Lie Detector Test For Christians - [1 John 2:18-27]

Bethlehem Bible Church

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July 29, 2007

00:02: joy and my privilege to bring you God's word this evening as we
00:11: Before we get into the text. I want to just set the context for today's message
00:17: Because the passage that I have for this evening is from 1st. John chapter 2 it's from verses 18 through 27 in many ways it's been a very difficult passage for me to Wrestle with in fact,
00:32: I had to repent in my understanding of Holiness and Church life after going through this particular text
00:44: In fact, I think this is a very dangerous text it's like an arrow that is given to us from our
00:50: Lord and our Savior and I want to make sure you understand the context before we dive deep into this particular text this evening and The context that I want you to keep in mind is evangelism
01:05: Last week we had pastor Mike preach powerfully on the need for us to be evangelists and he gave us several points about how we need to go out and testify to what
01:18: Christ has done on our behalf and I hope some of you had the opportunity to witness
01:27: To those whom you have you may have met last week and I hope that when pastor
01:32: Mike was preaching you had images of people that you encounter that you want to go and share this good news with and Many a time when we think of evangelism
01:43: The group that normally comes to our mind is the world the world that has no idea who
01:48: Christ is who has no idea what it means to be a Christian who have no idea what the
01:53: Bible is talking about and To those people when you go and present the gospel The things that are foremost on their minds are you know,
02:02: I have a good family. I Have money. I have a good job Why do
02:07: I need to be bothered with what you are telling me? And on the other hand if they don't have any of those they are thinking
02:14: I don't have a family. I don't have money I don't have a job. That's what I need Why are you bothering me with?
02:19: With something that I don't think I need and Those are the people that we are normally thinking of and trying to present the preciousness of the gospel
02:26: All of us who have been saved know how much more important The message of the crosses compared to all these things that are going to pass away
02:37: But today the message that we are going to have is the gospel that needs to be applied to a different group of people we are going to see a group of people here who have heard the good news and who have
02:49: Rejected it. In fact, they are teaching things that are contrary to sound doctrine and Here in our church.
02:59: I think we've been privileged to hear sound teaching message after message after message and I think if I can think of any church that is better equipped to Present the gospel to a world that is confused a world that is lost in false doctrine
03:16: It is you who are here So I want you to keep this in mind and there is a lot of Towers that are tumbling you might have heard about the president of ETS Who did a flip and joined the
03:30: Roman Catholic Church, and there's several other heavyweights who are falling into sin espousing false teaching and Each of us here needs to be convinced in our minds what the truth is and how you need to think rightly about Witnessing to those who may think that they have the gospel and have strayed from the path
03:52: So with that, let's get right down into the subject and before we look at this passage I want us to look at Jude 3 and 4 is just a couple of chapters to your right books to your right and Jude 3 and 4 kind of set the whole tone for today's message
04:10: Jude 3 begins beloved Well, I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation
04:17: I felt the necessity to write to you Appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all handed down to the
04:27: Saints For certain persons have crept in unnoticed Those who were long before marked out for this condemnation
04:36: Ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only
04:42: Master and Lord Jesus Christ and That's the whole tone of what
04:48: John the Apostle is writing to this church that we see here in 1st John now
04:56: Jeff 1st John chapter 2 18 to 27 is actually the third test in a series of tests that John gives
05:02: This church that he's writing to You will find these three tests repeat over and over again in the book of 1st
05:07: John the first one is the test of obedience You'll find this in chapter 2 verses 3 to 6 and then you find the test of love
05:15: That's in verses 7 through 11. And now we have the test of truth These tests are key for anyone who calls himself a
05:24: Christian to make sure that he does have He is in the fold. He is a one who is covered by the blood of Jesus.
05:31: You need to be Obedient, what does that mean? When you look at the law of God when you look at the commandments of God They give you pleasure when your heart has been transformed
05:41: You take joy in the commandments and your lifestyle is modeled after what God has commanded
05:46: So when you see some mega church leader living a lifestyle of duplicity and sin You know that that does not conform to what the
05:54: Bible tells us here And the second test is a test of love it has your love for God will necessarily translate into a love for your brothers and your heart will be soft and tender towards those who are in the faith and The love that it's talking about here is not just a love that superficially doles out money when it sees poverty, but rather one that gets involved in the lives of these people it gets involved in the true needs of Gospel truth and salvation and then the third test that we have here is the test of truth
06:32: Now this truth test provides the strongest condemnation for the one who fails this test and by By contrast also gives the strongest affirmation who is in the faith
06:45: Because if you see if you fail this test of truth, you don't even have to go to the other tests
06:51: The person is lost and in need of salvation So my purpose this evening is that you will know the ultimate lie detector for Christians This will help you to clearly distinguish heresy from orthodoxy
07:07: And it will help you to be better equipped so that you can stay true yourself
07:12: And also to expose and refute falsehood when you encounter it
07:18: I'm going to read this passage as a whole before we dive into this and I want you to look at the contrast between them and us
07:26: John is writing to a church and He is talking to them about their faith and he calls them us because you are in the faith and he's talking about them some people who have left and these are
07:38: The bad guys the guys who have left and who have poor doctrine who have failed this test so beginning with verse 18 children, it is the last hour and Just as you heard that the
07:52: Antichrist is coming even now many Antichrists have appeared From this we know that it is the last hour
08:01: 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
08:09: But they went out so that it would be shown that they all were not of us
08:15: But you have an anointing from the Holy One and you all know I Have not written to you because you do not know the truth
08:22: But because you do know it and because no lie is of the truth Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the
08:32: Christ? This is the Antichrist The one who denies the father and the son
08:39: Whoever denies the son does not have the father the one who didn't who confesses the son has the father also as For you let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning
08:50: If what you heard from the beginning abides in you you also will abide in the son and in the father verse 25
08:59: This is the promise which he himself made to us eternal life Those things these things
09:06: I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you as for you The anointing which you have received from him abides in you and you have no need for anyone to teach you
09:17: But as his anointing teaches you about all things and it's true and it's not a lie
09:22: Just as it has taught you you abide in him It's a lengthy passage and I want to get right down into this and again as I said, we are going to go into the exegesis and the understanding of the situation and the problem that John is addressing and The context that I want you to keep in mind is the false teaching that is rampant in our world today
09:47: So what is the problem that John is addressing if you looked at any of the other two tests?
09:54: They are very general They are you know You need to be obedient if you are disobedient You are not in the faith if you need to have love if you don't have love and hatred is what rules your heart
10:03: You may not be a believer. But this test is very very precise he talks about certain groups of people and if you put together all the clues that are given in the book of first John and actually
10:14: The other letters of John you can try to get a picture of what's actually going on in this church that John is writing to You see this church in the
10:21: Ephesus area is probably planted by Paul or one of his associates from that area it's a it's a church plant and There are local leaders that are established in this churches that are leading and John as an apostle is in communication with this church
10:37: But this church we find has just gone through a split when you look at verse 19 you see that there has been some people who have
10:45: Separated and left and this split is over very fundamental matters. It's about very crucial theology
10:52: A matter of truth that you can have no compromise over and this split also led to further
10:59: Issues with regards to ethics the obedience part and the love part because if you do not have a solid base of truth you cannot have a life of holiness and We find that these men also
11:11: Did not like John and they were causing a lot of disturbance within the remaining church in terms of what?
11:17: They wanted to push through with this church, which is in a state of turmoil and confusion And that is the kind of church that John is writing to and he's giving them very pointed advice on how to deal with this situation
11:30: So if you're taking notes today, there are only two points. The first one for us is to beware of falsehood and it will help you to discern how falsehood needs to be recognized and also to be aware of the truth and God has given us everything we need to be
11:48: Equipped to meet the challenges of false doctrine So let's get into the first point which is to beware of falsehood the verses that we are going to find these from are in verses 18 through 19 and Also verses 22 to 23
12:03: The first group that we are going to consider this false teachers these antichrists as John calls them they have a couple of problems the first problem we read was they had separated from the church and Secondly, they had some fundamental flaws in their understanding of truth.
12:19: So let's look at this aspect of separation verse 18 John says children
12:26: It is the last hour and just as you heard that the Antichrist is coming even now many antichrists have appeared
12:33: From this we know that it is the last hour. We will look at a couple of terminology that is used here
12:39: But in verse 19 John says they went out from us, but they were not really office
12:44: 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 office
12:55: Again the two terms that I want to clarify before we get into this aspect of separation is the term
13:01: Antichrist and last hour When you listen to the term Antichrist what comes to your mind?
13:10: The first thing that came to my mind was I was thinking this should be in Revelation not in first John, right? You're thinking of the tribulation period, you know, the man of iniquity
13:19: He's here now to do something but if you go through the scriptures, you'll find that the term Antichrist is used only in the
13:26: Epistle of John it is not found in Revelation and actually this term Antichrist It talks about someone who is opposed to Christ and this opposition to Christ can be one of two ways
13:38: It could be either one who is Working against Christ so, you know set up a throne against Christ and do try to destroy the works of Christ Or it could be someone more deceptive
13:50: It could be someone who is trying to stand in the place of Christ and and say, you know here I am instead of Christ and in John 1
13:58: John 4 3, you see John explaining this further He talks about the spirit of the Antichrist in all these people that are false teachers standing up against Christ So that's the term
14:09: Antichrist that is used here And the second term used here is last hour and I'm always amazed at how the
14:16: Spirit of God brings things together brother Fred here just talked about Anticipating the end of all time when
14:24: Christ comes back and the last hour is precisely that You know, we as Christians know that we are in the last days ever since Christ returned was resurrected and ascended into heaven we are waiting for him to come back again and restore his kingdom and you see when
14:41: John uses the term last hour he is Pointing out that theologically the 11th hour has struck
14:49: There is nothing else that needs to be Fulfilled for God's kingdom to happen right away.
14:55: So like we just talked about earlier this evening Christ can come back right now because there's nothing else that needs to happen.
15:02: Everything that needs to happen has been in place and 1900 years later since this book has been written.
15:09: We are still on the verge of eternity We cannot predict the time just as Jesus warned in mark 1332 when this is going to happen
15:16: It can happen right now while we are hearing this message or it might be another thousand years but God knows that time and we have to be in eager anticipation of this to happen and I use this analogy once when
15:29: I was teaching Sunday school. So if you've heard it Bear with me because I think you know since Fred brought this up.
15:36: I'd like to Explain this a little more clearly one of the authors mentioned this, you know
15:41: You it's like walking towards a mountain you come to the foot of the mountain and you hear the whole earth shake and rumble and As you start to climb this mountain
15:51: You you feel the heat and you smell smoke and you start to see ash
15:57: Start falling on you and you know something is not right as you're climbing up this mountain and you climb and you climb and you
16:03: Reach the peak and you are at the mouth of an active volcano and the analogy is this as you start to climb up this mountain chronologically ever since Christ Died he was resurrected and ascended.
16:17: We have had all the signs that we need to see fulfilled in Jude We talked we hear about the markers.
16:23: We talk about the people whose love will start to grow cold we have seen iniquity abound everything that we need to see all the signs and Events that we need to see are already in place and we
16:36: You and I right now in the 20th century just as it was in the hundred AD. We are on the verge of eternity
16:42: We are walking no longer in a straight line, but we are walking on the mouth of this active volcano
16:48: This author says we are walking on a knife edge Because right now there is nothing else that needs to be fulfilled any moment now this volcano can explode any moment now in our
16:59: Anticipation of Christ he can return such is the nature of this last hour and when we think of this last hour it brings an
17:06: Urgency to the mission that we have when we think of evangelism when we think of these false teachers that abound our heart should be
17:12: Pressed into service knowing that Christ is going to return any moment now and our we should be about our masters business
17:21: Now let's come down to verse 19 John now says they went out from us.
17:28: They were part of a church split and This split was final and John says they would have remained with us if they were offers
17:37: Knowing that this church is from the Ephesus area If you look at Acts 20 30
17:43: Paul had already warned the Ephesian elders of this He said there and from among your own selves men will arise
17:50: Speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them and here is a prophecy
17:56: That's already fulfilled by the time John is writing to them And the reason that this group that split did not stay with them was that they were not really offers
18:05: What does that mean? They were not Christians the ones who remained here in this particular church where the believers and the group that went away were not
18:14: Believers and here John says that was evidenced by their departure now
18:20: We're going to look a little bit more closely at this group that split But before we do that, I want to make one thing clear
18:26: There are some things that we should not learn from this and what I mean by that is this
18:32: In every church split that huckers. It doesn't mean that everyone who leaves the church is necessarily the unbeliever
18:38: You see divisive church splits are sinful but they are not always over fundamental truth like it was in this case and Likewise the ones who stay behind are not necessarily
18:49: Christians just because they remained in the parent Church There's a few things that the Bible talks about this
18:55: We'll look at in one case it is good for some to leave in first Corinthians 11 19
19:01: Paul says for there must also be factions among you so that those who are approved may become evident among you it's it's worse to have a festering sore in your midst than to have a clean incision and let the
19:14: Ones who are unbelievers leave and Sometimes we find that the good people are made to leave in 3rd
19:21: John 9 and 10 John himself writes Diatrophies among other things. He does not receive the brethren and forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the church so those who want to obey
19:34: God are actually kicked out of the church in some circumstances and About a year ago,
19:40: I think some of us here went to a colloquium where there was an Eastern Orthodox leader and Roman Catholic, I believe who were trying to portray their views of Of of the truth and this man came out and said he took this particular verse and he said, you know all you
19:56: Protestant and Bible guys were not associated with us. You are these Antichrist that this
20:02: Bible is talking about It took us a while to figure out what he meant by it But what he meant ultimately was you know
20:09: You are not in this one church in a physical unity and because of your breaking away
20:15: You must be these Antichrist that you are that this verse is talking about and obviously this is a serious
20:21: Twisting of Scripture if you look at the next few verses You see the context of the split and it is actually over fundamental truth
20:28: That the split occurs and it is the truth that unites and it is not just some physical Church that we belong to that makes us one in Christ now when you think of Antichrist and this is where the rubber meets the road when you're thinking of these people who today are perverting the gospel
20:47: These Antichrist are not carrying pitchforks and having satanic rituals in their home It would be so easy if they did, you know, you can just say ha there's an
20:55: Antichrist Because sadly most of these people are
21:03: We know that these are not believers because if you do not hold to fundamental truth You cannot be a believer, but in their hearts these people may be very very sincere
21:11: They think what they believe is true and they hold on to it with a tenacity that sadly even believers don't hold on to But this sincerity is just a sincere deception
21:21: You see they may not they may or may not set to deceive the church intentionally but They normally are the ones who are deceived by the enemy in the first place.
21:33: So when we think of people like this president of ETS He has more degrees than I or more
21:40: I think any of us here in this room have but this man has been willing to compromise on The full certainty of the scripture for authority has been willing to take on Aspects about Mary and compromise on salvation in order to consider himself a true
21:58: Christian and that does not Square up with the scriptures as we see it and we as believers must be careful
22:04: To discern where the error lies and be able to understand where the truth is Now the first aspect that we have seen of these
22:12: Antichrist is they have separated from the church now What is it that they have separated about and here we come to the fundamental doctrine, which is the second key characteristic of Antichrist?
22:22: they here deny the truth about Jesus and in doing so they deny the father also and John does not mince words here.
22:32: Listen to verse 22 and 23 He says who is the liar, but the one who denies that Jesus is the
22:39: Christ This is the Antichrist the one who denies the father and the son
22:45: Whoever denies the son does not have the father the one who confesses the son has the father also.
22:52: I Began by telling you that this was a very difficult message for me. I am NOT a polemic person I I normally cringe in my seat when somebody starts right reviling someone else for their falsehoods and even yesterday
23:06: I had a conversation with someone who was who was very uncomfortable to hear about the truth of Falsehood that some people proclaim and Here John does not mince any words and you and people like us who feel that You know, we probably shouldn't be exposing falsehood.
23:25: You need to read this passage very carefully You know John here is vexed very vexed with this group because they are here
23:33: Corrupting the Church of God and he calls these Antichrist the liar It is the liar of all liars and that's the strong language he uses here
23:41: You see John has already refuted some lies in this book in chapter 1 verse 6
23:46: He says if we say we have fellowship with him yet walk in darkness We lie in chapter 2 verse 4.
23:53: He says the one who says I have come to know him But does not keep his commandments is a liar That's obedience and chapter 4 was 20 if someone says
24:02: I love God, but hates his brother He is a liar and that's the test of love and here in verse 22
24:09: He says who is the liar? But the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ this lie above all other lies is the chief lie
24:16: Because if you fail this test of truth But there is nothing else that needs to be tested and the consequences are eternal and this lie comes from the spirit of the
24:27: Antichrist Now, what is this lie that John is talking about here that Jesus is the
24:33: Christ? In this particular case the lie consisted of denying the humanity of Jesus You see
24:39: Jesus is the Christ if you had to split that out the term Jesus is referring to a physical man here in the first century, they all know historically who
24:46: Jesus was here's a man who lived died and claimed to be risen from the dead and the
24:52: Christ was the Messiah the anointed one the one that they have been expecting to come and John is saying that this particular physical human being called
25:01: Jesus is this Messiah the one we've been waiting for and Anticipating and these two are one and if you deny that this
25:08: Christ this man Jesus is the Christ you are perpetuating a lie and When we try to think of the heresies,
25:18: I think Lewis Spoke about this in Sunday school this morning There were a number of lies in that time whether it was
25:26: Gnosticism or I can throw a few names at you But that wouldn't matter. They were just trying to pervert the truth about Jesus Christ who this person
25:35: Jesus was can he be truly God can he be truly man and both at the same time and instead of belaboring this
25:43: I want to Take an extended passage that Calvin actually writes about he gets to the heart of this matter in exposing this serious issue
25:52: And then he expands it for us in explaining What we as Christians today should be aware of so bear with me.
26:00: It's a little long, but please pay attention Calvin here says I readily agree with the ancients who thought that Syrinthus and Carpocratus are here referred to These people who created the lies, but the denial of Christ extends much further
26:17: For it is not enough to confess in one word that Jesus is the Christ But he must be acknowledged to be such as the father offers him to us in the gospel
26:29: The two men I mentioned gave the titles of Christ to the Son of God, but they imagined he was a mere man
26:36: Others followed like Arius who adorned him with the name of God, but despoiled him of his eternal divinity
26:45: Marcion dreamed that he was a mere phantom not a man at all Sibelius imagined that he deferred in nothing from the father.
26:52: There was just one person no three persons and All these denied the Son of God for none of them really acknowledged the whole
27:00: Christ But adulterated the truth about him so far as they were able and made for themselves an idol instead of Christ So he kind of expands the meaning of what it is to Have a false understanding of Jesus Calvin then adds we now see that Christ is denied whenever the things that belong to him are taken from him and As Christ is the end of the law in the gospel and has within himself all the treasures of wisdom and understanding
27:27: So also is he the mark at which all heretics aim and direct their arrows
27:35: Therefore the Apostle has good reason to make those who fight against Christ the leading liars since the full truth is exhibited to us in him and Joe and Calvin here just expands for us what it means to be a heretic or what it means to be in the truth and I'm we don't have to look far to see what other heresies are out here when we look at false
28:02: Cults, you know, you can take Jehovah's Witnesses Mormonism, you know, you see the fundamental errors that are out there but then we have other people who call themselves
28:09: Christians who are also deviating from the truth and I want to pick a couple of them so that you can
28:17: Keep these fundamental truths in your mind when you evaluate those who call themselves Christians, but are not but before we go there
28:24: I want to Give you the other side of the picture. Does that mean that anybody who disagrees with us theologically is an
28:32: Antichrist a heretic? Obviously not There are if that's the case then we would be the only true church and everybody else are we'll be going down the path of the
28:44: Eastern Orthodox, but You see there are some Presbyterians, you know who believe in infant baptism
28:51: We can very clearly see from the scriptures. That is not what baptism is about But we have
28:56: R .C. Sproul who has fellowship with John MacArthur. They disagree on baptism covenant theology eschatology a number of other things but on Fundamental matters they agree and that makes them brothers and sisters brothers in Christ When I think of Pentecostal, you know, the first thing that comes to my mind is the differences that I have with them it's normally with regards to gifts and church order where we disagree on how
29:20: What the Bible talks about but I would not call them Antichrist since Almost all the pen all of them have a right understanding of God Jesus and salvation and they would still be brothers in Christ And then we have some other splinter groups like the oneness
29:35: Pentecostals those that is a group of people who deny the three persons in the deity of God and those people we cannot have fellowship with because they are denying a fundamental truth of scripture and More to the to our neighborhood.
29:53: I want to talk about the liberal churches They're so -called churches because they've been established. They have a big building and a lot of people in most cases, but they have
30:04: Walked away from the fundamental truth about this one holy God and the one means of salvation that Jesus is the only way for a lost and dying world and Have you ever thought about how these churches became liberal?
30:21: I want you to think about this because you know Some of you know and some of you may not Because many a time especially in the 60s the reason these churches became liberal was they said, you know
30:31: What the Bible tells me that this problem to man's? The solution to man's problem is
30:38: Jesus Christ. It's salvation It is sin that has to be dealt with but they said well, you know, that was in the past now
30:45: We are smarter we are wiser and actually we have a greater heart of compassion I see all these people suffering in in Africa.
30:54: I see the people in my Downtown streets in need I see the the poverty and the and the terrible pain
31:03: Gospel cannot be the solution. We must be the solution. We need to kind of get into the social life of things
31:09: We need to solve those problems of poverty and hunger and need and we'll we'll we'll we'll do the gospel to a little bit later
31:15: But let's get down here social gospel. That's basically what it started Everybody started down to say, you know
31:21: I can see this need and I am the judge of what needs to be done to this particular problem and I will get down and Get dirty good noble thoughts, but they were rejecting the gospel of Christ in the process of trying to meet man's need and that started a slippery slope to the point where this no longer became the source of authority and now social gospel is
31:42: Social is all there is there is no gospel All they try to do is to try to find the needs their heart goes out our hearts go out too
31:49: But we know that Jesus is the only way to the problem of the world and when you walk away from that fundamental truth and this is where our hearts and our minds need to Be aligned with the scripture because our hearts left to themselves will try to find our own solutions
32:04: But when Bible says this is the truth, this is the way we cannot cannot walk away from it and When you look at some of the other errors right now,
32:14: I got a magazine in the in the mail the other day I read this thing and something didn't sound right, but I Read about four or five different articles and everything was spot -on and I said,
32:26: I know something is not right But I can't put my finger on it. I threw the book away and and then my wife reads it and she says ah,
32:31: Here you go. They have got the father. They have got the son, but the spirit.
32:36: It's just a force he's not he's not a person and I've never heard of this thing before until this magazine came to a house and And then there are others who deny the salvation being central and only through Jesus Christ.
32:51: There are others who deny the Essential truths about Jesus and there are others who deny that the
32:56: Bible is our only authority To know God and to be in right with him.
33:03: So when something's fundamental to our faith Such as these are taken away that cannot be
33:11: Fellowship, you know that magazine had everything right, but it was gone on the fundamental truth about who
33:16: God is It doesn't matter if we try to save the world and try to even do it, right?
33:22: But if you're not doing it the way God wants it and we are not doing it to please God We are working against him a
33:33: Few names come to mind, but I'll reserve them for for the end but you know who I'm talking about people who try to do things their own way instead of The way the scriptures talk about now.
33:44: Let's we've seen very quick briefly what the Antichrist are how they separated how what their fundamental error was and how we need to think about error and heresy in the church and These group in this particular situation at least they were not happy just going away and starting their own
34:00: False church, they were coming back and trying to deceive the church The group that was still behind and you know, they might have said things like it's what you believe really true
34:11: You know, we've we've learned all these things with modern Our understanding of God, you know Jesus you think he's
34:17: God and man makes no sense you know, or how could you be so loving if you will not be a part of us and We are the ones who know the real truth.
34:26: Come on. Join us. Don't don't be left behind Because we are the ones who know the real truth and you would have wasted your life and so here is a believer a group of believers in the in the church who are facing perplexing question and that's the reason why
34:40: John is actually writing to them and Here John writes to affirm them of what they already believe and we are going to see
34:51: That we as believers today need to be aware of the truth and the truth has two components to it
34:57: We are going to see the objective truth of the scriptures That is written down for us and we are going to see side -by -side the subjective affirmation of the
35:08: Holy Spirit we have this dual defense system for each of us here and This objective truth comes from God's Word and The subjective truth is by the presence of the
35:21: Holy Spirit within us in verse 20 We see that John writes to this church. He says you have an anointing from the
35:28: Holy One and you all know the truth While they are in the midst of perplexities
35:34: John is actually saying you know the truth and how can he say this? Let's look at the first aspect the objective aspect of knowing the truth
35:42: I'm going to read verses 20 21 24 and 25 You have an anointing from the
35:49: Holy One and you all know the truth 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 was 24 as for you
36:01: Let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning if what you heard from the beginning abides in you
36:06: You also will abide in the Son and in the Father and this is the promise which he himself made to us eternal life.
36:17: I alluded to this earlier that the church when it started down the slippery slope they started to look at their own
36:24: Rationality to say, you know, how can we solve the world's problems and today it is not just an innovation
36:30: It is the majority opinion everybody wants to think that the way to solve World's problems is through X Y and Z anything but the
36:40: Bible and Today I might Reassure you just as John does that the
36:47: Bible is our road map It is the one that gives us directions on how to reach this world in evangelism
36:55: It is the guide for us to go about our work We may not be able to see the ends from the beginning
37:02: But Christ has given us one command we as a church are to present this gospel and to present it clearly to a world that has that does not know him and God is able to save the hearts of these people who are lost and then redeem them not just from Firstly and foremostly from the situation in which they are in which is in bondage to sin
37:28: Now in verse 24 when John says as for you in the original language He is contrasting very very strongly this group of believers from the heretics.
37:38: He's saying you know the truth and You see the purpose of his writing is not really to teach them something new
37:45: He is actually writing just to affirm what they already know and he's writing that so that they may act
37:51: Decisively you and I today when we are confronted with false teaching We are not to just sit around and say oh, you know, that's too high for me.
37:59: We are given the truth you have everything you need to life godliness in this book and you can
38:06: Proclaim that to whoever it is whether he has a PhD or five PhDs This is the truth and anyone who goes against this is in the falsehood and if you think about the fact that the one writing this book is an apostle
38:20: John is an apostle and is writing part of the Canon and he's saying, you know, I'm not writing something new to you
38:26: I'm just affirming what you already know and This is one of the reasons why it's also good for us to preach the gospel in the church
38:33: It is good for us to be reminded as believers of the precious faith that we have while it also convicts those who may not know the truth and John here is again contrasting the truth from the lie
38:48: What is it that John is talking about in verse 24 let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning.
38:57: What is it that they heard from the beginning? He used that earlier in chapter 2 verse 7.
39:03: He said the old commandment is the word which you have heard and the beginning here does not refer to something just ancient, you know, like Genesis 1 1 or Something like that, but it is specifically here talking about the apostolic witness
39:19: John had begun this book with a strong understanding of Apostolic testimony chapter 1 verses 1 and 2 he's saying, you know, here is why
39:29: I'm writing to you this Let me just read it for you What was from the beginning what we have heard what we have seen with our eyes what we have looked at and touched
39:37: With our hands concerning the word of life. Here is an apostle who has seen Jesus live he has seen
39:43: Jesus teach and he is Communicating what he has received from Christ to them and that is the beginning what they have heard from which is the apostolic testimony 2nd
39:53: Peter 3 2 says the same thing you should that you should remember the word spoken beforehand by the
39:59: Holy Prophets and the commandment of a Lord and Savior spoken by your Apostles and this truth is
40:07: Unchanging what they have received is once for all delivered to them in 2nd Timothy 4 3
40:13: Paul has warned that People will not endure sound doctrine and they will want their ears tickled and they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires and that's exactly what has happened there and that is exactly what is continuing to happen today and John start writes this this phrase and I think this is very helpful for us as Believers to stay grounded in the truth and also to be aware of why people launch off Christian theology he says is anchored not only on certain
40:44: Historical events events that happen for sure culminating in the saving career of Jesus but to the authoritative apostolic witness witness to an interpretation of these events and Listen carefully here.
40:58: He says the Christian can never way anchor and launch out into the deep of speculative thought
41:06: Nor can he forsake the primitive teaching of the Apostles over subsequent human traditions and that My friends is exactly what is happening and when we realize that the word has been delivered to us once for all what it says
41:20: Here is true sufficient and complete we can Evaluate all these speculative thoughts that come out against us and be assured that this is the truth that we can rest upon and he says that God's words abide in you and and when when
41:38: God's would abide in you you can have greatest confidence in knowing the truth and your own relationship to the truth when you
41:45: Digest this word when the word becomes percolated in your mind you study the word and Then it starts to permeate into your being what you do is now
41:57: Guided by the word that you have digested And it helps us to think right about God and it helps us to live according to his purpose
42:07: You see these Antichrist that John was talking about they too had the word But they had decided to reject it and these believers who had stuck to the truth can boldly proclaim
42:18: What is true and right to those who had walked away? So we have just seen the objective confidence that a believer has in knowing the truth now
42:31: Let's look at the other aspect of this which is the subjective assurance. You see there is only one person who can make that truth a subjective reality in your life
42:43: No, man can come to you and say you know you Have just become a believer, but that is the work of the
42:50: Holy Spirit Now this anointing of the Holy Spirit that John refers to here it internally affirms the truth of Scripture You have the objective word and you have the subjective
43:00: Affirmation of the Holy Spirit in verses 26 and 27. We see this work of the
43:05: Spirit of God These things I have returned to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you and as for you
43:10: The anointing which you have received from him abides in you and you have no need for anyone to teach you but just 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
43:27: And here is a firm conviction on the truth that only the Spirit of God can work in your hearts
43:33: Now again, John is writing here not to correct their errors but to reaffirm what they know and he is doing that because the group that has split away is trying to deceive them and Against his false teaching
43:46: John writes to reiterate the truth now What is this anointing the word anointing comes from christen?
43:53: And it is probably something that these Breakaway Antichrist had used for their own special revelation that they received from God and John here says, you know
44:01: These guys have taken what is true and twisted it but you the anointing you received remains within you
44:07: What is this anointing it refers to the anointing of the Holy Spirit that all? believers receive he is the one the
44:15: Holy Spirit is the one who guides us into all truth and Jesus had spoken of the role of the
44:22: Holy Spirit in our lives and That he would point the Holy Spirit would point to Jesus in John 14 26 in John 14 16
44:30: Jesus said that I will ask the father and he will give you another helper that he may be with you forever
44:37: The anointing that we received is not just something that we felt or experienced at the moment of conversion
44:42: This is an abiding anointing of the Holy Spirit who is the ultimate teacher? Who remains with all believers and The statement that John makes must make you feel uncomfortable
44:54: He says you have no need for anyone to teach you for anyone to teach you
44:59: What does he mean by this here is a church that is going through turmoil? Confused looking desperately for help and here he's saying no one needs to needs to teach you
45:10: In fact every fundamental truth that the believers needed to know John says you already do know they had a teacher with them who leads them in the truth who is far greater than any human one and Paul talks of the same that the believers in Thessalonica that you are taught by God Now obviously this does not mean that human teachers are
45:32: Unnecessary because the Bible is replete with that Paul talks constantly about the men of God being able to teach the people of God we heard this morning 2nd
45:40: Timothy 224 the bond servant must be able to teach and essentially even here
45:46: John is The reason John says this is because he's talking about the heretics the heretics here are trying to teach them error and John himself here
45:55: Is obviously teaching them by reminding them of the truth in his letter to the church You see by inference the human teachers that you have must also be anointed by God You cannot have someone come and teach you who is just a pagan trying to teach his own philosophy
46:12: Because ultimately this is a Holy Spirit that teaches each believer the truth and it is a Holy Spirit in the work of the teachers
46:18: Communicating truth to other believers in John 14 26 the helper the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name
46:26: He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you
46:42: In the few minutes that we have left. I would like to Put this together in terms of what it means to you and I as we walk out of here
46:52: As I mentioned, this is a heavy subject It is a subject that we could easily pass off and say yeah, I know it is all true
46:57: But what does that mean to me if an Antichrist comes and talks to me? I know what I need to do with that but as I as I started out earlier when you think of evangelism,
47:09: I want you to think of evangelism in this context There is a lot of things you can do with your time
47:17: When you try to serve God You can try to serve him.
47:22: You should try to serve him in everything that you do We've seen earlier what worship is worship is living a life in a manner that glorifies him in all that you do
47:33: When you walk out from here every single act you do will either worship God or it will bring dishonor to him
47:39: But when it comes to the gospel, I Want each of you who walk out of here to be convinced firmly in your mind about the truth of the scriptures
47:52: These scriptures are able to save those who have no idea about who Jesus is and they are able to save those
47:59: Who claim to know Christ but have walked away from the truth? It is easy for us to be intimidated by those who do not know
48:07: Christ In fact, I think pastor Steve mentioned the number one reason why people don't go out to evangelize is because they're afraid
48:17: My friends you have what God Says is necessary to proclaim the truth
48:25: Whether it is a person who doesn't know the truth. All you have to do is open the word and talk about who
48:31: God is Who man is what Jesus did and what they need to do to receive him and When it comes to these
48:38: Antichrist, you have no reason to be intimidated by those who call themselves
48:43: Christians But have walked away from the truth When you read the scriptures when you are immersed with the truth of the gospel you can proclaim the truth
48:56: To no matter whom it is that you are proclaiming it to There's one thing that would help you as you evaluate those you talk to Grudem in his theology book.
49:10: He talks about the purity of the church You know, every church has its own levels of purity
49:15: There are some areas in which churches adhere more closely to the truth and other areas where they are not as Biblically informed about the way they believe and act
49:27: And all of us even including our church there are areas where we are more pure in some areas and Growing in purity in the other areas and that's how the church should be.
49:36: It should be continually growing in purity but there comes a line when it comes to fundamental truth that people cross over from just impurity into Wholesale error and you as believers must be able to clearly discern where that line lies
49:52: And when you are able to see that you will be able to Preach the gospel to those who need to hear that people who think that they are believers, but they are not instead that they are deceived
50:03: We have the Word of God and we have the Spirit of God and I hope that you have understood
50:08: What is the ultimate lie detector test for Christians? You are equipped to clearly distinguish between heresy and orthodoxy
50:20: I pray that God would apply his truth in your lives through his word
50:25: Even as you are taught by the Spirit of God May you go out and make disciples in Jesus name
50:33: Let's pray dear
50:39: God our Heavenly Father. We thank you for your word we thank you for your spirit and We thank you for your sovereign rule
50:49: That you exercise over this world. We thank you that we are called as ambassadors by your grace
50:58: Equip us fill us with boldness and Send us forth to proclaim your riches and your goodness to this world