The sermon by Scott Brown, based on 1 John 2:18-23, addresses the presence of many Antichrists and emphasizes the importance of discerning their influence to maintain fellowship with God. John warns believers of the dangers posed by the spirit of the Antichrist, both within and outside the church, which seeks to separate individuals from the true vine of Jesus Christ. The speaker highlights the necessity of understanding true Christology to identify false teachings and the critical role of the Holy Spirit's anointing in providing discernment. The sermon asserts that only through repentance and faith in Jesus can societal and personal issues be resolved, as political or judicial actions are insufficient. Ultimately, the fellowship with God through Jesus Christ is portrayed as the sole and greatest need of humankind.

Our sermon text this morning is from 1st John chapter 2. I'm going to be reading from verse 18 down to 23. Little children, it is the last hour and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, Even now many Antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.

But they went out that they might be made manifest that none of them were of us but you have an anointing from the Holy One and you know all things I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is anti-Christ who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either. He who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

Heavenly Father, we are so thankful this morning that you've been made known to us through your son, Jesus Christ. Lord, when we look out at the world today and we see men are running to and fro, trying to find relief in all sorts of distractions and diversions, but Lord you have revealed to us the mystery hidden from the beginning of time, Lord, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. And Lord, we are so thankful to name the name of Christ, Lord. And our hope is that if there are any here today that do not know you that have not been made right with you Lord that that you would cause their hearts to break that you would give them hearts of flesh Lord and Lord we pray as mr. Brown comes to deliver these words that you would fill him with your spirit Lord that you would anoint him father as a as a congregation Give us ears to hear help us Lord to be hungry And to be thirsty this morning to hear from you may you guide us Lord use these words this sermon today To bless us to bless many here.

We ask all these things in the name of your son Jesus Christ. Amen You know when you when you love someone you want to live in such a way and speak to them in such a way so that you might separate them from everything that would destroy their happiness, everything that would hurt them or deprive them of any kind of good. And that's exactly the way that John the Apostle is speaking to his little children here. In this passage he makes it very clear that his greatest passion for his children is to identify and expose anything that would hurt their fellowship with God because John believes that fellowship with God is the greatest thing in the world and anything that would would harm that fellowship anything that would separate a human being from being connected to the vine from abiding in something that's constantly life-giving Anything anything that would hamper the work of the Holy Spirit to to lead to comfort to correct Any Anything that would get in the way of the blessings of God flowing through the vine to the branches Is something that John wants to expose and that's exactly what he's doing here.

And now he's speaking of the Antichrist he's instructing his children of the supremacy of fellowship with Jesus Christ and and God the Father himself and he does it by identifying the spirit of the Antichrist and the dangers that lurk in the world that would separate people's souls from fellowship with God so that they are not abiding in that vine. Of course, as we've seen so far, this entire letter is dedicated to the value of communion with God and with his Son, Jesus Christ, and to identify what it means not to have communion so that you might know who you are, so that you might recognize the the bankruptcy of your soul, that you would see what you have lost and what might be gained by turning to Jesus Christ This is John's entire argument, and he's he's talking to people that are actually in his church most likely in the Church of Ephesus at which he was a pastor And he's looking out at his congregation and he is disturbed that any of them might be disconnected from Jesus Christ, might be religious people, might do all the right things, might be able to say all the right things and have all the christianese down pat but they don't know him because They walk in darkness they They they don't obey his commands.

They say they love God, but they hate their brother. And John is passionate to help his church recognize whether they are really connected with God or whether they are just sort of hanging around the things of God. Because there's nothing more harmful to the human soul than to be deprived of fellowship with God and John is proclaiming that the supremacy of the comfort and the help of God in in fellowship with them And so he's speaking of threats to these fellowships, this fellowship that the people could have or could be separated from. Now, he's speaking of the antichrist and the antichrists, these two things. And antichrists, things that are against Christ, seek to separate you from the blessings of the true vine.

Separate you from the fellowship that you can have with God. And so this is the whole matter here before us. These instructions of the Antichrist, these influences of the Antichrist in our world and in our hearts that would seek to separate us from true fellowship with Jesus Christ. Now, how does this apply to our own situation here? There's so many ways it applies.

It would fail us to try to itemize them. But even the recent tensions in our country with police, with racial matters, and people killing one another, and just the terribly disappointing things that have been happening in our nation are all tied to the spirit of the Antichrist. Whether it's ISIS and bombings and machine gun killings and beheadings, divorces, fatherlessness, you name it, you know, drug use, you know, seeking, seeking pleasure from something that doesn't give pleasure, the hopelessness, the despair that's in this world, you can tie it directly to the spirit of the Antichrist. Anything that separates you from Jesus Christ creates these kinds of things that we see today. And we can't be deluded to think that these things are healed at all by any political or judicial action, by any proclamation, by any discussion.

They are only healed by fellowship with Jesus Christ, repentance from sin, and faith in God through Jesus Christ. That's the only hope of our world. And this passage remarkably dials into the very critical matters that are before us in our nation at this moment. And so as we evaluate these different problems, even the racial problems in our nation, we have to realize that they are symptoms of one single thing, a rejection of Jesus Christ. And the solution is found in the gospel.

The solution is found in Romans 3, 18. There's no fear of God before their eyes. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law is knowledge of sin. The only way to turn from evil deeds and the only way to turn a nation is to turn to the gospel of Jesus Christ and to embrace what Paul says in Galatians 2, 16, knowing this that man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. That's the only way.

That's the only way to heal anything in this land. Now, verse 18 marks a change in the focus of John's argument. I think you probably recognize that. John has been speaking of dangers within, And now he shifts to the dangers that are from without, from the antichrist, from the the spirit of the antichrist that is at work in the world. And his focus now comes to be upon those people who would seduce you from pure devotion to Jesus Christ, to distract you from Christ, to replace Christ with other things.

And this is the great danger that that is upon us in the world and and he He he not only offers a warning in the in this passage of scripture But he he also offers comfort in case we might be left with a sense of helplessness as a result of those who misrepresent Jesus Christ. He tells us that we have an anointing. He tells us that there's a particular way he's going to protect the church from the antichrist and the spirit of the antichrist. And so he not only points to the root of the problem, he also speaks of how he is going to deal with that problem by his sovereign hand. So let's get into the text now, beginning in verse 18.

There's a warning of Antichrist's. Little children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour." Now he begins with these words little children as he has a number of times before and in this epistle, but it's a term of endearment and he's speaking to his family. He's speaking because he loves them. Because he loves them, he's telling them what is their greatest danger of being separated from the simplicity of Jesus Christ. And he wants to appeal to them for the beauty and the simplicity of fellowship with God and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

And he's wanting to warn them of being separated from Christ, to believe in something that is not of Jesus Christ. How many things are there in this world that are not of Jesus Christ, that influence the way we think, the way we feel, the way we act. There are so many things and John is there like a tender father to rescue his little son or daughter from the things that would be so harmful to them because there's something that they need more than anything else and that is fellowship with the Father and with the Son. There is this very personal communion. It's a real and it's a spiritual communion and it's a fellowship where God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit pour forth their strength and their love and their wisdom into the life of the believer.

And John is speaking to them as a kind father who looks upon a vulnerable child and desires to appeal to them to the beauty of Jesus Christ in contrast to the messages of the antichrist. Notice there's a time marker in here in the last hour now he's speaking of an age beginning with the resurrection and That ends in the second coming of Jesus Christ. And so in verse 18 He says children This is the last hour and he's he's warning them that they might not be surprised about what's happening to them, and he's warning every church thereafter in history, from the beginning of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to the time when Jesus Christ comes again, that there will be antichrists, and there is an antichrist, a particular person, who is coming. And so he's speaking of what the Old Testament spoke of as this age and the age to come. We are now in the age to come.

We are now in the last days. We are now in the final hour. That's what John is communicating. We are living in the times that he's speaking of and John is warning the church about the things that will be happening you know in this last hour. And perhaps that they, so that they wouldn't panic, that they wouldn't fall into despair, they wouldn't be confused, they wouldn't give up on the church of Jesus Christ because they would know that God has warned them of these things already as John has, and that they would understand that even the wrath of man will praise God, that nothing can stay God's hand, that God raises up kings and kingdoms and he throws them down.

He actually raises them up in order to throw them down, in order to expose their bankruptcy and their weakness and how contrary they are to the whole working of God. And so he speaks of the antichrist and antichrists. And of course, you know, it's been it's been perhaps only 60 years since the Lord Jesus Christ Has has been with them and and he says many antichrists have arisen in those 60 years And you should expect that many many many other antichrists will arise from the time of this writing until now and By the way, this is the first mention of the word antichrist in the New Testament And John is the only biblical writer who uses the word antichrist There are There are many biblical writers in both the New and the Old Testament that speak of the concept of the antichrist and various antichrists. But what he's speaking of is something that has been from the beginning. The antichrist and the spirit of the antichrist appeared in the fall in Genesis chapter 3.

It appeared at the tower of Babel in Genesis chapter 11. It appeared at the flood in Genesis chapter 6. The Antichrist appeared in Satan's affliction of Job. And so this concept of the Antichrist appears in all over the Bible in Daniel 7 verse 7, in Daniel 9 verses 26 and 27, in Matthew 24, 15, in Mark 13 verse 6, in 2 Thessalonians 2 verses 3 and 8, in Revelation 11, Revelation 13, and Revelation 17, this term is used and it's a term for anyone who rejects Jesus Christ anyone who rejects the things of Jesus Christ in general and there are many of them and That one that one antichrist that one single person who wages war against the Saints. Now when it comes to the antichrist, there have been many proposals of who it is throughout history, and if you go back and read church history you'll know that there were times when people thought that Nero was the antichrist.

There were times when people thought that Muhammad was the antichrist. Some thought that Napoleon was the antichrist, Mussolini and Hitler, And some have said that President Obama is the Antichrist. Well, it's typically unprofitable to try to name the Antichrist in your generation. God will absolutely make it plain to everyone when he does such a thing. Second Thessalonians Chapter 2 perhaps is one of the clearest New Testament passages in addition to those in the book of Revelation of the Antichrist.

And the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he sits as God in the temple of God showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was with you I told you these things?" This is the Apostle Paul speaking, really revealing the same thing that John is revealing. These antichrists come in the form of religions and philosophies and individuals who have perverted doctrines on their lips, the Gnostics, the Hellenists, the Judaizers in the day of the Apostle John. You know, you have even in the Roman Catholic Church today the Alter Christos, the priests in the Roman Church. They are the alternative Christs.

They are the additional Christs. They are another Christ that present themselves as Christ himself, actually representing him in a way that's totally inappropriate. And Jesus spoke of the antichrists in Matthew chapter 24 as well. Now there are a number of things that we should do to apply this. First of all, we should understand Christology.

We need to understand the doctrine of Jesus Christ. If you know what the Bible says about Jesus Christ, then you'll always be able to identify the antichrists and the Christ and the antichrist himself. Knowing the truth or the error in this matter here hinges on Christology. And so it behooves us all to understand what the Bible says about Jesus Christ. Don't let your children leave home without it.

There's nothing more harmful to a human being than to be deprived of the things of Jesus Christ. There's nothing more destructive to the human soul than not to have fellowship with God through Jesus Christ. And I might add, fellowship with Jesus Christ is our only need and our greatest need in the world. His fellowship is really our only need. And then secondly, John moves in the next verse in verse 19 to speak of how God protects His church from the spirit of the Antichrist.

And We read, they went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. So with this we learn a number of things about the Church of Jesus Christ. We learn something about the visible church and the invisible church because in the midst of the visible church there's an infiltration.

There's an infiltration of antichrists, people who would not bring you the things of Jesus Christ, and they actually come from within. And this is the most difficult and frustrating part of the work of the Antichrist Is because they they don't they don't often just come directly from paganism They come they come out from among you out from the language that you use out from the very doctrines to twist them and to morph them in such a way so that you end up with something that Is not of Christ That's the problem with the spirit of the Antichrist they they came out of us because they were not of us. They were not really born of the true church of Jesus Christ. They were not of the true church of Jesus Christ. That's the point.

And they appeared to be of the church, but they were not of the church. And This is the most dangerous part of the whole matter. You know in 2nd Timothy 2 19 the Apostle Paul says that the Lord knows those who are his and at any given church at any given time it's highly possible the spirit of Antichrist is at work in someone in that church. There's an imposter in the church. It's always been that way, and it always will be that way, and we shouldn't be surprised and we shouldn't be depressed when it happens.

We've been warned 2, 000 years ago and even before that in Daniel and in other places in Ezekiel and a number of the prophets they speak of this very matter. The truth is that as Jesus said in John 10 28, no one can pluck them out of my hands. The true church will not be plucked out of God's hands, but God will pluck out of the true church the Antichrist, and they will depart, they will leave. This is part of the love of God. They can't stand it anymore, and they go somewhere else.

They may take some people with them, but they go somewhere else. And these are not believers who fall away. These are unbelievers who rise up with Christianese on their lips and they lure those away from them. And they exist in the church for a time, but they do not have fellowship with the Father. They walk in darkness.

They're not obedient. They find themselves fulfilling all of the warnings that John has already made about what it means to be regenerate or not. This is why it's so critical that in every church a correct doctrine of regeneration is always preached so that the sheep always know who they are and the goats always know who they are. And John has been preaching this doctrine of regeneration. If you say you love God and you hate your brother, you're a liar.

There are so many tests that John gives. There are over a dozen tests that are given in this epistle here. But The antichrists are a sign. They are actually a good sign. They are a marker to give us hope, not to make us cower, to help us to realize that they will go out from among us.

They will be ejected or they will eject themselves. And that's what John is saying. And so when you see the cults, you know, operating outside of the church, realize it's an encouraging sign. They're not inside the church any longer. They come to your doorstep, but you know exactly who they are.

They left the church and now they are out of the church and they operate outside of the church of Jesus Christ and that should be an encouragement. And so I think John is bringing this instruction for that reason And God does this in order to preserve his own. And so, this also marks another statement about the unity in the church. What kind of unity must be preserved in the church of Jesus Christ? Unity is not the highest value in a church.

The truth of God is the highest value in a church. There's only one thing that unifies us, the truth of Jesus Christ. And no other truth really can be embraced in the church of Jesus Christ. And so when there is a contradiction to the truth, there must be a division. They went out from among us because they were not of us.

There are kinds of divisions that are good, And it's a division that actually protects the church from further pollution of people who bring things that are not of Jesus Christ. And John, in this passage, uses some of the most remarkable language that we'll get to later to speak of it. And the question about divisions is what is the reason for this division? Often unity becomes a god among evangelicals. And what Paul said to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 11, 19, he said, there must be factions among you that those who are approved may be recognized among you.

Now the same word revealed is used in 1 John. The very same word that Paul uses there about factions among you being recognized is this revealing of the spirit of the antichrist which finds its way into the church of Jesus Christ. We have, as Paul said, there is one body, one spirit, There is one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father who is above all and through all and in you all." And that's where the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 4 is talking about the unity of the body of Christ. He says, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And what is that bond of peace?

It's the truth of Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. You know, I don't remember which writer it was that I read about this. He said that God is not concerned primarily about the size of his church. He is primarily concerned about the purity of his church and that he reminded, I believe it was Lloyd-Jones now, he reminded the reader that the church originally met in homes and in catacombs, and that we should not be concerned about our size as we are about our understanding of the truth and our ability to turn away from lies. And because there's nothing more harmful to a human being than to be deprived of fellowship with God.

It is your only need. Fellowship with God is the only thing you need in this world. And God has promised that he will provide everything else that you need. And then thirdly, he teaches his church how to detect the Antichrist through an anointing of the Holy Spirit in verses 20 and 21. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.

I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth." So after encouraging them really that the the antichrists will be ejected from the church, they will no longer be a part of you as long as you hold to the truth of Jesus Christ, he gives even further encouragement by telling them about this anointing of the Spirit that has been given also to to illuminate and Therefore to protect them and this is the provision of discernment That the Lord gives through his spirit This word anointing is a really very common word to our ears. It's the word charisma, the Greek word charisma. And the word brings to mind images of oil and anointing. The oil and its anointing is figurative of the Holy Spirit. He's not saying that Christians don't need teachers.

We already know from many other places that the church needs teachers. He's not speaking of it in that same way. The New Testament commands that there is instruction in the church of Jesus Christ. It's conducted by elders and by various other types of men who have gifts of the Spirit, apostles and prophets and things like that. But The point here is that believers cannot rely on some esoteric, mystical understanding.

They need wisdom from God revealed to them that is consistent with the Scriptures. Anything that is revealed to you by the Holy Spirit will be consistent with the written Word of God. And so, how often people go astray when they listen to their inner mystic rather than the revealed truth of God. And they find themselves lured away by their own hearts rather than by the truth of God. So he's not speaking about instruction that is commanded to be conducted in the church.

He's talking about a subjective, mystical, you know, sort of secret knowledge that you, that someone might claim to have. Now notice there are three insights that I want to bring out here. First of all, the blessing of the gift, it is an anointing. It comes from without. It's not you.

It's help from heaven toward you. And so it's an anointing. It's an anointing that you have received of him. It comes from this fellowship with the Father and with the Son. You know, in the same way that this was demonstrated figuratively in the Old Testament as oil was poured out on Aaron, and Samuel anointed Saul, and Saul anointed David.

You know, it was a consecration for service. Something is poured out upon you in order to assist you, to consecrate you, to prepare you, to give you what you need to do the work that you have to do. It's something that comes from God. This is why in Acts chapter 10 verse 38 we find this very same thing Happening to the Lord Jesus Christ God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power And it's the same kind of anointing that John spoke about in John chapter 1 when he said, of his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. This is the anointing of the Holy Spirit that has been designed by God to protect his church from the spirit of the Antichrist.

He doesn't just give it to you on paper, he gives it to you in your heart as well, and the two correspond. The two agree. You know, the Apostle Paul said to the Corinthian church in 1st Corinthians 2 verse 12, he said, We have not received the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we may know the things which are freely given us by God. So the blessing of it, it's an anointing. It comes upon you.

It's something that you didn't have, but are given. And then secondly, it's the source of the gift. It comes from the Holy One. It comes from Jesus Christ himself. That's why the apostle Paul could say in Philippians chapter 4 verse 13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

It comes from Christ. In John 14, Jesus said, You know him, for he dwells in you and shall be in you. This is the source of the gift. It is Jesus Christ himself. Jesus Christ promised his disciples in John 14 that he would give them another helper, another of the same kind.

The Holy Spirit is like Jesus Christ himself. He is another helper of the same kind that Jesus Christ is the helper. The disciples were so disturbed because Jesus announced that he was going to leave them. They were distraught and he said, no, don't be distraught. I'm going to give you another helper like me and you'll do greater things than I did.

So it's this marvelous blessing of the Holy Spirit. And then notice the result of the gift number three, you know all things He gives you knowledge. He brings up things that are true and This is why Jesus said to his disciples in John 10 My sheep hear my voice He says they will not hear the voice of the hireling. They will hear my voice. It's why we read in 1st Peter 2 that what God has done by pouring out his Spirit, he's made it so that we would not live the rest of our times in the lusts of our flesh or the lusts of men, but by the will of God.

And that's exactly what he's speaking about as the result of the gift. You know all things. You're able to dissect and to understand what's going on around you. It's a special kind of knowledge that is consistent with the Word of God. Now, this really brings up a controversy that has raged in the church from the time of John until now.

And it was revealed probably most vividly in the conflict with the Quaker movement in the early years of our nation's history. The Quakers desired to trust in an inner light that was sufficient. They trusted in impressions, and they rely on their impressions. Even if those impressions are contrary to the word of God, mystical impressions trump what is explicitly revealed in Scripture. And you find many manifestations of this today.

Even in the last week, you know, I was speaking with someone who was going to do something incredibly foolish And even though there was such lack of wisdom in that foolishness, this person said that the Holy Spirit told her to do it. And because the Holy Spirit told her to do it, then it must be right. This is nothing but this kind of mysticism that's disconnected from the wisdom of God. And you know, this is why you should not trust your heart. And we're all tempted to do such a thing.

But what John is saying here is that God teaches his church to detect the spirit of the antichrist through the anointing of the Holy Spirit. All the more reason why we should heed the warning of the apostle, Do not quench the Holy Spirit. Don't do anything that would dampen the work of the Holy Spirit in your heart. What is it that makes you more sensitive to the Holy Spirit? The Word of God and prayer.

Those are the two things that will be a hedge against the quenching of the Holy Spirit. Filling your mind with God and thoughts of Him and setting yourself before Him as a humble disciple, crying out to God saying, Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Well, there's nothing more beneficial to the human soul than to be in fellowship with God through Jesus Christ. And then he speaks in verse 22 of how specifically to identify the antichrists and the antichrist. And it has to do with what he does and what he says.

This is how you identify things that are contrary to Christ. Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is Antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Now, we first should observe that he declares the true nature of this enemy, Antichrist. He is a liar.

Who is a liar? Well, this is that great serpent of old, that liar from the beginning, the accuser of the brethren. He's the slanderer. And John uses this very strong language, liar. And, you know, we live in the midst of this age of tolerance where people feel that taking a position against something is not loving and that tolerance is love.

John doesn't think that way at all. Tolerance will not stand against what should be resisted. And here John is calling the Antichrist what he really is, a liar. So he uses very strong language, and it really should destroy all thoughts that we have in the church about unity at all costs. Let's just get together and celebrate what we agree on and forget about what we disagree on Even though it has to do with matters of Christology even though it has to do with with matters of soteri ology the doctrine of salvation Even if it has to do with the art doctrine of scripture are very very particular critical things You cannot have unity with those who set aside Jesus Christ and Him crucified and His supremacy in all things.

Now John has already used this language about lying. Remember in chapter one and in chapter two, you know, if you say you have fellowship with God and walk in darkness, you lie. That's one, six. If you say that you love God and disobey commands, you are a liar." That's chapter 2 verse 4. And then, if you say you love God and hate your brother, you are a liar.

That's chapter 4 verse 20. And now the Lord Jesus, or the Apostle says that the one who denies Christ is a liar. He's a liar of the first degree. And so he says something very similar to what Paul said to the Galatians, let him be accursed. You have another gospel, another Christ, let him be accursed.

He says, who has bewitched you? He uses incredibly strong language against those who would set Jesus Christ and him crucified aside and to reinterpret it. So the liar denies that Jesus is the Christ. And what does it mean, Jesus is the Christ? In the New Testament there are many titles for Christ, the Son of God, the Son of Man, Lord, and now we have Christ, the Christ.

And this is a Greek word, Christos, which means anointed one. And when we say Jesus Christ, sometimes I think somebody might think that Christ is Jesus's last name well Christ is not Jesus's last name The English word Christ is from the translation of the Hebrew term, term, Mashiach, which means Messiah. And when the New Testament speaks of Christ, it's a declaration that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. It's not His last name, it's what He is. He is the Christ.

Jesus, Messiah. Jesus the Messiah. It's not like Simon Bar-Jonah, It's Jesus is the Messiah. That's the meaning of it there, that He is the anointed Messiah. And so this is always the most important question.

Who do you think Jesus Christ is? This is the most important question of all evangelism. Where are you parked on Jesus Christ? And Jesus had this kind of interchange with His disciples where he said, who do you say that I am? That's the most important question you can ask in this world.

Who do you say that I am? If you're with an unbeliever, that's the most important question you can ask them. And, you know, the disciples answered, you know, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, others say Jeremiah, others say the prophets, and Jesus said, but who do you say that I am because you know it's interesting you always get in that kind of interchange when you ask that question of a non-Christian. Well, it could be this. Maybe it's that.

Maybe it's something over here. I have this opinion. What do you think about that? But then Jesus says, who do you say that I am? And Peter answered, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And why did Peter say that?

Jesus explained why Peter said that. "'For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.'" So the Antichrist is known by the rejection of Jesus Christ as the Messiah. This is the great divide in the world. It's not racial, it's not social, it's not political. There is one single divide and the divide is upon your view of Jesus Christ.

The world only divides into two categories. There are no races. There are no politics that really matter compared to this one thing, and that is, who do you say that Jesus Christ is? The Antichrist denies the doctrine of the incarnation, denying that Jesus Christ was born of a woman. The liar denies the two natures of Christ that he is both the Son of God and the Son of man you find You find the liar speaking in a number of the world religions on this one matter of the two natures of Jesus Christ The Antichrist denies that he's the Redeemer.

They deny the work of Jesus Christ. They deny the sufficient substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ. They say there's something else that can make you righteous. Pray through a saint. Do something.

Make some sacrifice. It denies the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ. And by the way, believing in Jesus Christ is not mental assent. It's not the same thing of verbal acknowledgement that Jesus is the Christ. It's something that you really believe in your heart and you live by it and you find yourself passing the tests that are in 1 John.

But at the bottom of it, the Antichrist denies the exclusivity and the sufficiency and the supremacy and the authority of Jesus Christ to rule in your life. That's why Jesus said, who do you say that I am? Taking it completely out of the bounds of an intellectual process, completely out of bounds of just a theological discussion. Who do you say that I am? Is he your Lord?

Do you want his authority in your life? Have you repented of your sins? Have you turned to his blood and his blood alone to cover you of all of your sins? And so John is very concerned that we understand the seriousness of Jesus Christ and His authority. Now, how do you apply this?

In so many ways, there are so many things happening in our world that are the spirit of the Antichrist, because the spirit of the Antichrist denies that Jesus is the Christ. Look what does that? What institutions do that? What politicians do that? You know, the entire federally funded educational system in our nation educates young people in the spirit of the antichrist, because they are antichrists by federal mandate.

The spirit of the anti-Christ is everywhere. You know, what of the music industry is anti-Christ? What of the film industry is anti-Christ? What are you watching on the internet that is Antichrist? You know, who do you say that I am?

That's the big question. You could talk about Roman Catholicism and Islam and Mormonism and Jehovah's Witness and all manner of things, but there are so many ways that the spirit of Antichrist is at work. You know, in this book, Early Piety, that we recently published, There's a sermon about what the devil does to discourage young people from turning to Christ. He puts so many fears in their hearts, fears like you'll be deprived of pleasure, like you won't be able to finish the course. Like, you'll have trouble.

Like, you'll be reproached. You won't be prosperous. You'll be unfashionable. You'll die young and you'll miss all the fun. You won't be able to keep up for very long.

You have plenty of time. Don't decide now. Don't turn now. There are so many ways to God. Those are the ways that the devil attacks young people.

And by the way, most people. The spirit of Antichrist is everywhere. The spirit of Antichrist turns you away from the things of Christ. And there's nothing more harmful than to be deprived of fellowship with Jesus Christ. And there's nothing sweeter or helpful to every single corner of your life than to have fellowship with Him.

Because as a human being made in the image of God, you only have one superior need, and it's fellowship with Him. And with that fellowship, you can navigate everything else in this world. You can handle it. You can know how to think about it. You can know what to do as long as you have fellowship with Him.

It doesn't matter what happens to you, whether you're rich or poor, whether you're on your deathbed or whether you're flying high with all the energy of youth, it doesn't matter. You'll always have enough because you really only have one need, fellowship with God through Jesus Christ. And then the fifth thing that John is pointing out in verse 22 at the end is the power of acknowledging the Son. Now this is really the heart of the matter. This is the heart of the text here, these last few words where John speaks of this marvelous blessing.

And by the way, from this text on forms a whole new section that just itemizes the blessings and the glory of abiding in Jesus Christ, of having that abiding fellowship. That's what we're going to be talking about as time goes on here in the next several passages of Scripture in John. The word abiding shows up all over the place. So you can see the power of acknowledging the Son. Notice that this contrast compared to the previous words, He who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

So he's talking about a life where you have the Son and you also have the Father. These two great persons that exist for all eternity. What does it mean to acknowledge? It's an interesting word that John uses. It's a word that means say the same thing.

Homo lageo, homo, same lageo word, same word. Say the same thing Whoever says the same thing whoever expresses Openly that they are of the same heart and mind as Jesus Christ. Whoever confesses Him, it's also translated confessing. If we confess our sins, same word. If we say the same thing as God does.

Here he's talking about If we represent the same thing that Jesus Christ represents, if we align ourselves with Him, if we turn to Him away from the world, if we repent of our sins and turn toward Him, repentance is going toward Him. It's this whole matter of proclaiming openly allegiance to Him. If anyone acknowledges, in other words, if anyone has allegiance to the Son, he also has the Father. He also has the Father. So he ends with this very powerful declaration of what it means to have fellowship with the Father and with the Son.

Remember, John has already said, our fellowship is with the Father and with the Son. And it's also with the Holy Spirit, as we'll learn later. But this is the whole reason John is writing. He writes as a father because he loves his children, and he wants to protect them from anything that would dampen their joy. He said, he already said, I write these things that your joy may be made full.

That's why he's writing these things. So let me give you some applications. I'm going to give you six of them. Number one, Be mature. Recognize the times we live in.

Christ is coming and many antichrists will come. Cling to Christ alone. Number two. Point out the errors of the false teachers to your children who would separate them from Christ. This week, at the end of the week, some of our men are going to go to Washington, D.C., and they're going to speak to people who think that it's legitimate to join in unity with the Roman Catholic Church and they're going and and they're going to point out the error of this false teaching.

They're going to do that. Pray for them. We need to pray for them. We need to pray every hour for them while they're gone. They are going to point out the errors of trusting in anything but Jesus Christ.

Thirdly, praise God for His Spirit, the Spirit of truth. You know, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2, 16, we have the mind of Christ, And we have the mind of Christ through the Spirit and the written Word. Number four, remember that the greatest tragedy that ever takes place in the world is the rejection of some thing of Christ. Even rejecting one little thing of Jesus Christ is such a disaster to the human soul. Number five, see the world through the right lenses.

You know, I've been thinking, you know, how are we supposed to relate with all these rising racial tensions that are going on in our country. And how do we understand it? We have to see the world through the right eyes. And this is what happens when people reject something of Jesus Christ. This is just a result of the rejection of Jesus Christ, every single part of it.

And resolving it is not going to happen through debates, it's not going to happen through initiatives, it's not going to happen through laws, it's going to happen through conversion, it's going to happen through the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the only way racial tensions will ever be dealt with in any person's life, and it happens one person at a time The politicians I think it's very clear cannot do it. They only make it worse. There is only one force in the world that can resolve it, and it is the converting power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. You know, I called up my friend who's a black pastor in Chesapeake, Virginia, Carlton McLeod, yesterday, And I said, what are we supposed to think about this?

And he said this, the gospel is the only cure. Dialogue is not the cure. Politics is not the cure. The cross of Jesus Christ is the cure. He said, I am going to church on Sunday to preach the cross of Jesus Christ.

That's their only hope and every other voice will only be fuddle and confess.