THE ANTICHRIST IS COMING
Things Worth Knowing
I John 2:18-27
This little book which God has given to born-
again believers is written that we might understand
some things that are worth knowing. The key word of I
John is the word, know. He wants us to know that we
have been born again and he wants us to know things
that are worth knowing as Christians.
One of the most important things Christians need
to know is to know what kind of time we are living in.
We need to have an understanding of our time. We need
to know the days we are in. It's important that
children learn to tell time. I heard about a fellow
who was out playing one afternoon. He said to one of
his playmates, "What time is it?" The playmate said,
"It's four o'clock." He said, "It can't be four
o'clock, mamma told me to be home at four and I'm
not." Little children have to learn to tell time so
they can be home when Mamma tells them to be home.
The same thing is true in the realm of the
spiritual. God's children need to know what the
spiritual time is. When you read the Word of God you
will find a variety of phrases are used to describe
the last days. Sometimes it is referred to as "the
last times (I Tim 4:1)." Sometimes it is referred to
as "the last days (II Tim 3:1)." In these verses of
scripture he is talking about the last time and
literally the word there is - hour. It is the last
hour. That's what he is saying in verse 18. There is
a sense in which all of God's children have been in
the last day since the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The coming of Jesus Christ into the world
marked the beginning of the last age. So, in one
sense of the word every thing that happened and that
will happen since the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ
into the world, is preparation for the end of the age.
John said to believers in those days, "It is the
last time." I thought about it as I was studying
about it - if that's what John said about his day,
2000 years ago; what in the world would he say if He
was writing in the 90's? I heard about a farmer who
was asleep one night and the grandfather clock went
haywire. It struck 17 times. He said to his wife,
"Wake up, Nellie, it's later than it's ever been
before." I think we would all agree with that
statement.
In the 18th verse John tells us one of the ways
we can know it is the last hour. One of the evidences
we are living in the end of the age is the appearance
of a personality known in the Bible as the Antichrist.
In the last part of verse 18 he says, "whereby we know
that it is the last time." Then he gives us a series
of elements of the last days which indicate to us that
we are living in the last time. One of those elements
he gives to us is -
I. A DENIAL of the Christ.
In the last days there will be a denial of the
deity of Lord Jesus Christ. This denial is build
around the coming of the Antichrist. Verse 18, "You
have heard that Antichrist shall come." Singular.
Antichrist. The Antichrist. The Bible predicts the
appearance of a personality in the end of the age who
will be the Antichrist. Anti means instead of. He
will be a counterfeit Christ. It also means opposed
to. He will combat Christ. He will be an imitation
Jesus Christ and he will oppose everything that the
true Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, represents.
He is presented in many other ways in the Bible.
The Lord Jesus Christ predicted he would come. He said
in Matthew 24 there would be false prophets and false
christs. The Apostle Paul predicted the coming of
this Antichrist. He referred to him as the man of sin
in II Thes. 2. The sin of man will climax in the man
of sin.
Then we come to the book of the Revelation. This
Antichrist is referred to as a beast. The Bible tells
us that when this personality, the Beast comes, he
will demand world worship. He will put in the Temple
in Jerusalem an image to himself and will require that
all of the peoples of the earth will bow down and
worship him.
The choices are very simple when you study the
Scriptures. You will either receive the Lord's
Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, or you will receive the
Devil's Christ, the Antichrist. We are told in these
verses that the Antichrist is a liar. Verse 22, "Who
is a liar, but he who denies that Jesus is the
Christ." The Antichrist is a liar and the Antichrist
will deny the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. So,
there will be characterized in these last days a
denial of the Christ by this personality the
Antichrist.
Notice in verse 18 he says something else. He
says that the Antichrist (singular) will come, but he
also says that even now there are many antichrists
(plural). Even in the days of John, 2,000 years ago,
there were on the scene those who were characterized
as the Antichrists. What is John talking about? Is
he being contradictory here?
Turn to I John 4:3 and this verse will clear up
what John is having to say. "And every spirit that
confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is not of God. And this is that spirit of Antichrist
whereof you have heard that it should come and now
already is it in the world."
Not only will there come a personality - the
Antichrist. But since the time of the Lord Jesus
Himself there has been operating in the world the
spirit of Antichrist so that there has been for 2,000
years an Antichrist movement going on on this earth.
This is why in every generation some people have
mistakenly tried to identify the Antichrist. In the
days of Adolph Hitler, Bible teachers said, "Hitler
must surely be the Antichrist." In the days of Nero,
that insane Roman Emperor, there were Christians who
believed that he was the Antichrist. All of those
Christian speculations were incorrect, but the
confusion was because there is an Antichrist movement
- a spirit of Antichrist - that will be evident even
in every age until the Lord Jesus Christ comes again.
There is an Antichrist movement in the 1990's. Around
us we see evidences of that which is opposed to and
that which is a counterfeit of Jesus Christ.
We see it in the political realm. We see those
efforts to ban the teaching of the Bible and prayer in
the public schools. That's an Antichrist movement.
We see it in the killing of the unborn and even in the
killing of the elderly. That's an Antichrist
movement. We see all of these things that are going
on politically in our world that are against the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is an Antichrist movement.
Same thing is true in the intellectual realm.
Centers of higher learning, many of the things that
are taught there are contrary to Christ and make fun
of Christ and belittle Christ. It is a spirit - an
Antichrist movement.
I don't know if you keep up with the rock and
roll world, I don't. Used to for a number of years but
it got so bad I just couldn't take it any more. There
was an article in Time Magazine February 24 about one
of the newest rock bands going - Marilyn Manson. The
Marilyn Manson band is one of the new groups in the
field of death rock, as it is called. The band has
out a new album entitled significantly, "Antichrist
Superstar." In this record album it has such scenes
and such themes as occultism, suicide, torture and
greed. One of the words says, "I'm so all American
I'd sell you suicide. That's the kind of atmosphere
I'm talking about that's going on in America.
One of our members shared with me this morning
about an article in FOCUS ON THE FAMILY Magazine. It
says that this album has sold in excess of one million
copies. Pollsters tell us that 2/3 of American
teenagers do not attend church regularly, contrary to
ours here tonight. It says the resulting moral vacuum
allows Marilyn Manson and other spiritual counterfeits
to prosper. We are living in a day where there is an
Antichrist movement in the intellectual realm. What
people believe intellectually ultimately determines
how they behave.
One of the characteristics of the last days will
be a denial of the Christ. There's a second element
given to us in these verses. It is also
characteristic of these last days that there will be
a-
II. DESERTION of the Church.
Look at the 19th verse. It's amazing and
astounding. Notice how this verse moves from they to
us. Six times in the verse it talks about they. Five
times in the verse it talks about us. It is talking
about those who have at one time been identified with
the visible church of the Lord Jesus Christ. and yet
they have deserted the church. They went out from us,
it says. But they were not of us. Desertion of the
church. I believe it indicates there is a physical
desertion that goes on. Many people who have come to
know Christ as their personal Lord and Savior and have
identified with the Church look around them and they
see others whose names are on a church roll and they
wonder what's going on.
One of the evidences that you are born again is
that you want to be a part of a local church. Look at
I John 3;14. "We know that we have passed from death
unto life because we love the brethren." There is a
desire on the part of born again people to be with
other born again people. One of the ways I know I'm
saved is that I have a desire to assemble myself with
God's children. But simply because a person has his
or her name on a church roll that does not mean that
individual is genuinely born again. We had a beautiful
testimony this morning. He joined the church, he was
baptized, moved his letter into our church. He became
very active. He was working in our church and he had
never truly been born again.
We have over 20,000 members. Some of those are
elderly and unable to attend. Others live out of town
and have not yet moved their letters to another
congregation. But there are many people who have
identified themselves with this local fellowship of
believers and they never come. He says, "They went
out from us because they were not of us. If they had
been of us they would no doubt have continued with
us."
What about a person who says he's saved and never
has any desire to go to God's house. What about a
person who says he knows Christ as Savior and other
saved people are his brothers and sisters in Christ
and there is never any desire on their part to get
with God's people in a worship setting. I'm not a
judge but I have a hard time believing that some
people have truly been born again. If you are in this
service and you don't know that you know, just as sure
as you know your name, and just as sure that you know
you are in this building that your name is written in
the Lamb's Book of Life, then you ought to come to
Christ tonight.
We talk about backsliders. I'm convinced that
many people we talk about as backsliders have never
slid up much less been able to slide back. In II
Peter 2 the Word says in verse 21, "It would have been
better for them not to have know the way of
righteousness than after they have know it to turn
from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it
happened unto them according to the true proverb. The
dog is turned to his own vomit again and the sow that
was washed to her wallowing in the mire."
There's a difference between the Lord's sheep and
the Devil's hogs. Some people think they are sheep
but I'm not sure but what they are not the devil's
hogs. A hog is a hog and that's all it is. You can
take a hog and wash it up and curl its tail and you
can squire it with perfume and you can wrap a pretty
ribbon around its neck but the first opportunity that
old hog gets it will head for the slop because that's
the nature of a hog.
Look at people who say they know Christ as their
Savior. When moral issues come up in a city look
where people stand on those issues. Look and see how
the city council votes and you'll get a good idea.
Sometimes the church will stand for a matter of purity
and the powers that be will stand for impurity.
Sometimes the church will stand for righteousness and
the powers that be will stand for unrighteousness.
Go down to Tallahassee in the legislature.
You'll find the same thing. The majority of those
people in the legislature have their names on a church
roll. They belong to a church. Yet, when moral issues
are involved they are on the opposite side of that
which is pure and that which is righteous and holy and
good. They are an embarrassment and a burden to their
church. If there is anything that hinders the
testimony of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ today
it is those people who have their names on a church
roll and yet they give no evidence whatsoever that
they have genuinely been changed.
The Bible says in II Cor. 5;17, "Therefore if any
man be in Christ he is a new creation. Old things are
passed away behold all things are become new." I'm
not a judge but this liquor-drinking and this rock and
rolling and this running around and cheating on your
wife crowd that claims to be members of churches and
claims that they are saved, I don't think they have a
ghost of a chance to get into heaven until they get
born again. They went out from us but they were not
of us. Physical desertion.
There is also intellectual desertion. That is
those who intellectually deny the basics of the faith.
It all revolves around denial of the basic elements of
the Lord Jesus. They deny the virgin birth of our
Lord. They deny the miracles of our Lord. They deny
the atoning sacrifice at Calvary. They deny the bodily
resurrection. They deny the literal return. They deny
the inerrancy and accuracy of the Word of God. Many
of these people do not physically desert the church.
They still occupy pulpits and they still sit in chairs
of religion in religion schools. They still hold
offices in denominations and yet they deny the basic
essentials of the Christian faith. John says, "They
went out from us but they were not of us. IF they had
been of us they would have no doubt continued with
us."
We use categories to refer to these kinds of
people. We talk about liberal Christians. If you
want to be technical about it there's no such thing as
a liberal Christian. The Bible doesn't use those
categories. The Bible doesn't talk about conservative
and liberal Christians. The Bible talks about
believers and unbelievers. The Bible talks about
those who are saved and those who are lost. The Bible
draws very clear categories.
Look at II John 9. It says, "Whosoever
transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of
Christ hath not God." Would you like a north Georgia,
King Jerry paraphrase of that statement? "Those who
deny the basic doctrines of the faith ain't saved."
That's what that verse is saying. You can't deny the
basic doctrines of the faith and be a born again
Christian. There is something in your heart when you
come to know Christ that causes you to believe what
the Bible has to say. So, we are living in the days
just before the coming of the Antichrist. One of
those elements will be a denial of the Christ.
Another one of those elements will be a desertion
of the church. Another one of those elements will be
a deception of the Christian.
III. DECEPTION of the Christian.
In the 26th verse he says, "These things have I
written unto you concerning them that seduce you."
Seduce means to lead astray. That means to lead from
truth into error. It is talking about spiritual
deception. It is talking about people who
deliberately deceive believers. Just because a person
says they are a Bible teacher and just because they
have a Bible in their hands and just because they are
on television or radio doesn't necessarily mean they
are of God, you do know that, don't you?
There are some people who are not deliberate
deceivers; they are just spiritually ignorant. It
doesn't mean that everybody that gets off tract is
necessarily deliberately trying to deceive believers.
Sometimes Christians will read an article and they
will get hold of something a teacher has taught and
they will get enamored about it and they will take off
on to a tangent and go to an extreme. That's
spiritual ignorance. But this verse is talking about
deliberate deception. It is talking about a
deliberate attempt on the part of apostate teachers to
lead Christians away from the faith. That's why it is
so important for Christians to know the Scriptures.
That's why it is so vital that born again believers
know their Bible.
We are living in a day in which folks say you
can't preach doctrine anymore. They are saying you
can't teach people what repentance is. You can't
teach people what justification is. You CAN teach
people those doctrines. We do it right here every
Sunday and every Wednesday. We teach the Word. I
don't believe people are so stupid they can't
understand Bible truth. If you don't know what you
believe, when someone comes along with error you have
no way to compare between that which is true and that
which is false. So you become extremely susceptible
to error. Children of God, could I encourage you --
know what you believe. Don't be like the Christian
who said, "I believe what my church believes."
Someone asked, "What does your church believe?" He
said, "My church believes what I believe. We both
believe the same thing." Don't be that indefinite
about it. Know what you believe. Know your Bible.
Get into the Word of God.
He says in these days there will be those who
will deliberately try to seduce God's children and
lead them astray and take them away from the truth.
In this kind of atmosphere it is very important for
God's children to learn how to abide. The word,
abide, is one of the most important words in the Bible
and it is one of the most important words in this
section of Scripture here. The unfortunate thing is
that in the King James Version it is given with
several different words and you miss the impact of
what's said. In verse 19 the word, continued, is the
same word - abide. The word, remain, in another verse
is the same word - abide. The word, abide, has to do
with our fellowship in the Lord. As you study down
through these you will see what God says. He says in
these verses that God's children are to abide.
God's children are to abide in their church.
Verse 19 - "they went out from us if they had been of
us they would no doubt have continued with us" - abide
with us. That means - stay in your church. Be active
in your church. Get involved in your church. Attend
your church. It's wonderful to see this good crowd
tonight. It's good to see the crowds we have on
Wednesday nights. I was talking with one of our men
today who is in denominational leadership and he's
gone just about every Sunday. He said, "Preacher, I'm
in a lot of churches and there are some good one out
there, but there's something special about this
church. There's something different." I believe God
is on this church. I don't know what service it will
be but any service now there's no telling what God may
do. One of these days we are going to have a
spiritual avalanche. God's going to come down upon us
in an unusual way. I don't want to miss it. I want
to be here when it happens. Stay in your church.
Continue in the church.
You ought to stay in your Bible. Verse 24, "Let
that therefore abide in you which you heard from the
beginning." That's the Scriptures. "If that which
you heard from the beginning shall abide in you you
shall also abide in the Son and in the Father." He is
saying right there that the way you stay in fellowship
with the Lord is to stay in the Scriptures. You get
in the Bible and get the Bible in you. It's important
to come and hear the Word in these services, but it's
also important to get in the word on a daily basis.
Stay in the Word. Read your Bible. Have a definite
time to study the Scriptures. Stay in the church.
Stay in the Word.
Verse 20 - the third abiding the Scripture
teaches is we are to abide in the Holy Spirit. "But
you have an unction from the holy one and you know all
things." You have an unction - an anointing. It's
the same word translated anointing in verse 27. The
anointing which you have received of him. It's a
beautiful picture. The word, anointing, means to
literally anoint with oil. In the Old Testament there
were three offices that were anointed. There was the
office of the prophet, the priest and the king. All
three of those offices received a special anointing
that set them apart for their roles, their
responsibility, for their position that God had given
to them. When the Lord Jesus Christ came the Bible
says he was anointed with the Holy Spirit. When Jesus
went to his home church and spoke in the synagogue, he
said the Spirit of the Lord is upon me for he has
anointed me to preach the Gospel. Christ had the
anointing of the Holy Spirit.
What a beautiful picture this is of the Holy
Spirit in the life of a believer. At the moment of
salvation the Bible teaches that you as a believer
receive the anointing. Don't let anybody tell you
that you are supposed to get the anointing after you
get saved. You got the anointing when you got saved.
II Cor. 1 is talking about some of the things that
happened to you when you got saved. When you study
salvation and find out everything that happened to you
when you got saved, it's astounding everything God did
for you when He saved you. In verse 21 he says, "Now
he who established us with you in Christ and hath
anointed us as god who hath also sealed us and given
the earnest of the spirit in our heart." When he
saved us He established us, he sealed us, he gave the
earnest and he also anointed us. You have the
anointing. You have the precious presence of the Holy
Spirit in your life.
Back to I John 2:20 - "You have an unction, an
anointing, from the holy one and you know all things."
These kids say, "that's wonderful, I know all things.
I have an algebra test tomorrow and it's wonderful to
know that as a Christian I know all things and I'll go
to school tomorrow and make 100 on my algebra test."
No, that's not what it's talking bout. It is talking
about all things that are necessary for you to grow
and mature as a Christian and to be able to understand
the truth and to detect that which is in error.
Look again at verse 27. He says the anointing
which you have received of him abides in you. That's
the Holy Spirit. You need not that any man teach you
but as the same anointing teaches you of all things
and is true and is no lie. The anointing helps you
understand the truth of the things of the Lord and it
also helps you to detect error.
There are no spiritually elite when it comes to
the understanding of the Scriptures. Thank God for
Bible teachers. This is not doing away with Bible
teaching, by the way. But there is no one teacher who
has it all. There is no one teacher who is the final
authority. If you get hung up on one Bible teacher and
everything that Bible teachers says that becomes law
and Gospel for you, you are off base. The Holy Spirit
is the teacher. Those who teach, teach under the
anointing of the Holy Spirit and if they teach
contrary to the Bible then they are off base. No one
teacher has the corner on all truth. You have the
same Holy Spirit in you that Bible teachers have in
them. They may have a special gift for teaching, but
there is available to you the same Holy Spirit who
will help you understand the Bible.
I think one of the wisest men I know was a man
who never finished grade school. He worked all of his
life in a mill in Georgia, never owned an automobile
until he retired. He worked the second shift and when
it was over he would come home to the meal his wife
had prepared for him. He would eat and then he would
begin to study his Bible. It was remarkable what that
man found in the Bible - how much he understood of the
truth. I'd preach my sermon on Sundays and afterwards
we would walk down the street together. He'd say,
"Preacher, that's a wonderful message you preached
today." Then he would bring out things about that
verse I had never dreamed of. He got that from the
Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit taught it to him.
You don't have to be intimidated. You may never
have been able to get a college education, but if you
are born again you have the anointing, the Holy Spirit
is in you, you can understand truth. You can
understand your Bible. You may not understand it all.
The further I go the less I know I understand about
the Bible. The Bible gets bigger and bigger and bigger
and bigger. You can understand enough of the Bible to
be able to live a Christian life and be a consistent
witness for the Lord and have the joy of the Lord in
your soul on a daily basis.
Understand truth. Jesus said when he the Holy
Spirit is come he will guide you into all truth. He
said he will teach you all things. Understand truth,
but also detect error. There are a lot of isms
floating around. The Bible teaches that the Holy
Spirit is the divine disinfectant. The Holy Spirit
warns us when error is being taught.
I went to a very liberal college for 4 years. I
majored in Bible. I was an 18 year old boy when I
started there and I would listen to learned men teach
what they taught. Sometimes they would teach
something and it was just like bells and alarms going
off in my heart. Something down inside of me would
say - that's not right - that's not true - that's
inconsistent with the Bible. That was the work of the
Holy Spirit. That was the alarm of the Holy Spirit,
the anointing of the Holy Spirit going on in my heart.
We are living in the days just before the coming
of the Antichrist. There will be elements of the
denial of Christ. There will be desertion of the
church. There will be attempts to deceive the
Christian. But if the Christian will stay in his
church, his Bible and claim the anointing of the Holy
Spirit he can stay straight and be ready for the Lord
Jesus Christ, the real Christ to come.
