Greetings! Welcome to Lechem Panim. We are continuing today our study of the epistle of 1 John, a book that is centered on helping us to be real, authentic Christians. And John writes in…1 John 2:18 (ESV)-- 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.[THE CAR ACCIDENT-- A woman and a man got into a really bad car accident. Both cars are tot...
Greetings! Welcome to Lechem Panim. We are continuing today our study of the epistle of 1 John, a book that is centered on helping us to be real, authentic Christians. And John writes in…
1 John 2:18 (ESV)-- 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.
[THE CAR ACCIDENT-- A woman and a man got into a really bad car accident. Both cars are totaled, but luckily no one was hurt.
After they crawled out of their cars, the woman said, "Wow, just look at our cars! They are destroyed. Fortunately, we aren't hurt. This must be a sign from God that we should meet and be friends and live together in peace for the rest of our days."
The man replied, "I agree with you completely. This must be a sign from God!
The woman continued, "And look at this, here's another miracle.... My car is completely ruined but this bottle of wine didn't break. It's a sign that God wants us to drink this wine and celebrate our good fortune." Then she handed the bottle to the man. The man agreed, opened the bottle and drank half, and then handed it back to the woman.
The woman takes the bottle, immediately puts the cap back on, and handed it back to the man. The man asked, "Aren't you having any?"
The woman replied, "No. I think I'll just wait for the police”] Sometimes we can be a little too trusting of people. A little discernment would no doubt have helped that gentleman. It is an important skill to learn how to tell the good people from the bad people. And though we don’t like to put labels on people, there are people we need to watch out for; some who could do us physical harm and some who could do us spiritual harm. And it is the latter that John expresses concern about in this epistle. There had been false Christians in the Church who had been perpetuating false doctrine. And people were being deceived. And today we still struggle with this as well; as there are numerous false teachers and heresies seeking to infiltrate the Church. And it’s not that hard to be deceived, especially in our day and age where the mantra is “It doesn’t really matter what you believe as long as you believe it with sincerity.”
Construction Not Relative— I have known people in construction. What would happen if one day one of their employees was supposed to bring them an 8 foot by 12 foot board and their employee brings instead a 5 foot by 11 foot board. Well, they would complain. But the employee says, “They’re the same thing.”
“No they aren’t!”
“Well, that’s your opinion. They’re the same to me.”
That employee wouldn’t last long, would he? Why? Because there are absolute, mathematical and geometrical truths associated with construction that are true whether you believe them or not!!! And if you have an architect who doesn’t understand that, you better not have him working on your house!
Music Not Relative— Or let’s say that you and your friend are listening to music together in the car. And you say to your friend, “Hey, lets play a little smooth Jazz” and he starts playing a Beach Boys song.
“What are playing?”
“Beach Boys?”
“But that isn’t Jazz!”
“Well, it is for me.”
“You can’t make Jazz whatever you want it to be!”
And your friend says, “Come on man, don’t try to make me conform to what you think is or isn’t Jazz. Let me make up my own mind.”
Relativism Doesn’t Work in ANY Field— You see, my point is that Relativism doesn’t work in ANY field or occupation. So why then do we think it works when it comes to choosing a religion?
Sincerity of Beliefs-- [It is impossible to live a real life by believing lies. God has warned the church family (“little children”) about the conflict between light and darkness (1 John 1:1—2:6) and between love and hatred (2:7–17). Now He warns them about a third conflict: the conflict between truth and error. It is not enough for a believer to walk in the light and to walk in love; he must also walk in truth.] And so today our passage very much centers on truth. And John uses [two special terms: “the last time {(or hour)}” and “antichrist.” Both terms make it clear that Christians are living in an hour of crisis and must guard against the errors of the enemy.] It says in…
1 John 2:18a (ESV)-- 18 Children, it is the last hour,
What are the last days?— Now whenever you see phrases like “the last hour” or “the last days”, it is referring to the time between Jesus’ death and resurrection and His second coming; that time in which you and I currently live and dwell as we wait for the return of Christ and the culmination of His kingdom. And the phrases [“The last hour” or “the last times” are phrases that describe a kind of time, not a duration of time.] They describe a time of crisis. And [Christians have always been living in “the last time”—in crisis days.] Days when false teaching pervades. They began during the days of John and has been intensifying ever since as false teaching continues to grow. Now how do we know that this is the last hour? Look at the second half of verse 18…
1 John 2:18b (ESV)-- and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.
Anti-Christ-- Now [The second term, “antichrist,” is used in the Bible only by John (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7). It describes three things: (1) a spirit in the world that opposes or denies Christ; (2) the false teachers who embody this spirit; and (3) a person who will head up the final world rebellion against Christ. The “spirit of antichrist” (1 John 4:3) has been in the world since Satan declared war on God (see Gen. 3). The “spirit of antichrist” is behind every false doctrine and every “religious” substitute for the realities Christians have in Christ.] In fact “substitute” or “counterfeit” are good terms to think about in relation to this word “anti-Christ” because [anti- actually has a dual meaning. It can mean, in the Greek, both “against” Christ and “instead of” Christ. Satan in his frenzy is fighting Christ and His eternal truth, and he is substituting his counterfeits for the realities found only in our Lord Jesus.]
[THE GORILLA JOB— {There is a story about an incident at a zoo that has become infamous. The zoo’s} …famous Gorilla, Gabe, died unexpectedly and he had been one of the biggest attractions – especially for the children.
Well, since the busy season for the zoo was just around the corner and they did not have time to get a new gorilla, one of the zookeepers came up with this idea. They had one of the other zookeepers dress up in a complete gorilla outfit and pretend to be Gabe. This zookeeper really took to this new job and he got to be quite good at swinging from the branches, eating bananas and was fooling everyone.
One day, however, he was a bit too enthusiastic. He ended up swinging a bit higher than expected and let go at the wrong time. He ended up sailing out of his cage and directly into the cage of the lion. He gulped and was barely able to squeak out a tiny “help!”
The lion sauntered over to him, got really close and whispered back. “Shut up, or we will both lose our jobs!”] Apparently there are was more play-acting going on than was originally supposed. And the same is true nowadays. And more dangerous than a man in lion’s suit is a wolf in sheep’s clothing; a person pretending to be an orthodox Christian while all the time trying to woo people away from a Biblical worldview, and especially a Biblical view of Jesus Christ. But that is what was going on in John’s time.
False Teachers— So he implores his readers to watch out for false teachers; for anti-Christs. They were around in John's day; they are very present and real in ours; and if we are not careful, they can very easily get us off track.
FAKE MONEY MAGIC TRICK— Now having been a magician/illusionist for most of my life, I have been in the business of fooling people. I have never practiced real magic or dabbled in any dark stuff; just tricks. But I know about smoke and mirrors, gimmicked coins and cards, hidden threads, and that kind of thing. Some of these props costed me a pretty penny (and a few ugly ones two). I had a fifty-cent piece that costed me close to thirty dollars that was engineered to house a copper coin secretly inside. The copper coin had the false back of a fifty-cent piece; so when the fifty cent piece (which was just a shell of the front of a fifty-cent piece) was placed over the copper coin; the two would join firmly together into one, looking like a whole fifty-cent piece. And it was meant to be handed out for examination after the illusion. And so it was designed perfectly to look like an ordinary half-dollar. But if you know what to look for, you can tell something is wrong with it. The front may at times not be in correct orientation with the back. The thickness is slightly off; the weight is slightly off. Now in magic, people expect me to try to deceive them. It’s part of the game. But in real life deception is not a game; in the church it is not a game. It’s a serious business to be deceived when your soul is on the line. And so we need to be able to distinguish between truth and falsehood.
Telling the fakes by knowing the genuine— Now I’ll tell you know the best way of knowing how to spot a fake coin. It is by becoming very familiar with a real one. And the same goes for spiritual and doctrinal issues as well. The way that you and I can best know how to distinguish that which is fake from that which is real is by having a close, personal, intimate relationship with what is real. If you know what is true, then you will more easily be able to tell what is fake.
People Don’t Know Their Bibles-- But the problem nowadays is that so few people are familiar with what the Bible actually says, that they are left vulnerable to every kind of heresy imaginable. In fact, as somebody I knew once pointed out, there would be a lot less conflict amongst the different denominations of the church if each and every individual Christian would be faithful to read their Bibles regularly. We have to be so familiar with the truth of scripture that we can spot a fake merely by the fact that we are handling the Word of God so often and so frequently.
And that is what I want to encourage you with today. If you want to know Jesus, then you must become a student of His Word. Know it to the best of your abilities. It will draw you closer to Him and it will protect you from those who would rob you of the life that you have found in Him. Commit to anchor yourself on His truth today. Amen.
