11. 1 John 2:18- 19 Counterfeit Christs

Amen. Please remain standing and turn in your Bibles once again to the first epistle of the Apostle John, chapter 2. That's 1st John, chapter 2. We'll be reading verses 18 to 27 this morning, focusing on just the first couple of verses.

1st John, chapter 2, verse 18. Hear now the inspired Word of God. Children, it is the last hour, and just as you heard that Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have appeared. From this we know that it is the last hour.

They went out from us, but they were not really of us. For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But they went out, so that it would be shown that they are not all of us. 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, 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 Christ? This is the Antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.

Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father, and the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. As for you, let that abide in you which you have heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you will also abide in the Son and in the Father.

This is the promise which He Himself made to us, eternal life. These things 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.

But as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, abide in Him. Let's pray. Father, once again as we prepare to look into your Word, our prayer is simple, and that is that you would be pleased to open our eyes, our ears, and our hearts, that we would be able to see, hear, and understand what you have to say to us this morning.

We pray this in Jesus' name. One of the problems with having a currency in any society is the possibility of counterfeits. Our federal treasury agents are trained to spot counterfeit currency. But here's an interesting fact concerning how they are trained.

During the initial phase of their training, they are only shown real currency. They're not shown any forgeries, no counterfeits, just real, just real currency. And they learn and become familiar with all the intricacies of real money.

And they're actually instructed in the process of how the money is printed, as well as the paper and the ink supplies, and all the intricacies that go into a modern currency. In essence, they're taught all the secrets of real currency.

And they're taught everything necessary to the end that they know what real currency looks like, feels like, even smells like. One agent summarized this approach of distinguishing genuine bills. He says, we touch it, we tilt it, we look at it, and we look through it.

By the time the training is complete, an agent can determine if the bills are real or not with amazing accuracy. And all that without ever seeing a counterfeit bill. In our text for this morning, we come to the third test that the Apostle John points to for assurance of salvation.

It's called the doctrinal test or the truth test. But John introduces the truth test in an interesting fashion. Look at verse 18 of our text. He says, children, it is the last hour. And just as you heard that Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have appeared.

From this we know that it is the last hour. First thing we want to notice about this text, the time that he's living in, he calls it the last hour. It's an interesting phrase, isn't it? And that leads him to introduce the subject of the Antichrist.

Now those two subjects have been the subject of much speculation throughout history right up to the present time. There have been numerous books written on the subject of the end times and numerous movies have been produced.

Now many of the books and movies that are produced are strictly works of fiction and bear no resemblance to what the biblical text says. But what's unfortunate is some people take these movies and these fictional books and they take it as though this is the truth.

But of course no end time story would be complete without the Antichrist making an appearance. But let me just interject a little word of caution. If there's any book or movie or writing of all that makes the Antichrist the star of the show, you can take it to the bank.

It's not biblical. Jesus Christ is the center of all of prophecy. But John is not giving us this information to cause us to speculate on who, when, and where the Antichrist will appear. He's giving us this information to aid the early Christian church in their assurance of faith.

That's the whole context here. Therefore I believe it's necessary to pause and examine exactly what John is saying here and why now in this place in his epistle. There are several terms that are used by biblical writers that bring certain events to the mind of the reader.

For example, the last days, or the end of time, the day of the Lord, or the coming of the Lord. These phrases evoke certain images and thoughts and teaching that we've had. But these terms usually cause the reader to listen or the listener to think of the second coming of Christ.

And what I mean by the second coming of Christ, that event that is still in the future to us, that will sum up all of history. Unfortunately though, most Christians presume every time one of these terms is used, it refers to that one event that is still future.

But as we have studied the prophecies of the book of Daniel last year, and Daniel ties in very closely with this epistle of John. And then years ago, most of you weren't even here when we did an exposition on the book of Matthew, and specifically chapter 24.

But those studies have taught us that not every use of those phrases refers to the same event. Let me be quick to say, and I don't want anybody to come away from here today without understanding this, the Bible teaches very clearly that there is one great and powerful day of the Lord when he will return in power and glory.

And he will, just as the disciples saw him leave in the clouds, he will return bodily to earth and he will judge the living and the dead. You cannot be a biblical Christian and deny that Jesus Christ is coming again.

And while that day, also called Judgment Day, causes many people to tremble, and rightly so, the Christian looks forward to and rejoices at the prospects of that day. For the Christian will be with his Lord forever and sin will be gone from that point on.

Also, on that day, the Christian inheritance inherits all that Christ has earned by his obedience. That's an amazing prospect. You get what you don't deserve, and you don't get what you do deserve. What a deal.

Now that being said, the text before us is one of those texts where the author is not referring to that future event, but references the time in which the Apostle John is still alive. Look at what he says in verse 18 again.

Children, it is the last hour. Therefore, the last hour indicates an event that's some event that was very close to when John is writing. You could say it's at hand, it's near, coming soon. And the fact that the Antichrist is coming causes John to warn the church of certain dangers and to teach them some very important principles.

But before we move on, let's examine some of these other phrases just to put things in perspective. Let's start with the last times or the last days. Now that phrase can mean the final period of history leading to the second coming of Christ, as most people take it to mean, but it can also refer to the final or last days of the old covenant era.

This was an important lesson we learned in our study in the book of Daniel. Remember the visions of Nebuchadnezzar clearly show that the coming kingdom of God occurred during the fourth empire in his vision, that is the Roman Empire.

Remember his statue that he saw, gold, silver, bronze, and feet mixed with iron and clay. That vision represented the four great empires in the Middle East, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. And then we saw that a stone cut without hands was hurled at the statue and smashed it.

In other words, that stone represented the kingdom of coming of the kingdom of God, which will supersede all earthly kingdoms, and it grows into a mountain that fills the earth. And the other prophecies of Daniel expanded upon that first vision, and they all pointed to one central theme, and that was the coming of Jesus Christ.

And we saw that the 70 weeks of Daniel foretold of the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who brought the kingdom of heaven to earth in his first advent. And he instituted a new covenant in his blood, which effectively set aside the old covenant.

Remember Hebrews, we have a new and a better covenant than the old covenant. And then in the Olivet Discourse, which is recorded by Matthew in chapter 24, details the judgment of God as the city of Jerusalem is destroyed.

And during that time, the gospel is spread far and wide. So it's easy to see why the biblical writers call this period also the last days. It was the last days of the old covenant dispensation. And John, who sees these things taking place right before his eyes, stresses the immediacy of what he sees coming, and he calls it it's the last hour.

Let's examine one more of these terms, which is often misapplied. Two phrases, the end of the age and the second one, the coming of Christ, are tied together by Jesus himself. Remember when Jesus was coming out of the temple with his disciples, and the disciples are describing the beauty of the temple.

They're going on and on about, look at how beautiful and ordinate this building is. And it was something to behold. And as they're describing that, Jesus surprises them. And in verse 2 of Matthew 24, Jesus says to his disciples, who are just raving about this building, do you not see all these things?

Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down. Now that obviously troubled the disciples. The building was the centerpiece of the Jewish religion. So that prompts them to speak to Jesus.

And in verse 3 of Matthew 24, we read, and as he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. Notice this is private now. This was not something for the whole world. This was for the disciples.

And they say, tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? Now the predominant interpretation of these words of Jesus in the church today is that this is referring to the second advent at the end of history.

Now I don't want to, again, I don't want to diminish the importance of that event one iota, but the destruction of the temple and the invasion of Jerusalem occurred 40 years after the resurrection of Christ.

And it occurred exactly as Jesus prophesied on the Mount of Olives. There are also other New Testament passages that use the same language of the Lord's coming, and not in a physical return, but a coming in judgment.

Case in point, remember when Jesus withdrew with his disciples to Caesarea Philippi? And he's questioned, who do people say that I am? And they're giving the answers of who people are mistaking him for.

And then he asked the disciples, but who do you say that I am? And Peter says, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And then Jesus uses that confession to explain to the disciples exactly what was coming.

His coming was the crucifixion. And then he spurs them on to faithful discipleship. And he tells them, you have to be willing to lose your lives for the sake of the kingdom of God. And then he says this in Matthew 16 verse 27, for the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and will then recompense every man according to his deeds.

Now that certainly sounds like it's the second coming at the end of the age, doesn't it? But what is he saying? He says, in other words, don't worry about men will do to you, I will take care of them.

I will personally come and judge each one of them. When will this be? That's the important question for us. If you look at the text, it cannot be referring to the judgment at the end of all history. Why?

Because Jesus goes on in verse 28 and says, truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. Wow. In other words, whatever event he's talking about here can't be the second coming at the end of the age, because some of the disciples are still going to be alive when he comes in judgment.

So when God executes judgment on his people in this world, it is called a coming in his kingdom. That's why we have to be careful and understand these words, otherwise it can lead to misapplication. He's referring to the same event that he warned the Pharisees about.

Remember when he says, all the blood from righteous Abel to Zechariah will be avenged on that generation, the generation that was alive, and Jerusalem will be destroyed. Now one stone will be left upon another in the temple.

And all of this happened before the last of the apostles died, just as Jesus said it would. Almighty God came in judgment upon the apostate nation of Israel in AD 70, and he used the Roman army as his tool to completely dismantle and destroy the remnants of the old covenant system.

The nation had violated all the stipulations that God had given them, and the interesting thing, they had enjoyed the blessings of the covenant, but now because of the hardness of their heart, they were a cursed nation.

And Jesus Christ came in judgment against them. And that is what Jesus is telling his disciples in the 24th chapter of Matthew. And the whole chapter must be viewed in that context, or it will be misapplied.

And John is writing to the church, who is living through this period of apostasy, the apostasy that was to come at the end of the age. Remember these other warning signs that Jesus gave them in Matthew 24, verses 4 and 5.

Jesus answered and said to them, see to it that no one misleads you, for many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and will mislead many. Remember, John was present during that Olivet discourse, recorded in Matthew 24.

And we see again in verse 11, many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. So John, now in his epistle, writes to encourage the church to spur them on to full assurance of faith. And with this context in mind, it's only natural for John to warn of the Antichrist.

Again, verse 18, children, it is the last hour. And just as you heard that Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have appeared. From this we know that it is the last hour. Before addressing the warning, we have to look at the concept of Antichrist.

Here's an interesting fact. John is the only biblical writer who uses the term Antichrist. And that is only used three times in this epistle, and once in the second of John's epistle. For that reason, I find it interesting that John doesn't use that term when he writes the book of the Revelation.

In the Revelation, John writes, and not about one Antichrist, but two beasts. One beast comes from the earth, and the other beast comes from the sea. And what do we know about those beasts? They are in league with Satan.

And there was written on their heads blasphemous names. Daniel's prophecies also contain descriptions of beasts. And one in particular is described in very similar words to John's description. Now, we need to take this, the notion as a beast, in with all of biblical imagery.

Remember now, man, mankind, is the crown of God's creation. He was made to rule under God's authority over all of creation, including the beasts of the field. When man moves away from God, he begins to resemble a beast.

He moves from being the image-bearer of God to the image of a beast. And we see the epitome of that was Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar stood on his balcony, and he looked out at his empire, and he boasted, look at what I have done.

He flexed his muscles, so to speak, and said, look at what I have done. I have done all of this. Look at my wealth, my possessions, and the splendor of my empire. And what was God's punishment? He stripped him of his sovereignty, and he became like what?

A beast of the field. To be a beast is the opposite of having the image of God. The Antichrist is anti-God. But the concept of a leader or ruler who will come on the scene during the last days of the Old Covenant is clearly taught in the scriptures.

Now, of course, there's much debate concerning who this individual is. Some will point to a particular historical figure. Others will say it referred to a nation or maybe even a family lineage. But that's not our subject for this morning.

That's the subject for another debate at another time. The reason I'm not going to address it is that it's irrelevant to our text. John only refers to the Antichrist to get to his purpose. And what's his purpose?

To bring them to full assurance of their salvation. His purpose is not to identify the Antichrist or even to dwell on what he will do when he comes to the scene. John doesn't address any of that. He skips over the Antichrist and says, that's not your biggest problem.

There are many Antichrists that are already here. And that's the danger that John is concerned with at this time. Just a brief aside before we explore many Antichrists. The last clause in this verse is what we call a time text.

That is, from this we know that it is the last hour. Time texts are verses that contain information that assist us in the dating of certain biblical events. And John says the impending coming of the Antichrist and that many Antichrists already being on the scene.

That is what tells us it is the last hour. In other words, the last hour took place when John was alive and writing to the church. And that confirms what we learned in the study of Daniel as well. That the events of his prophecy would reach their pinnacle during the rule of Rome and the ministry and the work of the Messiah.

Remember, any prophecy to be biblical has to be concerning Jesus Christ. Anything that strays from Jesus Christ can't be the proper interpretation. So back let's look at the text in verse 22. Says, who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ.

And then John says this, this is the Antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Notice that carefully. The one who denies the Father and the Son, this is the Antichrist, he says. Now we must jump ahead just to chapter 4 for a minute because we get more information in verse 3.

John says in 1 John 4 3, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist. This is crucial information. John gives us a clear explanation of the spirit of the Antichrist.

He denies the Father and the Son, and he denies that Jesus is the Son of God. To put it in practical terms, the one who has the spirit of the Antichrist denies either the deity of Christ or the humanity of Christ.

For a denial of either of those truths is to deny Christianity. You cannot be a Christian, you can't be a true Christian, if you deny either the humanity of Christ or the deity of Christ. And John tells us one more time that the spirit of the Antichrist was already working in his day.

This makes perfect sense as we watch the whole plan of God come to fruition in the person and the work of Jesus Christ. I want to pause once again. Every once in a while, as we progress through a study of a book, we can get so focused on what that particular book is teaching that we lose sight of the whole of Scripture.

So I just want to pause for a few minutes and do a little overview, starting at creation. Don't worry, I'm not going to go every... That's only the first hour. When God created the world, he created man to rule over it.

It was a grand demonstration. That's what the Apostle Paul calls it. It was a grand demonstration of his love and his grace. And he gave man everything he needed to accomplish his mission and to please him.

And he put his law in Adam's heart, which showed him how to please him. When Adam fell as the federal head of mankind, all his descendants fell into sin with him. But out of that sinful race, God chose Abraham to be a father of people.

And God set his love upon those people, which was manifested in the format of a covenant. The Jews were God's chosen people. That law that was on their hearts was put on tablets of stone as a reminder of their sin.

But God had preserved a way for man to be saved, for when he cursed the serpent back in the garden, he told Adam that the seed of the woman would come and crush the serpent's head. One who would sacrifice himself for the sins of the people.

And to be saved in the old covenant, they had to believe in that promise of God. That one day, this Redeemer would come. The entire old covenant system was designed to point them to Jesus Christ as the only way to be saved.

The law of Moses, the history of Israel, the wisdom literature, and all the prophets continually pointed to the coming of Jesus Christ. And the prophecies of Daniel give us some of the clearest pictures of what would be happening when Christ came on the scene.

There would be all-out spiritual warfare. Satan had been behind the scenes always trying to prevent the Messiah from coming, killing the firstborn in Egypt, killing the firstborn in Jerusalem. So there was all-out spiritual warfare when Christ comes into the scene in Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, the covenant nation of Israel rejected Christ when he came, when he came on the scene. And they were cursed by their own words of action. They said, we have no king but Caesar. And when Pilate says, well, what do we do, crucify him?

And Pilate says, no, the blood's not on my hands. He said, may the blood be upon us and on our children. They cursed themselves and they took hold of Jesus, turned him over to the Romans for execution.

And Jesus told them that because of their sin, the kingdom of God would be taken away from them and given to a nation bearing the fruit thereof. And Jesus describes this period of time in Matthew 24. Wars, rumors of wars, false prophets, persecution, tribulation like they have never seen before.

And we also see in the Gospels, there was a spiritual warfare, demonic activity in unprecedented proportions. At the time of Christ coming on the scene, Satan mustered all of his forces to try to prevent Jesus from saving his people, including tempting him up in the wilderness.

All that to no avail. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, prevailed and sacrificed himself and died for his people. He rose again, accomplishing redemption for all of the elect of God. And thereafter, the judgment of God fell upon the apostate nation of Israel.

And Jesus tells us in the book of the Revelation that their synagogues had become synagogues of Satan. And so using the Roman army, they razed the city of Jerusalem and took the temple apart. One stone upon another was dismantled.

And while Satan was defeated at the cross of Christ, and he can no longer prevent the spread of the gospel from going to all the nations, he sets his sights on the church, the Bride of Christ. He creeps and prowls like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may desire.

That's the context for this epistle of John. The spirit of the Antichrist was actively trying to seduce those in the church that John is writing to with heretical teaching, specifically denying Christ.

And so John writes to encourage them to stay the course, to stand firm against evil. And he continues. And once again, as we've seen from the beginning of this epistle, John addresses the church very affectionately as children.

And he says, you've heard the Antichrist is coming? I'm sorry, I have to do another aside. I have to pause. I'm a naturally curious person. When I read the Bible, I ask myself a lot of questions. I can't answer all of them.

One that I asked myself was, who told them that the Antichrist was coming? Most commentators believe that this epistle was written after his gospel, but before the revelation. And I would agree with that.

So did John tell them, because he clearly knew about the Antichrist coming? Or were they just familiar with the prophecies of Daniel? We can't know for sure, but I opt for the second. I believe these people were studying the book of Daniel, and they knew that the Antichrist was coming, that there was time.

Can you imagine being born within the 40-year period after the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ? That must have been something. Just listening to those who were alive and those who walked with Christ.

I'm jealous of Polycarp. Polycarp sat at the feet of John the Apostle. Let me give you a little perspective. I was born, not with Polycarp. We didn't have an opportunity to sit down and eat together. But I was born the year World War II ended.

When I was in school, World War II was recent history. We used to see the newsreels that were played during the war. I had relatives who fought in Europe, in Germany, and in Italy. Adolf Hitler was not just a name in the history books, but was a real person.

You could identify with him because he caused so much pain and suffering. These first century Christians lived through so much, and many of them suffered for their faith. And now they're seeing the prophecies of Daniel come to fruition in their lifetime.

And so John encourages them. You've heard the Antichrist is coming, but the danger is more than that. For many Antichrists are already here. I had the occasion in my 20 years with the police department to work on a couple cases involving counterfeit currency.

And what I had been told was true. I worked with the Secret Service agents. They could spot a phony bill with amazing accuracy just like that. Why? Because they were intimately acquainted with the real thing.

Why does the government care and put so much effort into catching counterfeiters? Because counterfeit currency can do so much harm, not only to our monetary system, but to individuals who are not trained to detect counterfeits.

And everyone in society is harmed by counterfeit money. Now as much a danger as that is, that pales in comparison to the damage counterfeit Christ do. Believe in a false Christ and you will lose your soul.

We were introduced this morning to John's third test for the assurance of faith, the doctrinal test. Summed up, the third test says this, truth matters. It's not enough to believe in just something. You must believe the truth.

You must believe in the Jesus of the Bible, the only Messiah, the God-man who came to earth to save his people. John warned the church in his day that many Antichrists had appeared. I can say along with John, the spirit of Antichrist is alive and well today.

In perilous times, John says it's important that you know that your salvation is genuine. And we're starting three tests that he has given to us for that assurance. The moral test, are you obeying the commandments?

Social test, do you love one another? And today we introduced the third, truth matters. If you're here this morning and you're not a believer, you've never come to that place in your life, you need to know there are many counterfeit religions out there, many counterfeit Christs, but only one religion has a leader that gave himself for a sacrifice for his people.

And only one has a leader that rose from the grave. Only one has a leader that rules heaven and earth today. Repent of your sin. Call upon the name of Jesus, the real Christ. Believe in your heart, confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord and you will be saved.

Let's pray.