Thanks, Doug, for that good song, that truth. Good morning to everyone. Good to see you all this morning. It was a beautiful morning. I got up early and went out and saw all my friends on the farm, and everybody was happy this morning, and the bugs were laid down a little bit, so it was a beautiful way to start the day.

We're going to be looking at 1 John 2 again this morning, in verses 24-27, and we've been in this context of the world, of worldliness, not loving the world, the truth of the Antichrist that is coming. Last time we saw that John's main message, his concern for the church, was not the Antichrist that would come necessarily, but the many Antichrists that have already come and are already in the world. We looked at his statement that the spirit of Antichrist is in this world.

So, we're going to look at the answer to that spirit of Antichrist, the answer to the Antichrist, in verses 24-27 today. I'd like to start by asking you to turn to 2 Corinthians 11, please. 2 Corinthians 11, just to remind ourselves of Paul's words here to the church in Corinth who were experiencing some Antichrist in their midst. 

2 Corinthians 11:2, Paul writes: "For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit, which you have not received, or a different gospel, which you have not accepted, you may well put up with it."

We've been studying a difficult passage in the book of 1 John. It's hard for us to think about, it's hard for us to wrap our minds around the truth that John has been teaching us concerning those who oppose Christ, who are against Christ in our world and all around us. It's difficult for us to think about those people that we know, that we love, who are perhaps very sincere about their religion or just good kind people, but they do not know Jesus, and they are not interested in the gospel. 

It can be confusing in these last days trying to discern who is telling the truth, who truly loves Jesus, and who it is that are furthering lies and deception, willfully or unknowingly. There are those who are trying to deceive us, who are teaching lies and deception in order to draw people away from the truth. 

I read an article the other day that a man wrote about heaven. He was talking about our desire for heaven. The premise of his article was that most people have a flawed view and understanding of heaven and mostly see it as a place where all of their interests and desires are fulfilled, a place void of trouble and filled with all pleasure. He said that that is a rather narcissistic view of heaven. 

His point was that heaven is all about Jesus, all about being with Jesus. And if you do not love Jesus, if you do not want Jesus, if you don't want to know Him first and foremost, then you're probably really not interested in going to God's heaven. It was an interesting article, although coming from a flawed perspective on how we get to heaven, which was interesting as well.

But the reason I bring it up is because there was a comment on this article that I believe illustrates the point concerning confusion in our world, in the world of Christianity, and even in the church. And I'd like to read the comment that was posted on this article to you. 

This is a bit of a discernment exercise for you. The person wrote, "I love my Savior because He first loved me and sacrificed Himself to pay for my sins. He is my brother, and brothers help one another. In this case, He sacrificed Himself to make it possible for me to escape the consequences of sin, which is physical and spiritual death. He made it possible for me to be resurrected and to return to live and be near my Father in heaven and allow me to continue my journey of perfecting myself through learning and obtaining knowledge and serving God in worlds without end. For this is God's work and His glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. 

We may get there by having been made clean by the blood of Jesus, but perfection is still a long way off. We believe that our Father in heaven wants all His children to become as He is. He has provided an open pathway to perfection." End of quote.

Some of that sounded pretty good. I love Him because He first loved us. He died to pay for my sins. He sacrificed Himself to release me from the penalty of sin, death. He made it possible for me to be resurrected and go to spend eternity with my Father. The thing that troubles me among believers and in the church today, my friends, is that on posts like this or in normal conversation concerning any facet of society, you will hear Christians grabbing on to these kinds of words, these expressions, scriptures quoted, and hope and desire declaring someone like this to be a Christian. 

But did you notice what other things this person said? Jesus is my brother, and brothers help one another. He said He will return to be near His heavenly Father. And then He said that He's on a journey of perfecting Himself even when He gets to heaven. That's because this person is a Mormon. 

The Mormon cult teaches that God was once a man and that He became God through works and perfecting Himself and that He has His own planet. From that planet, God sends spirit babies to inhabit physical bodies on earth so that we can earn our Godhood through perfecting works and become Gods ourselves and go back to where we came from as spirit babies. And Jesus is just a child of God, like you are a child of God. We are brothers, and Satan is Jesus' brother as well.

He continues, "We believe that our Father in heaven wants all His children to become as He is." My brothers and sisters, John told us last week that many antichrists have already gone out into the world. He tells us that there's a spirit of antichrist in this world in this last hour since Jesus came the first time. Paul tells us that there is another Jesus. 

The Mormons have another Jesus. The Jehovah's Witnesses have another Jesus. He is not the Son of God. He is not God at all. He is just a son of God. The mainline denominations today, Catholic and Protestant alike, have another Jesus, one that is not sufficient to save us, one that did not complete the work satisfying the wrath of God for our sins, but rather we must contribute to our salvation by works. 

We must participate in sacraments and rituals in order to gain God's grace and accomplish our own salvation. There is another Jesus, my friends. And what Paul was afraid of, and John was afraid of, and what I'm afraid of in the church today is that if someone comes preaching another Jesus, another gospel from another spirit than that which we have received, we as the evangelical church today may well put up with it. 

As a matter of fact, the church not only puts up with it, but praises anyone who mentions the name of Jesus: movies, preachers, athletes, even family members, no matter which Jesus it is. So the question I would propose to you today is this. This is a world filled with antichrists. Those against Christ. Those opposed to the gospel, spreading lies against the truth. 

This is a world where the very mood and attitude of men in Adam is antichrist. So what is the answer for us? What is the answer for the believer to whom John writes concerning those who try to deceive us? What is the answer to antichrist? 

If you look in verse 24, John tells us. He says, "Therefore, in light of all these things He's been teaching us, these hard truths, therefore, let that abide in you what you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us: eternal life. These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you."

But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you. And you do not need that anyone teach you. But as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him. 

I have four points on your outline this morning for our text. First, we're going to look at the person. Second, the promise. Third, the players. And fourth, the provision. 

John begins our text today with the word "therefore." And this points us back to all that we've been studying, and in particular to the many antichrists who are in the world who are working against the truth with error and deception. The ones who have abandoned, gone out from the truth and rejected Christ. 

Therefore, in light of this truth of many antichrists in the world, what shall we do? What is the answer to antichrist? To this antichrist spirit in the world? To the lies and errors? To those trying to deceive us? John says, "Therefore, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father." 

John is fond of this phrase, "that which you heard from the beginning." And we've seen throughout the epistle that this refers to Jesus, to the gospel, the good news of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ because of His death in our place, His burial, and resurrection on the third day. What they had heard from the beginning was the gospel, was the simplicity that is in Christ. 

Turn over to Hebrews 2, please. Hebrews 2, the author of Hebrews implores us to focus in on this truth as well. Hebrews 2:1 He writes, "Therefore, we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proves steadfast," that's talking about the law of Moses, "and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?" 

This is talking about the gospel, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him. God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will. 

We must give the more earnest heed to the things that we have heard. The good news message. This salvation through faith in Jesus at first began to be spoken by the Lord and then it was confirmed to us by those who heard Him. There is no salvation apart from Jesus. There's no other way, no other faith that can get you to heaven, that can make you righteous. Only faith in Jesus Christ and what He has done. 

And we do well as believers to give heed to the things that we have heard. We do well to preach the gospel to ourselves every day, to remember the truth, the simplicity of Christ and His life in us. We must keep coming back to this truth. We must let that abide in us which we heard from the beginning if we are to keep from being led astray by error and by lies. 

So, John tells us that there are many antichrists already in the world. They are deceiving by mixing much truth with error, by twisting and distorting the truth to try to deceive even with another Jesus. The answer for the believer, the answer to antichrist is to remain. Is to abide in the truth and to come back to the simple truth of the gospel. 

That I know that I am saved and have eternal life because I have believed Jesus and He has promised in His Word that those who come to Him, He will in no way cast out. That those who hear His Word and believe on Him have eternal life. They have passed from death unto life. I have to keep coming back and renewing my mind to the truth of God's Word, His promises, and growing in my understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ and what it means to my life now today and for eternity. 

I have to abide in the truth. I have to abide in Jesus one day at a time. And it is in this way that I will grow and become mature and discerning, and I will learn to look to Him, to depend on Him, to abide in Him. And this is the answer to antichrist and all of the lies of Satan and his ministers in this world. 

So first, in seeking an answer to this antichrist world in which we live, we see the person, Jesus Christ, the gospel of grace. And next we see the promise. Look at verse 25. "And this is the promise that He has promised us: eternal life." 

When we become discouraged, when we have doubts and fears and struggles, when the injustices of this world have us down and it seems that everything is falling apart, that nothing makes sense anymore, and perhaps I'm the one who's out of step, I need to come back to His promise. You can imagine the believers that John wrote to. They had these false teachers in the church and these men had left the church and they were telling them that they needed something more. That was the essence of their message, and that's the message of Satan today as well. 

You need something more than Jesus. John's primary purpose in this epistle is to assure, to give confidence and peace to those who believe Jesus, to convince and confirm them that they have eternal life and that they need nothing more than Jesus. 

And my brothers and sisters, our assurance really boils down to this one thing: God's promise in Jesus Christ. What is my assurance based on? What am I depending on for my eternity? How do I know today and tomorrow, and on the hard, hard days, that I am secure in Christ, that I can have peace and joy in the midst of it all, knowing that my heavenly Father loves me and is working all things together for my good, that I will spend eternity in heaven with Him, and that that day is coming soon? 

How do I know? Where does my assurance come from? Is it my feelings? Is it my emotions, my experiences? Do I see miracles and signs and wonders to confirm my faith? Do I get a liver shiver, as Adrian Rogers used to say? Is it my good works? Is it my ability to keep the law and do what I know I should? Where does my peace come from? 

It all comes down to this, my friends. The promise of God in Jesus Christ, found in His Word. When He says to me in His Word, "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." 

Most assuredly, I say to you, "He who hears my Word and believes in Him who sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death unto life." 

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." 

"He who believes in Him is not condemned. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. This is the will of the Father who sent me, that of all He has given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day." 

"And this is the will of Him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up at the last day." 

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand." 

"My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." 

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and does not fade away, and it's reserved for you in heaven who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." 

"Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." 

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He predestined, these He also called. Whom He called, these He also justified. And whom He justified, these He also glorified." 

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels or principalities or powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

Where does our assurance come from? It comes from the promise of God, of Jesus Christ in His Word. The only assurance I have is that God said in His Word that if I believe Jesus, if I turn from my idols to serve the living God, to faith in Jesus Christ and trust Him to have died in my place for my sins, fully satisfying the wrath of God, and believe that God raised Him up on the third day, if I call on the name of the Lord, if I believe Him, trust Him and Him alone, then God says I have, present tense, I possess today, that moment that I believe, eternal life. 

That is my assurance. I am saved because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross. And my friends, it is a done deal. When I believed, God imputed to Jesus my sins and to me His righteousness. And He saved me, and I am secure forever in Him. And my only assurance is His Word, His promise, nothing else. 

And this is the promise that He has promised us: eternal life. This is the answer to Antichrist and all his lies and false teaching and false teachers. I have the person, Jesus Christ. I have, through faith, the promise: eternal life. 

This is my answer to the players, to the false teachers who try to deceive. Look at verse 26. John says, "These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you." 

Paul told us in 2 Corinthians 11 that Satan masquerades as an angel of light and his ministers as ministers of righteousness. He tells us in Ephesians 6 that Satan brings all kinds of schemes, the wiles of the devil, to trick, to deceive. He mixes truth with error to draw away, to take captive people with false doctrine and to keep them from the truth and salvation in Jesus Christ. 

We've talked already about some of those false Christian denominations in our world today. They are everywhere. They are all around us. And some of them sound very good. They sound very close to the truth. They are hard to discern. And some of the people in these religions are very nice. They're very moral people who seem sometimes to have it all together. 

But the question is, what do they teach? What do they believe? What are they trusting in? If our assurance is based solely on Jesus Christ, on the promise of eternal life, on what God says to be true and what He promises in His Word, then we must be wary of anyone who teaches something contrary to His Word, to His truth, especially concerning Jesus Christ. 

Who He is and what He has done and what He has promised and how we claim that promise. These are the things that John wants us to think about. He wants us to see. If a teacher or denomination claims to be Christian and hold the truth, look at his doctrine. Look at what the church officially teaches. 

Does it mesh with the Bible, with God's words, with the promise of God, the person of Jesus Christ? If a church says that Jesus is not God, then they are a false church. If a church says that Jesus did not actually really become a man, then that is a false church. If a religion says that Jesus' sacrifice was not sufficient to save us from our sins, to fully expiate our sins and our guilt before God, and that there's something more than faith in Jesus Christ and His payment on the cross required for us in salvation, then, my brothers and sisters, this is a false church, full of Satan's ministers, and their sole purpose is to deceive.

If someone teaches that you must be baptized to be saved, that is something more than God requires in His Word. That is a work, that is a sacrament, and that is a lie. If someone says we must do good works in order to be justified, we must pay alms or do acts of charity or suffer in order to contribute to what Christ did to be saved, then this man teaches a lie straight from the pit of hell. 

It is not just another denomination. They are not just a little off. They don't just see things a little bit differently than we do. They are liars and the truth is not in them. They are blind guides leading the blind into the ditch. They deny Jesus Christ and who He is and what He has done. They say a lot of good things. They speak a lot of true words. But they mix them with lethal leaven, leavening the whole lump. 

John wants us to focus on Jesus. He wants us to keep renewing our mind to the promise of God's Word in Christ through faith. And He wants us to recognize those who try to deceive us, to see their false doctrine and reject them, expose them, so that they will not draw men away after their lies. 

Turn to 2 John with me, please. 2 John, beginning at verse 5. 2 John 5: "And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another. This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. 

For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward. Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. 

If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him. For he who greets him shares in his evil deeds." 

I know it's hard. It's difficult to realize the implications of the false nature of so many churches that claim the name of Christ yet deny who He is and what He's done. It's hard to come to terms with the fact that so many of our loved ones are not saved. They do not know the truth. They do not have eternal life because they have been led astray by lies, by those who deceive. 

But, my brother and my sister, it does them no good, and it does us no good for us to lie to ourselves, to fail to recognize the false nature of their religion and their individual need for truth and for the gospel, for the true Jesus of the Bible. If you don't tell Grandma the truth, then who will? 

We must recognize those who try to deceive us, those who teach another gospel, which is no good news at all. We have a message of hope. We have a message of truth. We need to take heed to ourselves. We need to look to ourselves and be honest with ourselves and believe the straightforward truths of God's Word concerning those who tell lies and lead men astray. And then we need to snatch those who are perishing from the fire, telling them the gospel truth, challenging them to seek out the truth for themselves and imploring them to be reconciled to God. 

This is our commission. This is our joy. This is our great privilege to be ambassadors for Jesus Christ in this world, bringing the good news gospel of salvation by grace through faith alone and Jesus alone so that men might believe and be saved and know that they have eternal life. 

I challenge you to ask your religious family members, neighbors, co-workers, go stand on the steps of the Lutheran church when it lets out on Sunday morning and ask those people if they know that they're going to heaven. Ask them why they are going to heaven. They will tell you that they hope so. They will talk about how they are trying, how they are pretty good people. They will point to their baptism. They are deceived, my friends. 

There are players out there, Satan's minions masquerading as ministers of righteousness, and they try by their lies and half-truths to deceive. The answer to these antichrists is truth. Light that exposes the darkness. Truth spoken in love to those who are caught up in these systems of man's religion destined for eternal death. We have to tell them. We have to love them enough to tell them the truth. 

There were some people who loved me enough to tell me the truth. And I'm thankful. We've seen John's answer to antichrist. It's the person. It's Jesus Christ. It's His promise. It's eternal life. We've seen the players who try to deceive. And last, I want you to see the provision that God has given to you: the Holy Spirit of God. 

Verse 27: "But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you. And you do not need that anyone teach you, but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him." 

The anointing that John speaks of here is the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The work that He does in us to give us understanding of the Word of God. To guide us into all truth. To lead us, to teach us that we might understand. Many times people have told me, believers, those who love the Lord, they've told me, "I read this passage or that passage and I just don't understand it." 

Sometimes people will tell me that they don't understand a passage, and they'll hear me preach or teach, and then they understand. And that's wonderful, and that's what God intends. As Paul highlights in Ephesians 4, where he says that God has given... and men to the church to teach, to equip the saints. Nehemiah said that these men are to give the sense of it. They are to exegete the text, to take out the meaning, to say what God says. 

John's not saying that we shouldn't have teachers or listen to preachers. God has given them to us as a gift for edification. But what John is saying is that each believer, every believer, has an anointing from the Holy Spirit. You have a resident truth teacher to guide you, to illumine the Scriptures, to exalt Jesus Christ. 

So if we do not understand a passage, we should keep reading it, keep studying it. We should get on our knees and pray to God for understanding, for Him to reveal to us the truth of what He is saying, rather than just looking to the bottom of the page at our notes in our study Bible. We have the Holy Spirit. He will teach us. 

He will guide us into all truth, but we have to read His Word. We have to study. We have to seek the will of God and pray to Him for understanding. And He will tell us concerning the doctrine if it is from Him or if it is a lie. We have this very promise in John 7:17: "If anyone wills to do his will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on my own authority." 

If we will to do His will, if you really want to know, if you want to know Jesus, the Holy Spirit's role is to exalt Jesus, to point us to Jesus, to teach us about Jesus. And He will do that through His Word. 

In 1 Corinthians 2:9, Paul said, "But as it is written, 'I have not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.' But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 

Verse 12, he says, 'Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.' 

But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned." 

Notice what John says in our text in verse 27. He says, "But as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie." 

My brothers and sisters, there are those in the world who tell us lies, who try to deceive us, but God does not lie. He tells us the truth in His Word. In Titus 1:1, it says, "Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledgement of the truth which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began, but has in due time manifested His Word through preaching, which has committed to me according to the commandment of God our Savior." 

In James, it says, "Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, listen to this, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." 

"Of His own will, He brought us forth by the Word of truth that we might be a kind of first fruits of His creatures." God cannot lie. There is no variation. There is no wavering in His Word. He tells us the truth, and the anointing that we have from the Holy Spirit teaches us, guides us into all truth, so that we might know and understand and abide, and not be deceived. 

So if you read a passage of Scripture, and you do not understand it, do not immediately go to a man, to a commentary, to a study Bible, to see what he says. Study it for yourself. Write it out. Highlight the key words and phrases. Think about the context, the intent of the author, his audience. Study, and read, and pray until you understand. 

And you will be amazed at the riches gained through this process of seeking God through His Word. You have an anointing, my friends. Now I just want to close by highlighting the great promise that we see in the last words of our text. 

John says, "You will abide in Him." Another word of assurance, my friends. The Holy Spirit has been given to us, an anointing to guide us into all truth in His Word. And just as He has taught us, we will abide in Him. If we believe Jesus, we will seek the truth. If we are His sheep, we will hear His voice. We will follow our shepherd. We will remain and abide because we have eternal life, because we have been born of God, because we are new creatures. 

Our deepest heart's desire is to know Him, to believe Him, to abide in Him, that we might bear fruit to glorify Him. Paul said that we heard the Word of Truth, the Gospel, and having believed, we were saved, and we were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. And that is our down payment, our earnest, our guarantee of our inheritance. 

We are saved, my brothers and sisters, if we have believed Jesus. And we are being saved by Jesus' high priestly work interceding for us, the Holy Spirit sanctifying us by His Word, His truth, and we will be fully and finally saved, glorified together with Him when He comes to catch us up in the clouds to be with Him forever. 

We have salvation. We know that we have eternal life today and for all eternity. And we have the anointing that teaches us, guides us through the Word, so that we might know the truth and not be deceived. We are secure in Christ, and John writes us all of these things in order that we who believe Jesus might know that we have eternal life. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we're so thankful for Your Word, so thankful for the Holy Spirit who teaches us, for Jesus, our salvation. We're thankful that You're our Father, that You always do what's best for us, that You keep us, that You've given us a promise of eternal life. 

Father, I just pray that You would teach us to love men as You love men, to desire that every man would be saved, to know that now it's high time to wake out of our sleep, Lord, that we're in the last hour and that we need to be busy telling men the truth, sharing the good news, so that men can be saved and bring You glory. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.