Well, good morning to everyone. I was thinking, listening to that wonderful song, that this is the truth. This is the truth of Jesus' love for us. And we know it because the Bible tells us so. That's the only way we know what is true. And the truth is that Jesus came and died for us. Died in our place. Died for our sins. Paid the full payment for my sins and for yours so that we might believe and receive His righteousness and be saved forever. 

That's what our message is really about this morning. It's hard to understand, but it's unfortunate that many men deny Him. Many men reject Him. And there are those in our world, even within the realm of Christendom, who try and deceive us. And that's what John's talking about in this section that we're in. 

I want to start by having you look at verse 21. This great encouragement that Jesus loves us, that we know the truth, that God has given us the truth, that the Holy Spirit has revealed that truth to us, and through faith, we have salvation in Him. John says in 2 John 2, verse 21, "I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it. And that no lie is of the truth." 

"Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son." 

We're in the middle of a section here as we're working verse by verse through the book of 1 John where John is concerned about the believers being deceived by those who claim the name of Christ, who have professed Christ, who are part of the church, and who have gone out now and are teaching false doctrine concerning Christ, trying to draw the believers away, or draw those who have come up to the point of faith away. 

He's concerned about the world system, Satan's system. The purpose of the book, remember, is to give believers assurance and also at the same time to warn them concerning those who try to deceive them. So as we work verse by verse through the book, we come to a section here that addresses those who would try to deceive. 

And one thing that we've established in the book of 1 John is that John is very fond of contrasts. Contrasts between believers and unbelievers. He consistently writes about what is true of believers and what is true of unbelievers, specifically false teachers, in order to mark them out. To mark out those who are not Christ as a warning, as well as to give assurance to those who do believe Jesus. 

In our text today, he does this very pointedly and very specifically, making the distinction between those who know the truth and those who are liars. Those who go out and those who remain and continue. Those who are little children and know the Father and those who are antichrists. 

Last week we looked at verses 15-17 and the contrast between the world, Satan's system, men and Adam, all of which is passing away, and those who believe and hold fast to the truth, who do the will of the Father, and those who abide forever. 

John continues his examination of this world and its systems of thought and ideologies with what he calls in 1 John 4, verse 3, the spirit of antichrist. There's a mood, my friends, an attitude that is consistent with this world and all its systems and wisdoms that is anti-Christ. 

In 1 John 4, verse 2, he says, "By this you know the Spirit of God, every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist which you have heard was coming and is now already in the world." 

This is what John wants to talk about today. The many antichrists that have already come, the spirit of antichrist that is in the world. The whole world lies in the sway of the wicked one, he says. The whole world's system, schemes, and lies are passing away. This evil age is coming to a close and the age to come, the age of righteousness where Jesus rules and reigns for a thousand years on this earth, is at the doorstep, my brothers and sisters. For we are in the last hour. 

Our instruction last week was not to love this world system, not to have affection for it. In 2 Corinthians 10, Paul said, "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God. For pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." 

The primary weapon of Satan is error, is false teaching, lies. And the primary weapon of the believer in this world is the truth, is the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. 

The message John wanted us to get last week was that we should not love this world. We should not look to this world and its ways and means for accomplishing the will of God. Rather, we should put our trust and faith in God. Our weapon is truth, is the Word of God. And our warfare is not based in carnal earthly means, but is mighty in God. For pulling down strongholds of thought, fortresses of lies, casting down the worldly arguments of Satan and men, and exposing the lies that come against the truth. 

As we stand for righteousness in this world, as we live righteous lives, doing what is right today, one day at a time, in the midst of this wicked and perverse generation, our only offensive weapon is the sword, is the Word of God, is light, the truth of God, which exposes evil and darkness. John does not want us to love the world. In fact, he says that it is completely inconsistent with who we are in Christ to have affection for this world system. 

He also wants us to know that this world is passing away. But we who do the will of God, we who believe Jesus, abide forever. And as we transition to our text today, John also wants us to know that this world is filled with an antichrist spirit, a mood, an attitude. And by this, he says, we know that we are in the last hour. 

Look at verse 18 with me, please. "Little children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which 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 they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth." 

"Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either. He who acknowledges the Son has the Father also." 

We're going to look at four points today on your outline. The last hour made manifest. No lie is of the truth in denying the Son. 

Well, this term that John uses, the last hour, is very interesting, and it's important that we understand it clearly. He starts with the term of endearment again, designating the believers to which he writes as born ones. He says, as they are children of God, he says, "My little children, it is the last hour." 

This is a phrase that refers to the end times, to the close of the present evil age. This time is also called the last days. The prophet Joel referred to this time and was quoted by Peter in Acts where he said, "In the last days, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh." 

2 Timothy 3, verse 1, Paul said, "But know this, that in the last days, perilous times will come." Hebrews 1, verse 2 tells us that "in these last days, God has spoken to us by His Son whom He has appointed heir of all things through whom He also made the worlds." 

In James 5, verse 3, He says, "Your gold and silver are corroded and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days." 

Knowing this, 2 Peter says, that scoffers will come in the last days walking according to their own lusts. In Matthew 13, 24, and 28, Jesus uses the term the end of the age to describe what's coming. We are in the last days. We are at the end of the age. We are in the last hour. And we know this, says John, because many antichrists have come. There's a spirit of antichrist in the world. 

So when did this last hour begin? And when will it end? When will the end of the age be? And when will Jesus usher in this kingdom and rule on this earth? John says in verse 18 that you have heard that the antichrist is coming. And already, many false christs have come. 

John's point in our text is really not concerning the antichrist, the man of sin, the man of lawlessness, the little horn of Daniel, the beast of revelation. But I thought maybe we should take a few moments just to address that character, that man who is coming, before we move on to the main point that John is making concerning the many antichrists that are already in this world that are trying to deceive by their teaching. 

The prophet Daniel gives us perhaps the most extensive look in the Old Testament of this man who will come. Daniel describes him as the little horn with a blasphemous mouth. He calls him the prince who is to come in chapter 9. In chapter 11, he terms him the willful king. The prophecies of Daniel are amazing and profound for our understanding of who this man will be, the ultimate antichrist. 

He will deceive and he will bring peace. He will confirm a covenant with Israel. But then will manifest himself as the pure evil that he is when he goes into the temple and commits what Jesus and Daniel called the abomination of desolation, defiling the Jewish place of worship and declaring himself to be God, demanding that all the world worship him and take his mark. 

This is a pivotal point in the career of antichrist and is the bringing in of the great tribulation that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 24. I'd like for us to turn to Matthew 24 and get Jesus' comments on this time that is to come and the antichrist that John speaks of. 

Matthew 24, verse 3, Jesus and his disciples were outside the temple and they were looking at the amazing buildings around them, including the temple. And in verse 3, it says, "Now as he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, 'Tell us when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming in the end of the age?'" 

Look at verse 4. This is so important for our understanding. And Jesus answered them and said to them, "Take heed that no one deceives you, for many will come in my name saying, 'I am the Christ' and will deceive many." 

Keep your finger here, but this is precisely what John is teaching us in our text in 1 John, which was written 60 years later. 

"Take heed that no one deceives you, for many antichrists have come." Jesus also refers to the antichrist in the time of tribulation, the great event spoken of by Daniel in verse 15. 

Matthew 24, verse 15. "Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. Let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes, but woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days." 

"And pray that your flight may not be in the winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation such as not has been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor shall ever be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved, but for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened." 

Then if anyone says to you, "Look, here is the Christ, or there," do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. 

"Therefore, if they say to you, 'Look, he's in the desert,' do not go out. Or, 'Look, he's in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man." 

"For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together." 

And in verse 29, He answers their question. He says, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." 

Jesus affirms that there's coming a time, this time of tribulation. Notice all of the Jewish language in this passage. The Jewish temple will be set up. The Antichrist will have made a peace covenant as Daniel tells us with Israel. And there will be this time of false peace after the rapture of the church. But in the midst of that time, the Antichrist will reveal himself going into the temple, committing the abomination of desolation. 

Let's also turn over to Paul's commentary on this time. In 2 Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians 2, beginning at verse 1. He's writing to the believers in Thessalonica and they had had false teachers tell them that they had missed the rapture, that they were in the day of the Lord and they were quite distressed about this and they were experiencing a great persecution in that time and they thought that they were in the tribulation. 

So Paul writes to them in 2 Thessalonians 2, 1, "Now brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come." 

"Let no one deceive you by any means, for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." 

"Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. See, he says, the same thing that Jesus said, the same thing that John said. The spirit of antichrist, the mystery of lawlessness is already at work." 

"Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way," referring to the Holy Spirit and the church, and our gathering together to him at the rapture. "And then, the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming." 

Daniel, Jesus, John, Paul, all predict this time of great trial on this earth where the man of sin, the lawless one, the little horn, the willful king, the beast of revelation, the one that John calls the Antichrist, will come to power through peace and will deceive the masses and will then turn and break out against God's people and against the Gentile believers of that time and will persecute them, will defile the temple, will declare himself to be God and will bring hell on earth for the short three and a half year period before Jesus comes back and consumes him with the breath of his mouth and destroys him with the brightness of his coming. 

John was concerned about those who would deceive the believers. And the believers needed to understand the truth about the Antichrist and when he would come and what he would do and how Jesus would destroy him at the end of the age and cast the beast and the false prophet into the lake of fire and eventually Satan and all his followers. They needed to understand all of this because look at what happened in Thessalonica. They were all upset, they were all distraught because they didn't remember what Paul had taught them when he was with them. 

They instead listened to false teachers, those who claimed the name of Christ, those who were Christian in name. But they taught them false doctrine and they told them that they had missed the rapture and the persecution that they were experiencing was now the day of the Lord. And this messed them all up, distracted them. 

Paul told them, "I don't want you to be deceived." Jesus said, "Be not deceived." John's worried about us being deceived. That's what Paul was writing about in chapter two, which we just read in Thessalonica, the letter to the Thessalonians. 

"Don't be deceived." My friends, the day of the Lord has not come. They had not missed the rapture. And Paul says, we know this because we don't see the Antichrist. We don't see all of these events that are going to happen in the tribulation that the Word of God has laid out. 

So John wants us to know about the Antichrist. He wants us to know about the day of the Lord when all of this will begin. He wants us to know that Jesus will win at the second coming and He will set up His kingdom. John says, "You've heard that the Antichrist is coming." They'd heard it in all these places. The Old Testament Scriptures, the Gospels, perhaps even the witnesses who heard Jesus from Paul, the letter to the Thessalonians. 

"You've heard this truth." But John's main concern, his main point in our text today is that there are already many antichrists in the world. This is the very thing that Jesus warned about in Matthew 24. Many will come in My name. They will deceive. Do not be deceived. 

And John says, it's precisely because of the fulfillment of this promise of Jesus, because of the many antichrists and the very mood, attitude, the spirit of antichrist in this world that we know that we are in the last hour. 

Simply put, my brothers and sisters, the last hour, the last days began when Jesus came. We could not have antichrist until we had Christ. And I'd like to go into a lot more detail about how Jesus came, offering the Kingdom of the Jews, how He ushered in the New Covenant, how He fulfilled all kinds of Old Testament prophecies and initiated this last hour, these last days. 

But suffice to say that Jesus' first coming as the Christ, as the Messiah, started this last hour. And we've been living in it ever since. The Christ came and ever since He came, there have been many antichrists. And the spirit of antichrist is in this world. And as we await the coming of the rapture and then the unfolding of the tribulation and the time of the reign of the Antichrist, we live in an antichrist world where many deceivers have come and live now and seek to deceive the world and even the church. 

Look down at verse 26 in chapter 2, please, 1 John 2, 26. John says, "These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you." Contextually here, John's point is to warn the believers about those who are antichrist now in the world, even in the church. 

I really see my role in the church and the body, my friends, as a preacher, as a teacher, to say what God says. That's what I strive to do every week, is to study the text, to exegete, to take out the meaning, and then to say what God says. Sometimes those are real feel-good messages. Sometimes they're really nice and they make us feel warm and fuzzy, and that's great. 

But the truth should always encourage us. In this section in chapter 2 about the world and about Satan and about the deceivers in the world and the false Christ, this is maybe harder things to say, but it's truth that's so important for us to understand. So please understand the context in which we're in here, where John says, "I'm writing to you about those people, those false teachers, those false churches who are trying to deceive you. They're trying to draw people away." 

This is an extension of his comments on the world in the previous verses we studied. This whole world, its systems, its ideologies, its philosophers, its theologians, and in fact, every man who is a son of Satan in Adam is antichrist, is against Christ. That's what John's saying. And this is the hard message that John really wants every believer to understand, so that we will not be deceived. 

Jesus said the same thing when he divided all of humanity into two groups when he said, "Those who are for me, there are those who are for me, and there are those who are against me." So the question is then, how do we know who are the anti, the against, and who are the for, the believers? And that brings us to our next point, made manifest. 

We've seen that we are in the last hour, that time from Christ coming the first time to his second coming when he brings the kingdom for Israel. And now we see that the antichrists are made manifest. Verse 19, this is such an important verse. "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 they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us." 

We're studying the book of the Revelation on Thursday nights. And this past week we studied an amazing passage in chapter 14 concerning the time of the great persecution and trials that will occur for the believers that we were just talking about. Jesus said it will be a time of trouble like there's never been or never will be again. That's an amazing statement if you think about it. Think about in the last several thousand years the times of slaughter on this earth. 

The times of persecution where men have done horrible things. Jesus says they will all pale in comparison to the time of the great tribulation. And Jesus said if that time were not shortened, no flesh would survive. And in light of all that, in the context of Revelation 14, we read in verses 12-13 this, "Here is the perseverance, here is the patience of the saints, here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, 'Right, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on, yes,' says the Spirit, 'that they may rest from their labors and their works follow them.'" 

No matter how bad it gets, no matter how great the suffering, the persecution, at the worst time in history or in the future, what we see here is that believers persevere. They continue patiently, steadfastly trusting Jesus. 

And John says in our text in verse 19, this important verse, that the false professors, the wolves in sheep's clothing, the false Christians with say-so faith are made manifest; they are revealed in that they depart, they defect, they go out. 

They're not always easy to spot. Jesus told us that the tares will grow with the wheat until the end of the age. But many are made manifest, John says, when they go out from us. Like the rocky soil that springs up and then when the trials and tribulations, the heat comes, they wither and die because they have no root. 

This verse speaks to the false faith of some, the emotional response, the profession that has no root. They go out from us because, listen now, because they never were of us. 

I've never really understood those who teach that a man can lose his salvation. It seems to me to be such a fundamental misunderstanding of the doctrine of salvation. Of the nature of the salvation that Jesus provides. How in response to our faith and trust in Him alone, He recreates us. He imputes our sins to Jesus and His righteousness to us. 

He takes our heart of stone, gives us a heart of flesh. He quickens our spirit. He causes His Holy Spirit to come and dwell in us forever. The guarantee of our inheritance. He will never leave us or forsake us. Of all that come to Him, He will not lose one, but will raise Him up at the last day. He knows His sheep. He holds them tight in the palm of His hand and no one can snatch us out of His hand. We are kept by His power. 

We have a living hope. Our salvation is reserved in heaven. We have passed from death unto life. Those whom He justifies, He also glorifies. Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. We could go on and on and on. But if we understand salvation at all. If we understand that those who believe are secure and are kept by God, made new creations and have the promise of God, of eternal life, and therefore no true believer can be lost but will continue, will persevere because he is kept. He is preserved by the very power of God. 

I don't like that Calvinist doctrine, the perseverance of the saints. Because I believe the Bible doctrine is the preservation of the saints. I don't persevere of my own power. I'm kept by the power of God. 

Now to Him who is able to keep me from falling. But there are those who claim Christ and do not know Him. And John says, pointing directly, he's pointing directly at those false teachers who had left the fellowship and were now trying to draw others away. 

They went out from us because they were not of us. Had they been of us, they would have remained with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest that they never were of us. Such a clear statement about antichrist versus true believers. 

And my brothers and sisters, look at the contrast in verses 20-23 in our text. "But you have an anointing from the Holy One. And you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it." 

And then this important, important phrase. "And that no lie is of the truth." 

"Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either. But he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also." 

We've seen that we're in the last hour. We have seen that the antichrists are made manifest when they go out from us, when they defect from the faith. And now I want to wrap up the next two points together in these last verses. First, no lie is of the truth and denying the Son. 

Once again, John uses contrast to illustrate who is a true believer, giving assurance, and who is an antichrist, warning about the false teachers, those who try to deceive you. John makes a clear, powerful statement at the end of verse 21. "No lie is of the truth." 

It seems like such a clear statement, and I love it. But it brings so much division. The implication of it sometimes gets us a little upset. "No lie is of the truth." This statement reminds me of when I was first saved. When I was first saved, God gave me such a passion to know the truth, to understand what is right and what is wrong. 

And one thing that became stunningly apparent when I was saved and as I read and studied God's Word was all that I had thought before, all that I had believed and practiced in the way of religion, was wrong. It was dead wrong. My thought as the Holy Spirit revealed all of these amazing truths to me in His Word was that my family, my friends, my in-laws, all those I loved who were still involved in false religion, simply had not heard. They had not seen the truth of the Bible and the great contrast that existed between the truth and the lies. 

I just needed to tell them. I just needed to show them. And tell them I did. And show them I did. And there was curiosity at first and there were a few that actually came to faith, but mostly there was indifference. There was anger. There was rejection of the truth in favor of the lie. 

The primary response that I got at first was this. "We believe that Jesus died for our sins. We believe that Jesus is the Savior, that He died. What is your problem? We believe the same thing." Well, they didn't believe the same thing as me. They didn't even understand what I was saying. 

So after a time of this, I decided I was going to sit down and write a letter, a paper really, and send it to all my loved ones far and near. The paper was entitled, "There Really Is a Difference." And the premise was this. Two things that are different are not the same. 

It turned out to be 15 pages. In this paper, I detailed and highlighted with Scripture the gospel of grace, salvation through faith in Christ alone. And I contrasted this with the Roman Catholic doctrines of salvation that I grew up with. 

The teaching that Jesus' death on the cross was insufficient. That works were necessary to add what Christ was lacking. And that there's a need to repeatedly, continually sacrifice Christ in the mass and ingest His literal body and drink His literal blood in order to gain salvation through sacramental works righteousness. 

Two things that are different are not the same. And that's what John's saying here. "No lie is of the truth." John is so very black and white. He doesn't like that. John highlights the essence of all lies. He says all antichrist spirits and attitudes are contained in what he says in verse 22. 

"Who is a liar? But he who denies Jesus, who denies that Jesus is the Christ, he is the antichrist who denies the Father and the Son." 

Who's a liar? Who's an antichrist? He who denies Jesus Christ. He who denies the Father and the Son. In stark contrast, we see the one who knows the Father is the one who acknowledges the Son. 

What does it mean to acknowledge the Son? Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so. How do I acknowledge Jesus? I believe what God tells me about Him in His Word. I believe who He is. I believe what He has done. And I know it because God told me in the only book He ever wrote. 

That's what it means to acknowledge Him, to believe Him, to trust Him. What does it mean to deny Christ? I mean, all my Roman Catholic loved ones affirm that they believe that Jesus is the Christ. Is that what John means here? Mere intellectual assent that Jesus came and lived and was crucified and He rose again? 

What it means to deny Christ is to deny who He is or what He has done. What it means to acknowledge Christ is to affirm who He is and what He has done, to take it for myself, to believe it, to trust Him. And we only know who He is. We only know what He has done, my brothers and sisters, by the revealed Word of God. 

John is warning us about antichrists. And he really is classifying all non-believers as antichrists, especially the false teachers. The word "anti" is really interesting because it has two meanings. It can mean actively against. Openly against something. Anti. And there are many, many of those kinds of people in our world. But it can also mean in the place of. And the more dangerous, subtle lie or error is told by those who claim to stand in the place of Christ. 

Who claim to represent Christ or take His place. This is true of all false religions that claim the name of Christ. They claim His name, and at the same time, they deny who He is or what He has accomplished. Paul warns us of this in 2 Corinthians 11. In verse 3 he tells us there is another Jesus. That became so clarifying for me when I read that. There's another Jesus. 

One that is not the Jesus of the Bible. And many worship this false Jesus in the fake Christian religions and denominations of our world. The Roman Catholic Church stunningly proclaims their leader, the Pope, as the vicar of Christ. That's the same meaning of the word. A substitute. The one who exercises the same supreme authority. 

The antichrist in the sense of standing in the place of. The Pope claims absolute power and fallibility. He claims to be the one who stands in the place of Jesus Christ as supreme ruler over the true church. Yet by her doctrine, the Roman Church denies the very work that Jesus has finished. What He has accomplished on the cross. Roman Catholic doctrine of salvation finds its fulfillment in the sacraments of the church and proclaims that apart from participation in the sacraments and submission to the Pope and the church, entering the church through baptism, there is no salvation. 

The Roman Church pronounces anathema, a curse to hell, on anyone who would say that Jesus' one-time death on the cross was fully satisfactory. I believe Paul used the word propitiatory. And John used the word propitiatory. A full payment for our sins. And that by grace through faith alone, we can be saved. 

In fact, the doctrine states that Jesus' work on the cross was insufficient. And that the very purpose of the mass is for Jesus, at the beck and call of the priest, to come and re-present Himself, re-sacrifice Himself on the altar in an unbloody manner for the expiation of our sins. 

And that through participating in these sacraments, we receive the grace of God held and dispensed by the church so that we might earn our salvation one good work at a time. My friends, two things that are different are not the same. No lie is of the truth. 

And there are many antichrists, Protestant denominations, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, all of these people who claim the name of Christ, but they deny Him by their doctrine. "I write you these things concerning those who try to deceive you. You have heard that the antichrist is coming, but I tell you, many antichrists are already here." 

Jesus said, "Take heed that no one deceives you." John says, "I do not say these things because you do not know the truth, but because you know the truth." 

Let me ask you, my brothers and sisters, if we acknowledge the Son, and we do, don't we? Amen. We acknowledge the Son. We believe Jesus. He is the name of our faith. If we acknowledge the Son, should we affirm those who deny Him? 

Jesus thought this was serious. Paul thought it was serious, and John thinks it is serious. He has some hard words for us here, my friends. But he wants us to recognize the antichrist. He wants us to know the truth about those who try to deceive us, that they've gone out away from the truth, that they've denied Jesus, who He is, what He has done, and they do not know the Father. 

But look at this glorious truth in verse 23. We have the Father. We have the Father. He's our Father. How? Through faith in Jesus Christ. And in verse 20, we have an anointing, the Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth. He guides us into all truth through His Word. He tells us what's right. 

John says, "Test the spirits." We have to go to the Word to know what is true. By faith, we have the Father. He is our Abba Father, our Papa, and we can crawl up into His lap. We can come to Him in boldness, to the throne of grace, to find help in time of need each day. 

When doubts and fears plague us, trust His Word. Trust Him. Come to Him. The Holy Spirit has revealed the truth to us. The truth concerning who Jesus is and what He has done. The gospel and the truth of our salvation through faith alone in Him. Affirm that truth, my brothers and sisters. Proclaim that truth in this world. Make it abundantly clear. For if you do not, who will? 

Faith comes by hearing. Hearing a message, a clear truth, a good news message about Jesus Christ. It's the goodness of God that leads men to repentance. Be bold, speak the truth in love, but speak the truth. Be clear and tell men how they can be saved, and hold fast to that truth yourself. 

Take heed that no one deceives you, for many antichrists have gone out into the world. And by this, we know that we are in the last hour. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we're so thankful for the truth of Your Word. We're thankful that we know the truth, that we have You, You're our Father, through faith in Jesus Christ. The truth also is that there are many deceivers in the world. And we need to be aware of that truth. We need to understand the truth so that we can recognize the error. 

Father, help us to seek Your truth in Your Word, to trust You and believe You in what You say, Lord. And help us to be witnesses. Help us to be bold. Give us a door. Open a door to preach the Word in our lives, in our communities. And help us to make that truth clear, that men might believe and be saved for Your glory. 

It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.