Title: Guarding against False Teachers
Text: 1 JN 2:18-27
Memorial Day is a day set aside to honor those who have stood guard and defended our nation from enemies and oppression. Those who have served, fought and died to guard our freedom. We have all heard the words "remember the Alamo." A call to watchfulness and determination to stand firm in the face of adversity. The movie Pearl Harbor came out this week another reminder of the tragic loss that drew us wholeheartedly into World War II, but also a reminder of the necessity to be continually on guard even at times when it doesn't appear to be necessary.
John's words in the passage we look at this morning is also a call to watchfulness, a call to be on guard against false teaching and false teachers who stand in opposition and defiance of not just the teachings of Christ, but Christ Himself.
John begins the warning by referring to his readers as little children. This isn't a derogatory term accusing them of childishness, but a term of endearment to emphasize his love and concern for them. They are facing a critical time in the lives, a time of challenge to their faith from false teachers. It is teaching that gives rise to questioning their faith, to doubts, to unbelief and ro denial of Jesus Christ. Christians today face these same kinds of issues and we must be watchful and on guard against them.
First John says it is the last hour, or the last time. With the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st there has been a great amount of speculation about the end of the world as we know it. Books, movies, web sites and such about the end time abound. But generally when the Bible speaks of the end time, the final hour as John writes, it is not talking about a specific day or hour but to that time between the advents of Christ. It is that time that marks the conclusion of one age and the beginning of another. It is the period of time leading to the consummation of God's plan of full and complete redemption and restoration of humanity.
So as Paul wrote in Gal 4:4, "But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son," (NAS)
Then in Heb 1:1-2 the Bible says, "God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in {His} Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world." (NAS)
Peter says in 2 Pet 3:3-4, Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with {their} mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For {ever} since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation." (NAS)
And Paul reminded Timothy in 2 Tim 3:1, "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come." (NAS)
John and Paul and Peter weren't mistaken about when the end was coming, but were referring to time period between Christ's first coming and His glorious return. The last hour includes the generation to whom John first wrote this epistle as well as subsequent generations including us.
This last hour will be marked by the appearance of the antichrist. Believers must always be aware that the antichrist can appear on the scene of world history at any time. There much speculation about this antichrist. The Bible while not specifically identifying the antichrist does provide some definite concepts revealing that the antichrist not just the spirit of evil that is so rampant in the world, nor the spirit of false doctrine that so plagues the church in every age. Rather, the antichrist is a person, a man who will oppose and stand against Christ more intensely than anyone before. He will be a world leader who will exalt humanity and world government above the worship of God.
We know or we have proof, John tells us, this is the last hour and the antichrist is to come because there are many antichrist even now. These antichrist are forerunners, false teachers who were present then and are present today.
The word antichrist is used in two different senses here first in reference to the one who will ultimately stand in opposition to Christ and in the second sense to identify those who are anti-Christ or opposed to Christ by their being false teachers.
This second group John says came out of the Christian faith. Church in this case representing the visible church. That doesn't necessarily mean they came out of any particular church, but they did embrace some form of Christianity. They followed, at least to a degree, or claimed to follow the teachings of the Apostles and of Jesus. However, they soon began to pervert the message and even deny that Jesus was the Christ. So John declares that while they seemed to be a part of the church the fact they left and began to pervert the message was evidence they were never really a part of the church at all.
Today we know the term Christian is used to identify a large number on cults, it is used to identify groups that do not hold to biblical Christian doctrines such as the Mormon church, Christian Science, Jehovah's Witnesses, Unitarian Universalist even the Unification church among others. The founders and leaders of these groups such as Mary Baker Eddy founder of the Christian Science movement, Charles "Taz" Russell founder of the Jehovah's Witness Movement were Congregationalist, Joseph Smith the founder of the Mormon church was exposed to the Bible and the Christian church as a young man, and Sun Myung Moon founder of the Unification Movement was a Presbyterian Sunday School teacher, but the teachings of these groups today clearly stand in opposition to the biblical message given by Jesus Christ. So while it would certainly be politically incorrect and bring down the wrath the media to say this outside the church, the teachers of these groups today fall into the category of antichrist's John mentions because while they themselves may never have embraced the teachings of Jesus the founders of their movements did.
But not only should we be on guard against those we can clearly identify, but also within the church today there are those who teach things clearly in opposition to the Biblical message of Christianity.
In verses 22 and23 John further identifies those who are considered antichrist. "Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also." (NAS)
Clearly when a person teaches false doctrine, when they deny the teachings of Jesus and the Bible, when they make these teachings irrelevant or inconsequential they are in every sense of the word denying Jesus Himself and denying the God who gave the revelation. They are in essence denying both Father and Son.
But just as in John's day there are also those within the church who not only would deny Father and Son in essence but also in fact.
Just this week I read an article that appeared in the Scotsman Online entitled Jesus 'not the son of God'. Where Lord Younger the Queen's representative to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland spoke out about his personal doubts that Jesus was the "biological" Son of God.
No at first that sounds like it may be a logical statement, but what he is saying and he clarifies that in the article is that Jesus had an earthly father. Which is a denial of the virgin birth, it is also a denial of the divinity and equality of Father and Son saying rather that Jesus was divinely inspired.
Not only that the article mentions the Very Rev Dr James Weatherhead, former Moderator of the General Assembly who has called into question the doctrine of the virgin birth, The former Episcopal Bishop of Edinburgh, Richard Holloway who describes Christ as "simply an extraordinary man." And the current Moderator of the Church who said Lord Younger's views were not at odds with the majority of the members of the church.
These views are becoming more an more common within the Christian community. They clearly reflect the truth of John's words. Shaye Cohen professor of religious studies at Brown University (which was founded by and at one time was a Baptist school) say's of Jesus, "He is a human, of course, but somehow he is possessed by a god, or the God, or a divine spirit or an angel or something that somehow has elevated him above the ordinary, so that he is able to do things the rest of us simply can't do." (from the PBS web site, Jesus as Holy Man) These kinds of views are common among those termed "progressive theologians." That's not what John called them.
John says he has written this about those who would lead you astray. In other words their teachings would lead you away from the truth rather than towards the truth and because Christianity is an active relational faith it's his desire and our goal to a greater, deeper, more intimate relationship rather than to move away from that relationship.
He also reminds us that we are in possession of the Holy Spirit, given by God Himself to guide us into rather than away from His Christ and His teachings. Not that we don't need human teachers, but that we have God's Spiritual presence and God's Word to serve as the measuring stick of the truth of earthly teachers.
What John says to us is we have the truth of God in His Word, through His Son and by His abiding presence within us. In these last days there will be many who try to draw us away from our faith to a point where either us or following generations we will be open to receiving and believing the teachings of the ultimate antichrist.
We conclude with John's words in verse 28 "And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. (NAS) We might also say abide in Him so that those who follow you can also have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.
