Refresh & Restore — February 25, 2021

¹⁸ Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. 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. ²⁰ But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. ²¹ 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. ²² 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. ²³ No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. ²⁴ 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. ²⁵ And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.

²⁶ I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. ²⁷ But the anointing that you 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.^[1]

1 John 2:18-27

Greetings, Sojourner!

We have – hopefully – survived Snowmaggedon 2021 here in central Mississippi. I am continuing to pray for those still recovering from the worst of the icy terror in Texas and other places. And I am glad for warm weather. However, this warm weather has not been enough to completely melt the ice.

While Mississippians have taken advantage of this shorts-and-flip-flops turn of temperature, there is still a lot of ice! There are large mounds of ice leftover from parking lots being cleared. There are even patches and mounds of ice around people’s houses, namely mine.

I say this to confess that I have had to live out Proverbs 16:18: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Many people fell and slipped and slid on the ice this past week, but I – due mostly to abstaining from winter shenanigans – was proud that I made it through the entire spell of inclement weather without falling. I gave my father and brother a hard time after their hard falls. Haughty might be mild compared to the joking I threw their way.

But, lo and behold, Tuesday morning found me literally face-planted on my driveway, glasses thrown asunder and wrist awkwardly bent beneath the full weight of my body. I was humbled. And I was angry. I yelled and fussed and made quite a big deal about my fall. Thankfully, it appears that my wrist is only sprained, leaving my pride to be the only thing truly and rightfully broken.

You may be wondering how this relates to antichrists and 1 John, but I assure you they are wedded together in my mind today.

Last week, we began our study of 1 John 2:18-27 and saw that it was more than we could cover in a single devotion. Our first look at this passage helped us see the difference between the church in 1 John and the antichrists that were attacking it. In it, we looked at how God helps His Church to persevere through being attacked and how the those aligned with a spirit that is literally anti-Jesus-Christ will fall away after inflicting their anti-gospel message.

This week, we are going to shift to look at the attack of the antichrists and the effects of the attack on the church in vv. 22-23.

To do this, I again remind you of the truth of the gospel. In last week’s devotion, we looked at several verses (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Titus 3:4-5, 1 Peter 1:3-5) that lay out the foundation for the gospel clearly. I would like to shift to a definition of the gospel written by a preacher so that we can compare the false message of the antichrists with the true message of the gospel proclaimed through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the preaching of the Word. David Platt defines the gospel thusly:

“The gospel is the good news that God, the loving Creator, sovereign King, and holy Judge of all, has looked upon men and women wonderfully and uniquely made in His image who have rebelled against Him, are separated from Him, and deserve death before Him, and He has sent His Son, Jesus, God in the flesh, the long-awaited King, to live a perfect and powerful life, to die a sacrificial and substitutionary death, and to rise from the grave in victory over sin, Satan, and death. The gospel is a summons from God for all people in all nations to repent and believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, turning from all idols to declare allegiance to Jesus alone as King and trust in Jesus alone as Lord. All who turn from Jesus will experience everlasting, horrifying suffering in hell, while all who trust in Jesus will experience everlasting, satisfying communion with God in heaven.”[2]

Look at how he speaks about God. He describes Him as “Creator, sovereign King, and holy Judge” (Genesis 1:1, Colossians 1:16-17, Revelation 17:14, Isaiah 33:22). He emphasizes the Bible’s teaching that Jesus is “God in the flesh, the long-awaited King” (John 1:14, Isaiah 9:6)and that His “sacrificial and substitutionary death” (2 Corinthians 5:21, Colossians 1:19-20) and resurrection from “the grave in victory over sin, Satan, and death” (John 11:25-26, 1 Corinthians 15:54-57) as being necessary for anyone to be saved. He explains that salvation occurs when people “repent and believe in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, turning from all idols to declare allegiance to Jesus alone as King and trust in Jesus alone as Lord” (Mark 1:15, Romans 10:9-10). All the language that Platt uses to talk about the gospel speaks of God and the salvation He offers in a way that is consistent with Scripture. This, like all true Bible teaching, is pro-Christ.

Look at the contradiction we see in 1 John 2:22. The antichrists are liars who deny “that Jesus is the Christ”, going even further to deny “the Father and the Son”. Let me say that again. They are proclaiming that Jesus is not the Messiah. They are proclaiming that He is not God. They are proclaiming that God the Father is not who He claims to be in His Word. They are proclaiming that God the Son is not who the Bible says that He is.

Everything that comes from the mouth of these antichrists – and will ultimately come from the Antichrist – is designed to turn you away from the truth of the gospel. It is more dangerous than you can imagine. This false gospel is designed to stir up doubt and division in local churches. Remember, that “your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:9), meaning that his goal is to devour – to devote to destruction – by whatever means he can. But, just as he is known to be “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44) and “that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world” (Revelation 12:9), he lives up to that and spews his anti-gospel lies through his antichrists.

We have seen a few weeks ago that Satan has knowledge of Scripture, so he knows that the Bible shows his sure doom. I can think of nothing more dangerous than an angry supernatural being with delusions of grandeur and a nothing-to-lose, take-the-ship-down-with-me attitude. Yet I remind you, “Lo! His doom is sure!”[3]

Revelation 20:10 shows a different picture of Satan: “and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever”. The King of kings and Lord of lords will reign victorious, and hell will forever be occupied by Satan and his antichrists. But how many other occupants will be led astray by his lies and false gospel?

We do not have to be susceptible to fall into his trap to “walk in darkness” and “not practice the truth” (1 John 1:6). No, “if we walk in the light, as [God] is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

We need to follow the warning of the psalmist and seek that God may “turn [our] eyes from looking at worthless things; and give [us] life in [His] ways” (Psalm 119:37). We need to heed the invitation of Jesus Himself who said, “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:14).

To do this, we need to be careful. Verse 23 clearly states that those who deny the Son do not have the Father – they cannot be saved because they have no part in Christ or His death and resurrection. But verse 23 also gives hope: “Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.” We need to be on our guard. We need to be like the believers in Berea who “were more noble than those in Thessalonica” because they “received the Word with eagerness” but made sure they were “examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11). We need to do the same. We trust preachers only when their gospel lines up with Scripture. And we can tell antichrists by the same token; if they wrongly proclaim Christ, they have no gospel – plain and simple.

The issue with the false gospel is that they begin with just enough truth to be familiar to their hearers to get their attention and trap them. In the case of the church in 1 John, the antichrists preached in the name of Jesus; the problem was their Jesus was neither the Christ nor God incarnate. They preached a different Jesus. These antichrists come looking like prophets and preachers – they masquerade as sheep “but inwardly are ravenous wolves” (Matthew 7:15). They come up from “among the people” and seek to “secretly bring in destructive heresies” (2 Peter 2:1). Their entire goal is to “distort the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:7). If you add anything to or take anything away from the gospel – if you preach a different Christ, you have no hope and no salvation.

While this is a dire warning, it is not meant to cause fear. Remember that, if you are in Christ, “you have been anointed by the Holy One” (v. 20). He has left you a His Spirit, and the “Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16). And His Spirit will help you discern the truth from the lies (v. 27).

I told you earlier that I fell and busted my wrist, face, and pride on the ice Tuesday. What I did not tell you was that I knowingly was standing on ice. I knew that others had fallen but felt that I could stand on my own two feet – until those feet were following my body to the ground. What I did not tell you was that I fell again this very morning. I was more careful today to avoid the ice, but I did not look as closely as I should have, stepped on black ice on my sidewalk, and busted my pride once more. Let us be on better guard against antichrists and their false gospel. We are foolish to stand in its midst and always – always – need to stand on the sure foundation of “our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness” (Titus 2:13-14). He alone can save. Let us trust in Him alone.

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^[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Jn 2:18–27.

[2] David Platt, “Gospel Foundations”, Secret Church 20: God, Government, and the Gospel – Study Guide (Radical, Inc., 2020), 37.

[3] Martin Luther, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” (Public Domain)