Oakbrook Evangelical Free Church

Introduction:

1.         Story of Steve’s Retreat

2.         Story of family in Waupaca…JW’s

Matthew 8:25-27 “And they came to Him and woke Him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing!” He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. The men were amazed, and said, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”” NASB95

Matthew 14:29-33 “And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are certainly God’s Son!” ” NASB95

Mark 3:9-12 “And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him; for He had healed many, with the result that all those who had afflictions pressed around Him in order to touch Him. Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, “You are the Son of God!” And He earnestly warned them not to tell who He was.” NASB95

Luke 5:18-24 “And some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him. But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” But Jesus, aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? “But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”—He said to the paralytic—“I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home.” ” NASB95

Luke 7:39, 49 “Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner…You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. “For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” Then He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven. Those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?” ” NASB95  Luke 7:36-50

Matthew 16:13-16 “Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ” NASB95

Do you see it?

Some time in your life you must come to a crossroads and answer the

            question for yourself: who is Jesus?

Summery:  John outlines four practical conditions whereby believers may practice and test their own spiritual commitment to fellowship with God:

by renouncing sin (1:8—2:2),

by being obedient (2:3-11),

by rejecting worldliness (2:12-17), and . . .

            stages of growth in fellowship with God.

            Barriers to growth in fellowship with God.

by keeping the faith (2:18-29). . . . 

So far, subtle implications of some of claim to have fellowship with God but don’t.  Here he becomes more direct and labeled them antichrists (vv. 18-19). 

He described three signs or marks:

1.         of the end (vv. 18-19),  - many anti-Christs

2.         of the believer (vv. 20-23), - whoever acknowledges the Son

3.         and of living in the light (vv. 24-25) – faithful in sound doctrine

Verses 26-27 is a summery of  vs 18-25,

I.          Sign of the end 2:18-19

2:18 John used a Greek word translated “children” referring to a child who learns. His readers needed to learn what he now revealed.

In the drama of human history all of John’s readers including ourselves play our part in the last act. Throughout the NT the writers regarded the present age before the Lord’s return as the last hour or the last days. This is the final period before the Lord Himself breaks into history again.

Antichrists are those who oppose Jesus Christ and His teachings not just people who profess to be the Messiah.

2:19 Those who were opposing Christ had gone out from “us.” Probably “us” means the apostolic eyewitnesses as elsewhere in this epistle (cf. 1:1-5; 4:6). This would mean that these false teachers had gone out from among the apostles, not that they were apostles themselves, claiming that their message was what the apostles endorsed (cf. Acts 15:1; 2 Cor. 11:5). “Us” may include the Christian community at large.

Trojan War, in Greek mythology, war between the Greeks and the people of Troy. The strife began after the Trojan prince Paris abducted Helen, wife of Menelaus of Sparta. When Menelaus demanded her return, the Trojans refused. Menelaus then persuaded his brother Agamemnon to lead an army against Troy. At Aulis, troopships gathered, led by the greatest Greek heroes-Achilles, Patroclus, Diomed, Odysseus, Nestor, and the two warriors named Ajax. In order to win favorable winds for the journey, Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to Artemis. The winds came and the fleet set sail for Troy. For nine years the Greeks ravaged Troy’s surrounding cities and countryside, but the city itself, well fortified and commanded by Hector and other sons of the royal household, held out. Finally the Greeks built a large hollow wooden horse in which a small group of warriors were concealed. The other Greeks appeared to sail for home, leaving behind only the horse and Sinon, who deceitfully persuaded the Trojans, despite the warnings of Cassandra and Laocoön, to take the horse within the city walls. At night the Greeks returned; their companions crept out of the horse and opened the city gates, and Troy was destroyed. The gods took great interest in the war. Poseidon, Hera, and Athena aided the Greeks, while Aphrodite and Ares favored the Trojans. Zeus and Apollo, although frequently involved in the action of the war, remained impartial. The events of the final year of the war constitute the main part of the Iliad of Homer. The Trojan War probably reflected a real war (c.1200 B.C.) between the invading Greeks and the people of Troas, possibly over control of trade through the Dardanelles.

The physical separation of these men from the apostles and the faithful eventually illustrated their doctrinal separation from them. “From other references to ‘antichrists’ in this letter it is evident that when the writer uses this term he means the heterodox ex-members of his own community: those who, in one way or another, were denying the true identity of Jesus, and the fact of God’s saving activity mediated to the world through him.”

“. . . it is possible that those who later allowed their heretical thought and actions to run away with them (’they were not of us’) were in the first place believers with a genuine, if uninformed, faith in Jesus.”

“. . . a person who makes a genuine confession can be expected to persevere in his faith, although elsewhere John warns his readers against the danger of failure to persevere [cf. v. 24; 2 John 8].”

II.         Sign of the believer 2:20-23

A.        The Trojans Who Went Out

The antichrists lie because they deny that Jesus is the Christ, God’s Son and our Savior. This would have been the position of Jews who rejected Jesus as the Messiah and other false teachers whom John alluded to elsewhere. Among these were the Gnostics who believed that anything material was sinful and therefore Jesus could not have been God’s Son.

1.         What Some Say

Jehovah’s Witnesses

Jesus is not Jehovah God. He was the first son that Jehovah God brought forth.  Jesus is actually Michael the archangel.  At his baptism Jesus was anointed to become Messiah, or Jesus the Christ (anointed).  God raised him as a mighty immortal spirit Son. He was not raised in the flesh but with a spiritual body. They deny the existence of hell and eternal punishment.

Mormons

Mormonism is not Christian.  It denies the deity of Christ and

salvation by grace. Mormon doctrine contradicts the Christian

teaching that there is only one God, and it undermines the authority and reliability of the Bible.

Mormons teach that Jesus Christ is a spirit children of Elohim.  By

obedience and devotion he attained the pinnacle of intelligence

which ranked him as God.  They deny the existence of hell and

eternal punishment.

Muslims

Muslims believe that 124,000 prophets have been sent, most of them unknown but some of them biblical characters, including Jesus. Muhammed, though, is the prophet for all times, the “Seal of the Prophets.”

Jesus was a prophet, perhaps even a unique prophet, but not in any sense God. Ali got the conversation going by declaring that there was no place in the Bible that says that Jesus is both 100 percent God and 100 percent man.

Islam does believe Jesus was a sinless prophet although not as great as Muhammad. While the Qur’an speaks of the virgin birth of Christ, it is not the same biblical virgin birth. Jesus is certainly not the only begotten Son of God, and an angel-rather than the Holy Spirit-was the agency of God’s power in the conception. The idea that Allah had a son is repugnant to them. The Qur’an states, “Jesus … was only a messenger of Allah … Far is it removed from His transcendent majesty that He should have a son.”

These false teachers all claimed to have the truth from God. However, John pointed out that since the Son and the Father are one, a person cannot deny the Son without denying the Father as well (cf. Matt. 10:32-33; Mark 8:38).

“. . . anyone who claims to know God, but disobeys his orders, is ‘a’ liar (. . . 2:4); but the person who denies that Jesus is the Christ must be regarded as the—archetypal—liar . . .”

“. . . we deny God by denying him his proper relationship

with us.”

Some readers have understood the first part of verse 23 to mean that it is impossible for a true Christian, one who “has the Father,” ever to deny the Son. This interpretation seems inconsistent with other Scripture (2 Tim. 2:12) as well as human experience. Genuine Christians have denied Christ, to avoid martyrdom, for example. In the context John wrote about an abiding relationship with God, not just a saving relationship. So another explanation is that John meant that whoever denies the Son does not have the Father abiding in him. In this view, one who denies the Son does not have an abiding relationship with the Father. This describes all unbelievers and those believers who are not abiding in God. A third explanation is that

John was describing what is typical: typically those having the Father do not deny the Son, though there may be a few exceptions. However the broad “whoever” in this verse seems to imply that what John wrote is true of all. I prefer view two.

The second part of the verse is the positive corollary to the first part.  Confessing the Son is the opposite of denying Him. Confessing the Son results in the Father abiding in the confessor. Confessing the Son involves a public profession of faith in Him, not just exercising saving faith in Him (cf. Rom. 10:9-10; 2 Cor. 4:13). Belief in the heart results in imputed righteousness, and confessing with the mouth results in salvation (lit. deliverance, namely, from the consequences of being a secret, non-confessing, believer). A non-abiding Christian might not confess Christ even though he or she believes in Him. Both denying Christ and confessing Christ deal with giving personal testimony to one’s faith in Him; they do not determine salvation. Thus denying Christ cannot result in the loss of eternal salvation nor can confessing Him obtain it. If John meant that no genuine Christian can deny the Son, the corollary is that every genuine Christian must confess the Son. That would make public confession of Christ a condition for salvation in addition to trusting in Him.

To summarize, John warned his readers of the danger to their intimate fellowship with God that the teaching of those who denied that Jesus is the Christ posed. If they rejected the Son, they could not expect an intimate relationship with the Father. “The principle source of confusion in much contemporary study of 1 John is to be found in the failure to recognize the real danger against which the writer is warning. The eternal salvation of the readership is not imperilled. It is not even in doubt as far as the author is concerned. But seduction by the world and its antichristian representatives is a genuine threat which must be faced.”

B.        The Treasure Within

2:20-21 In contrast to the heterodox secessionists (v. 19), the faithful believers within the community were “keeping the faith.” The “anointing” referred to is evidently the Holy Spirit whom Jesus gives to each believer at conversion (Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 12:13; cf. Luke 4:18; John 6:69; 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; Acts 10:38; 2 Cor. 1:21-22).

John said it abode in his readers to teach them and that it was truthful (v. 27). John referred to the Holy Spirit as the anointing. John previously spoke of Jesus Christ as the life (1:2). The presence of the Holy Spirit in every believer enables him or her to perceive the truth of the gospel and to distinguish it from error (John 14:26; 16:13). Of course some Christians have more perception than others due to God-given ability, Satanic blindness, the influence of human teachers, sin in the life, etc. 2:22-23