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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
As you look around your world, is it difficult for you to distinguish between those things or those people which help you be the person you really want to be, and those things or those people which draw you into dark thinking, attitudes and behavior you’ll regret?
We’re on an adventure this week in a little letter written to us by a man who may have been Jesus’ best friend. His name was John. He was a fisherman and Jesus had invited him to leave his nets and boats and spend several months with Jesus and the small group of disciples who followed Him. John did and Jesus changed his life, and so John wrote this letter to help people like you and me look honestly at our lives, and see how Jesus might make a big difference in us, just like He did in John.
John writes in 1 John 2:15 “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in them. For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and boasting of what he has and does – comes not from God the Father but from the world. The world and its desires will pass away, but the person who does the will of God lives forever.” Now that strikes at the core of every person on the planet doesn’t it?
It asks some fundamental life questions. . .
* When you look honestly at your life, what are you pursuing in life? What does your heart desire? What are you passionate about?
* When you reach the end of your life, what possessions or achievements will you most treasure? What relationships will be most valuable to you then? When you look back over your life, what will you regret and what will you cherish?
I wonder if John was thinking about this powerful statement that King David had written about 1000 years before: “Do not fret… Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart...” (Psalm 37)
In the first century it was really no different from today. People were spending their time, energy, talents, resources… to pursue their passions, their dreams, their ambitions. Sometimes in their determination, they were deceitful. Other times they wounded people as they ran over them. It’s a powerful warning isn’t it my friends? And when you combine it with Psalm 37 it of course brings us to the mirror and we simply must look deeply into our own eyes. More deeply, into our souls! And we must ask… what drives me, what am I pursuing, and why? What will I have when I finally achieve whatever it is that I’m passionately pursuing? Will it be worth the price I’ve paid to reach my goal?
John writes to the core issues of life doesn’t he? So look at what he writes next: “Dear friends, this is the last hour and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come… They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us… But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.” (1 John 2:18,19) Now that’s interesting isn’t it? Perhaps you’ve heard that word ‘antichrist’ and in your mind you link it with Biblical prophecy about time in the future. But here, 2000 years ago, John was saying there were many ‘antichrists’ in his day. What does it mean, my friends?
We understand that whenever you have the word ‘anti’ it simply means ‘opposed’ isn’t that right? So an ‘antichrist’ is anyone who is actively opposed to Jesus Christ. So look around, do you see any evidence that there may be one or two or a thousand ‘antichrists’ in your part of the world in 2020?
While yes it’s true that the book of Daniel and Revelation speak of a world ruler of great influence who will be fully opposed to Jews and Christians and especially Jesus Christ at the end of time, John is here drawing our attention to the reality that such opposition is more than one powerful person. The “antichrist movement” has existed from the days of the garden of Eden! It is the earthly work of Satan and his demonic, dark kingdom.
Satan is determined to oppose God, God’s purposes, God’s people and especially the Redemption Plan of God through Jesus Christ, at all times, in all places. That is the ‘antichrist movement’. Therefore my friends, you… whoever you are, wherever you are, you are a target of the ‘antichrist’ movement of Satan, IF — IF you have any interest in Jesus, any desire to nurture an authentic relationship with Holy God, any desire to live your life in obedience to God’s commands and the leading of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in your life journey. You will be opposed by the ‘antichrist’ movement! And the more significance Jesus has in your life, the greater the intensity of the opposition. That’s why John wrote this little letter to help us understand how to live life to the fullest in the face of the opposition of the ‘antichrist movement’.
Do you see what John writes next? “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth and no lie comes from the truth. Who is the liar? It is the person who denies that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah). Such a person is an antichrist – they deny the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son of God has a relationship with God the Father, whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, has a relationship with God the Father also.” (1 John 2:22,23)
Now friends, this is really important. It’s a fork in the road of life for every living human being. It’s a very simple question… WHO IS JESUS? From God’s perspective, there is only ONE truthful answer: Jesus is the Christ (Messiah), God the Son.
Do you see three very important parts to that simple statement?
First, Jesus is fully God. (Col. 2:8,9 & Hebrews 1:3)
Second, Jesus is God the Son, the second person in the Triune Godhead. (Matt. 3:17; John 10:29,30)
Third, Jesus is the ‘Christ’, the Jewish Messiah (Matt. 16:16; John 4:25,26)
Now, here’s why this is so important: Any person, anywhere in the world, who denies any of these three statements, simply does not have an authentic relationship with the Almighty, Living, Creator, Holy God.
That’s what John is writing here and he bases it on Jesus’ statement which he heard, with his own ears, that night in the upper room on the eve of Jesus’ crucifixion: “Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father except by ME.” (John 14:6)
Now one last thing I’d like us to grasp before we close today. Do you see John’s statements about WHO these “antichrists” were, that he identified in verse 19? “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained among us, but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.” Perhaps you know someone like this? They used to attend church. They acted like a Christian. They maybe even said they were. But they walked away and now are part of the opposition movement. Now we know that a person cannot undo the miraculous new-creation salvation work of God in that person’s life. We also know God will never undo what He has done.
So this is one of the places in the Bible which helps us understand there are some people, maybe many people, who today are just going through the motions of religion, but they do NOT have an authentic, life transformed, God miraculously accomplished, ‘born again’ relationship with Jesus Christ. Given the right set of circumstances, these people drift away and find themselves distant from God and often actually turn against God and God’s people as part of the ‘antichrist’ movement.
The key is verse 20, and 26,27 for all genuine, authentic Christians: “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know the truth…His anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit – remain in Him.” Oh friends, do you hear John reminding us of the teaching received from Jesus in John 15 about vine and branches remaining vitally connected? Do you hear the teachings of Jesus in John 16:12-15 about the Holy Spirit teaching and guiding the followers of Jesus?
I urge you friends to park right here and ponder this deeply. Oh such wonderful truths, but very important warnings. Grab your journal…what is the Holy Spirit saying to you right now about the certainty of your salvation and about the ‘opposition movement’?
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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