Sermon Tone Analysis

*“Born Identity”*

*1 John 2.18-29*

 

One of the most powerful moments while watching a movie or television show is the time when we discover that there is a traitor in the midst of the “good team.”

Up to this point we are baffled how the enemy can always elude the captors and even trump their every move.

Suddenly, the pieces come together and we conclude that someone is tipping the enemy off and perhaps even assisting them.

However, until that person is identified there is a sense of confusion and scepticism until the time when the traitor is exposed.

But when the truth is revealed, there is a restored sense of confidence and unity in the task at hand.

This is where we begin this morning.

In the letter of 1 John, we are already aware of John’s purposes to refute false teaching from those who had departed from their midst.

And to this point, he continues to provide evidences of things that determine whether one is a genuine Christian or not.

I like John’s writings for a couple of reasons.

First, though I like Paul’s linear writing style, John repeats things and says them a couple of different ways.

Second, he brings clarity to the table.

There is no middle ground in his writing.

He often contrasts things like light and darkness, love and hate, truth and lies.

I am not a fan of ambiguity.

And John helps us out.

In this next section, John will again help us to understand what genuine Christianity looks like, what false teachers and imposters look like.

He will help us understand the importance of knowing who Jesus is – correctly.

And John will show us how our actions demonstrate our “born identity.”

Please turn in your Bibles to 1 John 2.18-29 if you have not yet done so.

*READ.*

John opens this section once again by referring to his readers as his little children.

He repeatedly communicates his concern and affection for those who are being influenced by outside sources.

He loves them like a father his children.

The first point that we will look at is *Two Teams.

*We will find this in verses 18-20.

John begins the thought by writing that */it is the last hour/*.

And then he proceeds to speak of the Antichrist that is coming.

What is he getting at here?

Is he suggesting that the world is coming to an end?

And did he get it quite wrong?

How does this instil confidence in his readers?

The sky is falling and the antichrist is coming!

No, the thoughts that follow should provide comfort and confidence to the Christian.

With his introduction of the last hour, he speaks of the time between the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus and the time when he will return to set things right at his second coming.

When Scripture speaks of last hour, last days, last times, the writers declare that the Messiah has come and at any time he can return.

Hebrews 1:1–2 says, “1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but */in these last days/* he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” 1 Peter 1:20–21 “20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest */in the last times/* for the sake of you 21 who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” Jesus has come, died, rose from the dead, ascended into heaven.

These are the last times.

It is the last hour.

Even in this we can find assurance that everything is in the sovereign control of our God who has told us these things in advance.

John adds that you have heard that antichrist is coming.

Now many of you who have studied the Bible and your eschatology (or understanding of the end times) will know that this refers to a specific person at the end of time.

And John’s readers would have known this as well.

They would have been familiar with the prophecies out of the Book of Daniel that speak of this one.

They would have also known the words from the prophet Zechariah where he writes (11:16–17), 16 For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.

17 “Woe to my worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock!

May the sword strike his arm and his right eye!

Let his arm be wholly withered, his right eye utterly blinded!”

And even if these prophecies did not register with them, they would have known that even Paul referred to this antichrist and identified him as the man of lawlessness in 2 Thessalonians 2. Paul’s letter was written and likely distributed several decades before John penned this letter.

2 Thessalonians 2:1–12

1 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.

3 Let no one deceive you in any way.

For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the */man of lawlessness/* is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?

6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time.

7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.

Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.

8 And then */the lawless one will be revealed/*, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.

9 */The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan/* with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.”

This is a description of the Antichrist.

Now watch what John does here.

After referring to “that” antichrist that is yet to come, he says “so now”.

So now many antichrists */have come./*

The word antichrist is a combination of two Greek words, “anti” and “Christos”.

“Christos” is obviously the word for “Christ”.

And “anti” can either mean “against” or “instead of, in the place of”.

In the case of */the /*Antichrist, we know that he will deceive and declare himself to be God – “instead of God”.

And, of course, this would place him “against” God.

The same is true of the many antichrists to which John refers here.

In verses 19 and 22, he describes who these “antichrists” are.

Let me just say that with the preaching of this sermon, I eliminate the possibility of winning any popularity contests in the near future.

You’ll see why.

There is a doctrinal aspect and practical aspect that determines them to be antichrist.

Let’s start with the doctrinal issue.

In verse 22, John lays it out clearly when he says “who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ?

This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.”

Jesus is the Son of God who was sent by him as the promised Messiah to save the world.

How many philosophies, religions, and cults does this rule out?

The Bible is God’s Word that is written through his choice of human authors.

And he has stated clearly and repeatedly that Jesus would come (in the Old Testament), that he has come and is the only provision for the punishment of our sins (in the New Testament).

To deny Jesus as the Christ is to deny the Father.

So, here’s the headline: There is NOT one God and many paths to Her as a recent article in our local paper states!

I told you… my popularity declines the more I speak.

Despite the cultural pressures of tolerance and unity, we cannot join forces with cults and false religions.

Jesus said that he is the Christ and the ONLY way to the Father.

That rules everything and everyone else out.

You */have to get Jesus right!/*

In addition, John provides a practical aspect that determines antichrists.

And this one can be a bit tricky because it involves those who are temporarily inside the church.

In verse 19, John says that “they went out from us.”

This means that for a time they were “of us.”

They probably sat alongside of the others as they participated in worship and learning and observing communion and baptisms.

We know that those who are truly Christians will persevere to the end.

Jude 24 “24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy.”

The letter to the Ephesians tells us that the Holy Spirit seals the believer and guarantees the inheritance of eternal life to come.

However, time often reveals those who never really knew Jesus.

They fall away and “go out from us.”

Some may express a temporal joy in Jesus and his teachings, but then fall away.

The parable of the sower and the soils is a great understanding of this reality.