Antichrist

About a week and a half ago, I was back in Cincinnati, and I was sitting in my parents' living room, and I was working on a sermon idea, and it was a Thursday morning, and all of a sudden I got this text while I was working, and it told me that something significant had happened in the world. In fact, people were running, literally running through the streets of Rome, Italy, because there was smoke.

There was white smoke coming up out of a chimney in the Sistine Chapel, and it notified the world that a new pope had been selected. He took the name of Leo the 14th, and the name has meaning, and I sat there in my mother's living, mother and father's living room, thinking about just how even months ago I had read about Pope Leo the 1st and preparing for the sermon on the beast that was, was not, and yet is. And it's significant that when a pope takes a name, that he chooses a name that represents the type of values, the legacy, the inspiration that he wants his papacy to represent.

Now, later popes using the name Leo may want to reflect moral authority and stance against threats, and those stance those threats could be internal, theological, political, societal. And it made me ask the question, because a lot of us, I think, are potentially looking at this pope and wondering, could this be the individual that becomes the beast religious head? And I had to conclude after thinking about that for about an hour and doing various research. I have no idea.

And frankly, while I tend to believe that the final beast religious head will be Catholic, he may not be. I think there are strong historical reasons to believe that the pope may be, and time will tell. But I try not to hold in my personal life any dogmatic view that I can't back up from here.

There's a lot of false ideas in and out of the church regarding the topic of Antichrist. There's a lot of confusion. The term Antichrist has been applied to many different people down through time, from emperors to Muslim leaders to various popes. It's a term that was used about Martin Luther, and in the last century it was used to apply to Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Benito Mussolini.

And recently the term has been applied even to Donald Trump. And in fact, if you go out to Amazon tonight when you get home, you can find there's a book on there for $6.66. I'm not making that up. Paul Trump Antichrist. And again, you can see the headlines. This book isn't the only one to make that claim. Today, I want to take a look at how the Bible uses the term Antichrist and what it should mean to you and I. How the Bible uses the term Antichrist and what it should mean to you and I.

Now, the term Antichrist comes from the Greek word antichristos. Now, I'm going to read you three quick definitions. One's from Strong's definition. It's an opponent of the Messiah. Mount's definition, opposer of Christ. And Thayer's definition, the adversary of the Messiah. So we get kind of similar things. Opponent, opposer, adversary of Christ or the Messiah, which we know means the same thing. Now, what you might be surprised to find out is this term Antichrist is only in four scriptures in the Bible, and they are all in John's writings.

Let's go to 1 John 2 and verse 18. 1 John 2 and verse 18. 1 John 2 and verse 18. Here it says, little children, it is the last hour. And I'll just pause there for a second. John is writing this letter as the last living apostle, probably in the late 80s, early 90s. This is 60-ish years after the death of Jesus Christ, and he is both nearing the end of his life, but he's also nearing the end of the group of men who were taught directly by Jesus Christ and saw him resurrected.

And he says, 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. So from this verse alone, we know that at the end of this first century, before all the apostles died out, that already he says many Antichrists have come.

There isn't just one, and that's one of the first lessons you should take from this sermon. There isn't a single individual Antichrist. Already by the end of John's life, there were many. Also, we should take a second thing from this verse. The Antichrist is not just an end-time figure. The Antichrist is not just an end-time figure. We know they've always existed from the time of the apostles. Now, the very next verse tells us in verse 19, they went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. So this verse tells us another very specific and interesting thing. That these specific Antichrists had first been part of their religious circle, but weren't any longer. That's a third lesson to take from this today. Antichrists can be a part of the church or fellowship at some point. Now, continuing in 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. John is writing this letter to people who know God's truth, people like you. Now, the New King James translate John as saying that no lie is of the truth. This word lie is the Greek word pseudos, often used in the New Testament for the sense of a falsehood, religious falsehood, a perversion of religious truth. So it's false religion. It's a falsehood, and falsehoods and truth don't go together. This could apply to any number of false religious ideas. So that's the fourth lesson. Religious falsehoods and truth don't mix.

Then in verse 22, we have the second verse that Antichrist has found. In the first verse, we already had it used twice, but here's the second verse. In verse John 2.22 says, who is a liar, or in the Greek, one who utters falsehoods? 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. So what can we learn here from John's second use? Antichrist can also apply to anyone who would deny that Jesus is the promised Messiah. Anyone who says this is someone who utters religious falsehoods. And you can't, it tells us here, you can't deny the Son as the Messiah and also still have the Father, have a relationship with the Father, it doesn't work that way. The whole plan of God, the one from before any humans were ever made, was based around the idea of Jesus as the Messiah at its very core. There are whole religious groups that deny that Jesus is the Messiah, and by that definition, it makes them Antichrist. They may still profess to believe in one true God, but this scripture says if they deny His Son who died for all of their sins, they deny Jesus as the Messiah. They are Antichrist. For the third scripture, let's turn forward in 1 John chapter 4.

1 John chapter 4. We'll pick up in verse 1. 1 Here it tells us a very simple statement, Beloved, do not believe every spirit. Now, the Greek word translated spirit here contains a very broad range of meanings in the Bible, but it can speak to influence or spiritual influence. We can be influenced by God's Holy Spirit, that's what we want, but we also can be influenced by satanic influences. It says, do not believe every spirit or every spiritual influence, but test the spirits, whether they are of God. I think we've all seen, and I certainly have, seen people led by a spirit right out of the church of God, away from truth. They felt led, but they were led not by God. Spiritual influences come, and they test us, and we are told that we have to test them. Is this influence that I'm feeling led by? Is it from God, or is it from something else? Well, how do we know? When Satan was trying to test and influence Jesus Christ, what did he say? You'll remember that Christ responded to Satan's direct temptations by saying, we shall live by every word of God. We are to live by every word of God. So that's how we always test the spirits. Does the word of God, when that influence comes to us and we feel led, does it match up with this book? That's how we know. Does it line up with every word? Sometimes people will take and cherry-pick out a certain idea, some words, a single verse, but when you line it up against every word, it doesn't fit. It says after that, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. So after saying test the spirits whether they are of God, it says, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This world is full of false religious teachers, many who claim religious authority, many who claim to be divinely inspired, many who are charismatic, great natural speakers, but when their words are tested, they are not proven to speak on behalf of God, because their words contradict God's word. And then in verse 2 and 3, John gives us another lesson about Antichrist. First John 4, 2, 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 Antichrist, which you have heard was coming and is now already in the world. Now we have to be careful here to understand the context. Now this isn't a blanket statement that is saying everyone who teaches Jesus Christ came in the flesh, well you can believe everything else they ever teach you, and it's all true without testing it. That's not what this is talking about. That's obvious, not the context. There was at this time when John wrote these words already a religious movement that John is addressing. It was one of the earliest Christian heresies that came against the church, and it was a false teaching called Dostatism. D-O-C-E-T-I-S-M, if you want to write that down. Dostatism. They taught that Christ only seemed to be in the flesh, but he was in fact kind of a phantom, an illusion, that his body was never real, that he could not then really die on the cross.

And so when we test that idea by every word of God, can that possibly be true? Well no, it's proven easily to be a religious falsehood. I'll just quote a couple verses to you. 1 John 1 and 1. 1 John... no, not 1 John. John 1-1. John 1-1. More writings of John, but the gospel account of John. John 1-1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, or was with God, and the Word was God. The Word was was... I'm going to try that again.

2 John 1-1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And then in the 14th verse of that chapter, it says, And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, and the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. He became flesh.

This idea of docetism and other closely associated false ideas that came into the church at that time are against Christ. They are against the truth. I don't want to spend a lot of time on those other alternative ideas, but I'll mention two other ones. Whether we talk about Arianism, which was the fact... the belief that Christ was a created being. He wasn't originally God after being a human being. He was created, and then he became a God after his resurrection. That's Arianism. Caused lots of problems in the early church. Obviously, then also the Trinitarian doctrine. That God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit form a triune God. That Jesus Christ was always a part of this three-in-one eternal Godhead. Therefore, how do you have a God that fully comes in the flesh and fully dies as a man on the cross for our sins? If he's a part of an eternal divine three-in-one God being, they struggle to answer that question.

But all these ideas are anti-Christ. It's not teachings of the Bible. It's not teachings of God and Jesus Christ. Now, continuing back in 1 John 4.4, you are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. We know that Christ overcame this world, and now Christ lives through his Spirit in us, and he is greater than the adversary. He is greater than Satan. He is greater than Satan who influences this whole world and this world's religious teachers. And then in verse 5 it says, they, and who are they? It would be those who are influenced by this opposing Spirit.

They are of the world. Therefore, they speak as the world, and the world hears them. And we know that the largest, most powerful world religions are heard. They are heard because they're rulers from this world. Verse 6, we are of God. He who knows God hears us. He who is not of God does not hear us. By this, we know the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of error. Notice two spirits here mentioned. The Spirit of truth. That's of God and Christ. And also a Spirit of error that comes from Satan, which is against Christ or Antichrist. For the final occurrence of Antichrist, let's turn to 2 John 1. 2 John, and we'll pick up in the first chapter in verse 4. 2 John 1.4.

I rejoice greatly that I have found some of your children walking in the truth as we receive commandment from the Father. I find this so encouraging, and you know, could you imagine, John, knowing that there are still people 2,000 years later that are walking in the truth, as we've received commandment from the Father. But at this time, John's an old man. If Vern was here, I was going to say, it's probably about Vern's age. If Vern's online, they're probably similar ages, you know? And he's an old man now, and he's so excited that he has met members of the church who have now had children, and their children know the truth. And not only do they know it, they're walking in it. They're obeying it. They're living it. How encouraging would that be as you're reaching the end of a life you've given completely to God's service? In verse 6, this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment that you have heard from the beginning. You shall walk in it. Which world religions walk in the commandments of God? All of God's commandments. Verse 7, For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Verse 9, 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. Verse 10, If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house, nor greet him. Verse 9 and 10 make some pretty big and clear points. Can you step off the path, step aside, and not stay true to the teaching of Christ and claim to have God? Claim to have God and Christ in your life? The clear answer is no. This is antichrist. To walk contrary to Christ's teachings is against Him. At this point, we've looked at the only four scriptures that use the word antichrist in the Bible. Again, John is the only one who even uses this term. I found it interesting, just as a side note, he doesn't even use the term in the book of Revelation that Jesus Christ gave him. It's not recorded. It's not a title used for just a single end-time individual that would pop up right before the end time and be this evil sinister individual. Now, I'm not saying that that's not an appropriate term to apply to anyone who teaches against God's way, against God's people, but in the Bible it's a more general term than that. It can apply to anyone, or anything for that matter, that opposes or is against Jesus Christ, or opposes or against what Jesus Christ was all about.

What I found interesting is I did more research on the term antichrist. It actually would evolve from this point that John wrote this, and over the next hundreds of years in the second, third, fourth century, this idea began to emerge and take root of a single evil sinister figure began to take place. And over the next hundred years after that, they saw antichrist as a specific future individual, usually identified with the beasts of revelation and associated with Rome.

During the medieval years, the antichrist shifted to more of an institutional or moral interpretation of view. Augustine then focused more on the spiritual struggle between good and evil, and then when Martin Luther and John Calvin came along, they saw the Pope as the antichrist. The Catholic Church responded to that view of them being the antichrist, and they then presented it as a single future individual who would divert attention away from the papacy as antichrist. There was even an idea by mainstream religious authorities, especially during the post-Reformation and counter-Reformation periods, that saw Sabbath keepers and commandment keepers as the antichrist. So we have to understand, through time, many different ideas emerged and formed and continue even to our modern day. We have to understand we've likely been influenced, maybe even adopted, some of these modern ideas that evolved down through time. What we've seen today from Scripture, the idea of antichrist, has a very broad application. Again, because it represents all people and all things that oppose the truth about Christ and the truths Christ taught and lived by. It can refer to people, cultures, powers, specific institutions or governments. It can refer to behaviors, attitudes, or individuals or groups of people.

So as we move toward the end of this age, the Bible does show that a spirit of antichrist, a spirit of opposing the true teachings of Christ, will increase and they will dominate the world. We characterize this by talking about the the system Babylonian, Babylon the Great, that beast government that is both a political power and has a leader, and also then a false religious leader, both which represent truly a spirit of antichrist. But for the rest of this sermon, I want to shift now to what about you and me? Could the spirit of antichrist ever impact us?

Is there a personal warning that we should take from those scriptures?

Today, I would like to look at a number of ways where we can oppose or be against Christ. The first of those ways is not submitting under His authority.

Not submitting under His authority. In Luke 6 and verse 46, you'll remember this question that Christ asked. It was a powerful question. He says, "'But why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do the things which I say?'" Those who profess to be Christians but actually don't submit their lives under His authority, submit and obey Christ, we practice a lifestyle that opposes His very teachings and opposes His lordship over our lives.

Do any of us ever know how we're supposed to be living our life? Know what we've been called to be to practice, but we allow areas of our lives where we allow our own will to lead, go our own path? Again, John wrote about this in 1 John 2 and verse 3 and 4. Back in 1 John 2 verse 3 and 4, he says, "'Now by this we know that we know Him.' How do we know we know Him? If we keep His commandments.

He who says, I know Him, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in Him." Those are strong statements. How many believe they have a relationship with Christ? They claim to know Him, but they don't obey Him, and they don't keep His commandments.

Can we allow areas of our individual personal lives where we don't walk the way that we should and do not submit under His authority as the Lord of our lives? 2. Putting up with another Jesus.

I took that term from 2 Corinthians 11.4. Notice what Paul warns this congregation in Corinth. 2 Corinthians 11.4. 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. 3. Mainstream Christianity teaches that Jesus demands nothing, tolerates sin, and provides only comfort. 4. They do that because they blend one true idea with a false idea. It's a bit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, right? The idea that absolutely God and Jesus Christ love everyone. That is the truth of God. Christ died for everyone, He loves everyone, and they take that, and they blend that with the idea that therefore, no matter how everyone lives, what choices they make in their individual lives, everybody's okay. Nobody needs to change from that sin. We just accept the sin along with the person because we love them, God loves them. It's a Jesus redefined to fit the lives of individuals, how they really want to live, according to their cultural preferences. But make no mistake, that is anti-Christ. It's against Christ. It opposes what He taught. Now, we just recently, Cindy and I, returned from Cincinnati, where we attended the GCE, and we looked back at our 30-year UCG history back in 1995. I found it really interesting to hear about the five to ten years before that. So, kind of the 85 to 95 timeframe before UCG was formed. When the Church of God at that time, had been for decades teaching the truths of God. Yet, it seems from what I learned and understand, it took just a couple of individuals who launched a very subtle sly plan to over years begin to teach a different Jesus. It began to change what we believed. It happened so gradual, but it was calculated. It was so subtle, many were deceived by it. The people wanting people to believe the lies, we keep saying, well, just keep studying. Keep listening. Keep learning. You'll get it.

They were teaching another Jesus. They were teaching another Jesus from a different spirit, a different gospel. Why was this effective? It took out a huge number part of the church. I don't even know what percentage. Would we say 80%? Is that a pretty close estimation? A huge amount. Why was it so effective? Because people really didn't know every word of God. They didn't know some of the arguments against some of the lies that were being spread.

It can happen again to the church of God if people do not know the word of God.

I was talking with somebody before church that I believe everyone will eventually be tested in two ways. To see whether they are a true Christian. One test I believe everybody gets is whether they know the truth of God's word. Do you know this? I believe that was the big test in 1995, and I believe that continues to happen from time to time. I believe everybody will be tested to see will they live by this? Will you live by it? How do you treat people? How do you love people? How do you get along with people, disagree with people, and yet still practice what this book says? I believe we will all be tested in those two ways. In the book of Hosea, which we won't turn to, it's found in Hosea 4-6, it says, My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. Many people don't know how to combat false teachings, and so they're led by a false spirit and led into those falsehoods. One of the beautiful things about how United chose to form was an intentional government that protected doctrines. It takes 75% of the elders of our church to vote to change one of our fundamental beliefs. That's hard to do. I love the fact that there is a safety around our doctrines that makes it almost impossible to shift from them. But as I thought about that, that only protects the organization. It protects the organization from shifting beliefs and doctrines, but it does not protect you individually as a person from being led astray.

You're personally responsible for that.

You personally have to know God's Word at a deep and thorough level so that you can test the spirits. In 1 Timothy 1 and verse 3 through 7, Paul teaching a new pastor, Timothy, had these words for Timothy. He said, 1 Timothy 1.3, As I urged you when I was in Macedonia, remain in Ephesus, that you may charge some, that they teach no other doctrine.

Verse 5, Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some have strayed, having turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.

All pastors can tell stories of individuals from without and individuals from within who desire to be teachers. They bring in strange ideas. I was talking to a pastor from another area this week who was telling me about a new person started attending, and on day one wants to be the teacher, bringing strange ideas of their own personal visions that they were having and want to share with the congregation. That's a very strong example of something like this, but these strange ideas that people bring into the church, they really impede the work of God. Pastors have to spend countless hours every year fighting false teachings that are always trying to come against the church. It made me ask the question, do I love doctrine? Do you love doctrine?

That might be a strange question, right? Do you love doctrine? I think it's a question that we all have to know the answer to. To love doctrine means you love what this book says. You love having correct understanding and correct teachings that work with every word that's written. That's why I'm so thankful for our organization, because we have a government that protects doctrine, protects what I with my whole heart believe and teach, and I love these doctrines.

True doctrine is meant to be healthy for us. It's meant to help us lead happy lives, healthy lives, emotionally, spiritually, and it also binds us all together. False doctrines, therefore, have to be rooted out, because they are harmful and they're dangerous, and they're meant to separate and destroy by the enemy.

I'll quote Romans 16-17 to you. Romans 16-17, it simply says, Now I urge you, brethren, this is written to a congregation, not to a minister, I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them.

That's your teaching straight out of the Bible. Note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrines you have learned and avoid them. A different Jesus. A different Jesus is Antichrist. False doctrines that don't align with what Christ taught are Antichrist.

Three.

Divisions within the body of Christ is Antichrist. Division within the body of Christ is Antichrist. I'll quote one verse in 1 Corinthians 3. 3. 2, 1 Corinthians 3. 3.

Paul asked the Corinthian congregation, Are you still carnal?

For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? Envy, strife, and divisions? They're not led by God's Spirit. That comes from the other spirit. It comes from our human nature.

We don't want to have any part to do with that. 1 John 2. 9.

Hopefully, are we still in John? No, I think I've moved John out of John. We're back in 1 John again for a couple more verses. In 1 John 2. 9, it says, He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in fact—it doesn't use the word in fact—but is in darkness until now. You say you're in the light, but you hate your brother. No, you're in darkness. Another one in John, but this one's 1 John 4. 20. It's similar. It says, if someone says, I love God, but I hate my brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, how can he love God, whom he's not seen?

The body of Christ is supposed to be this beautiful and special organism that is closely knit together, each serving one another, each loving one another, helping one another, being patient one another, and that's what you and I signed up for when we became a Christian.

Division is the exact opposite of God's love and law, and it is from the spirit of antichrist. I believe this is my last point today, and it's point four, Christ as our atoning sacrifice.

Christ as our atoning sacrifice, and hopefully you'll see as I lay this out why that is so important to this topic of antichrist. Anything that diminishes Christ's atoning sacrifice is antichrist.

There is no substitution for Christ's atoning work before the Father.

Let's turn to Hebrews 9. The book of Hebrews talks a lot about this concept. I just tried to grab some of the main scriptures here. In Hebrews 9, the author says in verse 11, and whoever this author is of Hebrews, whether you think it's Paul or someone else, takes a great amount of time over this book to show the special role that Christ had as our high priest and how integral he was to our Christian lives. Hebrews 9.11, but Christ came as a high priest of good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands. That is not of this creation. He brought a different tabernacle, and not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood he entered the most holy place, and this is the most holy place of a new tabernacle, not the one made by man. He entered the most holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

His sacrifice was supposed to cleanse our consciences. All those sins are gone. We can leave them behind, move forward to serve the living God, and for this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant. It's not the old covenant. It's a new one by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance. Turn over one more chapter to Hebrews 10 and verse 12. Hebrews 10 and 12. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down at the right hand of God from that time waiting till his enemies are made his footstool.

Christ has enemies. They oppose him. They're against him, and they're not yet all in submission to him or under his footstool. Some don't even know they're enemies.

Yesterday I was reading in Colossians 2, and it struck me how I was very familiar with verse 14, but I had not really spent a lot of time on verse 15 in my thoughts. Colossians 2.14 is a scripture we've spent a lot of time on as a church because it's often twisted and misunderstood in the world.

Colossians 2.14 talks about having wiped out the handwriting of requirements. That was your list of debts that you owed because of all your sins that was against us, which was contrary to us. And he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

That whole list of debts is gone. We've talked probably a lot about this around Passover. But notice verse 15. I thought this was such an interesting scripture. Having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them in it. Having disarmed principalities and powers, I never really had the image of these powers and principalities were armed previously. But he disarmed them. When I was young, my four-creached nephews and I often played this game after school, and I was probably too old to be playing this game, but I won't tell you how old I was at this time, and we had made these night masks and decorated them. We had our masks that we put on, and then we used wiffle ball bats. We went to battle as knights of our little kingdom that we had made up there in my sister's yard and on the playset that they had there. There was no greater feeling at that time than to disarm one of them by knocking the wiffle ball bat out of their arm. You had them, right? You had them dead to rights. They're stuck. They can't fight back. They're powerless.

That's kind of the language Paul uses here of what Christ did to these principalities and powers.

What Paul also calls in Ephesians 6 and 12, principalities against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. Whatever the weapons are that they had, he disarmed them. They had nothing left to thwart the plan of God. And think about that. Before Christ, they had to have hope that they were going to disrupt God's plan. Why else would Satan spend any time tempting Christ several times? No point to. He must have believed he could get at them and stop the plan of God from being able to move forward. But after Christ came, after his sacrifice of his life, after his death, after his resurrection, they had no more hope. It was over for them. They were disarmed. And then Paul also says that he made them a public spectacle of them triumphing over them in it. Now, as I studied this after thinking about this scripture more, you probably just make logical sense once we start talking about it. But in the Roman world, they had these things called triumphal marches. Or they called them triumphs. They were lavish military parades that Rome would give an honor to celebrate and publicly kind of sanctify the success of a military commander who had achieved some great victory for Rome. They were among the highest of honors that a Roman general could receive.

And the Senate was actually the one who would have to make a decision to award a triumph. And it did have some requirements, but I found one of those requirements interesting. The enemy had to be beaten decisively. It could not be a close battle. That enemy had to be just completely and decisively beaten. And then they would hold this great parade with just roars of the applause from the cheering citizens. And this is the image that Paul used at that time to describe this public spectacle that Christ had made of them. And this is of those evil forces against God and Christ.

And that victorious general would be dressed in purple and a gold toga with a laurel crown and rode a four-horse chariot. And then behind this four-horse chariot, important enemy leaders, soldiers, even their families, were marched in chains behind and people would sing songs.

Paul tells these people of this great victory that Christ had. Even greater than any Roman emperor or leader, Christ subdued the principalities and powers of this world. He led a decisive victory against Satan and his forces. But what I want to make sure we get in this idea of Antichrist today is that Christ is enough. What he did for us is enough. We don't have to add to it. We don't need to take away from it. Your sins aren't too big. You're not too damaged. Christ died so you could be free to serve the living God. He wanted you to have a better life because of that freedom and release from the sin of bondage or bondage to sin. We understand we sin. Thankfully, God gave us a very clear path to go back on our knees, repent, change, move forward. We know—I know I'm speaking to a well-educated group—we know we can't live in sin. We know that that's not what that means. Where to walk is Christ's walk. We understand that. But God and Christ also—and this is going to be hopefully a full sermon soon—God and Christ also do not want you to live under some arbitrary weight of your past sins, even mistakes you may or may not have made today, that they just want you to feel the weight of all that. Like, you're the worst person ever that you don't deserve their love, and just come beating yourself up all the time, even when you don't even know what you did wrong.

That's not what God wants for us. That idea is from the enemy. It's anti-Christ.

But then there's always two ditches, aren't there? That's one ditch. There's also a ditch because we know what Ephesians 2.10 tells us that we are His workmanship. We heard that in the sermonette today.

We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. We're to be doing stuff which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. We understand we're supposed to obey. We're supposed to follow His teachings, the commandments, the laws of the kingdom, and that family.

But we have to also be careful of the other ditch, which is the ditch that we can begin to think by the good things we do, by our works, by our own obedience, by our own efforts. We have somehow earned God's grace and salvation. Now, we wouldn't normally think of it in this language, but that's also against Christ. That's anti-Christ. Even as we strive to obey to the very best of our ability, we must always guard any thoughts we may have about how our own efforts, our own obedience, merits God's grace and forgiveness because I don't care how well we live a life. It will never earn us freedom from sin or salvation. It can't, and it never will.

In Ephesians 2 verses 8 and 9, it says, For by grace you have been saved through faith.

And it says so clearly, And not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any should boast. Does it get any more clear than that?

You've been saved through faith, not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works. Or you would have some reason to stand up here and say, look how great I am. Any works we do, and we are to do works, make no mistake, but any works we do, these works do not bring about forgiveness or salvation.

So why do we do these things? Why are you here today? Why do you keep the Sabbath and the Holy Days and the food laws? We do these things probably for a number of reasons.

It's a way that we show love and commitment to God and Jesus Christ. It's a way that we show our choice to want to be like the God family, to be like our Savior, because we trust them also that their way of life is the best way to live. We do that in obedience. But again, we have to be careful that we never diminish what Christ did by somehow looking toward our own human efforts.

I want to talk about one more false movement. This has been, I feel like, growing in the church for quite a while now. It's an idea that we often call a messianic movement. It's an attempt to blend Judaism with Christianity.

We have to be careful about the various teachings of Judaism and Jewishness, that we as Christians need to in some way adopt these things to be a part of the true church. This has been, again, trying to creep into the church for a while now. Even all the way back in the first century, we see right away that Jews, who became Christians, were always trying to get the other Christians who never were Jews to go do a bunch of Jewish things.

Probably the most famous of that is circumcision. Circumcision was the big symbol of being a Jew. If you weren't circumcised, you weren't a Jew. So they wanted them to get circumcised. But what did Paul say? No, that's unnecessary. You don't need to do that.

We understand that that was always a type of the spiritual circumcision of our hearts that was necessary. But if that one wasn't carried down, this big symbol of being a Jew wasn't pushed on to Christianity, then nothing, all the littler, smaller things certainly were not.

Paul was certainly, as a good practicing Jew raised at the feet of Gamaliel, he knew all about being a Jew. And if he didn't knew, no, these things don't pass over to Christianity. He would have been one who would have known all about that, understanding they didn't need to practice and adopt Jewish traditions and ideas to be a Christian.

This influence of this desire to somehow adopt Jewish customs and practices and traditions influences many people on what they do.

Now, I want to be careful here to not at all question sincerity. I think all of us at times, as we've studied God's Word, we've had questions at time. Should I do this? Is this still required? What is necessary here to please God? I know in my own zeal for wanting to be faithful to God and keep His Word the best of my ability, I've asked sincere questions. So this isn't a question of sincerity, but it is important that we understand those things are not necessary. We don't see them in the New Testament. Those practices that I'm referring to, they're not found anywhere by practicing true Christians in the New Testament.

More than not being necessary, they can actually lead one down that other ditch that I was talking about to start to think, oh, if I do these things, I'm somehow more righteous and I can somehow attain special favor with God by doing these ancient things and traditions and customs, and if I do it just right, God's going to be so well pleased with me. And we can again go down that ditch of believing we can earn salvation through special practices and knowledge.

I just want to be clear here, even though you probably growing up, if you're a second-generation Christian, you were probably thought of by some of your teachers and other kids as, are you Jewish?

I got that. But we are not Jewish. We keep the Sabbath. We keep the Holy Days. Those things predated the nation of Israel. But one of the misconceptions that people can start to kind of blend with Christianity is some idea that it's a combination of Judaism and Christianity, and it's not. We are not Jewish. We are Christians. And if you look at Judaism today, it is completely different theology than even what we read in the Old Testament.

So I stress again, anything that can take away from Christ as our atoning sacrifice, we should avoid, because in some ways, it's Antichrist.

Last scripture, still in 1 John. 1 John 4 and verse 1. It's a very simple statement. Again, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God. As we think about the spirit of Antichrist, we have to realize there are influences and spirits that we are not to believe. There are other spirits, other forces at work in this world that we live in, and they are at work in and around the true church. We have to test those spirits. Are they from God, or are they something else? Are they Antichrist? Are they false?

These have always been at play from the very beginning of the church, from the time John wrote here, and they continue all the way down to today, and they will grow in probably magnitude as we continue to head toward these end-time events. I thought it was important, brethren, that we understand what the Bible truly says about the term Antichrist. There have been many Antichrists for thousands of years. They oppose and are against Jesus Christ and all He stood for. They have been without and from within the church. And for you and I to be sure we don't inadvertently oppose Christ, we have to make sure we are always submitting our full lives under His authority.

We must reject all versions of other Jesus's. Jesus, I don't know what...

We must reject division within the body of Christ. And finally, we must embrace Jesus Christ as our one and only atoning sacrifice, and be careful not to add to or take away from His complete and total sacrifice. As Christians, therefore, we therefore move forward, imitating the life of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and allowing Him to live in us and lead us through the Spirit of Christ.