Sovereign Grace Chapel, located
at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to
listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. Good morning, and welcome to
this morning's broadcast. My text this morning is 1 John
chapter 4. It will be from 1 John chapter
4. And I'd like you to read with me if you can. If you have a
Bible close by, don't get up and go into another room unless
you can do that quite quickly. But I would like you to read
along with me if you can. But if you can't, just listen
to these words. These are astounding words from John. 1 John chapter
4. And listen to what John writes.
Just the first few verses. John wrote these words. Beloved,
believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they
are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the
world. Hereby know ye the spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every
spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is not of God. And this is that spirit of Antichrist. whereof ye have heard that it
should come, and even now already it is in the world. Ye are of
God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater
is he that is in you than he that is in the world. They are
of the world, therefore they speak of the world, and the world
heareth them. We are of God. He that knoweth
God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth
not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, in the spirit of error,
such astounding words. And I do realize that in this
passage is a phrase, there's a word used there, antichrist. Let me just go on. Consider this,
John. the one who wrote this book here,
this letter, the Apostle John, the one who many call the Apostle
of Love, and there's reasons for that. John speaks of maybe
the Apostle Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament, of course,
but John, more than any other apostle, other than maybe Paul,
John spoke more of the love of God than any other apostle did.
The Apostle John was the one you remember at the Last Supper
when the Lord and his disciples were having the Passover and
our Lord instituted what we call the Lord's Table. It said that
John was leaning upon his breast. So think about the Apostle John.
The apostle of love gives a stark warning here, doesn't he? As
I read this, you can kind of feel the urgency, if you will,
in his voice, the urgency in his pen as he wrote these words,
this stark warning. Think about this. True love,
true love warns about error, and that's in verse six. We are
of God. He that knoweth God, heareth
us. Now this is John speaking, not
me speaking. This is John speaking. John says, we are of God. He
that knoweth God, heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth
not us. See that warning there? Now,
I'm not asking you to believe what I say. But I am telling
you, if I'm saying what John said, and you don't believe it,
then right there it is. We're of God. He that knoweth
God, heareth us. He that's not of God, heareth
not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
So remember, true love warns about error. But also this, true
love warns of falsehood. You see it in verse one. Beloved,
believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they
are of God, because many... Many false prophets are gone
out into the world. So true love warns about error.
True love warns about falsehood, but it's even more than that.
True love warns of this world's opinions and its doctrines and
its ideas. That's what John's saying here
in verse five. They, speaking of these people
who are antichrist, that's what it said, antichrist. Know the
phrase? Know the phrase? They are of
the world. You see it? They are of the world. As I said, true love warns about
error, true love warns about falsehood, true love warns about
this world's opinions, doctrines, and ideas. They are of the world,
therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. Think
of it. These antichrist, they tell men
what men want to hear. And often, often, maybe almost
always, we want to hear what's wrong. We want to hear what our
opinion, we want people to ratify what we already think. But John's
not that way. John being moved by the spirit
of the blessed God, the holy God, warns in true love, warns
of error. John warns of falsehood. True
love warns of this world's opinions and doctrines and ideas. But
it's even more than that. True love, now listen to me,
true love exposes antichrist. Do you hear me? True love exposes
Antichrist, chapter four, verse three. And every spirit that
confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of
God. And this is that, and if you
look at it, the spirit is in italics there. This is that of
Antichrist, you can literally read it. This is that spirit
of Antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come, Listen
to these astounding words. And even now, already is it in
the world. That's right. Almost 2,000, somewhere
around 2,000 years ago, the Spirit of God moved to write that Antichrist
was already in the world. Astounding thing. My title for
this morning, if you want a title, is this. Antichrist, and that's
singular now. Notice what I'm saying now. I'm
saying that because it's the way John puts it. Antichrist
denies God's Christ. That's what antichrist is all
about. Antichrist denies God's Christ. First, I want us to look at three
observations from the text. If what I give you is what John
said, and you don't hear it, that means you're of the world.
If what I give you is what John said, it's what's in this book,
it's what God Almighty wrote concerning this book, and the
truth of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the facts about antichrist,
and if you believe that, you believe the record God gave his
son, you're a saved person. You're a saved person. Listen,
think about it. Antichrist denies God's Christ. As I said, three observations
from the text. First of all, just the three
things this morning. Antichrist, you hear me? Antichrist
is not just some end time singular individual. Most every one of
you that is listening to me probably have already heard this. There
may be some that haven't. But almost everyone that's listening
to me or may listen to this on Sermon Audio or YouTube or Facebook
or whatever else may hear this message later. You know that
there's even TV shows about Antichrist. Antichrist, Antichrist, and it's
always, Now you hold me to these words, but it's almost always
about some person, some individual in the maybe far distant future,
or maybe right at hand, but it's always about someone in the future.
But Antichrist is not just some end time singular individual. Do you see it? Let's read it
again. We just got six verses, rather, I'm sorry, six verses
in our text. Look at verse three. And every
spirit, every one of them, Every spirit that confesseth not that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God. But what's the
title of that? What's that mean? What is that,
is not of God? And this is that spirit of antichrist,
whereof ye have heard that it should come. And even now, and
even now already is it in the world. So you see, listen to
me now. Do not be caught up with the
future. The future, well, who will the
Antichrist be? And of course, down through time,
thousands of people, no doubt, have said, well, so-and-so. Hitler
was the Antichrist. This one is the Antichrist. Some
people said Obama was the Antichrist, or maybe even Trump is the Antichrist. I don't know. Always talking
about some individual. That's not the way John puts
this. That's not what John says. That's not what the truth of
God says here in our text. Do not be caught up with the
future. And why do I say that? Do not
be caught up with the future, that is, who will be Antichrist. Because if you're caught up with
your future, you may be missing the many who are already surrounding
you that are Antichrist. They already were in John's day. They're still here today. So
again, Antichrist is not just some end time singular individual. But here's the second observation
from our text. Think about it. This is astounding. I want to be able to put this
correctly, but many of you may have been brought up like I was,
and I don't mean to be the dead horse, as we say, but many of
you may have been brought up like I was, and it was always
Antichrist was that some great singular individual to come in
the future. I'm not denying that, I'm not
saying that's not so, but I'm saying this warning, this error,
this falsehood is far more real and prevalent and immediate than
just someone in the future. It even began in John's day. Do you see what John's saying
here? So again, Antichrist is not some end time singular individual,
but here's something else. Antichrist is not some poltergeist
being. As the word says here, spirit,
we think of a ghost or an apparition, a poltergeist. Antichrist is
not some, and even as spoken of by John here, even here, the
word spirit is used, but it doesn't mean a poltergeist, a ghost,
that kind of thing. It's talking about that which
motivates an individual inside. that which motivates a person.
Think about it. Antichrist is not some poltergeist,
but they are actual people motivated by the denial of the truth about
Jesus Christ. And let's look at it one more
time. Let's look at it again by what John says. Not my opinion,
but what John says. Chapter four, verse one. Beloved,
believe not every spirit, but try the spirits. And remember,
that's what motivates a man. What motivates a preacher? Beloved,
believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they
are of God, because many false prophets are, not will, not just
will, but are gone, you see, are gone out into the world.
Then look at verse three, the connection. And every spirit,
spirit, now he's already talking about the spirits, okay? And
every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come
in the flesh is not of God. And this is that spirit of Antichrist,
you see it? whereof ye have heard that it
should come, and even now already is it in the world. So again,
Antichrist is not some poltergeist kind of thing, it's actual people. That's right, actual people,
not one person, but many, you see, many false prophets, many
people. And yet, John doesn't call them
Antichrist, He says they are antichrist. They are that spirit
that should come, that thing that motivates men in rebellion
against God's Christ. So again, antichrist is not just
some end time singular individual. An antichrist is not some poltergeist
thing, some thing ethereal floating out here that's bothering people
or causing trouble. Antichrist Our people, you see,
I know that may not be great English, antichrist singular
and then our people, but that's the truth. That's what John says,
antichrist singular, but it's many false prophets, many spirits. Look at verse four. You're of
God, little children, and have overcome them. Antichrist, do
you see it? Antichrist. Look at verse six. We are of God. He that knoweth
God, heareth us. He that is not of God, heareth
not us. Hereby know we the spirit of
truth and the spirit of error. So there are some men, there
are some people, there are some prophets or preachers, maybe
evangelists as we sometimes, pastors, teachers, that are motivated
by the spirit of the living God in their spirit. to preach the
truth about the person and work of Jesus Christ. So remember,
Antichrist is not, and I know, I don't mean to just keep hammering
on this, but we've been so indoctrinated by falsehood and error, and everybody's
wondering who that Antichrist will be when we're surrounded
by Antichrist. There's many that's already gone
out into the world. Hmm, you see, according to what
John's saying here, and you judge what I say by what John wrote
here. Think about this. To be in error
about Christ. Didn't know what he said. And
every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come
in the flesh is not of God. Do you see it? To be in error
about Jesus Christ. is to be antichrist. Not just an antichrist, not just
a little bitty one, rather than the big one, the real one. Antichrist. Do you see it? This is what John
says. Here's my third and last point for this morning. I'll
spend most of my time here. Antichrist. Again, I'm using
the language because it's the way John puts it. Antichrist
are. Antichrist singular, but antichrist
are primarily preachers. They're preachers. Look at it.
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether
they are of God, because many false prophets are going out
into the world, and the whole context is that these men are Antichrist
singular. Do you see it? They are that
spirit of Antichrist. Antichrists are primarily preachers. But here's the thing. I've mentioned
it, but they have the world's ear. Do you see what it says? They are of the world, therefore
speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. Do you see that? Do you have
your Bible with you? Do you read that itself? They
are of the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world
heareth them. Now listen to me, I hope you're
not offended by this, but this is just a fact. They, that is
these they, they who are anti-Christ, they who are against the truth
about God's Christ. They may be Baptist, they may
be Methodist. They may be Presbyterian. See,
I'm not even, got over here on Muslim and Buddha and all of
those other things too. I'm talking even about people
who use the name of Christ, but are still what? Antichrist. Antichrist does not deny Christ
altogether. Antichrist denies the truth of
the Lord Jesus Christ. So again, I say they may be Baptist,
Methodist, Presbyterian, Church of God, Church of Christ, they
may be Greek Orthodox, they may be Pentecostal, and I could go
on and on. I could spend the rest of my
time just naming these names, these denominations. The fact
of is this. The fact is this. Antichrist,
there's many of them, and they're gone out into the world. They
speak of the world, and the world listens to them. The world puts
them up on a pedestal. The world will not hear God's
men speak, but the world will hear Antichrist when they speak. Now think about this. They are
religious. They use religious language.
They may even, they use the Bible. Now I would add they misuse the
Bible, but nonetheless, they use the Bible. They quote scripture. They quote scripture. They pray.
They preach. They sing hymns. They gather
together. They may be water baptized. They may go out and witness to
other folks. But they are antichrist. Do you
see it? But they are antichrist. Let's
read it one more time. Think about it. Listen to the
word. If you have your Bible, read
along with me. I'll try to read it exactly. If you don't, but
listen to the word. Believe not every spirit, but
try the spirit. Put them to the test, that's
what he's saying. But try, put to the test the spirits, whether
they are of God. Why, why? Because many false
prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the spirit
of God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every
spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is not of God, and this is that of Antichrist, or as it says
in the KJV, the spirit of Antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it
should come, and even now already is it in the world. Hear of God,
little children, and overcome them, because greater is he that
is in you than he that is in the world. They are of the world,
therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We
are of God, he that knoweth God heareth us. He that is not of
God heareth not us, hereby know we the spirit of truth, you see
it, the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. Now, the
crux, let me just start to sum this up. We have just a few minutes
left. The crux of John's warning, the
crux of it is that there are antichrists in the world, and
they're not speaking the truth about Jesus Christ. They're speaking
of the world, the things of the world, the things the world wants
to hear, the things the world already believes in, the things
that the world hopes for and looks for. They're buttering
up men, an old phrase we use. They are men pleasers. There's
a word for that, but I'm not going to use it. What do they
do? They play up to people. They play up the, they have men's
persons in admiration because of advantage. They don't come
and preach the truth to men and women about who you really are
by nature and who we really are in the fall of Adam. They don't
come and preach the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ and him
being the Messiah of God and coming to actually accomplish
and do the will of God. They preach men up. They sit
around and brag to so-called professors of religion, professors
of the Bible, men and women who say they believe in the Bible
and they build them up and make them to be something that's great.
Listen to me. John says, hereby know ye the
Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. Do you see
that? Is of God. And he goes, and every
spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh,
it is not of God, it is antichrist. Now I've summed that up, it is
antichrist. Do you see that? I will sum it
up this way. Antichrist refuses to confess. That means to acknowledge. Now
I know you're thinking about this. What does it mean in every
spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is
of God? It didn't say if they just say it. A lot of people
say it, but they don't confess the truth of it. They don't confess
it. So I'm gonna sum it up this way.
Antichrist refuses to confess, to acknowledge with deep conviction. They will acknowledge this deep
conviction no matter what comes down the pike toward them, no
matter how the people that hear them respond, whether they respond
favorably or whether they respond with despising and mocking and
cruel rejection. Antichrist refuses to confess
the truth that Jesus of Nazareth is God's Christ, who is none
other than God Almighty, God Almighty. Do you hear that? that
Jesus of Nazareth, that man that lives on this earth some odd
2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, he is the Christ. He is the Son of the living God. He is none other than God manifest
in the flesh. Now in my closing time, I want
us to hear from two people. The first one, of course, is
John, the one who wrote the letter where our text is found. And
I want you to hear John in this letter itself and hear what he
says. Listen to chapter two and just a few verses. Chapter two,
verse 18. And we'll read just a few verses. First John 2.18,
little children, it is the last time. And as ye have heard that
Antichrist shall come, so he's saying the same thing. Look,
even now are there many Antichrists. Now he puts it that way here,
you see it? Now are there many Antichrists, whereby ye know
that it is the last time. So why does he in chapter four
say that it is Antichrist? Because there's one singular
spirit that motivates these people. and it's the spirit of error.
That's what he says. That's why he calls him in chapter
four singular Antichrist. Now there are many individuals
that is Antichrist, but there's one spirit that motivates them
all. That's the spirit of error when it comes to the person and
work of Jesus Christ. Look at it. Even now are there
many Antichrists whereby we know it is the last time. They went
out from us, but they were not of us. Many of them started right
amidst the truth. Do you see that? 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 know all things. And I've written unto you because
ye know the truth. but not because you know not
the truth. I'm sorry, let me read that again.
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 denieth that Jesus is? Here it is. The Christ, do
you see it? The Christ. He is anti-Christ
that denieth both 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. Do you see what John says? Look
at chapter three and verse five. And we know that he, that is
the Lord Jesus Christ, that's what it says about him. And we
know that he was manifested to take away, take away our sins. Do you preach a Christ that did
it or not? These people you're listening to, do they preach
a Christ that did it or not? I'm not talking about made it
possible, did it or not? We know that he was manifested
to take away our sins. And in him is no sin, do you
see that? Chapter four and verse nine,
look at what it says. In this was manifested the love
of God toward us, because that God's sin is only begotten son
into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love,
not that we love God, but that he loved us, and sent his son
to be the perpetuation for our sins. Do you see that? Verse
19, we love him, because he first loved us. That's the truth. Because
he first loved us. Turning closing to Isaiah, I
have just a few minutes left. Listen to what Isaiah, the brother
of every believer in this world, listen to what our brother Isaiah
said about the Christ of God. If a man doesn't teach this,
remember, he's antichrist. Isaiah 53 verse seven. He was
oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.
He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before
her shears is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from
prison and from judgment, and who shall declare his generation?
For he was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression
of my people was he stricken. This is the Christ of God. And
he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death,
because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his
mouth. yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him, to crush him.
He hath put him to grief, when thou shalt make his soul, not
just his body, not just the outward things he went through, but his
soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. He shall see the travail of his
soul, that is the father shall see the travail of the son's
soul, and shall be satisfied by his knowledge, shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the
strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death, and
was numbered with the transgressors, and he bear the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors. You know what
this book would tell us? Anything less than that, anything
less than what John wrote, anything less than what Isaiah wrote right
here, hundreds and hundreds, two or three thousand years ago,
anything less than that is Antichrist. Amen.