The promise of eternal life, 1 John 2:25-29

John is writing to the Christians in the churches because false doctrine had crept into the church and was deceiving many.  He says that in vs 26, “These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.”  The false doctrine was especially perpetrated on the church by what was eventually called Gnosticism, which means knowledge.  They professed that there was a special knowledge, a secret knowledge of spiritual things, which they wanted to teach the church.  But it was false knowledge, and so John calls them false prophets.  In fact he calls them antichrists back in vs 18.

He says, vs 18 “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.” Now John is concerned that the church be able to distinguish between the word of truth, and the lie of the antichrists and false prophets. He is concerned because the deception at it’s worst will keep people from being saved, and at it’s best will keep the saved from spiritual maturity.  And so he has been showing us various tests by which we may discern the truth from the lie, and those that are saved from those that are not saved, but are in reality agents of Satan to deceive the church.

We no longer have gnosticism today, but we have the same old lies packaged under a different wrapping paper, which is being foisted upon the church in our age.  Satan’s tactics are still the same as they ever were. Jesus said he is a liar and the father of lies. He just repackages the same old lies.

Another way that John has shown the difference between the true gospel and the false gospel is his frequent use of contrasts.  He contrasts light and darkness.  The truth and the lie.  Righteousness and sin.

Now as we enter this next section, John gives us another contrast.  He gives us a contrast between the promise of Christ and the false promise of the antichrists and false prophets.  And I urge you as you consider this to let go of the “Left Behind” theology which portrays the anticrhist and false prophet in some dramatic, one world government scenario, in which he sits on the throne of the world and causes all these terrible tribulations to happen.  I’m not here to argue for or against that theology with you this morning.  I happen to think it should be interpreted more symbolically than literally.  But according to the context in which John is talking about them, saying they are already in his day at work in the world, I would encourage you to think of the antichrists and false prophets as the emissaries of Satan’s strategy since the first century until now, which is to deceive and distort the truth, and to lead people into a false religion which intends to overthrow God’s plan of redemption of the world.

So John intends to show us a contrast between the truth and the deception so that we can be discerning and know the truth.  He begins this contrast by saying in vs25  “This is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life.”  So the first point in this section is what John calls the promise.  The promise.

To determine if someone is lying you first have to know what they said.  John says that Jesus made a promise to us.  That’s what the gospel is, isn’t it?  A promise from God.  A promise of life.  John says it’s a promise of eternal life.  Eternal life is not just a quantity of life, it’s a quality of life. That’s important to understand. Eternal life is not just a long, long, long time.  It’s spiritual life, it’s abundant life, it’s life in the presence of God, in fellowship with God.  It’s life as God intended it to be at creation.

Now I believe that John is speaking of Jesus Christ making that promise of eternal life.  But as you know, Jesus Christ and the Father and the Spirit are One.  But it’s interesting to see when that promise was made. It wasn’t made for the first time during Christ’s ministry.  It wasn’t even made at creation.  It was made sometime in eternity past.  Paul says in Titus 1:1 “Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.”  So Paul says God promised eternal life before the world began.

God’s plan from eternity past was to create a human race which would be the bride of Christ, which would be body, soul and spirit, and which would be like them, in that they would live forever with Him and love Him and serve Him.  So it says in Genesis 2:7 that God breathed into the nostrils of man the breath of life and man became a living soul.  But as man sinned, and sin entered into the world, that life with God died, the spirit of man died, and man ceased to live in fellowship with God but was doomed to eternal separation from God which is spiritual death.

But the plan of God which was established before creation did not come to an end at that point.  Because the plan of God had planned for that as well.  And the plan was to send Jesus Christ to earth to become man, to become man’s substitute, so that they might be given life, even eternal life, and be restored to fellowship with God.

So Jesus, when He began His ministry, came to fulfill that promise and give eternal life to those that believed in Him. He gave us the promise of life.  And all that He taught, and all that He did, was the basis of that promise.  It was to help us understand that promise, to be able to comprehend that promise, so that we might believe it and be saved from death.

Jesus came for one purpose, to give life to those who had the condemnation of death.  He didn’t come to create a social utopia on earth.  He didn’t come to heal the sick and eradicate disease.  He didn’t come to build a financial empire or to give us great scientific advancements.  He came to give eternal life to those who are dying.  To the people He created, whom He created for His pleasure, to have fellowship with Him, to be His eternal bride, but who had by their choice of sin had rejected Him and received in themselves the penalty of death.  Because He still loved them, He came to give them life, that they that believe in Him might be with Him forever. 

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

But in order to do that, Jesus had to fulfill the justice of God.  He had to take the place of sinners, and die in their place.  He became our substitute, so that He might be our Savior.  And so He died on the cross, suffering the punishment which we deserved, so that we might be given life.

This is the promise of eternal life.  The gospel is the promise that Jesus made. It is the truth that will set you free.  Jesus said in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father except by Me.”  He said in John 10:10, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have [it] abundantly.”  Jesus isn’t talking about the kind of “abundant life” you hear the false prophets claiming on so called Christian television.  He is talking about spiritual life, which is life with God, which is fellowship with God, which is everlasting life.

But notice in that verse I just quoted from John 10:10, Jesus includes in His promise to give eternal life a warning. He gives a contrast between the promise of life and the lie which results in death. His warning is that there is a thief who comes to steal and kill and destroy.  That’s the deceiver, who John says whose spirit is already at work in the world.  And John follows the same pattern of Jesus and contrasts  the promise of life with the deception that leads to death.  So the contrast to the promise is the deception. Notice vs 26, “These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.”

Last week in the previous section we talked a lot about the deception.  John speaks of the antichrists already being at work in the world. Later on in the epistle he will speak of false prophets and deceiving spirits.  Of our need to test the spirits.  And as I said last week, the way we test the spirits is by the word of God.  There is no other reliable test.  We can’t test the spirits by whether or not they can work miracles.  Jesus said in Matt. 24:24  "For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.”  So you can’t test them by their miracle powers. Remember Pharaohs wise men did many of the same miracles that Moses did.  The only reliable test is the word of God.

The antichrist is quite simply defined as those who are in opposition to Christ.  They may not appear to be in opposition to Christ, in fact, they may even claim to know Christ, but their opposition is revealed by the fact that they lie.  They distort the truth, they twist the truth and in some cases they outright deny the truth.  Their purpose is to steal, to kill and destroy.  John says beware of the deception.

But the good news is that we have an antidote for the deception.  And that is what John calls the anointing. Vs 27 “As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.”

Now we addressed this anointing last time, but let’s make sure we understand what he is talking about.  He is not talking about some sort of second blessing. He is not talking about some sort of secondary spiritual experience which completes what was lacking in our conversion.  He is simply speaking of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which all believers receive upon salvation.

All believers in the Lord Jesus Christ possess the fullness of the Holy Spirit as our birthright.  In fact, whether or not we possess the Spirit is the determining factor of our salvation.  If we have not the Spirit, we are not Christ’s.  Listen to what Paul says in Romans 8:9 “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”  So if we are saved, then we have the anointing. 

We have the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit. His purpose is to bring the word of God to life in us.  His purpose is to teach us.  His purpose is to abide with us.  It’s not something we need to seek.  It’s the Spirit of Christ, whom Christ calls the Spirit of Truth.  He is the reason we that are saved can distinguish the truth from the lie.

Back in vs 20 John said, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know (all things).” The Holy Spirit is not given to us sporadically so that we can have some spiritual experience that supposedly confirms our faith.  But He confirms the teaching of the word of God in us so that we might know the truth, that we might distinguish the truth from the lie, and so that we might abide in Him. 

But don’t be mistaken, the way the Holy Spirit teaches us is through the word of God.  He is the author of the word of God.  Peter said “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”  Paul says all scripture is given by inspiration of God.  Inspiration means God breathed.  Spirit is pneuma, which is air, breath. The Spirit of God breathed life into the words that holy men of God wrote down for us, that we might know the truth, that we might worship God in Spirit and in truth.  So we can verify teaching through the word of God.  We can verify the spirits by the word of God.  John says in chapter 4, test the spirits to see if they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into he world.  How do you test the spirits, the false prophets?  By the word of God which is true, which is immutable, which is unchanging, which is eternal, through the anointing of the Holy Spirit who leads us in the truth.

Now that ministry of the Holy Spirit is what John calls abiding.  Abiding is the antidote to prevent the deception.  The abiding has two aspects.  First of all, notice that the anointing abides in you. Vs 27, “As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you.”  The Holy Spirit is not just passing through.  He’s not temporary.  He is permanently indwelling us that believe. He is the deposit on the promise that God made which is eternal life. 

There are a couple of verses that speak of this.  The first is 2Cor. 1:22  which says, “who also sealed us and gave [us] the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.( pledge means a deposit or down payment). The other is in 2Co 5:5 which says, “Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge.” (or down payment)

So in both verses we see the principle that the Holy Spirit is given to us as a down payment on our eternal life with God.  When you buy a house, you usually have to make a down payment, and that serves as a pledge that you are going to  purchase the house.  You are in effect making a promise, which is guaranteed by a down payment.  That’s what the anointing is that abides in us.  It’s a down payment on the fullness of eternal life which we will receive at Christ’s second coming.

Eternal life is guaranteed by the abiding of the Holy Spirit in us.  And God doesn’t break His promises.  And so the Spirit is given permanently and He will complete in us what He has begun.  But notice John speaks of us abiding as well. Not only does the Spirit abide in us, but we abide in Him.  ““As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.”

So the second part of this verse speaks of our abiding in Him.  Now what does that mean? To abide in Him means that we are in fellowship with Him, we obey Him, we walk in the light as He is in the light, we walk in the truth.  That’s what John means when he says “as His anointing teaches you about all things, just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.” So we abide in the Holy Spirit by doing what He teaches us. As He leads us through the word of God, we obey His teaching, and in that way we abide in Him. 

It’s like the Old Testament proverb in Amos 3:3 which says how can two walk together unless they be in agreement?”  John said it another way back in chapter 1 vs 6, “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”  So we have fellowship with God when we walk with God, when we don’t walk in sin. That’s abiding.  That’s how we abide in Him, we walk with Him.  We obey His word.

So we have the promise, the deception, the anointing, the abiding, and now the coming. Vs28 “Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.”  Now that’s self explanatory, isn’t it?  If we obey Him, if we walk with Him, if we abide with Him, then we won’t be ashamed when He comes again. 

When I was growing up, I think one of the things I dreaded the most hearing my Mom say was “just you wait until your dad comes home.” That usually came as  the result of a day of fighting with my brother and sisters. Whatever it was, I had been disobeying.  And when Dad came home my Mom was going to tell him what I had been doing.  And there would be consequences.  So on those days, I didn’t run to the door and throw my arms around my dad when he walked in the door.  I hid in my room.  I was afraid to come out.

John says Jesus is coming back.  He is coming back to claim His bride, the church, to live with Him forever.  He is also coming back to judge the world and to make all things new. John says the key to not being ashamed when He comes again is to abide with Him now.  To do what He commands us to do through His Spirit and His word. That’s what it means to walk with the Lord, to be a disciple.  It’s to follow, to fellowship, to obey, to abide in the truth.  And if we abide in Him, then we will not be ashamed at His coming.

So that brings us to the last point, the last assurance that we are not deceived, that we abide with Him.  And that  last point is the righteousness.  Vs.29 “If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.”  So how are we assured that we are the children of God?  How do we distinguish the children of God?  By the fact that they practice righteousness. 

We know that Jesus Christ is righteous.  That should not be open for debate this morning.  But if you have been born again then you are being remade into His image.  In our salvation, we receive His righteousness in exchange for our sins, we receive His Spirit who is given to lead us into righteousness through the word of God and by His anointing. The Holy Spirit also gives us the power over sin, that we might have the power to do that which God commands us to do. 

And so consequently because of this grace which we have received, we practice righteousness.  Practice indicates that you haven’t perfected it yet.  It means that you are a work in progress.  But you have a deposit on what one day will be completed.  That day when Christ returns our sinful nature will be done away with completely, we will receive a new body which will be joined to our renewed spirit, and we will be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  Our righteousness will be perfected.  And that righteousness will make it possible for us to have the fullness of life that God promised before the world began.  A life that is abundant, and full, and everlasting.  A life that abides with God forever. 

If you are here today and you recognize in hearing this message that you have not received the promise of eternal life, that you have not received the anointing and abiding of the Holy Spirit, then I urge you to confess your sins, and believe in Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, confessing Him as Lord and Savior, that you might receive the righteousness which comes through faith in Him.  That is the only way to receive the eternal, abundant life that God has promised.  

As Peter preached on the day of Pentecost;  "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself."

The Spirit of Antichrist vs the Spirit of Truth, 1 John 2:18-24

Last week, we looked at the previous passage of John’s message, which was not to love the world, nor the things of the world.  And we learned that the world was not speaking of creation, nor of the people of the world, but he was speaking of the world system.  We learned that this world system is orchestrated by Satan, to deceive the people of the world, to mislead them, to hold them captive by it’s deceptive philosophies, until it eventually leads to their destruction. 

We said that the world system is in opposition to the heavenly system.  The divine plan of God is diverted to serve the system of this world. It’s a demonic plan designed to mislead and deceive, and ultimately to overturn the plan of God.  And it does so by enticement of the things of this world, things which the world values, that look attractive, that look fulfilling, that promise to bring happiness, but the end results in not a more abundant life, but in fact is death.

So John warns us not to be deceived, and not to fall for the seductive siren of the world system, because he adds in vs 17, that the world is passing away, and also it’s lusts, but the one who does the will of God lives forever. 

Now to give a sense of immediacy to that warning that the world is passing away, John says, “children, it is the last hour.”  The fact that John refers to us as “children” hearkens back to vs 13 in which John had given three characterizations of spiritual maturity. In that analogy of spiritual maturity, John had addressed children, young men, and fathers, each designation representative of a Christian’s spiritual maturity.  This particular word for children is “paidion” which was used to describe a young child of teachable age.  Not an infant, but still a young child that was able to be instructed.  

As parents, in fact, generally speaking as a society, we have a protective attitude towards young children that is appropriate.  We know that children of a young age are particularly vulnerable.  We teach our children not to talk to strangers, not because we want them to be anti-social, but because they are particularly naive at that age, and that naivete makes them especially vulnerable to predators.  And it’s a sad reality that the world is full of predators that prey upon the weak. 

So it’s apropos that John calls Christians “children” in this general way, because we are particularly vulnerable, especially in the beginning stages of our spiritual maturity.  There is nothing wrong per se with being spiritually naive at the first stages of our spiritual growth. A certain degree of that is normal and to be expected. But it makes us especially vulnerable to predators in the spiritual realm.  To people that want to take advantage.  To people that pretend to be friends, but in fact they are foes.

The Bible tells us therefore to be wise as serpents but harmless as doves.  It warns us to be on the alert because the devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.  We are in the world, and the world hates us, even as it hated Jesus Christ. And furthermore, we are told that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light, so that he might deceive the world and take us captive. Satan doesn’t come dressed in all black, with hooded face, and fangs and a pitchfork that we might recognize him.  Satan comes like a messenger of God, robed in a false piety and false knowledge that beguiles the unwary.

So when John speaks to us as “children” it is not just a term of endearment, but it’s a term that implies a warning not to be naive, not to fall victim to the predators that prey on the church.  And that warning is particularly pertinent because John says it is the last hour.  When he says it’s the last hour, he is speaking not of a literal 60 minutes, but of the last age, or the last day, or last season.  When you study the New Testament, you will see that practically all the writers spoke of the time in which they were living was the last age, or the last day, or the last hour.  It simply refers to this age between the first appearing of Christ at His incarnation, and the last appearing of Christ which is the consummation of this age.

I believe John references this shortness of the time which is left in Rev. 12:12 which says "For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has [only] a short time.”  So the fact that it is the last age is yet another aspect of the warning that John is giving to the church. It’s the last hour, and Satan is doubling down, knowing quite well the theology which says that his time is short. The consummation of this age is quickly approaching, and Satan’s time is limited, so we should expect his fury to be fearsome in these last days.

His wrath is focused on us, by the way. We that are Christians are the focus of Satan’s hatred. That’s why the world hates those who are Christ’s.  And because the world hates us, we should be on our guard against the schemes of the devil.

Now the great scheme of the devil ultimately is to deceive and devour, and if possible to deceive even the elect.  Jesus said in Mark 13:22, “for false Christs and false prophets will arise, and will show signs and wonders, in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect.”  That doesn’t mean that it isn’t possible to lead the elect astray. It means that by all means possible Satan’s plan is to lead the elect astray.  Not to perdition, but to confound God’s will for their lives, to make them impotent as Christians.  To ruin their testimony perhaps.  To cause them to fall into sin and ruin their lives and become stumbling blocks to others. To retard their spiritual growth. I”m told that in battle strategy, it costs the enemy more to take care of the wounded than the dead.  So if Satan can’t kill us, then his goal is to wound us, and thus take his toil upon the church.

So John warns of the same thing that Christ warns of in Mark 13.  That false Christs and false prophets will arise, and will show signs and wonders, in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect.  Like the child who is approached by the friendly man at the bus stop and lured away with offers of candy, or  with a special message from Mommy, we should shudder at the deceptive approach of false Christs.  John calls them anti Christs.  He says, “Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.”  

Jesus warned us that in the last days false Christs and false prophets would abound.  John says that they have already appeared.  And because they have already appeared, we know that it is the last days, the last age.  Now when we read John’s warning we notice that he calls these false Christ’s antichrists.  And immediately in many of your minds the word antichrist conjures up a picture of this figure that according to a popular understanding of end time theology is supposed to come during the tribulation and for three and a half years appear to bring the world peace, and then after 3 1/2 years be revealed for who he is, the enemy of God and he will persecute the world and bring about all sorts of tribulations.

And many preachers and theologians have imagined that various world leaders down through ages were the antichrist, only to have time prove them otherwise. Over time, we have seen people like Hitler, or Mussolini or dozens of other world leaders be suggested that they are the antichrist. 

Now I do not have the time this morning to delve into all the views of eschatology and try to present what I believe the Bible teaches.  But suffice it to say that I think this idea of a specific individual who is the antichrist is not what the Bible teaches, but is the kind of stuff that sells books and movies.  In short, I think what the antichrist represents is the world system that is orchestrated by Satan himself, that uses false religion and world governments for it’s purposes, and it’s purpose is opposed to the purpose and will of God.

This title of antichrist is only found in 1and 2 John.  Jesus calls them false Christs and false prophets.  John calls them antichrists in his epistle in four places.  We just looked at the first one.  The second mention is found in vs 22 “Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.”  

So rather than one individual, it’s anyone that denies Christ, that denies the teaching of Christ, that denies the divinity of Christ. John says there are many antichrists.  Jesus speaks of multiple false Christs. And notice John gives another clue about the nature of the antichrist - he says he is a liar. Jesus said to the Pharisees, the false religious teachers of His day, in John 8:44 "You are of [your] father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”  Now that tells us a lot about how to identify false Christ’s or antichrists. They lie, twist the truth, distort the truth in order to deceive the naive.

The third reference to antichrist is in 1John 4:3 “and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the [spirit] of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.”  So here John speaks of a spirit of antichrist that is already in the world.  It’s a spirit that embodies many people at many times. 

That’s why John says in just a couple of verses prior to that, in ch4 vs 1 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” We can assume from that the antichrists and the false prophets are virtually the same, empowered by the same spirit, which is the spirit of the devil.  The devil by the way is a spirit.  John says not all spirits are from God. But there are deceiving spirits which seek to lead astray the world, and even the elect. 

That’s one of the great menaces of this fascination today with the spiritual world.  We hear some people say I don’t go to church, but I am spiritual. Or of even more concern, we see and hear of stuff happening in the church that are attributed to the Holy Spirit, but what they are doing causes us to question what spirit they are of.  I can assure you that a lot of the strange things you hear of in some churches that are attributed to the Spirit, are in fact not the Holy Spirit at all, but are evil spirits masquerading as spirits of light.  When I hear of being drunk in the spirit, or holy laughter, or angel dust falling from the rafters, or barking like dogs, or being slain in the spirit, I immediately think of these evil spirits masquerading as spirits of light.  I can assure you that such things are not of God. John says test the spirits to see whether they are from God because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  And how do you test the spirits?  By the word of God.  Not by experience, or supposedly by hearing voices from heaven, but by the word of God.

The fourth reference to antichrist is found in 2John 1:7 which says, “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ [as] coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.”  Notice the primary characteristic is that they are a deceiver.  John says it twice, this is the deceiver. And they do not acknowledge Christ as coming in the flesh.  The deny His deity and His incarnation.

Now that’s who the antichrists are. They are liars, deceivers, who deny the incarnation, who deny the deity of Jesus Christ. Back in our text, John gives us another clue to recognize them in vs 19. “They went out from us, but they were not [really] of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but [they went out,] so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.”

The first thing we should notice is that they come from within the church. He says they went out from us.  When the apostle Paul spoke farewell to the church of Ephesus he said in Acts 20:29-30  "I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock;  and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.”  That’s the nature of the false prophets and antichrists.  They come out of the church ranks.  They appear to be sons of light.  They desire to be teachers, to be revered by the church for their piety, by their power.  And by their ability to works signs and wonders will lead many astray.

Now many theologians and commentators want to camp out on these verses and use it as a pretext to talk about the perseverance of the saints. And while I believe in the perseverance of the saints,  I don’t think this is really addressing that doctrine.  Rather, I think this verse makes it clear these people never really were saved.  John says, “but they were not really of us, for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us, but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.”  

In other words, they never were saved.  And the fact that they did not abide in the truth but departed from the truth is proof that they never were saved.  And that’s what John is referencing here.  They departed from the truth, not just from a particular church.  Some have tried to use this to indict anyone that leaves a particular church organization.  He isn’t talking about a particular local church, but the church universal, which is bound together by the truth.  And that is made clear in the following verses.  Contrary to popular opinion, there is not an injunction in scripture to join a particular church.  But there is an injunction to abide in the truth, to be unified in the truth.

So John says these people abandoned the truth for another gospel.  Paul spoke of the same thing in Gal. 1:6-8 “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is [really] not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.  But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!”   So false prophets and false Christs preach a false gospel, which some false Christians show by their adherence to, the evidence of their false faith.  And the danger is that they attempt to persuade others to follow them in that false gospel.  Paul says that they do that by distorting the gospel of Christ.  They distort the truth.

But to the faithful Christians John is writing to, that have not abandoned the truth, he says in vs 20 “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.”  Now the translators seem to have a problem with this verse.  Many of them add an implied context to the Greek text to help us understand the intent.  The NIV says for instance, “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.”  When you study the context it’s clear that John is speaking of the truth of the gospel, and not just saying that you know all things, or that you are all knowing or something like that.  And that’s made even more clear by the next verse.  

But don’t miss out on the main point that he is making.  He says you know the truth, because you have an anointing.  Anointing is another of those words that gets used in the wrong way in a lot of times in the church. The Greek word translated anointing is “chrisma”.  The KJV makes it even more confusing and translates it an unction. 

But “chrisma” is a word related to the word Christ. Christ means the anointed one, Christos, Jesus the anointed one. So this is an anointing, a christening in one sense.  But when you consider all that the Lord said in the upper room, and other parts of the New Testament, it's clear that the the anointing is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, that which the Lord Jesus had promised. He said, "I will pray the Father he will give you another Comforter, the Spirit of truth and he will abide with you forever." That's the unction that comes from the Holy One, the anointing, the indwelling of the Spirit of truth.

And it’s so important that we see that in Jesus speaking of this anointing which was to come in the presence of the Holy Spirit, that Jesus called Him the Spirit of Truth. This is how we as Christians come to know the truth, through the indwelling we have through the Holy Spirit at your new birth.  He leads us and guides us in all truth.  That is the purpose of the Holy Spirit.  

If we skip ahead to next week’s passage we can see in vs 27 it says the purpose of the Holy Spirit, to guide us into the truth.  To open our hearts and minds to receive the truth.  vs 27 says,  “As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.”  HIs anointing teaches you the truth of God’s word.  That’s why when you become saved, when you receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we suddenly have the word of God opened up to us.  It becomes so clear.  Without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we cannot know the truth. 

So because we have this anointing of the Holy Spirit, John says in vs 21, “I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.”  John loves to show contrasts in order to teach a principle.  And that’s what he is doing here and in vs 22.  He is showing a contrast between the truth and the lie.  The truth is from God, the lie is from the antichrist, or from Satan, the father of lies.  

The contrast in vs 22, “Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.”  The Spirit of truth versus the spirit of the world, the antichrist.  And the antichrist denies the Father and the Son. The world doesn’t necessarily deny God, or despise the teaching that there is a God. All the false religions of the world believe in a god.  Some teach that you are god. But they all teach about god, and they love to teach that god is not exclusive, but inclusive.  That all roads lead to God.  Allah is god, Buddha is a god.  The Great Spirit is a god.  Whatever god they teach, they tend to embrace an ambivalent, inclusive God. 

But Christianity teaches an exclusive God. That God was manifested in the flesh in the man Jesus Christ, and no one can come to the Father except through Him.  Peter preaching in the power of the Holy Spirit after Pentecost said concerning Jesus Christ in Acts 4:12  "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” That’s pretty exclusive, isn’t it? That’s the truth that will make you free.  And that’s what the antichrists want to distort and to change.

But the principle of our gospel is simply stated in vs 23 “Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.”  To confess Jesus as the Son of God, as God incarnate, as having come in the flesh and died on the cross as a substitute for our sins.  To confess Jesus as Lord, as Master, as Sovereign. Romans 10:9-10 says “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus [as] Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;  for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”  That’s the gospel in a nutshell, its the truth which sets us free from the condemnation of sin and the captivity of Satan.  And believing in Him, confessing Jesus as Lord, results in righteousness which is imputed to our account, and that righteousness results in eternal life.

 John closes out this principle by saying in vs 24 “As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.”  What is that which is to abide in you which you heard from the beginning?  It’s simply the truth of the gospel, the word of God, which you heard at the beginning of your salvation, at the beginning of your new birth.  

Don’t be deceived into thinking that there is another level of truth, a greater body of knowledge that you can somehow achieve or learn about through some mystical, spiritual experience which will really establish your faith and validate your Christianity.  The goal of John in this passage is to lead us to maturity, and what he is indicating here is that maturity comes through abiding in the purity of the word of truth.  

Peter speaks of it this way in 1Peter 2:2  “like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.”  That’s the goal, spiritual maturity.  And it can only come through two ways, through the anointing of the Holy Spirit working through the purity of the word of truth.

If you abide in the truth, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father.  Jesus prayed in the upper room before His death concerning the disciples, which is found in John 17. I will read His prayer as our closing prayer today.  

John 17:14-21 Father, "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil [one.] They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word;  that they may all be one; even as You, Father, [are] in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”  In the name of Jesus Christ the Son of God, we pray and believe, Amen.

The wrong kind of love, 1 John 2:15-17

Last week as we looked at the preceding verses, we talked about spiritual maturity. 

After our new birth, when we are born again spiritually, John described  three stages of spiritual growth which he titled as little children, young men and fathers.  And what we determined last week was that the goal of spiritual maturity is to become like Jesus Christ.  That is what spiritual maturity accomplishes in our lives.  We grow spiritually to become conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.  That process of becoming like Christ is what the Bible calls sanctification.  Sanctification is becoming more like Christ.  Sanctification is a process which begins at new birth and matures as we grow spiritually to be like Christ.

Now in this passage we are looking at today, John gives the antithesis for spiritual maturity.  The antithesis for spiritual maturity is to become like the world.  Instead of becoming like Christ, we become conformed to the world. The apostle Paul warned against that in Romans 12:2 saying, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”  So the hindrance to spiritual maturity is being conformed to the world.  Instead of loving Christ and loving what He loved, we love the world and we love what the world loves.  So there are two opposing ways to walk, two opposing ways to live.  You cannot walk north and south at the same time, can you? Neither can you walk after the Spirit and walk after the flesh.

Paul refers to that contrast of flesh and spirit. He says the flesh and the Spirit are opposed to one another.  In Gal 5:17 he says,  “For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another.”

Now that’s what John has been teaching since the beginning of his epistle.  That light and darkness cannot have fellowship together.  He says in chapter 1: vs5-6  “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and [yet] walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”

So John is concerned that we walk in the Spirit.  His concern is that we walk in the light, not in darkness. His concern is that we keep the commandments of God, and not do the works of darkness.  He says you cannot say you have fellowship with God and walk in the darkness.  John wants to help bring us to spiritual maturity in Christ, to become like Christ.  And so to do that, he has said that we must not walk in darkness.  He has said that we must not practice sin but practice the truth.  And now he speaks of this contrast in another dimension, and says that we must not love the world.

He says in vs 15, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world.”  It’s necessary for us to define what he means by the world. The Greek word is kosmos.  And there are numerous ways in which this word world are used in the Bible.  It can refer to the physical earth, it can refer to people, it can refer to a system.  

Now when John says here to “do not love the world,” he’s not talking about the world of individuals, because we know that God Himself loves the world of individuals, and we are told to love one another.  Everyone should be familiar with John 3:16 which says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”  So if God loves the world, then John must not be saying we should not love the individuals of the world.

And he must not be speaking of the physical world which is the earth and the plants and the creatures God has created. For we know that the heavens declare the glory of God, and as Romans 1:20 says, the creation teaches us about the invisible attributes of God. “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”

But what the world refers to in this context is the world system that is in opposition to the heavenly system.  It is the natural, sinful nature of mankind acting in opposition to the spiritual, godly nature.  It is a world system that has been orchestrated by Satan to bring about the rebellion of man against God. In Col 1:13 it is described as two opposing kingdoms.  It says, “For [God] rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.”  The apostle Paul spoke of it this way in Ephesians 2:1-2  “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,  in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.”

This idea which Paul refers to as the course of this world, can be likened to a river that runs in it’s course, the rushing water having eaten out a course in which the water is carried along in a path.  In other places, it is called an age, this present age, or this present world.  Paul says it’s a satanically devised course that carries along the people in a current, rushing them towards an inevitable end which is destruction.

So the world system, this age, this course that is moving, sweeping along all who are held within it, which is going in the opposite direction than what it means to walk with God.  It’s a system that has blinded the eyes of those who are in it.  It’s a system that captivates and enslaves those that are in it. And it’s a system that leads to their destruction.  John calls it simply the world.  And he warns us - do not love the world.

Well, why would a person love the world to begin with?  The answer is because everyone is doing it. Have you ever been rafting down a river?  My family was talking the other day about going on a short trip this summer, and we talked about going to Harper’s Ferry.  The big thing to do there is you rent a inner tube and they take you way up the Shenandoah River and drop you off and you float down the river with the current.  I went over the bridge there once on a sunny, summer day and there looked like hundreds of people floating downstream enjoying the river.

The funny thing is when you are floating down the river with all these people you don’t have the sense that you are going all that fast.  You’re all floating along together.  It’s fun.  It doesn’t seem dangerous. But once you are in the current, it’s going to take you where it wants to take you, and as you are caught up in it, it has control of you. 

Now that may be fine for an afternoon on the Shenandoah, but it’s another thing to be floating on the Niagara River and not know that the falls are up ahead. That’s what it’s like to be caught up in the world and being swept along to an eventual end which the Bible calls death.  So John says do not love the world. Don’t let yourself be enamored by what the world system is selling. It’s alienation from God. It’s life which is in opposition to God. It’s living by the world’s standards, by what the world says is fun, by what the world says is fulfilling, by what the world says is acceptable. But it’s in opposition to God.  In fact, the world is orchestrated by Satan himself to take us captive and destroy us.  John says later in chapter 5 vs 19 of this epistle, “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in [the power of] the evil one.”

So John adds, “Do not love the world, nor the things of this world.” The things of this world is just an expansion on the world.  John’s not talking about the things that God created, but it’s the things that this world system values.  Such things could be money, luxury items, homes, a certain life-style.  These things of the world could even be people.  It could be woman or a man that you desire, that you think if I could just have this person, then I would be happy, my life would be perfect. I think the things of this world could be thought of as shiny, seductive lures which the devil uses to draw you into his world system. They are the attractive things of this world that you desire, that promise fulfillment, but in fact just get you hooked into the devil’s system, that gets you caught up in chasing things that never fulfill what they promise.

Jesus said if you love Me, you will keep My commandments.  So to love the world and the things of the world is to have a love for the things of the world that supersedes the love which we should have for God.  The things of this world are not necessarily bad in and of themselves.  There is nothing wrong with having a nice house, or a nice car, or having a wife or husband. But what is wrong is when you put those things above the love for God that should be preeminent.  

Jesus said in Matt. 10:37 "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” And then again in Matt. 19:29 "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name's sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.”

The point being that anything that supersedes our love for God is sinful.  It’s not the thing that is necessarily sinful, it’s the love of those things which is sinful. 1 Timothy 6:10 says, “For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil.”   It’s not money that is sinful, it’s the love of money that is sinful. So it’s not the world that is sinful, it’s loving the world that is sinful.

When I was growing up as a pastor’s kid in the church, there was a lot of talk about worldliness. Anything that looked cool was considered worldly.  Anything that seemed like fun was worldly.  And there was a pretty long list of things that were considered worldly.  Some of those things seem so antiquated now.  Dancing was worldly.  Movies were worldly. I wanted to join the Boy Scouts when I was a young kid, but my dad said it was worldly.  Knowing what we know about the Boy Scouts that have come out lately, maybe it wasn’t a bad idea to keep me out of it. But the warnings against worldliness for the most part missed the mark.  They focused too much on the external and not enough on the internal. It’s not the things of the world that’s the problem as much as it is our affection for the world.  So the important distinction to this warning is what do you love? What has first place in your heart?

John then goes on to say, "If any one loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." The first thing he says is that loving the world and loving the Father are incompatible. These two loves cannot go together. They are contradictory, very much like our Lord speaks in Matthew 6:24 when he says, "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." 

We are to be in the world, but not of the world.  In John 17:14 Jesus prayed in the upper room for the disciples saying, "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil [one.] They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.”  So we are in the world, but not of the world.  If we love the world, then we cannot love God.  Our love for God is to be preeminent.  If we love God we obey God’s commandments.  If we love the world, then God’s love is not in us. That simply means that the our love is the evidence of our faith.  If we love the world and obey it’s desires, then we are not God’s children.  The evidence of our salvation is proven by what we love.

So John goes on to give further justification of the incompatibility of these two loves.  He says in vs 16 “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”

It’s almost as if he sums up all the things of the world as being in one of these three categories;   the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life.  One writer called them a trinity of evil.  They are in opposition to the Holy Trinity.  Or as John writes, they are not of the Father, but of the world.

So what does he mean when he says lusts of the flesh? When we hear the word lust we tend to think of sexual sins.  And while it certainly includes that, lusts are really just desires that are in opposition to godly desires. They are sensual desires, desires of the senses.  You can lust after food, lust after sex, lust after power, lust after fame or fortune.  Desires of the flesh then are those that would appear to satisfy the physical body.  Sexual desires outside of marriage are lusts of the flesh, but so are the desires for food which are gluttony. It might also be a desire for drink, for drugs, for anything that serves the body, the senses.  These are desires that are in excess, that are outside of the way that God ordained for our senses to operate. It’s a love for such things that exceeds or perverts God’s created intention.

The next category John gives is “the lust of the eyes." I think what this refers to is coveting.  It’s desiring what you see, what is not yours, but which you want. It’s like being married and as you and your wife are walking through the mall, your head is swiveling around to look at another woman. You may not act upon it, but you nevertheless desire it, and that desire is sin.  Coveting is the sin of the heart.  It’s a desire for that which is not yours, being unsatisfied with what God has given you, and desiring more than you should.

Now that covers a lot of territory. It covers pornography, or coveting your neighbors things, or desiring anything that does not belong to you.  Lust is a perversion of love.  So it’s a perverse desire for what is not yours, but which you wish was.  The lust of the eyes is the sin of the heart before it becomes a sin of the flesh.  Before Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, she looked with her eyes and saw that the fruit of the tree was desirable. 

Genesis 3:6 “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make [one] wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.”  God had forbidden the fruit, but Eve looked with her eyes, it delighted her eyes, and she desired it so she took it and sinned against God.

The last category of this illicit love of the world that John warns against is the pride of life.  The pride of life can cover a wide gamut of things.  For instance, it can be arrogance, which is the lack of humility. It’s thinking you are better than others, more deserving.  It can be a lack of love for others.  It can be a spirit of competition, always trying to outdo someone. Keeping up with the Jones.  Whatever form it takes, it is not expressive of a love for God and a love for one another.  Instead it is a love of one’s self.  It’s self love, or selfishness.  That is contrary to the love of God which is a sacrificial love for others.

So this love of the things of the world is not from the Father, but from the satanic system of the world.  And the end of those things is death, but the end result of our love for God is life.  John states this principle in 1John 2:17 “The world is passing away, and [also] its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”

The world is passing away… the clock is ticking, time is passing, and the time of the end is approaching.  It’s possible that you might even say that the earth is dying, as everything in it eventually dies, as everything is corrupted by death. The environmentalists think that somehow we can stop the world from dying.  But this world is not going to last forever.  At the fall, sin entered the world and death by sin. And it’s headed towards it’s inevitable conclusion.  The culmination of this age will coincide with the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Peter said that the world and it’s works will be burned up. In 2 Peter 3:10 he says, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.” Everything that is in the world, everything that was so desirable, that caused men to lust after them, all those things are passing away.  They are all in the process of death.  Why would we want to be chasing those things which are destined to be destroyed? 

 

Jesus said in Matthew 16:26  "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”  What good does it do to spend your life chasing after the things of this world, trying to fulfill the lusts of this world? They are passing away.  And one day you also will pass away.  There is a popular bumper sticker which says, “He who dies with the most toys wins.”  That’s actually a pretty sick joke. There are no winners in the system of the world.  There are only losers.  And as Jesus said, in the pursuit of the world, you also lose your own soul.  Even if you manage to get more than your fair share in this world, you cannot take it with you in the next.  The world’s currency has no value in heaven.  Money cannot buy eternal life.

But John says the one who does the will of God lives forever.  What is the will of God? To love God and love the Son. To obey Him, to abide with Him, to walk with Him, to worship Him, to have faith in Him. And he who has faith in Jesus Christ and follows Him will live forever.  Jesus said in John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Do you believe this?  Do you believe that Jesus is God in the flesh, that He came to earth to live a perfect life, and to be your substitute, to pay the penalty for your sins by His death on the cross?  Do you believe that God raised Him from the dead and that He lives and stands at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us?  Do you believe in Him, if so, then He gives life to them that believe.  Life that continues after the grave.  Life that is not of this world, but spiritual.  And He freely gives it to all who confess their sins and believe in Him.  

You cannot love the world and love God.  Choose this day whom you will serve, whom you will love.  Are you loving the world and the things of the world, or will you love and serve the Lord?  Chose to love God, and receive everlasting life in Christ.