heresy. And then closer on to our day,
in our history, or our century, or our country, some examples
that I share with you are as follows. Charles Taze Russell,
if you recognize that name, went out from the Presbyterian church
and he gave the world Jehovah witnessing. Another, Mary Baker
Eddy. raised in a strict congregationalist
family by strict congregational parents, went out and gave the
world the cult known as Christian science. The Osteens went out
from the Baptist denomination and gave the world what they
had. And Paul said, out of your own
midst, Out of your own congregation or body there shall men arise,
Acts 20 and verse 30, to draw away disciples after them said. I know that after my departure,
grievous wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock."
And then he said, not only from without, but also from within
shall men rise up out of your number. Now, it's a truth that
false teachers and cultists usually troll for proselytes in the waters
of Christendom. They lure with poison teaching
in order that they might snare the weak and the false and the
unlearned and pull them under their trap and lead them away
as well. John says, They went out from
us, but they were not of us. They were among them. They had
been gathered with them. No doubt, probably, they had
submitted unto baptism and they had observed the supper or the
celebration of the memorial supper. Some may have at one time served
in an office. or teacher capacity in the church
and profess a faith in Christ and learned the doctrine of the
church. Then they went out. But John
said, they were not of us. And the reason why they went
out, they were not of us. They left because they were not
of us, never. Never at any time in Matthew
7 verse 23 Christ said some I never knew even when they were claiming
the workings of Miracles in the name of the Lord they were not
of God in the sense of regeneration of being born again of being
an elect of God and had no inward saving grace that had been communicated
unto them. They went out from us, they were
not of us. And then John makes a conclusion. If they were others, they would
no doubt have continued with us. Had they the same faith,
had they believed the same thing, had they been of the same mind
and heart and understanding, had they the same views of the
Lord Jesus Christ, then they would have no doubt continued
with us but how can two walk together except they be agreed
amos chapter 3 and verse 2 what fellowship has light with darkness
soon it comes evident that there is no common bond or fellowship
i was reading from john calvin's commentary on this passage of
scripture and he said that he believed that there were three
kinds of professors mainly found in the churches. Number one,
he said, there are those who pretend godliness, but they yet
have an accusing conscience. That is, they have no inward
peace with the Lord through the grace of God and the blood of
Christ. Then he said, There is the hypocrite
who makes a great pretense of his religion in order that he
might impress others and praise himself that they are pious and
righteous. Remember the Pharisee, Lord,
I thank you that I'm not like this man or like other men. And then thirdly, here quoting
Calvin, those who have the living roots of faith carry a testimony
of their adoption firmly fixed in their hearts, unquote. And now in making the transition
to verse 20, John has been speaking of such as fall away because
they had never been endowed with the saving knowledge of Christ. But as Calvin said, quote, only
had a slight and a passing taste of it, unquote. That's how he
put it. So John writes to those that
are anchored in Christ in verse 20, contrasting them with the
Antichrist and their useful idiots and dupes who were not endowed
with the knowledge of Christ. You have the knowledge of Christ,
they do not. Now, you, my little children,
born again ones, you have, you have been endowed with an unction
from the Holy One. 1 John chapter 2 and verse 20. You have an unction from the
Holy One and you know all things. Now the word unction here in
the King James translation into the English is again down in
verse 27. but the anointing which you have
received of him abideth in you." One and the same word between
the one verse and the other. You have an unction. You have an unction. I think
this is the word chrisma and is from a root word creel, meaning
to make contact. And literally it means, and is
used throughout the Old Testament, it means to smear and to rub
one, that is anoint one, with oil. thus an unguent, a save
or an ointment. And what John is saying is, you
have an unction, you have an anointing of or from the Holy
One. And by that unction or anointing,
You know all things by that you have gained your knowledge of
the things of Christ the things that are of God which the natural
man cannot understand as Paul said in first Quran in first
Corinthians 2 and 14 now if they had this unction it would save
them from the heresy of the Antichrist teachers that were coming among
them. For with that unction they are
able to discern between truth and error, between truth and
a lie. What a blessing to know the truth
from a lie. What a blessing to be able to
recognize truth on one hand and a lie of Satan on the other hand. Now, it's true today, I think. There are multitudes to whom
the lie sounds like the truth, and the truth sounds like a lie
in their ear. And these, sadly, will believe
the lie and be damned according to 2 Thessalonians 2, 10 through
12. But he says to them, you have
an unction, literally an anointing. And this is a great fortification
against apostasy. Now reading from Pierce's commentary,
quote, there you have the true and the real reason why the one
went out and the other remained, unquote. They had not this unction,
they had not the anointing, and so they left the truth. And the
others, the saints of God, had it and they stayed. This unction,
or this anointing, gives an ear and a heart for the truth as
it is in Christ Jesus, and the ability to recognize the lie
of Satan, and to discern between the real gospel and another gospel
that one might come preaching. The Jesus of Scripture and the
other Jesus that Paul talks about in 2nd Corinthians 11, 1-4. Another Jesus, another spirit,
and another gospel. By this unction, they knew the
truth. Not all things without exception,
but they knew the truth as it pertained to the Lord, to the
gospel, and to salvation. Now coming to verse 21, He assures them that his stern
language that he has written is not meant to insinuate that
they lack truth, for they were grounded. in the truth, and that
there cannot possibly be any reconciling of the truth and
the lie. There's no way to mix them. They
repel each other naturally. There's no way to reconcile the
truth and the lie. It's saying in the end of that
verse, no lie is of the truth. And verse 22, speaking of a lie,
who or what is a greater liar and lie than the perversion of
the person of Christ and his doctrine? Who has lied worse
than they that pervert the person and the doctrine of Christ. Commentators
say, of all lies in the world, this is the greatest and the
most wicked that Christ is perverted. The ultimate denial. Let's look
at the 22nd verse. who is a liar, but he that denies
that Jesus is the Christ, that is, is the anointed of God. He
is an antichrist that denies the Father and the Son. Now, even that early were there
heresies creeping into the churches on the person of Christ. You see it yet in John's day,
in Paul's day, and in Peter's day. There were heresies that
were coming in. And we cannot spare them the
just condemnation. Any who deny and any who teach
others that Jesus Christ is not the Messiah, is not the anointed
of God, is a liar. He is a liar that denies that
Christ is the Messiah, the anointed of God, the son of God, sent
into the world by God. Now that's a broad indictment,
is it not? Let's look at it a little and
expand upon it. This has far-reaching meaning. For example, who denies that
Christ is the anointed of God is a liar. This means that Judaism
in our day is built upon a lie. Any who deny the deity of Christ,
any who deny His oneness and His co-equality with the Father
is a liar. Any who deny that in Him dwells
the fullness of the Godhead bodily, any who deny the virgin birth
and the fleshly incarnation bear false witness to the Holy One
of God. And by the way, any who deny
the impeccability of of our Lord Jesus Christ is a liar. You'd be amazed at how many in
the Christian churches there are who fight for the doctrine
that the Lord might have sinned, that he was peccable. So we stand
for the impeccability of our Lord, that that holy thing born
of you shall be called the Son of God." There are many who say,
yes, it was possible for Christ to have sinned while he were
upon the earth. And this is a denial of his nature
and his character. For example, imagine the far-reaching
consequences if Christ had sinned while he lived in this world
in the flesh. Think about that as you would.
Some deny the deity of Christ, that he was just a man. Some
of the early heretics Serenthias, Copacrates, Arius. Arius denied the divinity of
Christ. Arians do not believe that Christ
is very God. Morsion said that his humanity
was a mere phantom. This is the Docettes. They did not believe that Christ
had a real humanity taken from being born of Mary, but that
he brought his humanity with him from heaven, passing through
Mary like water passing through a pipe. Therefore, Sibelius made
no difference between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. that they were but simply three
manifestations of one and the same person, and therefore was
a denial of the Holy Trinity. Watch verse 23 as we close. Whosoever denies the Son, the
same has not the Father. You can't have the Father without
the Son. You can't know the Father apart
from the Son. You can't be saved by the Father
Apart from the Sun so these are just some of those Antichrists
that appeared early in the history of the churches and troubled
them with bad doctrine, bad teaching, and bad living. So we have seen
John is not shy to name them as Antichrist who stand against
the person of the Lord Jesus the way they did.