Sermon: Abiding in Christ

I invite you to take a copy of the scriptures, whether that's your own copy or a copy, uh, in front of you in the pew. And turn with me to First John chapter two. First John chapter two. This morning we are continuing our summer series through this book of one John. It's a letter written by a pastor to a church or a group of churches. And so this morning we come to uh, one John chapter two verses 18 through 27. Before we hear God's word read

and preached, would you join me as we ask for God's blessing upon it?

Our Father in heaven, your word tells us that no one knows the thoughts of God, accept the spirit of God. And so we thank you that we have received the Spirit who is from God so that we might understand what you have freely given us. As we hear your word read and preached this morning, we ask that your spirit would give us understanding, would give us faith to believe this word would give us faith to trust in Christ maybe for the first time

or to keep trusting in Christ. And we pray, oh Lord, that your spirit would guard us from the attempts of the evil one are adversary and the deceiver to pluck up this word before it takes root in our hearts. Would you help me, oh Lord, to preach as I ought, I need your help. And we ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen. One John chapter two verses 18 through 27. Listen carefully for this is God's word children. It is the last hour

and as you have heard that antichrist is coming. So now many antichrist have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour they went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us, but they went out that 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 have received 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 has taught you abide in him

well, dear friends and the Lord Jesus Christ, I want you to think with me this morning about some of the hard circumstances in the Christian life. I'm thinking in particular about some of those experiences that are unique to followers of Christ

that happen as followers of Christ experiencing the Christian life, those experiences that might be painful, those experiences that might cause deep disappointment, those experiences that might unsettle your faith or might challenge the strength of your faith.

I wanna say to you this morning so that it's crystal clear, deciding to follow Jesus Christ is the best decision anyone can make. Some might throw a whole bunch of negatives to suggest otherwise it is the best decision that you can make. But I think we also know that it's true in our own experience of the Christian life, whether it's ourself or a family member or a friend or those here in our church family, any Christian

who has spent some amount of time following Christ knows and can attest that following Jesus Christ is not always easy in this world. Jesus said you will have tribulations.

So how about for you? What in your personal experience as a Christ follower has been difficult for you to keep following Christ? If you've suffered, uh, for the name of Christ as some of you have, You know that it is one of the difficult experiences, the most difficult experiences that a Christian can have in following Christ. Perhaps you've received persecution in some form, whether it be physical or some other variety.

Or maybe you've been on the receiving end of partiality shown against you, you applied for a new job or you were seeking a promotion and you were denied from it because the employer knows that you follow Jesus.

Or maybe it's just some general variety of receiving and being on the receiving end of hatred for being a Christ follower.

This is difficult, perhaps this painful experience as some of you have experienced yourself, you choose to follow Jesus Christ and that choice costs you relationships that you love with your family or with your friends.

These are undoubtedly a couple of challenging experiences for a follower of Christ. But there's another one, and it's one that's identified in our passage this morning. It's the experience of knowing someone who once professed faith in Jesus Christ and joined himself or herself to Christ's church who then turns their back abandons Christ leaves the church.

There are very few experiences that you can come up with in the life of a Christian that are more difficult than this one. There are few experiences in the life of a church, not just in the life of a Christian, but in the life of a church. When someone from your church, a abandons Christ abandons the Christ, they once professed and abandons the church altogether.

If you've had this experience or known someone who has left the church abandoned Christ, you know how it can cause deep pain, deep sorrow and utter confusion. How could this happen? But it can also, it can also have the effect of unsettling others in their faith, other Christians in their faith. You think especially if it's a, a prominent leader in the church, an elder or a pastor here, or if it's a prominent member of the church

and they abandoned the faith, what happened? I can't make sense of this. And so it might stir up questions such as, is the Christian faith true? Is it true? Is my faith true? Am I a true Christian? Is my faith sincere? Unlike that person who seemed like they had sincere faith, how can I know that my faith is sincere and what is keeping me from straying from the shepherd of my soul?

If you've had this experience or perhaps you've asked these questions, You know this to be an unsettling and challenging experience in the Christian life.

What this passage in one John two tells us and teaches us this morning is that this experience is not a new experience. It is in fact an experience that has been around for a very long time. You see, we learn here in one John two that some individuals had abandoned the apostolic faith that had been passed along to them that they had received and accepted for a time and then abandoned it and abandoned the church. They left the church.

So John writes in verse 19, he says, 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. These particular individuals who left this church did not leave quietly. They did not leave by themselves. They were attempting to take others out of the church with them. Notice what John writes in verse 26.

He says, I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. Those who had left the church were claiming that they knew God. I know God. They were saying, And they were claiming to have special knowledge, special knowledge. And so they were implying that those who remained in the church were missing out on something critical to the faith critical in the practice of the faith. So in light of this situation that John is writing about,

you can see how it's how it would be easy for someone who remained in that church to begin to wonder, to begin to have a lack of assurance. Am I right? Were they right? What this passage shows us is that the experience of a apostasy and the experience of lack of assurance often go together, the experience of apostasy, watching someone abandon the church and abandon their profession of faith in Christ and the experience of lack of assurance

and others often go together. Now, John tells us why the reasons why these individuals had left the church and the reason, uh, that those in John's context had abandoned the church was primarily a doctrinal one or a theological one. So look at verse 22. We learned there that they were denying the truth, that Jesus is the Christ who is the liar, but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Now, if you're maybe new to Christianity, uh, Christ

is not Jesus's last name. Christ is a title it, it's a title for a divine office. Christ means anointed one or Messiah. So these deniers were denying that Jesus is God's messiah, the promised one, the appointed savior or God's son. And John doesn't have only this to say about these particular individuals, that this is their denial. He says more about it in other verses later on. And, and so I want to take you there and while I take you there, I want you

to see if you can spot that error. The, the elaboration, the, the more information that he gives. What is it in particular that they were denying? So look across the page with me at chapter four verses two and three.

John writes there by this, you know, the spirit of God, every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. And then flip over one more page to the book of second John. John addresses this again in the sec, in his second letter,

He writes in verse seven, for many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh such a one is the deceiver in the antichrist. Can you, can you spot what they were denying? They were denying that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh. They were denying that the eternal son of God came to earth taking on flesh. What they denied was the incarnation God in the flesh.

Now this is a common belief, a common mistaken belief, agnostic teaching, gnostic teaching. And most scholars think that's the error that John is writing about the the heretical group that John is addressing. In this particular, in this particular letter, the gnostics among other errors, Gnostics said that Jesus was born as a man and died as a man. And that it was only at Jesus' baptism when the Christ descended on him

and then helped him throughout his life to do supernatural acts, do supernatural things, teaching miracles. And then before Jesus died on the cross and suffered on the cross, the Christ left him.

And so what you can discern here is that contrary to apostolic teaching, These ones were denying that Jesus and Christ, the eternal son of God, were the same person.

One person possessing two natures human and divine. That's what they were denying.

Contrary to this, here's what we believe Dear Christians, here's what we believe that the Bible teaches. And I, I think the ine creed says it so well, I'm gonna direct us there. It says, for us and for our salvation, the Son of God came down from heaven. He became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and was made human. Did you catch that phrase at the beginning for us and for our salvation, it was necessary for your salvation

that the son of God unite himself with your flesh. With our flesh. It was necessary. And so you see, they were denying that Jesus was the Christ and their error undermines our salvation. And John says as much I want you to see what he says in verse 23.

He says, there no one who denies the son has the Father to deny the truth about the Son is to deny the father. And Jesus himself said this in Matthew 10, verse 33. He says, whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my father Who is in heaven. You do not have the Father if you do not have the son. And if you do not have the son, you do not have life.

John says in chapter five, verse 12, he writes, whoever has the son has life, whoever does not have the son of God, does not have life.

These apostates, those who had abandoned their profession and left the church, were promoting false teaching that endangered their souls to damnation.

And John was concerned because they were promoting such teaching and trying to bring others with them. They were endangering the souls of others. And what's worse, these ones were in the church, they knew the truth about Jesus to Christ and they gave it up for a lie.

So you see that John speaks out strongly against this error because it was a serious error. He calls it in these verses a lie.

John does not have a concept. The Bible does not have a concept that there are many ways to God or many ways to the Father or many ways to attain eternal life. And that Jesus is just one of those ways among many. There's One way to the Father, there's one way to life.

All the others are lies.

What you believe about Jesus Christ matters dear church. And so John calls those who promote and seek to propagate such error as liars because it is contrary to the revealed truth. In the scriptures, we see John speaking out plainly, boldly against error because the issues at stake are serious. Such people are liars, deceivers, evers, and even antichrist. He says, now that word may be of interest to you. Antichrist is a word that is only used

by John in the New Testament. The only time you'll find this word is in John's writings.

So while you may not find the word in other uh, new Testament books, you will find the concept you'll, you'll find the concept of an antichrist, uh, by other names or different titles. But John is the only one who uses the word antichrist. And we, we see here that it's not a word or a figure that is reserved for an eschatological person or figure. It's not this, this coming one at the end times who is big and bad and ugly.

He uses this word, this term antichrist to describe any who oppose Christ. And the truth about him, Antichrist is a, is an apt word. It's a fitting word antichrist against Christ in the place of Christ, in opposition to Christ. That's what this teaching is opposition to the true biblical teaching about Jesus.

And so John says that such opposition reveals that they who have left have the spirit of the antichrist and thus he calls them antichrist.

Now, I think it's important to say this to you brothers and sisters. Not every person who disagrees with you is a heretic and not every person who disagrees with you is an antichrist. There are some matters, important matters even where good Christians may differ and disagree, but it is not anti-Christ teaching. And so we must be careful how we speak of other Christians with whom we disagree. But, but on the other hand,

there are certain issues that are serious and we must be ready and prepared to speak out against them. As such, speak out plainly and boldly as John does, such as when the gospel is at stake, when the salvation of sinners is in jeopardy or when the error is such that it strikes at the vitals of the faith so that there's nothing left to our faith.

Those who abandoned the church did not believe in the true Christ. And so John writes to expose their error and call it out for what it is. But as we already observed, apostasy and lack of assurance can go together. When you see others apostatize abandon the church, it can unsettle your faith. And John knows this. And so he intends to reassure true believers in the faith in his writing. He doesn't want the church to be left with doubts.

He doesn't want them to lack assurance. He doesn't want them, especially to be like those who abandon the church and to find themselves abandoning the church as well. Rather, John wants these believers to be confident in Christ, to be certain of the truth, to be assured in their faith, to be confident about eternal life.

And that's what he does in the rest of this writing. So know knowing that this dilemma, this experience still exists today where some who have professed Christ and join themselves to the church later, leave the church and abandon the profession, knowing that this still happens today and knowing that it can be unsettling for you, unsettling for me. I want us to consider as application the encouragement and exhortations for believers

that John gives in this passage. You might think about it through these questions for yourself to make it personal. How can I resist error? How can I keep the faith when others are not? How can I persevere until the end? I wanna give you three exhortations three ways. The first is this, know the times. KNOW know the times in verses 18 and 19, John says that the presence of the antichrist is evidence that it is the last hour.

Now this is a a theological marker rather than a chronological one. And what I mean is this. When you see uh, those words or those descriptions last hour, last times, end times, what the Bible means and is referring to is the the time between the times, the time between Jesus's first coming and Jesus's second coming, his first coming to die, to come as a man and to die on the cross. His second coming to return for us, for his church.

And John says, you're in that time and so too are we, dear Christians, we are in the last hour and the last days. So you might wonder, how does this help you? How does this help you to know the times? Well, it helps you similarly to how it helps you to know that it is the last hour of a long, long car trip with young ones in the car.

That last hour chaos breaks out.

But You know it's the last hour. You know what's coming when the last hour is coming, chaos. And it's almost done when you know the time. It sets expectations, sets your expectations, and that's going to help you to know what is going to come your way to help you know what to expect and then to prepare yourself to face what is coming your way.

Many times in the New Testament there is an association between the end times and the promotion of false teaching or the presence of false teachers. There's an association many times you see it in the gospels, you see it in many of the letters. And so you might ask yourself, why is it that this is repeated so often by so many authors to so many churches across the ages? Here's the answer. So you wouldn't be surprised.

So you won't be surprised at the presence of false teaching and false prophets.

And that helps you to be vigilant.

Know dear church that the spirit of the antichrist remains in this age. Know that there are deceivers who remain. Who would like you to abandon the teaching about Christ? Stand firm, be watchful. And knowing the times also serves as a comfort, right? Don't need to say much more about it than this. The end is coming soon. We can endure, we can make it so first know the times. Second, abide in the truth. John was not writing to convince the church

of the truth about Jesus because as he says in verse 21, you know it. So what John is writing for instead is to urge the church to continue believing the truth that they heard from the beginning.

Do you know what the first step is to identifying a counterfeit dollar bill? Do you know what the first step is to identify a counterfeit? It's to know the real one. To know it. Similarly, you need to know the truth, to identify error. If you know the truth, you can compare what seems to be off with the real thing to prove it. Kids, I need your help. Where is it that you can find the truth about Jesus? I think I heard it in the Bible.

That's right in the Bible. Here are the words of eternal life. Dear church, here is the truth, the real thing. You already have it And you know it. If a teaching sounds too good to be true or a teaching sounds new like something you've never heard before, it's it's novel.

Test it. Test it against the truth, the real thing. And this will help you to keep you from error. I encourage you, make the truth the subject of your lifelong study. Commit to understanding it better year in, year out, but also never advance beyond this truth. You don't need to. You already have what you need to abide in the Son and to abide in the Father the truth. The truth about Jesus. God has already given you everything you need.

You are not missing anything.

In fact, John actually says God has given you everything. Look at what he says in verse 25.

God has given a great promise to those who abide in the Son and in the Father He says, this is the promise that he made to us. Eternal life. If you abide in the Son and in the Father and in the truth, you will have eternal life.

So lay hold of this promise by laying hold of God's truth in the scriptures. How will you keep the faith? How will you abide in the Son and the Father until the end by abiding in the truth about Jesus? And then third and finally abide in the Holy Spirit. John's great word of encouragement and hope to the church is what he says in verse 27 and in verse 20. So hear what he says in verse 20. But he's contrasting to the apostates,

but you have been anointed by the holy one and you all have knowledge. There is a fundamental difference between true Christians and false Christians, true believers and unbelievers. It's this, the presence of the holy one, of the Holy Spirit, the presence of the Holy Spirit. It's not fundamentally a difference in knowledge, although that is very important. It is a byproduct of having the Holy Spirit as John says, the fundamental difference for you dear true Christians

and those who might abandon the church is the presence of the Holy Spirit. You have the Holy Spirit. John says, how does this help you? How does knowing that you have the Holy Spirit with you give you hope and confidence? Well, I want you to listen to what Jesus says about the Holy Spirit in John 16. John 16 is, is right on the cusp of Jesus's death on the cross. And he's trying to encourage his disciples who are a saddened and distraught by the fact

that Jesus has told them, I'm going to the Father, I'm leaving you. So what does Jesus say to encourage the His disciples? This is what he says. When the spirit of truth comes, that's the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth. He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will declare it to you. The things that are to come, he will glorify me for He will take what is mine and declare it to you.

True believers have the spirit of truth to guide them into all the truth about Jesus.

Make no mistake, dear friends, the Holy Spirit always works in accordance with the scriptures to confirm what is in the scriptures. The Holy Spirit will never lead you away from what the scriptures teach about Jesus, but only what you find in the scriptures.

And so John, when he says that you have no need that anyone should teach you, he's not meaning to say that there are no, there's no need for teachers, teachers in the faith that would undermine what he's doing. He's teaching this church who would undermine the rest of the scriptures when Jesus ascended. Ephesians said he gave gifts to men, some to be teachers. So what does he mean? John means to emphasize that you have the very best teacher

and he abides in you.

Do not listen to the teaching and to teachers who contradicts this divine teacher, do not.

I wonder if some of you have ever had the thought that if that if it were up to you, that if it were up to you and you alone to endure in the faith and persevere till the very end. If you've had the thought, I'm doomed. I'm too weak. My faith doesn't feel secure enough.

But these verses do is encourage you. It's not just up to you to keep the faith to know the truth. You have the divine helper sent from the Father and from the son to help you in the Christian faith to endure and to persevere. Don't you love that Hym? We sometimes sing. When I fear my faith will fail, he will hold me fast. God has anointed you with his Holy Spirit to guide you into the truth and to safeguard you in the truth.

Each of you, all of you, there's one final thing I want to point out to you from this passage. I want you to look at verses 20 and 27, several instances where you see that word you.

And the last one in verse 20 is helpful. It says You all have knowledge, plural you all, all of these instances of you in verse 20 and 27 are plural. Each of you, all of you have the Holy Spirit. It's not just the teachers and preachers or elders. It's not just the educated, it's not just the kids who have grown up in this church, the people who have aged from being raised in a good Bible, believing church that have the Holy Spirit.

Each of you, if you are in Christ, have the Holy Spirit and have been anointed by him.

So dear church, how will you persevere to the end? How will you resist error and keep believing the truth? How will you abide? Well, first you abide in the Holy Spirit. You have him and you abide in the truth about Jesus. You have the scriptures and you know the times. False teaching will come, false prophets will come, deceivers will come, be vigilant. Stand against them, resist them. That's how you will keep the faith until the end.

Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we give you thanks that you have given us your word as a a lamp to our feet and a light for our path. We give you thanks that you have given us your spirit to guide us on that path, to bring us into the light, to give us, uh, to bring us to the truth about Jesus. We thank you that you have given us the spirit to safe guard us in the truth, to keep us from going astray. And I pray, oh Lord, that you would especially now take this

word and apply it to the hearts of those who hear, so that they might be assured in their faith that they might keep pressing on in the faith. The faith that they have heard, that they know that they believe. And would you keep them, oh God, with your strength until the very end. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.