The Antichrist is Here

The Antichrist is Here

1 John 4:1-6 & 1 John 2:18-29

shared at Open Door Fellowship;  September 16, 2020; WED

Today,  I want to begin to talk about the anti-christ.  What if I told you that the anti-christ is here…. How would you respond??

What if I told you he is here but it is not what you think?    You see I believe that the anti-christ is among us by his spirit, and he is at work in our world today  - and we must Heed the warnings of Jesus and be not deceived.

I want to talk about a lot of issues, and some of them will be unpleasant  - when I deal with these issues like any issues I ever deal with please understand I am not  coming with condemnation.   I am here to help,  the church is here to help.  We are not perfect people and all of us are broken in different ways, and the reality is we need one another.

When I teach,  I never teach to condemn anyone…  I want to extend a hand one that is steady,  and lift you up.    I want to help people.  

As I go through this I am just forewarn gin you - if you are in person or on line this subject can and likely will get a little intense and yet I believe this is a timely subject for what is happening in the world today.

Take a Bible today and turn to 1 John chapter 4 Verse 1. NLT

Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world.

Here is the deal - you must test the spirit to see if it is from God.  The word test - judge - decide - those are all  synonyms….  We are to TEST the  spirits,  that means a judge of the spirits,  that means make a decision  concerning the spirits.

So when we hear crazy rhetoric,  opinions,  propaganda,  policies from the culture in which we live the church today wants to have the attitude: “  who am I to judge?”   

 Please listen to me tonight:   If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, and if  you know the word of God, and if you  seek to be a student of the word,  you will understand that God has called us to test and judge the spirits.

 People want to say:  “ what why should I do that?”   Because the Bible says so.

Read verse 2-6… NLT

2 This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet[a] acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. 

3 But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.

4 But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.

 5 Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. 

6 But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.

Now I want you to find Chapter 2 of 1 John and look at verse 18 -29…

18 Dear children, the last hour is here. You have heard that the Antichrist is coming, and already many such antichrists have appeared. From this we know that the last hour has come. 

19 These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us.

20 But you are not like that, for the Holy One has given you his Spirit, and all of you know the truth. 

21 So I am writing to you not because you don’t know the truth but because you know the difference between truth and lies. 

22 And who is a liar? Anyone who says that Jesus is not the Christ. Anyone who denies the Father and the Son is an antichrist. 

23 Anyone who denies the Son doesn’t have the Father, either. But anyone who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

24 So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will remain in fellowship with the Son and with the Father. 25 And in this fellowship we enjoy the eternal life he promised us

26 I am writing these things to warn you about those who want to lead you astray. 

27 But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ.

28 And now, dear children, remain in fellowship with Christ so that when he returns, you will be full of courage and not shrink back from him in shame.

29 Since we know that Christ is righteous, we also know that all who do what is right are God’s children.

Before I make many comments I want to remind you that John wrote this letter on the island of Patmos while in exile.  John Also wrote Revelation, so he knew a little about the Return of Jesus.  He also wrote this letter around 90 AD.  Some scholars believe he might have written it as late as 110 AD.  

Here is my point - this places this text well after 70 AD.    The  amillennialist makes much of the 70AD date being the date of Christ return  -  YET John in 90 Ad was still encouraging believers in the church to abide in Christ so that when he returns  they would have confidence and not be ashamed when he appears. 

So here is what Johnis saying:  Be careful.  DO not be deceived,  Be ready, live life in such a way that you are faithful, righteous, and in fellowship with Christ.

Be on the lookout for those who want to lead you away from Christ.  

False teachers are here, they have come and many more will be coming.  These are not the anti-christ, but an anti-christ.    TEST them, try them, judge them  and make sure they believe there is only one way to get to heaven and that is through Jesus!

There is only one way to get to God and  that  is through Jesus.    There is no other way.

The word Anti-christ means agonist christ.  It also means in replace of Christ.  The spirit of the anti-christ is against everything having to do with Christ or God.    It means a continual unending, and  perpetual  resistance against the things of God.  

People who are walking around today with the spirit of the antichrist,  those are the people who are against the kingdom.  God’s word, and the church.

BUT keep in mind there is a real anti-christ who is a person, and a specific person  who will come on the scene and  he will be in power and have world wide authority.  He will set himself up in the temple and sit down and say he is God.    There is  a man - a literal human being who will come  and he will be THE anti-christ.   

Here is the thing- this man is the final manifestation of evil.    This man has not yet been revolved in human history.  

But the spirit of that anti-christ is already at work in the world today!

That is what I will talk about over the next couple of Wednesday nights. 

When most people hear about the anti-christ they see it as  something that ill happen way out in the future somewhere, but not something we dealt with today.  But  I want you to see Joh taught and I believe that there is a spirit of the anti-christ and that spirit is at work right now breaking down all that is good, and deceiving mankind.

Understanding this subject  is very important to a biblical student.    The deception that Jesus spork about is already at work.    We are  either being influenced by the Spirit of God, or the spirit of the anti-christ , the devil.

Both spirits are real, and both have great influence, but both are at odd with one another.  Our lives are either being influenced   by the Spirit of God or the  spirit of the antichrist.

 I am not saying there is a devil on every corner, but I am saying there is a spirit that is in the world, and  it is working hard to deny  Jesus, his personhood, and his teaching.

The devil wants to deny the word of Jesus:  I am the Way the Truth and the Life.  No one comes to the father except through me…   the enemy is working overtime to divert people away from that truth.

That is one the big deceptions that are in the world today!  

I am a good person so surely I  get to go to heaven!   My Grandmother was a godly person, surely God will have favor with me.

People just ignore and reject Jesus!  But listen to me - nice people do not go to heaven, generous people do not go to heaven, good ole boys do not go to heaven..  saved people go to heaven.  

The only way to be saved is through the person of Jesus Christ.  There is no other savior for humankind.

We live in a day and time when people believe that all roads lead to God - That is the spirit of the anti-christ at work.

The spirit of the anti-christ seeks to undermine creation itself.  We live in a day when any theory is a held theory except the earth was created by an intelligent design, who is greater than mankind known as God.

The spirit of the anti christ is at work deceiving people to be against God and his word in every way possible.  This spirit is laying the foundation for the evil that the person of the anti-christ will take and embody…

The  Spirit of the anti-christ does not deny the existence of God what it does deny is the person of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit and the Father  - it denies that messiah has come and that His name is Jesus.

  When someone says I believe in God you have to ask the question:  What God to you believe in?

 What is amazing to me is that most people do not know.    Most people have a hard time articulating that they believe in the father of the Lord Jesus - because 80% of our society say they believe in God, but  it is often not the God of the Bible!

If 80 % of Americans believe in the God of the Bible we would not have the president we have, or the candidates we have, we would not have a governor like we have and we would not have the race riots we have or the  shootings we have… 

Who in their biblical mind would vote for that….   If you are mad I’m sorry but Jesus was not republican,  He was not democrat  -    many Americans have the god of politics before them, but  I want to call you to be like Christ.  

I want to stop right here, but as we turn to vote in a few days we really need to think through these things more deeply.