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Reading 1 John 2:18-21 and how we can identify by John's warning who are of Christ and those who are antichrists. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
1 John 2 .19, 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 it might become plain that they are not all of us when we understand the text.
You're listening to When We Understand The Text, an online Bible ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty. Find videos and more at our website, www .utt .com. Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes.
Thank you, Becky, and greetings, everybody. We continue our study of 1 John 2, and between today and tomorrow, I'm gonna be reading verses 18 through 29, although we might not get through all of the exposition of this, maybe heading into next week, still looking into this particular section.
But if you would join me in verse 18, John, once again, with a very endearing way that he addresses his hearers. Children, it is the last hour. And as you've heard that Antichrist is coming, so now many Antichrists have come.
Therefore, we know it's 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 it might become plain that they all are not of us.
But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ?
This is the Antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you.
If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that he made to us, eternal life. I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you.
But the anointing that you receive from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and is no lie, just as it is taught you, abide in him.
And now, little children, abide in him so that when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
Let's go back to verse 18. Children, it is the last hour. Again, calling his hearers, children, for they came to the faith out of the gospel that John had preached and reminding them that the time that we are in right now is the last hour.
The word here is eschaton, and that means the final age. And this age began, and I've heard a few different opinions of this. When did the final age began? Some will say that it was during the time of Christ or when he first arrived, then we entered into the final age.
I don't think that's necessarily the case because Christ is fulfilling the law and the prophets. They were anticipating his first coming. So his coming was not the beginning of the final age. There are others that will argue that his death on the cross was the beginning of the final age.
Then there are others that will say, no, it was 36 hours later when he was resurrected from the grave. Others will say, well, it was when he ascended into heaven because then he has to come back. So once he ascended into heaven, that was the beginning of the final age because then we're anticipating his return.
And then there are others that will say, well, the promise of the coming helper had yet to be fulfilled. So it was really at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles. That was the beginning of the final age.
I don't think there's any reason to have to split hairs over it, but that's just the major viewpoints when it comes to when did the final age begin? If you had to put a day on it, when did we enter into the final age?
So John is saying, regardless of however you feel about when that day began, we are in the Eschaton now. And John saying to his readers, it is the last hour. That was as true for them at the time that John was writing this letter as it is for us now.
We might have this feeling of, oh, well, we're closer to the last hour than they were then. So now it truly is the last hour. No, even at the time that John was writing this, the understanding was Christ could come at any time and we don't know when he is going to come.
And so at the present, we are in that Eschaton, that final age anticipating the return of Christ. And so they were eagerly anticipating the day even then, every age since then, or every, not age, but every generation, I'll put it that way.
Every generation since Christ's ascension into heaven has wondered if theirs was the generation in which Christ was going to return. There have been skeptics who have argued that Peter and John and their contemporaries, they all thought that Christ was going to come back during their lifetime.
As a matter of fact, even Jesus thought that he was gonna be coming back within the span of a few years. And the fact that Jesus hasn't returned yet just proves, confirms that all these prophecies that were talked about in the New Testament are just total lies.
No, it's misunderstanding things that Jesus said to his disciples and misunderstanding things that even the disciples themselves said. It's reasonable for every generation to believe that theirs is gonna be the generation that Christ is going to return because we don't know the hour or the day.
And so every one of us, no matter what generation we're living in, we should be anticipating the return of Christ. It still could happen at any time. It is still as much the last hour now as it was during the time that John was writing this.
And he didn't know when the last hour was gonna be. We don't know when the last hour is gonna be. It could be, God willing, today. It might be several years from now. It could be several generations from now.
And we won't see it as long as we're alive on this earth. It's something that we will experience after we depart from this earth. One thing I can tell you for certain, everybody who is in Christ will be involved on that day.
Though you may not be of the generation that's still here on this earth when Christ returns and the trumpet sounds, we will still be among those who are meeting the Lord in the air because Christ is coming back with his saints.
We meet each other in the air and then we and the Lord are one. As it is talked about there in 1 Thessalonians chapters four and five, we will meet the Lord together in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord as it says there in 1 Thessalonians 4 .17.
So we are eagerly anticipating that day just as John's readers were eagerly anticipating and being reminded that it is the final hour. And what would we experience in the final hour? The coming of the antichrist.
And so many antichrists have come. John is the only one to use the term antichrist. We only see it in his letters here in 1 John and then he uses it again in 2 John. It's not used in 2 Thessalonians chapter two where Paul talks about the man of lawlessness.
It's not used anywhere in the book of Revelation. But when we read about the son of perdition or the man of lawlessness or the beast is talked about in the book of Revelation, we know that what is being talked about is the antichrist.
Many antichrists have come, but there's gonna be one who will be the personification of opposition against God. And he will be revealed when whatever is restraining him at the present is taken away. This is what Paul is talking about with the Thessalonians.
And then once that restraining force is taken out of the way, then the antichrist will be revealed. He will have the power to lead men astray. And there are many who are going to follow after him. John gives warning that there are many antichrists.
There are many others, many other false teachers that are out there attempting to do the same thing that the antichrist is going to do. They are likewise followers of the devil. So that is why they get called antichrists.
They are using the same methods and tactics that he uses under his manipulation. They are ensnared by the devil. They are antichrists. And how do we know who the antichrist is? He who denies that Jesus is the Christ.
This is the antichrist, he who denies the father and the son. That's verse 22. So again, coming back to verse 18, it's the last hour. And as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, that antichrist is coming.
So now many antichrists have come. This is our confirmation that it is the last hour because there are those who are coming claiming to be the Christ or speaking the word of Christ or claiming to have the truth of Christ, but they are liars and deceivers that are in league with Satan, not Christ.
So they are antichrists. They are the affirmation of what Jesus warned his disciples about, that there are many who are going to come. This is in Matthew 24. Many will come claiming to be the Christ or coming in the name of Christ and saying things like, look, there he is, or here he is.
He is in the inner rooms. He is out in the wilderness. Do not listen to them for they will come with false signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. And Jesus said, see, I have told you about this beforehand.
So the fact that false prophets have popped up, that there are false teachers who are teaching what is contrary to Christ is confirmation that we're in the last hour, that what Christ has said is true.
And that's what's going on all around us. Therefore, we know that it is the last hour. Verse 19, 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 it might become plain that they all are not of us.
Now, this verse is often used to talk about those who leave the church. And I still think that that is an appropriate usage. I just think that oftentimes we misunderstand the context in which this is given.
Paul is specifically talking about those who are false teachers, those who leave the church that still applies because they're following after the false teachers. It's they were listening to false teaching.
And that was why they left the church. They believe something that was not true, not according to the word of Christ, but according to the lies of the devil. And that was why they went out from the people of God.
If they were truly of the people of God, they would have remained with the people of God, but they went out from us that it would become plain to us that they were not really of us to begin with. So that still absolutely applies to those people who did not remain in church, but when they were rebuked for something that they did that was a sin and didn't want to be corrected.
And so they went out, they showed that they love their sin rather than love Christ or his people. And so that's a proper application. Again, I just think that oftentimes we miss the context as John is talking about false teachers.
They, the false teachers, the antichrist who are speaking untrue things, they went out from us. So the understanding or the realization there would be that they were of us at one point, or it appeared that they were of us at one point because they heard the gospel and they, you saw it in their eyes, their eyes light up, their faces shine and go, oh, wow, what an amazing truth.
This message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so maybe we saw in their expression and heard in their words, some sense of believing the gospel that they heard. And so they were of us at one point, they were amidst the saints who repented and came to know Christ and glorified his great name.
So there was a period of time where it looked like that they were among us, but they went out from us because they were not of us. It's very common sense statement. Why did they go out from us? Because they weren't of us to begin with.
But all of these false teachers, the teachers that we warn about, I mean, the very notable heretics who are like Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer and T .D. Jakes, and then those who are not as clear and as obvious, but there is still a false teaching in their message, men like Rick Warren and Ed Young Jr. and Stephen Furtick.
And then there are others that, we're kind of on the edge about men like Andy Stanley, who will claim the inerrancy of the word of God, but then doesn't practice it at all in his teaching. And so then there are others that kind of look a little bit shady to us.
We couldn't quite say that they're heretics, but we certainly wouldn't recommend that anybody sit underneath their teaching. Okay, these people at one point did display some evidence of being among the people of God.
These aren't atheists who wake up one day and say, you know what, I'm gonna fool a bunch of Christians who never showed at any point in their life that they appeared to be among the people of God. And so then they just started using the language and the proper rhetoric and that sort of thing.
And boom, I've got a bunch of Christians fooled and I'm making money off of this. That's not how these false teachers came about. False teachers come from among us, from within the church, not outside the church in.
There are, I mean, there are false teachers outside the church. And there are even those who call themselves Christians who are duped by atheists like Sam Harris or Richard Dawkins. So that does happen.
But largely the false teachers that we warn about are those who heard the gospel and they use the right keywords. So the message sounded about right, but then they use that gospel that they heard and twisted it into something that is not biblical.
That is not the words of Christ. In fact, they are words that are against Christ, hence why they are called antichrists. It is the last hour and so many antichrists have come. They went out from us. At one point, they kind of used the right words.
They look like they were among us, but they went out from us because they were never of us in the first place. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. And here John is even talking about those who heard the apostolic message proclaimed and then maybe had even joined their missionary group because we read about all kinds of people that traveled with Paul.
One of the persons that Paul references with the Colossians, for example, is Demas. But then when Paul mentions Demas' name again to Timothy in 2 Timothy, he says he was deserted by Demas who went back to Thessalonica because he was more in love with this world than he was with the kingdom of God.
So at one point, Demas, even to the apostle Paul, looked like a genuine Christian, but he went out from them. He went out from the missionaries that traveled with the apostles so that it might be plain that they are not all of us.
They were not from us, not of us in the first place. They just, they looked right. They used the right words, but they went out from us so it would become evident to all of us that they are not really among the apostles, not really of those who are speaking the true words of Jesus Christ.
So John is warning about them. And in another letter, he actually mentions one of them by name. I got to flip over here to 3 John because that's where it's mentioned. Is it Diotrephes? Yeah, there it is.
3 John 9, I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us.
And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church. So John is warning about this guy, Diotrephes, who at one point apparently looked like he was among the apostles even, partnering with them and was of their missionary group, but would eventually oppose the message of the apostles and furthermore would abuse the brotherhood of Jesus Christ, not letting them come into the church, was putting them out of the church.
So this is another evidence that we can know that a person is not really of the kingdom people of God when they are actually abusing that kingdom people. Jesus warns about that in Matthew 24, in fact, who is the wicked servant, but the one who beats his fellow servants, goes out and gets drunk with the drunkards.
Jesus says, when I come back, I'm gonna tie him up and throw him out with the hypocrites where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So one of the signs of a false teacher is not just that they teach falsely, but the way that they treat the followers of Jesus Christ.
They're not of the brotherhood and so they're gonna mistreat the brotherhood. But then John goes on to say in verse 20, but you've been anointed by the Holy One and you all have knowledge. So then he gives this assurance to his readers that they've been anointed by Christ and they have been sealed by the Holy Spirit for the day of redemption.
That's the way that Paul puts it in Ephesians chapter one. So they have the Holy One. They have the message of Christ whom they believe in and accept and follow. And so therefore the Holy Spirit is upon them in whom they are sealed.
And it is by the Holy Spirit that they have knowledge. So John means to assure his readers that they're not among those who went out from us. You're of the people who have remained that have continued with the body of Christ, affirming, confirming, you're calling an election with your behavior, your love of the brotherhood and your growth in the things of God, growing in the knowledge of God.
You have that knowledge. Verse 21, I write to you not because you do not know the truth. I'm writing to you because you do know it. And see John is even putting himself here in contrast against those who went out from us.
He's saying, you know, his readers know he is an apostle of Jesus Christ. He's the beloved. He was the beloved apostle. And so if he is the apostle is addressing us as believers in Christ, then that's further confirmation that we are in the truth.
That's the way his readers would receive this. John saying, I write to you not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it. And because no lie is of the truth. You're not following the lies.
You are following the truth. And because their lies that they are telling are not among you as a brotherhood, like the lies of the false teachers are not what you're teaching and talking about and are clinging to is the body of Christ.
You know that you are in the truth. A further assurance that John is giving to his readers that is just simply lovely and very endearing of John to address his readers in this way. In chapter four, verse six, John says the following, we are from God, talking about himself, the other apostles.
We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us. Whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. And so the same is true of us as well, you and I.
You who I'm speaking to on this broadcast and I who hold firm to the truth of the word that is being proclaimed here. How can you know that you are a follower of Jesus Christ, but you listen to the words that have been spoken by the apostles and you believe them.
You don't believe in some sort of contortion of this word. You don't section out parts that you say, well, this doesn't apply to me. And you do your cut and paste method with your scissors and snip out this part of the Bible and say, you know, I don't like the hell parts.
So I'm gonna get rid of this. I don't like the Bible telling me that I can't have sex outside of marriage. And so I'm gonna cut this part out. Okay, that's not you. You accept the full truth of what has been proclaimed by Christ and his apostles.
And you submit yourself to the authority of the word of God, which has authority over you anyway. But you acknowledge that authority and walk under that authority. And so this is confirmation of the faith that you have in Jesus Christ.
So you can number yourself among John's readers as he is giving assurances to them of how you can know that you are in the faith if you listen to the words of the apostles of Christ and you do them. Because the words they spoke was the very word of God.
And so you hear these words and also do them affirming the calling and election that has been given to you in the name of Christ. And so I hope that this has helped to fuel or further or solidify your assurance of salvation that you have in your life.
Not because of anything that we have done, but because of what Christ has done for us and called us to himself. As Jesus said in John chapter 10, my sheep know my voice and they follow me. Let us pray.
Lord, as we conclude our study here, we truly want to know as your children that you love us. We want to know the love of God and we want to be assured of that love. And we know that as our loving father that you have given us those assurances.
So we ask by your spirit that we would know the love of Christ that is upon us and know for certain that there is nothing in all creation that can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
And because we have this love that has rescued us from sin and death, the judgment that we deserved and brought us into your eternal kingdom and has made us fellow heirs with Christ of his kingdom. So I pray that in the enthusiasm that we have for this message, we would take it to others and share with them that they may also turn from their sin and follow in the light of Jesus Christ.
We pray that those who are false teachers would be shown the truth of the gospel and they would turn from the false words that they believe and follow in the truth of what God's word says. And we ask for steadfastness, that we would remain true to this word and flee from sin, always desiring the righteous things of God.
We pray and ask these things in Jesus' name, amen.
Gabriel Hughes is the pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas. Find out more online at www .utt .com.