Epistles of John

First epistle of John. There is a certain amount of background material I think is always helpful for us to look at before we just start waiting on into the book. But it is a matter that John is one of those names we are rather familiar with. He was one who was there with Christ.

He is one of the...there were three that at different times, like with the Transfiguration, he would take three, Peter and then the sons of Zevedee, James and John. John was the younger brother. But with John, we have his letters. We have him writing probably when he is more like...he might be more like 80 or 90 years of age when he is writing a lot of his books.

And he writes differently. He is called the Apostle of Love for very good reason. He learned a lot of love. It is a matter that we also should remember that earlier in Christ's ministry, he and his brother, when something happened, they wanted to know, do you want us to go call down fire from heaven, all those people? And Christ named them the Sons of Thunder. And so, boy, did he change. Because early, just by his nature, early on in his life, if somebody gave them any static, he just wanted to call down fire and get it all over and done with.

I brought with me this book, Twelve Ordinary Men, by John MacArthur. It is a good read if you want to pick up this book sometime. It's not perfect like anything you have to filter through it, but he has a chapter on each of the twelve, some of them we know a lot about.

Others, it's pretty faint. But with John, of course, we know a lot. And as his chapter on John is titled, John the Apostle of Love. So, he points out that John was the human author of a Gospel and three epistles, as well as the book of Revelation. And then he said that aside from Luke and Paul, he wrote more of the New Testament than any other.

And when I read that, I had to count up chapters in my mind. You know, Luke wrote the Gospel of Luke, which is twenty-four chapters. He wrote Acts, which is twenty-eight, so that's fifty-two. With John, of course, the Gospel of John was what, twenty... I used to remember all this. Twenty-one chapters in John. And then you add first John, and you have how many chapters? Five. And then second John and third John, so that's twenty-one, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight. And then Revelation is twenty-two, so there's what? Fifty. And Luke wrote fifty-two, John fifty. Some of John's chapters are pretty short, like second John, third John.

Those are pretty short works. So, I think MacArthur is right, and I haven't done a word count or anything like that, but it just kind of shocked me to realize, because at first I thought, well, Paul wrote the most, and then John. But no, Luke probably wrote a bit more than he did. John was the younger brother of James, sons of Zebedee. They were fishermen by trade. They had the temperament that they wanted to call down fire from heaven on the Samaritans. And yet, why did he learn? Did he change? And love is the quality that is so naturally associated with John later in life.

He had a rugged background and upbringing. Like any fisherman, he would have worked hard. And let's see. John is almost always named with someone else when there's a story that's told about him. It's Peter, James, and John. Or in Acts, you'll have Peter and John. There's only really about one account, and that is in Mark 9, verse 38. And I'm not going to turn there, but just give you that as a reference. Mark 9, verse 38. And that's a singular account where John came to Christ and told him, I rebuke this man who was casting out demons in your name. And of course, you know what Christ said.

Essentially, leave him alone. If he's not against us, he's for us. That's right. If he's not against us, he's for us. So leave him alone. But as I like this statement MacArthur makes, he says, John aged well.

He aged well. And some of the harsh edges were, you know, the Spirit of God worked those things out over time. And his liabilities were exchanged for assets. John, in his life from what we see and then in his letters, he is very much black and white.

There's no middle ground. You're either in the light or you're in darkness. You're either walking in righteousness or you're walking in sin. So he's very much so. Light versus darkness, life or death, kingdom of God or kingdom of the devil.

Okay, let's see. I think that's really all I want to mention there from what John MacArthur said about him. Now, there is a term that we need to be familiar with somewhat, and that is Gnosticism. Gnosticism. G-N-O-S-T-I-C-I-S-M. Gnosticism. And the basic word, the root word there, Gnostic, just means we know. And by the time we get to the latter part of the first century, you had Gnosticism. You had peoples saying we've got a higher level of knowledge. We know more that all you have to do is have this higher level of knowledge. In other words, instead of obeying the law, and in all as well. Well, in William Barclay, and again, I'll just give you a reference here, verses, or rather pages 5 through 12. I've seen some in some of the congregations have these. Now, this is the older version of Barclay. Is that still in print? Actually, the revised one. Now, you might find used ones. But this one came out in 1976. Then you had, well, there was an earlier version than that, but this one is the 1976. Somewhere around 2004, after William Barclay died his son, there was a lot of revision. I've got the full set of the New Testament. I think four copies are the older, and then the other copies are of the newer version. Mr. Antion was still using this in ABC classes a few years ago, but probably as the new one came out, they'd been changing over. But in this one, pages 5 through 12, he spends a lot of time talking about Gnosticism. Page 5, he says that that is the basic belief that only spirit was good and matter was essentially evil. The Gnostic, therefore, inevitably despised the world since it was matter. In particular, he despised the body, which being matter was necessarily evil. The reason imprisoned in this evil body was the spirit of man, and that spirit was the seed of God, who was altogether good. Well, it goes on, and essentially if the body, if matter, is unimportant, then a part of this teaching is a lawless teaching, a doing away with the law, that you can do what you good and well please. We start seeing we've got roots of that in predominant Christianity around us to this day, that you just have to accept the Lord and have this greater knowledge and take Jesus in your heart, and then go and live as you good and well please, and you're under grace, and don't worry about it. Well, we're going to see in John, time and time again, he's going to go back to the law. You have to keep the law. We have to be walking within the light.

We have in Gnosticism those who denied Christ's Messiah, a Messiah ship.

They denied Christ was the Messiah. Now, later into John, we're going to get to this spirit of antichrist. That is not the end-time beast or false prophet. That is a teaching and is a doctrine, anti-Jesus Christ. We'll get to that a bit later. Again, there's so much background that we could go to there, but I think that really, for our purposes, we don't need to that much. Now, John, let me give you a scripture here. I referred to them being called the Sons of Thunder. That's Mark 3, verse 17.

Mark 3, 17. They wanted to call down fire. They, I mean, James and John. And Jesus renamed them, what was it, Boangeries? Boangernees? Something like that. I didn't look it up. And it means it's translated Sons of Thunder. John was the disciple who was closest to Christ. There just seemed to be a special bond of friendship there. Not that there wasn't with the others, but just an extra special closeness between Jesus and John.

All right. Now, there is a possibility he may have been younger than the bulk of the other disciples, but again, we can't really nail that down. The name John means God's gracious gift. God's gracious gift.

Now, the date or the time of writing this epistle, you will find some have dated it as early as shortly after 70 A.D. and the destruction of Jerusalem. We felt that the church has felt that the evidence pushes it later. You'll have a lot who look at from 80 to 100 A.D. and we have felt somewhere around 90 in the early 90s is a likely time for the writing this. Looking at some of the issues he was dealing with. 70 just seems like way too early. He was calling them little children, so he was kind of writing like a spiritual grandfather to the church. That would tend to denote someone with some more years, some decades under his belt. What did you say he was older than Jesus or younger, do you think? He may have been a little younger, but again, it's hard to nail that down.

The audience is just a general audience. In James and then in 1 Peter, they specifically addressed strangers scattered through and then mentioned all these provinces in Asia Minor. With John, he just starts right into his message. It is one of the general epistles and it was likely addressed to church members, probably scattered through Asia Minor or modern-day Turkey. Late in life, John ended up at Ephesus, which is on that western coast of Turkey. You could look at a Bible map in the back and see where it is, but he was there. He was banished out to the Isle of Patmos for some period of time. That's where Revelation was given to him. He just served as a scribe, writing down what he saw, what he heard, what was given to him. The Roman emperors, you had Vespasian, became emperor there somewhere around 68-69. Again, I didn't check that. Then Vespasian was in the office for about 10-11 years and his oldest son Titus. Remember the Roman general Titus, who actually was the one leading the armies when Jerusalem was overthrown. So Titus was. Then you had the younger brother Domitian. Now, we're getting in through the 80s at this point. Domitian basically, if he had a political enemy, he basically just sent him to the Isle of Patmos. That's where John was sent. He was there for some time. After, see, then you had three of that same family of Vespasian. Then you had, let's see, Nerva and then Trajan. Trajan was emperor from around 98 into 10-something. It was into Trajan's reign that there's a historical reference that John was released. Or, excuse me, that John was, that he died. After Domitian, when Nerva came along, Nerva basically freed all of the political prisoners. That's when he was free from Patmos and spent his last years over at Ephesus. Probably from Ephesus, his letter was written to those churches in that area. Okay. Two main themes. Short and sweet. First one is love. Second one is law. John emphasizes loving God, fellowshipping with God, loving the brethren, and living by the commandments. He mentions the word truth more than any other New Testament writer. He told them seek and then hold fast to the truth. Because, you see, he's writing at a time when it had to have been heartbreaking what he was seeing. Even years, decades earlier, Paul wrote to the Galatians and said, Who has bewitched you that you should turn from the gospel of Christ? So the truth continued to be subverted. You had those doing away with the law, which meant doing away with sin. Therefore, he defined sin. It's the breaking of the law.

He could look and see second and third and probably fourth generation Christians letting it slip. And letting the truth of God wane in their lives. So John is going to deal with a great deal of doctrinal and moral conflict. He's going to deal with external conflict with some of the false teachers. And then as we get into his second and third epistle, especially the one that talks about diatrophies, he's going to deal with some of the rivalries within the Church. Okay, let me see if that's all from the background. I think that's all that we need to focus on. So let's go right ahead to 1 John 1.

And he says, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard. We saw that in Peter's epistles that he mentioned, we beheld the Lord's glory. I think he was referring to the transfiguration, and John is going to refer back to that. No one could deny that. He was way up in years, but he was there. And I don't know if there would have been anybody else old enough who could possibly have been there. You could have feasibly had some Jews who had been in Jerusalem and been aware of these things, and then had to get out of there before Rome destroyed the area. A lot of them went up into Asia Minor, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled concerning the Word of Life. Here, he is taking them back to the beginning, because he is going to be telling them, Remember the trunk of the tree. Remember what you have learned and how you have learned, and don't be led astray from it. The early chapters here, we have similarity to the way he started his Gospel. In the beginning was the Word, the Word is with God, the Word was God. Then he goes on how that Word was the light. Now he is going to go to that.

Verse 2, The life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness, and declared you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to you. So this Word of Life, and he is going to be referring to the pre-incarnate work of the Word. He was around from the beginning. He was more than just flesh and blood. And you see, a part of Gnosticism, you had one facet of it that denied that Jesus actually came as flesh and blood. They said he was just spirit, and he manifested himself that way. So he is dealing with all kinds of things behind the scenes.

So the life describes God's nature. John continues to remind them, I was there, I saw him, I heard him with my own ears. Verse 3, That which we have seen and heard, we declare to you, that you may have fellowship with us. And truly, our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. Now, John records more of the actual words of Jesus Christ than any other New Testament author. And if you just think back to that last Passover night, because you've got John 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, and part 18. And then other accounts. He quotes Christ, of course you get the Revelation, and you've got so much of that. In a red letter Bible, the letters to the churches, it's in red. Those are the words of Jesus Christ. But to have fellowship, fellowship means to have in common with others.

To have, to share in common with others. And of course, back in Leviticus 23, it talks about the commanded assembly to come on the weekly Sabbath. And then it mentions the seven annual Sabbaths. And it's a matter that we have so many places where we're told, don't forsake fellowshiping with each other. But we are to have fellowship with God and with each other. We are bound together by this desire to walk in the footsteps of Christ and to walk toward the eternal kingdom. And He thankfully reassured us that He would be with us always, even to the end of the age. Verse 4, and these things we write to you that your joy may be full. So this is, you know, there are a number of places where John will mention, it's kind of like this is a small, specific purpose statement. He says, this is one reason I'm writing to you, that your joy may be full. Another time he'll say, well, another reason I'm writing to you is that you can avoid sin. Or another time he writes to remind them of the truth. So this is one of those statements. So our joy may be full. And I think we should ask ourselves something to ponder and to pray about and meditate on. How filled with joy am I? You know, we all have times when life just clouds up and storms all over us. But, you know, one of the great earmarks of a Christian is that of joy. That's one of the manifestations of the Spirit, the fruits of the Spirit. And even there with Christ, you know, there in Hebrews 12, right after the listing of all the men and women of faith.

And then Hebrews 12, seeing we also are compassed by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, you know, the sin that so easily beset us. And then He said, looking unto Jesus, and then it says, who for the joy set before Him, endeared the cross, despised the shame, and it set down at the right hand of the throne of God. So Jesus Christ, He has spoken of as even though He was facing and about to go through the most horrible death, He threw joy, looked forward. And what a wonderful example that is. Verse 5, this is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. Well, again, that would harken back to the Gospel of John, that light that was sent. He begins here teaching from this verse and on for a number. He teaches us how to have fellowship with God. A bit later, He's going to shift to having fellowship with fellow man. But God is light. There is no darkness in Him. There's no combination of truth and error. Satan the devil generally uses the combination. There may be an awful lot of truth, but he'll use a little error here or there, or maybe quite a bit of error. But with God, He is light. There is no darkness at all.

Jesus here is the light that came to earth. Verse 6, if we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. Like that last phrase, practice the truth. We have to live by the truth. Here He begins focusing on the fact that there were those in the church who had become desensitized toward sin in their own life. He reminds them, we are to walk in the truth, not in darkness. We are to practice. We are to live the truth. Verse 7, if we walk in the light, see here again, as I said earlier in some of the introductory material, He is a man, He sees in black and white. It is light or darkness. There is no middle ground there. It is one way or the other. You are on God's side or you are on Satan's side. If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanses us from all sin. So the sacrifice of the living Word can and does continue to wash us and cleanse us of sin so that we can more fully walk in the truth. Verse 8, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Again, one facet of Gnosticism was that they had no sin. But we have plenty of scriptures that tell us all have sinned and come falling short of the glory of God. Some around us teach that we are under grace and not under the law. As if it can't be we are under grace and law.

Verse 9, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Again, the Gnostic said they had no sin, but if we admit we have sin and then go to God, we don't go to any human being. We go to God, if there is something we need to apologize for and get right with a brother or sister. But we go to God. David set that example. Psalm 32 and Psalm 51, he went to God against you. You only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight. Sin is against God. Sometimes it impacts people. We need to make amends. But confess to God, repent, strive to turn and practice and walk in the truth. God promises that He will forgive us. Then we go on with life, hopefully having learned from the mistake. Even more grateful and thankful for the depth of the forgiveness that God gives to us. Verse 10, if we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. Again, all have sinned. We must go to God, confess and then forsake the sin.

Okay, that's one of the shorter chapters. Any thoughts, questions or comments on chapter 1 before we go on? Did you say John was the younger brother James, the one who wrote the book of James? Different James. In Acts 12, the earliest verses, that's where Herod killed James with a sword. That was James. In fact, let me just look at that. That was the son of Zebedee, John's brother. Let me get that scripture for you. Verse 1, at that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some of the church. He killed James, the brother of John, with a sword. That's when he went on to try to seize Peter also. The old King James uses the term Easter from the Greek Pasha. That was somewhere just a dozen years into the work of the church after Christ's death and resurrection. Somewhere, I think it's dated around 43 AD, James by this time has been long gone. From that point, like in the book of Acts, we start having this James mentioned in chapter 15. It wasn't the son of Zebedee, that one is the one, like at the Jerusalem Conference, who said, well, my sentence is, that was the half-brother of Christ. He used to want to take her off the temple. Actually, I think that was John here.

John, there is that story. I'm not sure if we have all the pieces of the puzzle, but there is a story that late in his life, he was taken and thrown into a big vat of boiling oil. He did die, right? That's why they took him to the Isle of Patonnose Coast. He climbed out. No, he did not die. Anyhow, you've got books like Stuart McBurney's on the search for the Twelve Apostles, who goes in some of the stories and histories about how the Apostles died that are kind of fascinating. We'll go on then to chapter 2, verse 1, My Little Children. Now, you'll see this phrase many times in this letter, verse 18, Little Children. So again, very much so. He's writing as kind of a spiritual grandfather, and he's seeing things that concern him. So, My Little Children, these things I write to you that you may not sin. Well, he's going to define sin in chapter 3. It's the breaking of the law. So, he was concerned that they learned to love, but that they learned to live by the law.

And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. Now, advocate comes from the Greek word paracletos, and we have paracletos back in John 14 and John 16, where Jesus said, I'm going to send you the Helper, or the King James says, the Comforter. And it means one who goes along to help. And so, by one, I don't mean a person, a being, but there would be this strength that would come upon them. But Jesus is also the ultimate advocate, or comforter, or helper, who is there. And, of course, this advocate with the Father, there at the end of Hebrews 4 it talks about we have a high priest. We can go to him to find help and time of need. So, he has been here and does advocate on our behalf. Verse 2, and he himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also the whole world. Now, propitiation is one of those churchy-sounding words. It's a sacrificial term, and it just means an atonement, a covering, a sacrifice for sin. And as he's pointing out, that one sacrifice of God and of flesh is not just for us individually, it was for the entire human family. For all of the created.

So, propitiation, again, a sacrificial term, that Christ's sacrifice covered or satisfied God's wrath.

Now, verse 3, Now by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. So, there's that coming in. If we keep his commandments, if we don't keep his commandments, we just think we know God. We don't. When Christ walked the earth, Luke 6, verse 46, Luke 6, 46, why call you mean Lord, Lord? And do not the things that I say.

True knowledge demands obedience. We must act on and live by what we find to be biblically sound. Verse 4, He who says, I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. Well, here again, as was pointed out in the William Barkley, I mean, oh, John MacArthur, his chapter from 12 Ordinary Men. John was a man. Everything's black and white. There's no middle ground. If you aren't keeping the commandments, you don't love God. You're not in God. And you are a liar. The truth is not in you. So, very plain language from John here. If a person says he knows God and does not obey God, he is a liar. We must walk within the realm of the commandments.

Verse 5, But whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him.

Verse, let's see, and by this we know that we are in him. So, keeping the word of God, keeping the commandments of God, perfects us over time, completes us. It fills up the intent of God for our lives over time. And God asks us to live by that law, and through that process, we learn how to treat God and how to relate to God and how to treat and relate to fellow man.

Verse 6, another very black and white statement. Verse 6, He who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk just as he walked. And you know, that's a pretty good definition of a Christian. A Christian is one who walks as Jesus walked. He abides in Christ.

Now, in verses 7, now down through 17, he's got a section here where he focuses a little more so on how to love fellow man.

Up to this point, from about verse 5 of chapter 1 to this point, he was talking about really relating and fellowshipping with God and loving God, and we do that by walking as Christ walked and living within the commandments. Now he focuses more so to brethren. Verse 7, Brethren, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. So there's nothing new here. The word of God has been around forever. It defines the way God lives, His character. But John continues to go back to what we've had from the beginning. And you know, that's the way it is for us too. The so-called old truth has been around forever. And I guess if we ever learn to live by the old truth, maybe God will teach us something new. But man, you're something within man. He wants something new and exciting. But if we can't get excited and inspired about the law of God, it works every time it's tried. The problem is people don't try it that much. So verse 8, Again, a new commandment, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in him and in you? Because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. So with every day that passes, the darkness of Satan's world, begins to wane. Oh, it's having a heyday right now, but its days are numbered. Each day is a step closer to the kingdom of God and a time when light will go forth. And Satan's time will be completely over. The gospel is being preached. The light is being sent forth. True light from the Holy Spirit. Which is come, leads us toward eternity. Jesus told the disciples, You are the light of the world. And we are to be walking, talking, living advertisements for the way of God and for the kingdom of God that is to come.

Verse 9, He who says that he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness until now. So again, another black and white statement. You say that you are in the light, but then you don't get along with someone you work with, you live with, you're related to someone in the community. He's saying we better look long and hard at those relationships. Now we can only do our part. That's why in one place where Paul says, As much as lies within us live peaceably with all men. And we can only do our part. But hopefully we can live and certainly want the best to be willing to go and help them and do whatever we can for them.

But how can we say we're in the light if we are at odds with a brother?

And Jesus taught us to love even our enemies and to pray for those who despitefully use us. Verse 10, He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. Well, I think in part he's saying here, give no one reason. Give no reason for a brother to fall because of your actions. One place in Paul's writings he says to do good to all men, especially those of the household of faith. But he says do good to all men. Verse 11, He who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes. So this spirit of hatred for a brother is so diametrically opposite to the mind of God. Hatred blinds us to the needs of others. Love, on the other hand, enables us to walk in the light. Hatred leaves us in the dark. If we walk in darkness, we can't see where we're going, and we're in danger of falling into a ditch somewhere. Verse 12, and here he addresses three categories in the next couple of verses here. He addresses little children, and then the fathers, those were some years under them, and then some of the younger men. Verse 12, I write to you little children, of course all of them are little children to John, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. So little children here could refer to people who are newer in the faith, could refer to people who are younger, but to a man who might be 90, a lot of people look younger.

I remember, let's see, Mr. Herbert Armstrong was talking about, he met with, was it Arthur Rubenstein? And Rubenstein called him at one point a young man. Well, Rubenstein was 88, Mr. Armstrong was like 82, 83. So they had a good chuckle about that, and they talked about when we were little, and if you were 9 and I was 4, you would have had nothing to do with me.

Age is relative. Age is relative, yes, sir. But Rubenstein called him a young man. So I think Mr. Armstrong ate that up. Verse 13, I write to you fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. So a father has had certain experiences. He's in a, certainly a high learning curve there. They're becoming, if we look at as far as someone who is in their Christian walk, they've become more settled. They've got some years under their belt. There's a certain stability coming along. Some, again, of those who were oldest, could have gone back to events in Jerusalem.

But I write to you young men, a young man is someone who is physically in his prime, is in fighting mode, so to speak, because you have overcome the wicked one. And then he said, I write to you little children, because you have known the Father.

I have written to you fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning. I have written to you young men, because you are strong. The Word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one. So, anyhow, different ways. He'll make a point. He'll look at it from a little different angle, but he's emphasizing it through repetition, which is good for us. Alright, verse 15. Do not love the world or the things in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Now, world comes from the Greek word cosmos. What it says here does not mean we don't love the people around us. We do love the people around us. But he's referring to the society, the way of doing things in the world around him at that time. And he's telling those, stay away from that Roman society, even though you have to live in that world. And the same is true for us. As Jesus prayed that Pass overnight, he prayed to his Father, you know, keep them in your word.

Let's see, now there was another statement in there about... And they're not going to come out of the world, but essentially you've got to protect them while they're in the world. We've got a work to do. We're sent out as sheep among wolves. So, be transformed away from the world. Verse 16, for all that is in the world...

Now, notice these three. It seems like Satan's tactics are pretty much always the same. He used the same approach with Eve that he did with Christ there in Matthew or Luke 4. And now here, years, decades later, John's warning the church, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

Life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And so, these are things that are detected via the five senses. These devices he used on Eve, he appealed to her on how beautiful that fruit was, the fruit to be desired, to make one wise. He appealed to her intellectual vanity, her pride, if you will. He spoke of the power it would give you if you would take it. And then when he approached Jesus there in Matthew 4, he caught Christ at his weakest point after a lengthy period of fasting and prayer, and tempted him, just command these stones be made bread and have something to eat.

Nothing wrong with that. He wanted Christ to choose the physical over the eternal, the spiritual. And then he tried the door to Christ's mind with respect to pride. High upon a temple, throw yourself off. Angels even quoted scripture, misquoted, misapplied scriptures. Angels will catch you. And then he took him to the high mountain. All these kingdoms I'll give you. So he wanted to see if Christ was willing to take the quick road, the easy road, to power.

And he's going to try those same doors to our mind over and over and over. He's going to see if we'll get sucked into this world and choose the physical. Or so many times there's an appeal to our pride, or there's an appeal for us to go for the power. Follow the power. I think it's a good one to keep in mind. There are too many who are seduced by power. And then, oh, who was the French poet, Baudelaire. Baudelaire said, power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. And there's so much truth to what he wrote there. Verse 17, and the world is passing away, and the lust of it. But he who does the will of God abides forever.

Now, there's something here in Barclay I wanted to look at very quickly and briefly. So here's John's warning. William Barclay, page 59. The man who attaches himself to the world's aims and the world's ways is giving his life to the things which literally have no future. And he says here, all these things are passing away. None has any permanency. But the man who has taken God as the center of his life has given himself to the things which will last forever. The man of the world is doomed to disappointment. The man of God is certain of eternal joy. I thought that was an interesting and well good way of saying that.

The world is passing away and the lust of it. Okay, verse 18. Little children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard the Antichrist is coming. Even now, many Antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. So here is the closing dispensation at the end of this age. The next era is on the horizon, and that is the kingdom of God. But here he speaks of Antichrist. He uses that phrase here. He repeats it in verse 22. He is Antichrist who denies the Father and Son. He uses it in chapter 4, verse 3. He speaks of this spirit of the Antichrist. And then also in 2 John, verse 7. He speaks of the many deceivers that have gone out. This is a deceiver and an Antichrist. Well, Antichrist just simply refers to those who deny Jesus Christ. Again, think of Gnosticism. You had those who denied that He came as a flesh and blood human being, that He merely manifested.

Jesus, as we know, literally came in the flesh. Now, the antine beast and false prophet will come, in one sense, as opponents to God. They will be Antichrists. But we're talking about a doctrine here, a teaching of denying Christ. Sometimes if you read outside information about the end time battles, they may refer to the Antichrist, and they're talking about the leader of the beast power.

Probably, or maybe the false prophet. Fine, we can let that go. But Antichrist is a doctrine, a teaching, a belief. Well, anyone that don't teach the truth, it's an Antichrist. Yes. Or twist it. It puts their own interpretation in there to rest, twist the Scriptures. Any of that. Makes it good to the people. Exactly. Makes it good. Right. Well, John is making it clear here, we can deny Christ by the works of our life.

If we're not doing what Jesus did, not doing what He said, then we are denying Him. And you and I live in a world, a society that is increasingly, rapidly becoming anti-God, anti-Bible, anti-Church. Everything. Just anything in the name of Christianity. And you can profess any other religion, and you're applauded all the way. But if you, I mean, you're a religious fruitcake, a nutcase. If you actually believe in God and want to pray to God before a ballgame or a public event.

A cult. A cult. Well, verse 19. Let's get through these. Just look real fast at these last verses of chapter 2. Verse 19, and 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 have been made manifest, that none of them were of us. Now, that's a mouthful. Yes, it is. Because all through the ages of the church, we have had so many who have kind of got caught up with a movement, became camp followers, and went a certain distance, and then something happened.

And, of course, it always grieves us, pains us greatly. Sometimes it's family members, and a lot of us know what that feels like. It's a matter that maybe they were never with the church. That's possible. We're never converted. It was just what everybody else was doing in their family, and they went along with it. But Shawn went along with it 25, 30 years longer. They did. They did.

Now, man, it's got to know what he's been doing that long, didn't it? Well, you would think. But, you know, there have been lots of young people growing up in the church, and they learn what I call church speak. They can talk doctrine with anybody. They can go through the motions. They can have the right answers. They can get themselves baptized. But conversion is an issue of the heart. And there's not a passion there, parable of the sword.

Some of the seed in the rocky areas, you know, and it sprang up, looked really good, and then it got choked out. Others, just frankly, are weak and fall away. They really were with us. But they let the pleasures of sin for a season get a hold of them. For others, maybe they were just lax lethargic, and they neglected the Holy Spirit. Hebrews said, don't neglect the Spirit of God. Excuse me, don't neglect so great a salvation.

And then, yeah, others were never converted. Well, verse 20, But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. So here is this anointing. I think the Old King James says the Unction, and it refers to the Holy Anointing Oil that we could read of back in the Old Testament. That's certainly the oil, that main component of that Holy Anointing Oil. It was one of those beautiful emblems for the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, empowers us to do our job and to follow where Christ went.

And the gift of the Holy Spirit separates believers, sets us apart to live our life for God. 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. So no error is founded in truth. You should know the truth. The truth should set you free. You will recognize truth because of that Holy Spirit with which you are anointed.

You will recognize lies. Verse 22, Now, as I say that, however, we know that there will be phenomenal attempts to deceive at the very time of the end. And that's where the Olivet prophecy, Jesus said that, you know, if it were possible, even the very elect would be deceived. You have a rider on the white horse. Yes. The false religion. The false religion. Going in the name of Christ. Verse, I'm sorry? It seems like that horse that's been riding for centuries.

Yes. If you see it right away, you look at it that way. It seems like that. I think very likely those seals were opened right after Christ's time here on the earth. And it's what some call this telescoping prophecy, you know, like a megaphone. It starts small, but the longer and further it goes, the wider, broader the scope. And so the religious deception just continues to proliferate. Okay. What verse were we on? Twenty-two. Twenty-two. Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ?

He is anti-Christ who denies the Father and the Son. So again, there were those who denied that Jesus came in the flesh and lived as any other man. There were those who said he was not the Messiah. The problem with this spirit, this doctrine, attitude of anti-Christ is that they deny His sacrifice. Twenty-three. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either. He who acknowledges the Son has the Father. Now, when Christ was here on the earth, He said, I and the Father are one.

If a person denies one, He's going to deny the other. And Jesus came to reveal the Father and to bring what the Father had given to Him to pass along to humanity. Twenty-four. Therefore, let that abide in you, which you have heard from the beginning. So again, He goes all the way back to the trunk of the tree. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.

So, remember the basics. Remember the letter at the Sardis. Remember how you have heard and received and repent. Another place, one of the letters, it says, do the first works. I think that was the letter to Ephesus. Truth is truth forever. It doesn't change. Twenty-five. This is the promise that He has promised us, eternal life. Let you know we've got to endure to the end. He that endures the end, the same shall be saved.

Twenty-six. These things I've written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. The marginal note for deceive to lead you astray. There are those trying to deceive you. Lead you astray. Seduce you, the old king's name says. John warned about deceivers, their character, their devices, their wiles. He's saying, don't let any man pull you away from the truth. Human beings will let us down. They have many, many times, and they will again. All right. Twenty-seven. 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. So the Spirit of God abides in us. Branches are to stay connected to the vine, or we die. The Spirit of God leads us to truth, not to error. All right. Twenty-eight. Now, little children. There's that phrase again.

Abide in Him that when He appears, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. Walk like Christ walked. Live as He lived. And verse 29, if you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone, notice who practices righteousness, is born of Him. And of course, righteousness is the keeping of the commandments.

And those who practice that are the ones who are begotten to the very family, and are taking steps toward the eternal life in the Kingdom. Okay. That's chapter 2. Again, any questions, comments, any other thoughts on that one? Do not love the world. Do not love the world. Well said. It's time is about up. Okay. Verses 7a of chapter 2. I have understood this, that the old commandments, you go all the way back to the beginning of the Bible, as God revealed Himself. And then it was codified, written in stone. But you know, when Christ walked the earth, He gave the first and second great commandments.

And you find them all the way back. One in Leviticus and the other one in Deuteronomy. They went all the way back. And to me, it's kind of like He says the same thing. It's something new. It's summed up by this word, love. And in John 13, you know, 34-35, Herein will men know that you are my disciples, if you have loved one for another. And He mentions there about I'm giving you a new commandment. Is He also differentiating a little bit and explaining the difference between the letter of the law and the Spirit?

I think that certainly is an aspect. In a way, it's the same commandment, but in this way, it's new. I remember years ago, and I hate to bring out a name for the past, but Joseph Cott Sr., He made a statement that the Ten Commandments aren't enough. And you know what? He's right. If you just look at the letter of, I mean, Jesus made, Christ made that very clear in the Sermon on the Mount, that you've heard of old time, you shall not kill. What He gave them went so far beyond that.

You shall not commit adultery. Well, what He gave went so far. So it's like the old was a good start. But when you bring in the intention, as Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, and consider the intention behind every word, then it's as if it's something new, but always summarized by the word love. Do you think we'll ever reach that potential in our lifetime? I think we'll always have a journey. I do too.

A struggle. Take any one of the Ten Commandments, and just like you, you could give a sermon up, but look how far that one commandment goes. It don't stop. Really, you work it down, and it's deep digging. Right. And you could go into it. Well, what would the world be like if the whole world would just keep one of those ten? Oh, yes.