What Is the Antichrist?

The apostles were called and taught by Jesus Christ Himself. They witnessed the miracles that He performed. They were given wisdom that only came from God Himself, and it helped them to understand. And as Christ expounded on the Old Testament teachings, they understood the greater meaning of what God wants and how He wants us to live our lives. And then after all this time with Christ, after this admonition, this encouragement, the support, they witnessed the death of their Lord and Savior and had to stand on their own two feet to defend the truth that He shared with them. And of course, they only were able to do this through the power of God's Spirit dwelling within them, but they did it. It's one thing to be able to hold a line when we're surrounded by friends and brothers and sisters in Christ, and that's one of the beauties that God gives us in His gathering and His family of being here as a congregation. We come and hopefully we are uplifted on a Sabbath day when maybe we've had a rough week, and it's okay. It's a safe place to tell people, you know what? It wasn't a great week. I had some challenges. Could you pray for me? And to have each other then say, yeah, I'll pray for you this week and I'll lift you up. And to be that one that maybe is the one offering encouragement to someone, it's a huge blessing to have. I think oftentimes when we come together in a Sabbath, we link arms and we hold that line together. And if one person stumbles, the rest of us are there to lift them up and to say, keep on going. We're all in this together. We're not going to leave anyone behind. But as the apostles' lives came to an end, it produced a unique challenge for those who were left behind.

We believe that all the first eleven of the apostles to die, they died most likely a hard death, a martyr's death. And as each one suffered persecution and as each one continued to die, I think and put myself in the shoes of those who were still left behind, ultimately leading up to who we believe was the last apostle to still be alive, and that's the apostle John.

What would it have been like to be John, to see your brothers in the faith that were taught individually by Christ to start dropping one at a time, to be given this commission by Jesus Christ to lead the church, to proclaim the truth, to baptize those, to hold that line. But then he's coming to a point of his life where he's looking around and says, there's not anybody else here that was taught by Christ individually. I'm it. I'm the only one that's left. There's no doubt that God used John in a powerful way, and John was aware of this as he continued to do God's work, but I still can't help but think about as the years went by, and he was the last one that personally knew Jesus, what that would have felt like. We get some insight into John's thoughts through some of the later letters that he wrote. From the Life Application Study Bible, they provided a little bit of a background on the letters that John wrote, and this is the way that they summarized them. And since the first letter by John was written between 85 and 90 AD from Ephesus before John's exile to the island of Patmos, Jerusalem had been destroyed in 70 AD, and Christians were scattered throughout the Roman Empire and beyond. By the time John wrote this letter, Christianity had faced and survived severe persecution. The main problem confronting the Church at this time was declining commitment. Many believers were conforming to the world standards, failing to stand up for Christ and compromising their faith. False teachers were plentiful, and they were accelerating the Church's downward slide from the Christian faith. It goes on to say, John wrote this letter to put believers back on track to show the difference between light and darkness, or truth and error, and to encourage the Church to continue to grow in genuine love for God and for one another. He also wrote to assure true believers that they possess eternal life and to help them know that their faith was genuine so they could enjoy all the benefits of being God's children. Again, that's from the Life Application Study Bible. I felt like they did a great summary, and so I wanted just to share that with you. One of the interesting aspects of John's writings is that John was the only New Testament writer to use the term Antichrist in his writings. This term alone has generated all sorts of ideas about who or what is the Antichrist. Bible scholars and historians with all sorts of religious backgrounds have tried to understand this term and the original meaning behind what John wrote. The idea of Antichrist would evolve over the years.

Over the first century AD, in the next several hundred years, ideas began to emerge and take root. It started with an idea of a single evil sinister figure that people saw as the Antichrist, and it's usually identified with the beast of revelation and associated with Rome. But then during the medieval years, the Antichrist idea and concept shifted towards institutional and moral interpretations. Augustine focused more on the spiritual struggle between good and evil, and that being the Antichrist. The Catholic Church responded that, or I'm sorry, Martin Luther and John Calvin saw the Pope as the Antichrist.

The Catholic Church responded that the Antichrist was a single future individual which diverted attention away from the Palpacy as the Antichrist. And then later on, 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 associated with Antichrist. And so in our time together, I'd like to review what John wrote about Antichrist and some lessons that we can apply for our lives today. Let's turn to 1 John 1 and right at the very beginning of verse 1. And notice how John opens up his letter and the emphasis that he takes right from the start.

This is 1 John 1. 1 John 1 and verse 1. The apostle John writes, That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the word of life, the life was manifested, and we have seen, and we bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us, that which we have seen and heard, we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ, and these things we write to you, that your joy may be full.

Right from the very beginning of this letter, John is just starting out by laying the foundation that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that his teachings, his ways, are truth, apart from this darkness or this error that we see all around us and that he's going to reference in a moment.

He starts off by telling everyone that I knew Christ personally. This is going to build credibility to what he's going to share here in a little bit and to those listening. He had to remind them, because as the other apostles were no longer there, there were rumors, there's nobody left that knew him, and then they start making up false ideas about Christ.

False teachings are entering into the church, and so John is just laying out from the beginning, I know Christ. There's no question. You're not going to convince me of any other teaching or belief on him, and he's saying, I handled him. I was with him. I touched him. I know Jesus Christ. I know who he is, and he's laying this out that he had this personal relationship with him. This is not a secondary story that John is sharing that he heard.

He's making sure they know that, and he wants to make sure that anyone reading his next words knew that he was speaking from firsthand knowledge. John repeats the same thought that we saw in verse 3 in verse 5 as we continue on. He says, this is the message which we have heard from him, and we declare to you that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But 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. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. And then without wasting a lot of time into getting to the point of John's warning and his admonition to the church, John pivots here in a little bit in verse as we continue in chapter 2.

And I can't help but think that also as he pivots here, he probably had a saying of Jesus Christ in his mind that he was witnessing being fulfilled in front of them today. Towards the end of Jesus's life, the disciples asked Jesus, what will be the sign of your coming in the end of the age? And after a bit of discourse with the disciples, he told them that false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, even possible, the elect. That's from Matthew 24 in verse 24, if you want to add that to your notes.

I can't help but think that as John is writing here, because we read what he's about to write, or if we read what he wrote, there's an underlying theme that he is getting at, and I believe this was probably on his mind. Because by the time of John's writings, this statement by Jesus had come to life as false teachers and false teachings had made inroads into the church.

Notice what John shares in 1 John 2 in verse 15. He says, 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.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it. But he who does the will of God abides forever. Of course, John is painting this contrast between God's way and Satan's ways. We know that Satan is a huge power, a huge force still today, as he always has been all the way back to the Garden of Eden. And he wants to paint a picture, as Mr. Sylvester shared in the sermonette, that the world, the way of the world is a better way to go.

It's a happier way. It's a more successful way. It'll lead to better promises or better hope, but we realize the fallacy into all of that. John is painting this contrast because he's seeing it firsthand. And this is, again, where I put myself in the shoes of John in the early church. This was not an easy place to be.

It was not just everybody comes together and everybody's on board, but people are striving for power. People are bringing in their new ideas. And John's like, this is not what I was taught by Jesus. This is not what we've been following, guys. And he's writing this letter to try to straighten things out. Notice verse 18. He says, little children, it is the last hour. There's some questions about if John's referencing end time events, as Christ was saying, that like, what will happen at the end of the age? And John felt that he would be able to maybe see that. There's that question. Or did John recognize that the amount of time, the amount of days left in his own life is coming to a close? Again, he had seen the disciples before him and become apostles, and they were now resting in their sleep in the graves. Maybe he was pondering, is this the end of, is my time drawing here as well? I think we could make an argument for either way with this, but he says, little children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard, that the Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists, plural, notice that, have come, by which we know it is the last hour. He says, they went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. So from this verse that we know that even before all the apostles had died, which shows us the length of time since Jesus Christ's death to now what John is writing, not a lot of years have passed. But yet, in this short amount of time, false teachers had come into the church already and brought with them their false ideas. It's a tale as old as time, right? That false teaching and false truths have their ways of lending and getting into the church. There wasn't just one Antichrist that John is referencing, but many Antichrists. And he notes that they were among the believers in the church. They were brothers and sisters probably at some point, and now they have gone astray. So we must note that Antichrist is not just an end-time figure that we see referenced in other books like Daniel or Revelation, but it's more of a concept and an idea. Going on in verse 20, John makes the contrast to this Antichrist. He says, but you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. Again, referencing back, you've been taught the right way. You know the truth. You know all things.

He's saying, 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. He's saying, I'm writing to you because I believe you'll respond to my words. You'll respond to my admonition. If I thought you were gone and had no hope, I wouldn't be writing this letter to you, but you know the truth, he's telling them. I feel like I'm standing in the feet of John even here. I share messages in front of a whole bunch of people that know God's truth, and it's a privilege to be able to do that. It gives us power. It gives us the ability to continue to build upon precepts and to continue running a race to the end. And so, John's saying, I'm not writing to you because you don't know this. I'm writing to you because you do know it, and that no lie is of the truth. And then verse 22, he references this antichrist again. He says, who is a liar, but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ, he is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. The word antichrist is from the Greek word antichristos. So, you know how sometimes we get into Greek words that have like no similarity to our English translation today? Antichristos is very similar to how we would even write it today. It's used in four verses in the New Testament, all by the apostle John. As the prefix anti-means, as we have in our own language, it means against or adversary of or in place of. So, it's a counter to the real thing. And then the word chrystos is Christ, and so antichrist. Theor's Greek definitions describe it this way. The adversary of the Messiah. Strong's definition says an opponent of the Messiah, and Mounts's definition says an apposer of Christ. So, John is creating a contrast between truth and lies, between those who are truly God's people and those who are spreading false teachings and lies, between those who are on the side of the Messiah and those who are not. What can we learn from this today? We know that the whole plan of God has Jesus at its core. Without Jesus Christ, there is no plan of God. We know that there are religious groups that deny Jesus as the Messiah, that He is not the promised Messiah. This, by definition, makes them antichrist. Notice what John says in a few chapters forward. This is now 1 John 4 and verse 1. The third time that he references antichrist, but in the second passage.

1 John 4 and notice in verse 1. In verse 3, he's talking about how we are children of God, and he's talking about how we are to love one another, to not lose that love that we are to have.

And then he pivots again back to this false teaching, back to this false Christ. Notice 1 John 4, verse 1. He says, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. With this passage referencing spirits, it's important to understand the spiritual realm that we deal with. The word spirit here has a broad range of meanings, but it can speak to spiritual influence. Sadly, in just my short time of being a minister of God, but also of my longevity of being in the church, I've seen a lot of people walk outside of our doors saying that they were being led by a spirit. And obviously being led out of the church is not being led by a spirit of God, but is being led by a false spirit. But yet they were being led by a spirit. They believed strongly in the decision they were making. And so we get this admonition from John to be careful, to test the spirits. Are they of God, or are they not? And it's either of God, or it's of our adversary. There's no middle ground. There's not a convoluted or a gray area in this. It's either one direction, or it's the other. We know that from Scripture, and John is making a very clear point here with it.

John is saying that we have to test the spirits. Does the spirit line up with every word of God? Not just some of the words, or not just a single verse, maybe taken out of context, just as Satan tempted Christ using Scripture, using real Scripture. He quoted it accurately, but he did it with the motive to tempt to test Christ. He took it out of context. He was imputing different motives than God intended for that Scripture to have. And Christ was able to counter Satan because he knew the depth of Scripture. He knew what the Scripture meant. And so, we are to test these spirits.

We're not to get swayed by just a single word, or a single verse, or a single concept. Jesus overcame Satan's tactics, and God has given us and equipped us to do the same. But we must do it with the fullness of Scripture. So, John is saying, test these spirits. Figure out if they're of God, or if they're of something else.

He goes on in verse 2 to say, By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the Spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. John was most likely dealing with aspects as he referenced these thoughts and these concepts of other ideas coming in the church, which could have been Judaism, aspects of Judaism that said that Jesus was not really the Son of God, or that he was just a man.

He wasn't actually from God. He was just a smart, wise prophet. There could have been other aspects that they're saying, yeah, he was God, but you still have to do these other things. There's all these different concepts that he may have been dealing with. He may have also been dealing with one of the earliest heresies called Docetism.

Docetism stems from the Greek word dokin, meaning to seem or to appear. And the thought process with this is that God was never really here in flesh with man. It was a spirit God that was here. That he didn't really have physical flesh. It was more of an illusion, more of a phantom that was with them when he came.

And the reason this idea was so prevalent is because they said you're either spiritual in your life and of God, or you're physical, which is sin. You enjoy physical things, which is sinful. Like you enjoy a nice meal. Well, you can't enjoy it too much or it's sin because you're enjoying something like that.

And so this idea was prevalent, and it's been prevalent in the church, and different ideas from Greek philosophy and other things that have entered in. And so he may have been dealing with this heresy that Christ wasn't really human. That he was just always God in spirit form, but he just seemed like he was in physical form.

So there's all these different ideas that were prevalent that we can see had origins in the early church in that first century that not just John had to deal with, but the other apostles. We look at a lot of Paul's writings. He's talking about avoid these different heresies, avoid these false ideas. And so again, I think about and I put myself in the shoes of the early church, those called by God to tea. It was not an easy place to continue to hold the line, even for those who knew Christ personally, who saw him, who could say, I was there. I mean, that doesn't get much more of a powerful witness or powerful, like, I know what I'm talking about.

And even then, the naysayers were still attacking John. They were still attacking Paul. They were still attacking Peter. And so this is a hard environment for them, for the ministers in the early church to continue to do God's work. And so John's giving this warning message that still applies for us today.

Notice he reminds a listener in verse four who has their back. He says, you are of God. I love those four words, powerful words that we can't forget for ourselves either. 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. I love that passage. It's kind of like, my dad is bigger than your dad, right? We break it down to like human terms.

It's that phrase that like, behind me is my big dad, and you better watch out because he's bigger than your dad. This is that encouragement that John's giving the early church. He's saying, like, the one who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. And we know this. We recite it. We pray about it, but we have to always go forward in life knowing it when we hit struggles, when we hit false teachings in the church, when we have things that happen in the church that saddens us at times, that we wish wasn't here, that we have to remember God is bigger than all these things. He's aware of all these things, and so we have to keep doing what we're supposed to be doing.

Verse 5, he says, they are of the world, therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. The reality is there's a lot of voices out in society all around us. There's a lot of ideas.

That's one of the things I shared with the campers this year, talking about how we have God's Word, and we can pray to Him and have Him to lead us through the difficulties. There are many experts, you got to put that in quotes, right, in the world, that have all their ideas on how to live life a better way. There's self-help books, and I'm not saying every single thing that's out there is bad, but they proclaim that this is the way to happiness. This is the way to peace. This is the way to better your life. This is the way, fill in the blank. But yet, these ways always lead to other problems or other failures in life if they're not founded on the truth that we have in Scripture. I reminded the campers, don't move, don't get caught up in all these other ideas, these other philosophies, these other concepts that people throw around. Make sure you're taking what you hear and comparing it against God's Word. Do they match up 100%? Because if it's not 100%, be weary of it. Be careful of it. Because John is talking about this exact idea they claim that these are sources of truth other people do, but are they truth? Society seems to think they are, but Scripture often thinks or speaks otherwise. Verse 5 again, he says, they are of the world, therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. But then he repeats in a similar fashion what he said in verse 4. He says verse 6, we are of God. By he who knows God hears us, and he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of error. Some within the church can be bothered with the statement that we are of God and that we understand the truth and we understand the Spirit of error, because in their mind they say it sounds like we're saying we're better than everybody else.

That God has revealed to us his truth, and therefore we're somewhat greater of a people, that we're more important than everyone else. But this is reading more into the statement than Scripture means for us to apply. God does refer to his people as holy. He does set us apart for specific works and for good works. Ephesians 2, and you can put this in your notes, Ephesians 2, verse 10 says that we are his workmanship. He is working within us, created in Christ Jesus for good works. We are set apart by God and we are his people. We have the indwelling of his Spirit, but this doesn't make us better than the rest of society. We all have to think back to our humble beginnings as Christians, as believers in God, right? There were aspects of our life that did not match the character of Jesus Christ. There were things that we did or things that we said that we have now removed because God has worked within our lives to do this workmanship that Paul talks about. But at the beginning, we were like everybody else. We knew what everybody else knew. We understood Scripture according to what everybody else knew. And so, John is...

we can't be bothered by this statement from John that we are of God or that we know the difference from truth and error because it's the reality of what God is doing in our lives. But the greater reality is what he's going to do with all of humanity who has ever lived someday. He's going to open up everyone's mind like he has done in our lives someday and show them truth from error. He's going to show them who his Son is. He's going to show them the magnitude of his love. And so, while we are set apart as God's people, we can't look at the world or society around us in a negative light. We can call truth... we can call something that's wrong, wrong. God tells us we should do that. John is speaking of this all through here. But John's also speaking of the love that we are to have as a church community, but also the love that we're to develop as a... as God's creation, as humanity, right? This is something that we have to continue to work at and to recognize we are of God, but someday God's going to open up the floodgates to give everybody an opportunity to be able to make that statement. And that's why we go through what we're going through. This is why we practice and recite the Holy Days. This is why we understand the plan of God, which has Christ at the foundation. It's so that someday God will open up the floodgates and everyone will have an opportunity to know Him. What a wonderful time that will be.

The final occurrence of Antichrist is found in 2 John chapter 1. 2 John chapter 1, and again, the second letter, John is warning about false teachers who were becoming prevalent among some of the churches at that time. He will go as far as to say, to not show hospitality to these false teachers, which to some may sound harsh or extreme, but these false teachers were teaching heresies that could seriously harm the church and the people individually. Notice 2 John 1 and verse 3. John says, grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love. So he's building this connection as we see many times through Scripture about truth and love going hand in hand. He says, I rejoice greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth and we received commandments from the Father. Now, 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 you have heard from the beginning that you should walk in it. So again, I appreciated the sermonette and the tie-in and the connection to some of what we're sharing here today, that if we love God, we keep his commandments. It's very clear in Scripture. This is what God expects of his believers and his followers.

Notice verse 7, and this is that reference to Antichrist. 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. He says, look to yourselves that we do not lose those things which we worked for, 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 doctrines of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, he says, do not receive him into your house, nor greet him, for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. So verses 9 and 10 make some large and clear points. One cannot walk aside or walk off the path and not stay with the teachings of Christ, but then go and claim to have God and Jesus Christ in their life. It's just not possible. And in fact, John says this is Antichrist to actually go against Christ. So as we move towards the conclusion of this message, let's think of a couple of ways that we can oppose or be against Christ ourselves today. Let's bring this home to our lives. One of three aspects we'll look at, the first being not submitting to his authority. You can put this in your notes, Luke 6 verse 46, but in Luke 6 verse 46, Jesus asks a pointed question. Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do the things that I say? Those who profess to be Christians but don't actually submit and obey Christ oppose his very teachings and his lordship over their lives. Now it's easy to point the finger outside these walls. It's easy to point the finger at other Christian beliefs, Christian circles, but I want us to point this finger right at us. Are there beliefs and things that we are doing that oppose Jesus Christ? Are there things that we're harboring in our lives? Are there attitudes that we're allowing to dwell in our midst? Are there principles that God says you need to follow and behave this way and we're like, yeah, but that's hard? Or that's uncomfortable? Or that requires me to really work at something and I've tried and I'm just, I don't think it's going to change. We have to be careful that we don't develop within ourselves a spirit of Antichrist. Let's go back to 1 John, this time in chapter 2 and verse 3 and 4. 1 John 2.

So just flip forward in your Bibles, the beginning or towards the front of your Bibles a little bit. 1 John 2 and verse 3 and 4. John again says, Now by this we know that 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.

This is where hypocrisy comes in. This is where that danger of saying one thing but doing another, right? And we've all done that. We've all had moments where we profess to be part of the church, we profess to be a follower, but then certain aspects of our lives, we don't demonstrate it as much as we should. Now we all make mistakes, obviously, but then there's some things that we harbor, some things that we keep, and this is that danger that we can fall into. How many believe that they have a relationship with Christ and claim to know him, but they don't obey him or the Bible teachings? Maybe they don't keep the commandments. Can we allow there to be areas of our lives where we don't walk the way that we should? The second aspect, an area to consider for us today, is putting up with a different Jesus. It's an interesting phrase, putting up with a different Jesus, but it's a concept, it's an interesting concept that Paul actually shares with the church in Corinth when he writes to them in 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 4.

Putting up with a different Jesus.

2 Corinthians 11 and verse 4.

And keep in mind what John was writing, because Paul hits on pretty much the same topic right here in just one simple verse. 2 Corinthians 11 verse 4, he says, 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, so the same issues that John is speaking of, Paul is talking to the church in Corinth saying, if any of these false ideas, false teachers, false things come in that you have not heard from us, then he says, Be careful of these things, because he puts in at the end, you may well put up with it. It's an interesting phrase that sometimes I think we can just simply read over and not really picture in our lives that you may well put up with it. There are some things in life that we put up with, right, and when we tolerate or that we're patient with, but then we can use some of those same words in a negative way, right? Could we tolerate sin? Could we be patient with another idea and be like, well, you can have that idea, and I'll have my idea, but your idea is just as good as my idea. Can we put up with another Jesus as Paul is asking the question or making the statement with?

Much of Christianity around us teaches that Jesus demands nothing, that he tolerates sin, that he offers only comfort, and a Jesus that is designed to fit into the lives of man.

This really comes down to the same spirit of Antichrist that John is speaking of. One of the things that I see to become more prevalent is this idea of bringing Jesus into our lives, and on a high level this is a good thing, right? We want to put on Christ. We want to eat the unleavened bread of Jesus Christ and let him dwell and nourish us from the inside out.

But where this idea can get twisted is I can make Jesus fit into my life the way that I want Jesus to fit into my life. There are a lot of people who profess this personal Jesus that can conform to the way that they need him to operate in their life. The idea can come from and stems from, I can keep any day as my Sabbath because whatever day I declare holy is holy with God. So I'm going to allow Jesus to conform to what I want him to do in my life, which is to set apart Wednesday as my holy day or my spiritual Sabbath rests to God. Can we fall into a similar trap? Can we not just invite Jesus into our lives, which again at a high level is biblical and scriptural, but then do we try to make him conform to our idea, our faith, our religion? And could Jesus be like, that is nothing that I would have part of? Could we actually bring in an idea that is actually anti-Christ in our own lives? Could we put up with a different gospel or a different idea?

We know that everyone who professes to be a true Christian will be eventually tested on two things. One, to see if they know the truth of God, and then two, will they live by the truth of God? Every one of us here has had to do both of those things at different times in our lives, and often on a daily basis. Do we know the truth of the Scriptures? We have to. This is testament and has to be first in our lives to understand God, and He allows us to understand Him through His Word. And then He helps us to understand more about ourselves through prayer as we continue to use those two in tandem to understand God more deeply. Do we know God's Word? Because there's going to be a time if it hasn't happened in your life, which I know it has, you're going to have to stand on this truth. You're going to have to follow it, and that's where the rubber meets the road, right? That's when you're in the heat of an argument and you're upset with your spouse, and you know what you should be doing. That's hard. And that's where we get tested and we get tried.

What are we going to put up with? Our own concept of God, our own concept of righteousness, our own concept of what is spiritual? Or do we fall back to the Scripture and say, I know better than to do this? I know what is truth. Many people don't know how to combat false teachings, so they're led by a false spirit and they're led into falsehood. Can we be led into falsehood? We personally have to know God's Word at a deep and thorough level so that we can test the spirits and not put up with a different Jesus, as Paul so clearly put. I love that phrase, and I think it's amazing. The third aspect that we can consider with this topic is division within the body of Christ is anti-Christ. Division within the body of Christ is anti-Christ.

We're in 2 Corinthians, so let's go to 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 3. 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 3. Paul's getting at the carnality of our human nature and the struggles that create division within our family here. 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 3, he says, For you are still carnal. There are aspects of our nature that we still hang on to that is worldly, that is demonic, he's saying. He says, For where there is envy, strife, and division among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? I would hope that this would hit the church and Corinth across the face like a board, right? The things that are going on, is this just not carnal nature? Just running rampant? We know that our body, like the body of Christ, our spiritual family, is supposed to be knit together, each serving, loving, helping, being patient with one another. But division is the exact opposite of God's love and His law. It is the spirit of anti-Christ. Let's go to Romans 16 and verse 17. So, one chapter towards the front of your Bibles. Romans 16, verse 17 and 18.

Paul, again speaking here this time to the church in Rome, says Romans 16 verse 17, now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you have learned. It sounds almost identical to what John wrote in his first letter, saying, you know this way, you've been taught this way, you've lived this way, I witnessed this way from Jesus Christ myself. So, he's saying, Paul is saying, contrary to the doctrine which you have learned. And he says, avoid them. He says, for those who are such, do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech, they deceive the hearts of the simple. So, he's saying, don't get caught up in words and phrasings and somebody's, maybe somebody's view of a story. Don't get caught up in all that. Test the spirits. See if it goes contrary to what we have learned, the way that we're supposed to operate as a family, as a body of Christ. And Paul then, also a third time, references this concept as he writes to Titus.

Titus 3 verses 9 through 11.

Right after 2nd Timothy, we get into Titus. I have to remind myself of that. You know, the Bible's kids' lessons still comes in handy for pastors still today. I go through and start reciting the Bible, the books of the Bible in my head to try to remember where a certain book is at. Right after 2nd Timothy, 1st Timothy, 2nd Timothy, and then we get into Titus. Titus 3 in verse 9, 10 and 11. But the same spirit, the same idea Paul hits again here in his letter to Titus. He says, But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable and useless. And he says, Rejected divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.

So there is no room for division among the body of Christ. If we're allowing these things to come in, it's as much as allowing a false teaching to come in among us and tolerating a false teaching. If we tolerate division in John's writing and in Paul's writings, it's the same as tolerating a false teaching or a false prophet. We have to put these things out. We have to call it what it is and that it's anti-Christ. And so we have to work at these divisions within the body. If we're on one side of the equation or the other, we have to work at it so that division does not exist among us.

So as we conclude, there is a spirit of anti-Christ that has existed since shortly after the establishment of the church during the Apostle's time. It was something they had to battle against to maintain the true teachings of Christ. The idea of anti-Christ has a very broad application because it represents all people and things that oppose the truth about Christ and the truth Christ taught and lived by. It can refer to persons, cultures, powers, specific institutions or governments. It can refer to behaviors, attitudes of individuals, or attitudes of groups of people.

And as we know very well, some things just don't change over time. The battle against anti-Christ is one that you and I have to fight against on pretty much a daily basis. And this is because false teaching and ideas are prevalent in society all around us, and it can seem hopeless or overwhelming because at times it feels like an unbalanced fight that we are in. But it's the same fight that the early church faced in the book of Acts and one that the saints who lived during that time had to endure through. So if we feel like at times we live in a different time than the apostles did or the early church dealt with, we don't in a lot of ways. What goes around comes around. Our adversary still hates the church, and he hates Jesus Christ, and he hates the teachings of God. He will use every avenue, every turn he can to draw us off the mark and to allow that these false teachings and these false spirits even come into our midst at times. And while that can be discouraging, it can seem disappointing, it's the reality of the church going all the way back to Jesus's time, to the apostles' time, and even to our time. So this message from John is a heartfelt one as he saw his life probably coming to an end, realizing that he most likely was the last apostle that knew and worked with and was taught by Jesus personally. And he gives us this amazing message for us to continue to consider and continue to keep the health of the church stable. And so let us learn from this and let us avoid the spirit of Antichrist.