Christians and Antichrists

1 John 2:18‑27

     I would like to have you turn in your Bible to 1 John chapter 2, at this time.  And we're going to consider this particular portion of Scripture.  In 1 John chapter 2 verses 18 to 27, we have a contrast between Christians and antichrists‑‑ Christians and antichrists.

     If you will notice in verse 18, that thought is introduced to us when it says, "You have heard that antichrists shall come and even now there are many antichrists by which we know that it is the last time."  Now the passage introduces us to a term that has become very familiar to Christians and that is the term "antichrists."  This is the first time it appears in the Bible.  And, in fact, the only writer in all of the Bible to use the word is John.  And the only place he uses it is in his epistles.  It appears here, first of all, in 1 John 2:18.  It appears again in verse 22, the second half which says, "He is antichrist that denies the Father and the Son."  It appears again in chapter 4 verse 3 in the middle of the verse saying, "And this is that spirit of antichrist which you have heard that it should come and even now already it is in the world."  And it appears one more time in 2 John verse 7 at the end of the verse, "This is a deceiver and an antichrist."

     And if you read in the book of Revelation, you find that the first approach of the coming Antichrist, if we use it in terms of the proper name, or the person himself, will be that he will subtly try to be the Christ that men are looking for.  He will come in the place of Christ.  And then after a while he will turn to be against Christ.  And that spirit of Antichrist, that Antichrist attitude that has always been in the world has manifested itself both in open opposition to Christ and in subtle attempt to replace Christ.

     Now I think it's true that men have always felt, and I mean this in the generic sense, historically and generically men have always felt that there is a power in the universe in opposition to God.  Apart from the Bible's revelation of Satan even, men have been sensitive to the fact that there is in the universe a good force and an evil force.  This is just part of human history. 

     One of the greatest and earliest forms of this particular understanding of a good and a bad conflict in the universe comes in Babylonian history.  The Babylonians had a creation legend.  And their legend went like this.  There was a primeval sea monster named Tiamat...T‑i‑a‑m‑a‑t.  And this primeval sea monster was very evil.  And he was subdued by Marduk, M‑a‑r‑d‑u‑ k.  But, Marduk did not kill Tiamat and so Tiamat remained asleep.  And the Babylonians taught that the final battle would come in the end time, that Tiamat would wake up and fight against Marduk.

     Well, this‑‑in a sense‑‑I think monitors the human understanding that there is in the universe a good and an evil principle.  And that the good and the evil principle will finally wind up in an ultimate kind of conflict.  And essentially that is what is prophesied in the Scripture. 

     I think it's interesting to note, too, that even the Old Testament acknowledges these kind of legends.  In Isaiah 51:9, Isaiah speaking of the arm of the Lord saying that God is in conflict with the dragon.  In a sense, acquiescing to the pagans understanding that there was an evil monster who was sort of the one who carried about evil processes.

     In Isaiah 27:1, another scripture says, "In that day, the Lord with His great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan, the crooked serpent, and slay the dragon that is in the sea."  And again, the indication of the revelation that God, in a sense, is talking in the terms of the pagan world, recognizing that they understood there was an evil force.  God simply identifies that evil force as that which He Himself will destroy.  What He's saying in both cases is God will defeat anti‑God.

     Now originally, I think, this is understood in the garden when Satan took on the form of...what?  Of a serpent.  And that has found its way in different forms in the history and legendary of man.  I think to get very truthful about it in God's revelation, by passing for the time the legends, there is an anti‑God force.  And the anti‑God force is Satan.  But very often that anti‑God force took on human force.  There are times, for example, when both Isaiah and Ezekiel speak to men and really they're speaking behind those men to Satan himself.  Speaking, perhaps, to a particular king but really speaking to Lucifer who is operating behind that king, the king simply being the manifestation of the spirit of an anti‑God force who is Satan.

     Around 168 B.C. there came on the scene a man by the name of Antiochus Epiphanes, that means Antiochus the great one.  And he gave himself that name.  He was just named Antiochus and he added the name Epiphanes cause it meant "great one," he had an ego problem.  The Jews called him Antiochus Epimanes which means "the mad man."  But Antiochus Epiphanes is in Bible revelation, a picture of the coming future Antichrist.  He was the king of Syria and he designed to eliminate Judaism from the earth.  He invaded Jerusalem and he killed thousands of Jews and sold them into slavery.  He made it a crime punishable by death to circumcise a child or to own a copy of the law.  He erected an altar to Zeus in the temple courts, in the Jewish temple.  He offered pig's flesh on it in defiance of Jewish law.  And he turned the temple chambers into brothels. 

     And what it was was a deliberate attempt at desecration, a cold‑blooded effort to wipe out Jewish religion and destroy God.  And he was a very apt picture of the coming Antichrist.  In fact, some of the same terms that are used in the book of Daniel to speak of him, are really speaking not only of him but of the future one.  And so as you read Daniel, sometimes you know he refers to Antiochus and sometimes you know he refers to the Antichrist coming in the end of the world.  And you have to watch very carefully in your interpretation to find out whether he's talking about Antiochus or whether he's talking about the one we call the Antichrist. 

     So, there is coming this anti‑God force manifested in a human person.  He's had plenty of forerunners, plenty of them.  King of Tyre, Antiochus Epiphanes, and he certainly had others.  And there's going to be a great and final form.  And if you'll turn to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, you can see that.

     Second Thessalonians 2 it says in verse 3, "Let no man deceive you by any means for the day shall not come‑‑that is the day of the Lord‑‑shall not come except there come the falling away first and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition."  The man of sin, he's called, the son of perdition "Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped, so that he as God sits in the temple of God showing himself that he is God."

     Now, the day of the Lord, the final great judgment when Christ returns will not come until the revelation of this man.  And he will oppose God.  He will exalt himself above God.  He will sit on the throne of God and he will show himself to be God.  Now here is the picture of the ultimate Antichrist.

     Now there are further pictures of this individual in Revelation chapter 13.  We find in Revelation 13:1, John says in his vision, "I stood on the sand of the sea and saw a beast rise out of the sea having seven heads and ten horns, upon his horns ten crowns and upon his heads the name of blasphemy."  And then he describes the beast like a leopard, swift.  His feet like the feet of a bear, strong; his mouth like the mouth of a lion, he is fierce and the dragon gave him his power.  Who's the dragon?  Satan.  And his throne and his great authority...and he goes on to talk about this beast.

     Verse 5 says, "It was given to him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies.  And power was given to him to continue forty and two months," three and a half years, half of the Tribulation.  "And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven.  And it was given to him to make war with the saints and overcome them and the power was given to him over all kindreds and tongues and nations."  Here is this Antichrist. 

     Chapter 16 tells us more about him.  Verse 13, "And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs."  He likens them to frogs because they were green and slimy appearing in his vision, oozing out of some muck...the pit, you know.  "And three unclean spirits‑‑three demons‑‑came out of the mouth of the dragon and the mouth of the beast."  These demons issue from Satan and from the Antichrist and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

     Chapter 19 verse 20 says more about it.  "And the beast was taken and with him the false prophet, wrought miracles before him with which he deceived them had received the mark of the beast and them that worshiped his image and they were cast alive into a lake of fire, burning with brimstone."  Here they're cast into the eternal hell...the beast and the false prophet.  It mentions this same beast in chapter 20 verse 10, and the devil is thrown in the same pit to join them.

     But even though the concept is, in the Bible, that this is one man, still the word "Antichrist" is much broader than any one man.  Antichrist is not so much a person, a man, as it is a principle.  And it is the principle of evil which is hostile to and actually opposed to God.  It is the principle of anti‑God, of anti‑Christ.  And it can be incarnated in men.  And there have been such men in every generation who have been open and blatant and wicked opponents of God and Christ, or they have been subtly trying to replace the truth of God, trying to replace the Christ of God with their own deceit.

     Now to John, the term "Antichrist" is another word for false teachers, another word for deceivers.  And the church had been well warned by our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.  I just read it to you, Mark 13:22, that in the end days there would be many false Christs, many false prophets.  There would be a proliferation of antichrists in the last days. 

     And they're all over the place even today.  Did you know that?  Would‑be Messiahs, would‑be Saviors of the world.  Jesus said in Mark 13:6, "Many shall come in My name saying, I am Christ, and deceive many."  We have a class A example running around the world today, his name is Sun Yung Moon.  Have you heard about him?  He's got a tremendous following all over the world.  He marries people in mass marriages.  You know who he is, he was here in our own country and in our own state and in our own convention center.  Moon claims to be Jesus Christ and he deceives many, fulfilling the prophecy of Mark 13:6 and there are plenty of others.

     Paul warned the Ephesian elders.  He said, "After my departure," in Acts 20:29 and 30, "shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock and also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things."  There will be many deceivers.  There will be many false teachers.  There will be many antichrists. 

     And, you know, the reason that you and I aren't perhaps as aware of this is because we know the true Christ and we are almost incubated in this situation against that.  Praise God.  Well, by the time John had written 1 John, there were antichrists all over everywhere.  Look at verse 18, you've heard it's the last time, it is the last time.  You heard Antichrist will come, even now there are...what?...many antichrists by which we know it is the last time.  Listen, wherever there are Christians, there will be the activity of Antichrist's spirit, the spirit of opposition to Christ.  That's all that means.  The spirit of subtly trying to replace Christ with some false teacher. 

     And so, in this passage, John is warning the church against antichrists.  And only referring to that one final Antichrist to show you that there will also be many like him before he arrives.  Now remember, this passage is part of John's exposure of phony Christians and false teachers and antichrists and deceivers.  The church cannot function unless these people are exposed.  A church that puts its head in the sand and does not deal with people who deceive and who teach falsely is a church that's going to be undermined.  And John knows it.  And John is writing these believers in Asia and he is saying, "Look, you've got to put your finger on the deceiver.  You've got to find out who the false teachers are.  You've got to uncover and unmask the antichrists, you cannot let them remain in your fellowship."  And John wrote this first epistle to unmask the wolves who had infiltrated the church to try to replace the true Christ with a false one.

     And sometimes it isn't even a false Christ who is a person, it's just a false view of Christ.  And so John throughout 1 John gives tests whereby true and false Christians can be distinguished.  Remember I told you he gave two basic tests: the doctrinal test and the moral test?  You can tell a true Christian by his doctrine, he will confess sin and he will confess Christ.  You can tell him by his life, his moral life, he will love the brothers, he will love God and he will not love the world and he will obey the commands of God.  These are the tests that verify true believers.

     Now as we come to chapter 2 verse 18, we are looking at part 2 of the doctrinal test.  True believers, true Christians will confess sin‑‑that was part 1, chapter 1 verse 9‑‑ and true believers will confess Christ.  True believers will confess Christ.  The antichrists come along and they deny Christ.  And so John is introducing here the second part of a doctrinal test.  The difference between antichrists and Christians, what is it?  Primarily it is this, Christians believe in the true Christ, antichrists oppose Him or substitute a false Christ.  And, of course, this was the gnostic heresy.  It was kind of a religious heresy called gnosticism that infiltrated the church.  And they taught that Jesus was not God in human flesh, that Jesus was not the incarnate God, that Jesus was not the Christ but that He was only a man.  Others of the gnostics taught that He was only a phantom who never really existed at all.  And John says a true Christian confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, or that Jesus the Christ is come in the flesh.  And that's what he wants to say in verses 18 to 27.

     Now there are only two people to consider in the passage, antichrists and Christians.  Point number one, John unmasks the antichrists.  He introduces to us the deceivers.  Let's look at verse 18.  "Little children, it is the last time and as you have heard that Antichrist shall come," you can put a capital "A" there, "you have heard that the Antichrist shall come, even now there are...what?...many antichrists by which we know that it is the last time."

     Now let's look at this verse.  "Little children," he says.  Now I want you to watch something very carefully.  That is the word paidion and that is very important that it is that word.  Because there are two words that we've seen John use here and both were translated "little children."  One in verse 12 of chapter 2, "little children," one in verse 13 of chapter 2 at the end, "little children," and they're different words.  The one in verse 12 is teknia, the other one is paidia. Twice he uses teknia, twice he uses paidia, once in verse 13 and once in verse 18.  Now what's the difference?

     The word teknia, which is used in verse 12 and in verse 28, simply means "offspring."  It simply means somebody who is born.  You know, I'm still my father's child.  It's just...it's a very broad term, it has nothing to do with age.  But paidia means "baby."  It means infant from which we get pedagogy which means to instruct somebody who is uneducated.  It means somebody who's ignorant, who's unlearned, a spiritual baby.  Now notice verse 18.  "Spiritual babies, it is the last time as you have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now there are many antichrists."  Now who should he warn about the coming of false teachers?  Spiritual babies.  Why?  Because they are the ones that are most susceptible to being confused by them.  I told you a minute ago that it is not possible to deceive the elect but it us sure possible to confuse them.  There cannot be an ultimate deception but there can be an awful lot of confusion along the way.  And so he specifically and it's important to see this, uses the term that refers to spiritual babies, the same one he used in verse 13, little children who know the Father, those who are just saved.

     Why does he only speak to spiritual babies about false teachers?  Why does he only speak to spiritual babies about deceivers?  Because by the time you have graduated from being a spiritual baby to being a spiritual young man, look at verse 14, "I write unto you spiritual young men because you are strong and the Word of God...what?...abides in you," you are no longer victimized by false doctrine.  It is the babies that are.  They are the ones effected.  They are the Ephesians 4:14 children tossed to and fro about by every wind of doctrine.  So he warns the babies.

     Now look what he says to them.  "Little children, it is the last time."  Now I'm telling you, commentators have done cartwheels over that statement.  Some say, "Well, poor John, he was a little mistaken here...only two thousand years off, though.  It isn't bad."  Others say, "Well, he didn't mean that.  What he really meant was it's a very important hour."  That is not what it says.  It is the last time.  That isn't too hard to understand, frankly.  It's been the last time since Jesus got here.  Every Christian that has ever been born, every Christian that has ever lived in the church has been living in the last days.  The Jews knew that Christ would come in the last time and they knew that when Christ came there would be terrible opposition to Him.  They knew that when Messiah came, the Jews knew this, Messiah would come and there would be opposition. And the fact that there is now opposition to Christ in my mind proves He is present, proves He is the Messiah and proves it is the last time.

     Now go back to 1 John 2:18.  "Little children, it is the last time."  Messiah has come.  "And as you have heard that Antichrist shall come," and sometime in the last times, the capital "A" Antichrist will come, "but even now there are many antichrists by which we know it is the last time.

     Friend, do you know what the word Christ means?  It means Messiah and anointed one.  If you don't have a Christ, you can't have an Antichrist.  If you do have an Antichrist, guess what?  You have to have a what?  A Christ.  So the fact that there is antichrists in the world, so much antichrist opposition means to me that the true Christ is here, or Satan wouldn't be working so hard against one of his own.  That's so clear to me.  I'll tell you one thing, Satan wouldn't be making this big an issue out of Jesus Christ if he belonged to Him if He was a phony.  "You have heard that Antichrist shall come," yes.  They had heard it.  Well, where had they heard it?  That's the first time the word is ever mentioned.  They had heard it probably from their teachers, the Apostles.

     Let me tell you this.  Second Thessalonians was written before 1 John, long before.  And it is very likely that these Christians had read 2 Thessalonians that there was coming a man of sin, a son of perdition who would exalt himself above God, sit on the throne of God and show himself that he is God.  They read 2 Thessalonians surely.  They heard from their teachers there was coming an Antichrist.  And now he says not only that, there are many antichrists right now.  And John is talking about deceivers, subverters of apostolic teaching. 

     Jude, you know Jude has a great term for them.  He calls them "loud mouth boasters."  And John says by this you know it is the last time.  We know it's Messianic time.  We know the Christ is here because there's so much Antichrist activity.  Sometimes I'm amazed, you know, how smoothly liberal churches operate.  I'm amazed how the cults operate without any opposition.  While we fight and struggle against false teachers and deceivers and antichrists.  And I'll tell you, that's good enough evidence to me about who's right.  One of the great validating proofs of the truth of Christ is the venomous continuous worldwide hatred that's opposed against Him and the attempts to counterfeit Him.

     So, he introduces the antichrists and he says, "Now because they're here we know we're in the last time."  And they'd been here all two thousand years, ever since Christ came they been at Him.

     Let me give you three characteristics that John gives to identify these people.  How do you identify an Antichrist?  How do you identify a pseudo‑Christ?  How do you identify a deceiver and a false teacher?  They're all synonymous.  I'll give you three characteristics.  Boy, they're really simple.

     Number one, they depart from the fellowship...they depart from the true fellowship.  Verse 19, "They went out from us," they‑‑who does that refer to?  It refers to the many antichrists.  "They went out from us but they were not of us.  For if they had been of us, they would have no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that they might be made manifest they were not all of us."

     Now, friends, I want to say something at the very beginning.  Antichrists originate in the church‑‑you get that?  They originate in the church and then depart from it.  The church doesn't suffer nearly so much from attacks from the outside as it does from the inside.  John says they left the church.  Maybe they failed to win over the leaders to their point.  These churches were true to the Word.  These churches were solid.  And they were unsuccessful and they bailed out.  Notice John distinguishes clearly between they who left, antichrists, and the us who remain Christians.

     But, friends, their defection has given clear evidence of their true character.  In fact, the reason God had them leave was that it might be made manifest that they were not...what?...all of us.  The fact that they departed, unmasked them.  Luke 12:2 says, "Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed or hidden, that will not be known."  God is in the business of unmasking these people.

     Now, there is so much in this verse and I just really don't know where to begin.  But let me just start someplace.  The verse also has tremendous emphasis on the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints.  You'll notice that they went out because they were not of us.  If they had been of us, they would have...what?  Continued with us.  Now if your Bible says "no doubt," that was not put in there by God.  That was put in there by somebody who did this thing for King James.  What do you mean "no doubt"?  It doesn't say that.  "They would have continued with us if they had been of us." 

     Mark chapter 13 verse 20, "And except the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh would be saved but for the elect's sake whom He hath chosen He hath shortened the days."  Now here is an interesting point.  The time of the Tribulation, if it were allowed to run to its limit could even destroy the saved people.  And so God shortens it in order to make sure the elect are secured.  That's tremendous, isn't it?  God never lets anything effect the elect, the saved.

     Verse 22, "False Christs and false prophets shall rise showing signs and wonders, seduced if possible even the elect."  And as I told you earlier, it isn't possible.  But Satan will work through false Christs to try to do this.  He says there then twice, God never lets anything come to the degree where the saints could be lost and He never lets any seducer bring so much false doctrine to bear against the believer that he can be lost.  If somebody departs, it is because they never were saved.  If somebody opts out for false doctrine, it is proof positive they went out from us that it might be made manifest that it might be openly declared they never were saved to begin with.

     Now it is not saying that salvation is the reward for endurance.  It is saying endurance is the mark of salvation.  Endurance is the mark of salvation.  If the antichrists had been of us, they no doubt have..would have continued with us.  They would have continued with us.  No doubt is right.  This is the principle, watch this.  The ultimate test of true Christianity is perseverance.  True Christians remain in the fellowship.  Did you get it?  True Christians remain in the fellowship.

     So, all will be made manifest.  Some false teachers maybe aren't going to get all their manifestation until the judgment, but many of them leave and declare to the rest of the community of believers that they were false.

     People come to me and they say, "What about so‑and‑so?  They came to church, they came to church and now they're in the Mormonism...now they're into Jehovah Witnesses, or now they've gone out and they've become an atheist."  I simply say, "Read 1 John 2:19.  Thank God that God sent them out so that we might know the truth about them and got rid of the deceivers and the antichrists."  Don't be shaken by this.  He says, and you can imagine these Christians in Asia saying, "Boy, people are going out and we think they're Christians and they act like Christians.  They do this and then they leave.  What's going on?"  And John says, "Don't be shaken by this, it was prophesied that these antichrists would come. It was prophesied that they would involve themselves in the church.  And when they went out, it was simply a way of strengthening you because God was manifesting their true character."

     My friend, this isn't to make you doubt your security, it's just the opposite...just the very opposite.  You have absolute confidence because of what God is doing to manifest the false.

     Well, this is a simple thing and yet it's such a profound thing.  And we get so lost in theological debate.  Jude says in verse 19, a simple statement again, he talks about these people who aligned with the church and hung around and all of a sudden they leave.  He says, "These are they who separate themselves."  Who are they?  "Sensual not having the Spirit."  If they don't have the Spirit, are they Christians?  No.  They separate themselves, they're not Christians, they are false from the very start. And God uses their departing to reveal the fact that they are heretics. 

     This isn't my opinion, people.  And I'm trying to be as honest and objective as I can with the Word of God.  In 1 Corinthians 11:19, Paul says this, "For there must be heresies among you."  Oh, that's interesting.  You've got to have heretics...so be comfortable with them.  You say why?  "That they who are approved may be made manifest among you."  You need the heretics because the heretics by contrast show who's real.  And when they depart and you abide you say I'm real, they weren't.  You say, "But I thought they were."  Well, it's not for you to think because you can't tell the wheat from the tares, can you?  That's why only God has to do the separating at the judgment.  Read it in Matthew 13.  And, you know, there are even going to be many who are going to say, "Lord, Lord," and He'll say, "Depart from Me...what?...I never knew you," Matthew 7.  God wants the distinction clear.  He wants to mark the phonies and He marks them one way by their departure.  So the false depart from the fellowship.

     And so, when you see somebody who comes to Grace Church and maybe they come a long time and they give evidence of such and such and you say, "O my," you know, they had a Bible and they came, and went on and on. And all of a sudden they bail out and now they're this and now they're that.  You say, "O my, what happened?  What happened?"  They went out from us because they were not of us and it was God's way of manifesting to us who's true and who's false.  And I thank Him for it, don't you?  You know, what's tragic is when they get into a situation in a church where they're so comfortable that pretty soon the true all leave and all you've got left is the false.  And then you've got the typical modern liberal church of today.  And the whole thing is full of antichrists.  That's not very popular to tell them, but that's what they've got to hear.

     Second characteristic of antichrists, they not only depart from the fellowship but they deny the faith.  Verse 22, I'll skip around a little bit to try to give you the clear picture here.  They deny the faith.  Verse 22 and 23, now John's contrast, as I say, is so interwoven that we have to kind of skip a little bit so we'll just go to verse 22 and 3 and see this.  "Who is a liar?"  And he's been talking about lying in verse 21, but, "Who is a liar but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ.  He is antichrist that denies the Father and the Son."  That's why he can say there are many antichrists now.  Anybody who denies Christ is an antichrist.  All lies are alien to the truth.  But John has in mind THE lie, the big lie, the great lie and that is that Jesus is not the Christ, that Jesus is not the Messiah that He claimed to be.  That's the big lie.  And when Antichrist comes in the Tribulation, it says in 2 Thessalonians 2:11, that when he comes God will send strong delusion that they should believe THE lie.  And what is THE lie?  That Christ is not who He claimed to be.

     I don't care what people claim to be.  I don't care what they claim to believe.  If they do not believe that Jesus is God in human flesh, they are antichrists.  I don't care if they talk about God and I don't care if they talk about Jesus as a wonderful fine example and I don't care what their perspective is on Jesus, if they do not believe that He is actually God incarnate come in the flesh, they are antichrists.  If they deny that He is the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one, this is John's doctrinal test, this is the acid test of a man's salvation.  Go to chapter 4 verse 2, "By this you know the Spirit of God, every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.  And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God and that is antichrist."  And it's already in the world, he says.

     Listen, people, this whole idea of salvation boils right down to one basic thought: is Jesus God in human flesh?  In 2 John 7, many deceivers are entered into the world.  How do you tell a deceiver?  They confess not that Jesus Christ comes in what?  The flesh.  The Gnostics came and said, "Oh, He was only a phantom."  And the Cyrenthian(?) branch of the Gnostics said, "Well, Jesus was only a man and the Christ's spirit came on Him and then left Him."  Lies.  And those are the very lies John is combating here.  They denied the incarnation.  And, friends, that is the big lie.  That is the big lie.  And that is precisely what is done in liberalism today and modernism today and the cults.  You can always tell the cults and you can always tell the liberals because they deny the deity of Jesus Christ.  They deny that He is God come in human flesh. 

     Jesus put it this way, "Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father who is in heaven. And whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father who is in heaven."  The big lie is to deny Jesus is come in the flesh.  It goes on all the time.  Seminaries of our country teach that Jesus was an elevated human man who had great wisdom and insight and not God.  The big lie.  They are antichrists.

     And you see implicit in this denial is the denial not only of the antichrist but the Father and the Son together.  Look at the end of verse 22, "The one who does this denies the Father and the Son."  He doesn't just deny the Son, he winds up denying the Father.  You say, "Well, they might not believe in Christ, but at least they believe in God."  No, not the God of the Bible.  Because the God of the Bible is manifest in the Son and if you deny the Son, you deny God.  The one denying Christ's deity is the greatest of all liars in the world.  He opposes the witness of all revelation.  He opposes the credentials of the Messiah miraculously authenticated and not only that, he repudiates the truth of God Himself.  He denies that God is God.  So to deny Jesus is to deny God.  And so there are people saying, "Well, we believe in God," and in actuality they are blaspheming His name by a failure to believe that God incarnate in Jesus Christ is truth.

     So what do we say then?  How do you tell an antichrist?  Number one, they depart from the fellowship.  They go out from evangelical truth.  They leave orthodoxy.  They become liberal.  They become apostate.  Number two, they deny the faith and it boils down to denial of Christ.  Peter put it this way, "They deny the Lord that bought them."

     The third thing they do, third characteristic of antichrist is they not only depart from the fellowship and deny the faith, but they deceive the faithful.  Verse 26, "These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you."  And it's a present participle, concerning them that are trying to seduce you, or trying to deceive you.  We know, as I read earlier, that it's impossible ultimately to deceive the elect, but they sure give it a good try.  They come in with the doctrines of devils, seductive doctrine of demons, seducing spirits, Timothy 4:1.  Oh, Satan's so busy trying to seduce Christians.  Trying to confuse Christians. 

     You know, John was very jealous of the welfare of Christ's sheep.  Boy, I mean, he really...he really cared about Christ's sheep.  He said, you know, in 2 John 4, he said, "O, I rejoice that you walk in the truth."  In 3 John 4 he says, "I have no greater joy than my children walk in the truth."  He was so thrilled that the believer was secure in truth.  This was a cause of joy because the antichrists and the deceivers came, forerunners of the final Antichrist, and they tried to seduce the believers.  And so, John unmasks them.

     Now the second thing that John does in the passage, just quickly.  He presents to us a picture of the Christian.  Not only the antichrists but by contrast, what about the Christian?  And this is so fantastic.  And basically John says two things concerning them...two things concerning believers.  Now I want you to get this.

     In effect, he is saying that unbelievers depart from the fellowship and unbelievers deny the faith, deceivers, and they try to deceive the faithful.  But, they are not able to deceive the faithful for two reasons.  And these two describe Christians.  Christians accept the faith and they abide faith. 

     First of all, look how he says they accept the faith.  They are so unsuccessful in deceiving true Christians because Christians accept the faith.  Look at verse 20, oh, this is fantastic.  "But you have an unction from the Holy One and you know all things."  Wow.

     Now, let me give you some background.  The false Christians, the antichrists, the deceivers of John's day used two words to describe their religious experience.  These are two words very common in Gnostic doctrine: knowledge and anointing.  The word unction there is the word anointing.  The Gnostics said, "We have received a special anointing of God that has given us a superior gnosis, superior knowledge," from which they got the name Gnostics.  "We have been anointed by God and lifted to a higher level of understanding."  John says, "Ha, you Christians," verse 20, "have an anointing from the Holy One and you know all things."  You see then what he's saying?  In direct contradistinction to their claim.  It isn't the Gnostics who've got the anointing, it's the Christians.  It isn't the Gnostics who have the knowledge, it's the Christians.  Beloved, this is a glorious provision the Lord makes for His own, He preserves them from embracing error.  As a true Christian, listen to this, you are preserved from ever believing ultimately in error.  Now grab that.  John says I have no fear that the true saints would become apostate.  When somebody leaves, it proves they never were saved.  I don't worry.

     You say, "Well, what if a few Christians slipped out?"  No way.  Why?  Because you have an anointing from the Holy One and you know all things, that is you know the truth.  Verse 21, "I've not written to you because you know not the truth, but because you know it and no lie is of the truth."  What a fabulous thought.  John says I have no fear that any saints are departing and becoming apostate, it can't happen.  Because you have an anointing from the Holy One and you know all things.

     Look at the word "anointing," or "unction."  Chrisma, not charisma, but chrisma.  And it is only used here and in verse 27 in all of the New Testament.  And it literally means ointment.  You are anointed with ointment.  And it refers to the Holy Spirit, the anointing that the believer receives is clearly indicated in Scripture to be the Holy Spirit.  And I think we're all aware of this.  We find that in 2 Corinthians 1:21, Paul says, "Now he who establishes us with you in Christ and hath anointed us is God, who has sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit."  So the anointing there is indicated to be the Holy Spirit.  The believer is anointed with the Holy Spirit.  He is granted the Spirit of God as if it was an ointment, an oil placed upon him.  And the Spirit is frequently associated with oil.