Believers Remain Faithful to the Truth

Transcript

GRM 903
05/30/04
Believers Remain Faithful to the Truth
1 John 2:18-29
Gil Rugh

Turn in your Bibles to 1 John chapter 2. We’ll look at a section out of this portion of the New Testament where the Apostle John is the author. 1 John chapter 2. You can’t help but be impressed, and I think this becomes more impressed upon me the longer I’m in the Word, how much of the Word is taken up with warnings and instructions to believers about being on guard, about being faithful in difficult times and so on. Large blocks of the Old Testament are taken up with the prophetic messages. Course the prophetic messages are geared to dealing with problems in the nation Israel, as we look back into Old Testament history. In fact, the appearance of a prophet in Israel was a sign of spiritual trouble; and so, the prophetic messages that they left in writing are often dealing with problems or opposition. Much of the New Testament is taken up with the same kind of emphasis. Even working through the Gospels, they are to record the earthly life and ministry of Jesus Christ. We find a large portion of that is focused on the opposition He faced, culminating with His crucifixion; so, it is when we move into the epistles directed to the church.

None of this should surprise us because we are aware that there is a spiritual warfare going on between God and the devil and that is relentless and ongoing. God has made Himself known in the world, He has given His truth, a revelation of Himself and His will. It is the devil’s determined plan to undermine that truth, to adulterate that truth, to corrupt it and try to nullify its effectiveness. It is just that ongoing, relentless warfare that takes place. I John, in the back of your New Testament, was written in that kind of context. We’ve been studying I Timothy and we see Paul writing to the church at Ephesus about problems and difficulties, and teaching that is contrary to the truth that God has revealed. John is writing about the danger of those who would adulterate the Word of God, try to present themselves as believers, but in reality, undermine the effectiveness of the truth of God.

I want to pick up in the last part of chapter 2 where in verse 18 John says, “children it is the last hour.” He has said in verse 17, “the world is passing away and its lusts, but the one who does the will of God lives forever. Children it is the last hour.” We talk about the world passing away, you understand we’re coming to the closing phase of this world’s life as we know it. The Messiah has come, the Son of God has provided redemption. Now John, as do the rest of the New Testament writers see everything in light of the fact the Son of God has come and provided salvation through His death on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. And now we expect His return at any time. He will return again to gather believers to Himself and then after a time of tribulation He will return to the earth to establish His kingdom. So as John writes he says we are in the last hour. You need to be living, recognizing that at any time Jesus Christ could come.

But you ought to recognize, characteristic of these days is intense opposition to the truth. That has been true since Jesus Christ walked the earth. In John’s gospel he wrote in chapter 15 recording what Jesus said, “that the world has hated me, and it will hate you. The reason the world hates you is because I have chosen you out of the world and you belong to me.” Now John says this opposition, if anything, is growing more intense. It is the last hour and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, so now even now many antichrists have appeared. From this we know that it is the last hour. We ought to have a heightened spiritual alertness. The very presence of so much false teaching and so many false teachers ought to make us more alert spiritually to the reality of the soon return of Jesus Christ. If that was true 2000 years ago when John wrote this, how much more so for us today. We as His people are to be living in expectation of His return.

It’s amazing how much of the New Testament assumes that you will know and understand prophetic material. You have heard that antichrist is coming. He’s not going to, at this time, unfold the doctrine about a coming antichrist. You can read the revelation of John, which is a revelation of Jesus Christ given to John, which is the most detailed unfolding of events surrounding the coming of the antichrist. John writes believers are aware of this. You know about the coming antichrist, that coming man who will be opposed to all that Jesus Christ stands for and he will be a false Christ and will lead the world in the days coming up to the return of Jesus Christ to earth to establish His kingdom. You’ve heard that the antichrist is coming but I want to tell you that there are antichrists, many of them already present. That’s a reminder to us that events are moving toward the climax that God has appointed. The presence of these kind of individuals is a reminder that the end is near. These are the last days; this is the last hour. So rather than being surprised or taken back by the presence of those who would oppose the truth, we ought to say well this is an encouraging sign that we live in the last hour and are anticipating the return of Jesus Christ.

These antichrists, as the context made clear and as we see as we move through this, are those that are teaching contrary to Jesus Christ. Now again we’re going to see the same thing in John that we have seen in the church at Ephesus. It is these who are antichrist had infiltrated the church with their teaching. John is writing to pull believers’ attention back to its proper focus, and to draw a line. Those who turn aside from the truth to follow these antichrists in their heresies and error are revealing the fact they don’t belong to God. That’s how the letter started out. God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. If you walk in the darkness and claim to be in the light, you’re a liar. Just that simple. It is a black and white issue, a light and darkness issue. Those who are in the light walk in the light, those who are in the darkness walk in the darkness. To claim you’re in the light and live in the darkness, well you’re just telling a lie. You’re not in the light. So that kind of division pervades John’s writing. He separates out those who may claim to be believers but are false, and those who not only claim to be believers but demonstrate through their commitment to truth and the character of their life that they indeed belong to Jesus Christ.

Verse 19, “they went out from us, but they were not really of us.” Now there’s that division, a verse that we often refer to. You see these are people not out here that have been in paganism all their life and now are teaching some kind of pagan doctrine. These are those who were at one time part of the fellowship of believers. They went out from us, at one time they claimed to be identified with us, believers in Christ, associated with apostolic teaching and doctrine. But there came a time when they broke fellowship, ended the relationship. They went off on their own. That indicates they were really not of us, not truly spiritually joined with us. For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But they went out so that it would be shown that they are not all of us. In other words, their departure and abandoning of the truth reveals their character; time reveled truth concerning them.

It’s going to come true as we overview a number of verses here, that it’s a characteristic of those who are genuinely saved. They remain faithful to the truth. It doesn’t mean a Christian can never sin; a Christian can never fall into error. He began chapter 2 by saying if any man sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who is the propitiation for our sins. Not only for ours, but for the sins of the whole world. But then he went on in verse 3, “by this we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.” That’s an identifying mark of a believer. Not talking about the Mosaic Law there, but the commandments of Christ, commandments we have. For example, the instructions we studied in the book of Timothy, series of commands given to us as followers of Christ today. We are obedient to His Word.

Yet another test of a true believer down in verse 10 of chapter 2, “the one who loves his brother abides in the light.” Verse 11, “the one who hates his brother is in the darkness.” Continuing with that theme he started out with in chapter 1, light and darkness. Do you love fellow believers? If you hate a fellow believer, you reveal your character. These kinds of things John is bringing to the fore, because there is always the tendency, the pressure is always there to blur the issues. Let there become just a bland grayness about the church. You know we don’t want to be extreme on any areas. There’s an element of truth in all heresy. Heresy takes truth and distorts it, but heresy deals with the truth. It’s a corrupted version of the truth that the devil uses to try to infiltrate the church.

So here another test given is perseverance. Not only obedience to the truth, the commandments of Christ, not only our love for fellow believers, but do we persevere? Do we remain faithful? Verse 19, they went out from us because they were not of us. They didn’t stay committed and faithful to the truth. Do you know what that means? They never really were part of us, it was a superficial relationship, there was never any real spiritual bond. Some hear the Word, respond, and for a while they look good. Part of the tactic of the devil. II Corinthians 11, satan masquerades as an angel of light. So, it’s not surprising that his servants do the same.

Now this perseverance is a result of the work of God in our lives. Philippians 1:6 says, “he who has begun a good work will continue to bring it to perfection until the day of Christ Jesus.” This perseverance, this continuing faithful is simply evidence of the work of God in the lives of those who truly belong to Him.

In verse 20, but you have an anointing from the Holy One and you all know, you have an anointing from the Holy One. That anointing from God is the provision of His Holy Spirit. When you believe in Christ the Holy Spirit is given to you. He comes upon you and takes up residence in your life. Turn back to II Corinthians chapter 1, look at verse 21, “now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God.” He anointed us, God anointed us, believers, the Corinthians and Paul alike. In Christ we were established, we were anointed. Who also sealed us and gave us the Holy Spirit in our hearts as a pledge. He talks about that sealing ministry of the Holy Spirit when he writes to the Ephesians in Ephesians chapter 1. So here you have that work of placing the Holy Spirit upon and within those who belong to God. That is a seal, demonstrating and guaranteeing that we are God’s possession, we belong to Him. Thus, are secure in Him. The Holy Spirit anointed us, sealed us, dwells in us as a pledge, a down payment. It’s like the down payment on a house. When you’re going to make a purchase, that guarantees the transaction will be completed. Here the Holy Spirit is given to us. What does the Holy Spirit in your life mean? That means God guarantees this transaction will be seen through. You will ultimately be glorified in His presence. That’s part of the work of the Holy Spirit, that’s part of what is involved in being anointed by the Spirit.

Come back to I John 2, verse 20 “We have an anointing from the Holy One and you all know.” In other words, what the point is, with the coming of the Holy Spirit who now indwells us, we are given the ability to know and understand the truth. Look how he develops this in verse 21, “I have not written to you because you do not know the truth”, he picks up on that. We’ve been given the Holy Spirit, so you all know. It doesn’t mean we know everything, but believers by definition are those who have knowledge of the truth. We entered into that knowledge at our salvation. We came to know and understand that we were sinners, that God is a Holy God, that Jesus Christ came to pay the penalty for our sin and through faith in Him we’re forgiven. We entered into that knowledge. If you don’t have that knowledge, you can’t be saved. We have continued to grow in knowledge and understanding. We have the Holy Spirit and it’s the Holy Spirit who enlightens our mind and enables us to know. In John’s gospel the Holy Spirit is called what? The Spirit of Truth, and that is His role—to reveal truth.

Turn back to I Corinthians chapter 2, part of what the Word of God is concerned about is the gullibility of God’s people. We get to the point where we think that we have to accept the fact that a person says I’ve believed in Jesus Christ. Then we say you can’t judge their hearts. If they say they’ve believed, then we must accept it. The Bible doesn’t say that the Bible says some people make such a claim and are liars; it doesn’t hesitate to call them such. Gave an example from I John 1, “If you walk in the darkness and claim to be in the light, you’re a liar.” God has rendered judgment; our responsibility is to share that with people.

In I John chapter 2 people who claim to know Jesus Christ and belong to Him but do not follow the truth and submit to the truth do not know Jesus Christ and do not belong to Him. This comes through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. In I Corinthians chapter 2 verse 6, Paul didn’t want their faith to rest on the wisdom of men but on the power of God. “We do speak wisdom among those who are mature, a wisdom, however, not of this age or of the rulers of this age, but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery. The hidden wisdom.” Verse 8, “The wisdom which none of the rulers of this age have understood, otherwise they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory.” They didn’t understand true wisdom. Verse 9 “But as it is written, things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” The wisest men of this world do not know that do not understand that do not have that wisdom. “For to us God revealed them.” In verse 9 is not talking about things we won’t know about until we get to heaven. Verse 9 is talking about things that people who do not have the Spirit of God are unable to know. No matter how wise they are, no matter how educated they are, they are ignorant of God’s wisdom, apart from divine revelation through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in a heart and mind.

Verses 10 through 12, “For to us God revealed them through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For whom among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him. Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God so that we may know the things freely given to us by God.” There is the dividing line. It’s not a matter of education, not a matter of human intellect. Those who do not have the Spirit of God will not enter into a true understanding and knowledge of God and His truth. Those who do have the Spirit of God will enter into that knowledge and understanding of God’s truth. It is a rather simple, clear line that is drawn.

You see the role of the Spirit. We’ve received the Spirit. Why? Verse 12, “so that we might know the things freely given to us by God.” Here the reason the Spirit was given to us was what? To enable us to have knowledge of God and His works. Which things we speak. Paul, as one who is giving revelation from God, is speaking this wisdom. We’re studying it now as we study this portion of the Word. Not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man, and we get the word psychology and so on from this word, sucose. It’s the soulish man, the man who does not have the Spirit of God, man apart from the Spirit, the natural man, the soulish man, the man as he is without the Holy Spirit in his life. Does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness to him. We get the English word moron from the word translated foolishness here—moros. We just carry in over into English, moron. We oughtn’t to be surprised. We think we must be doing something wrong; the world doesn’t like what we have to say. We mustn’t be explaining it clearly, the world doesn’t understand what we’re saying. We must have to change something. No, the man apart from the Spirit of God thinks that the things of the Spirit of God are moronic, they are stupid, they are foolishness, they make no sense. He cannot understand them because they are spiritually appraised or discerned. He has no ability to understand them, it’s a matter of revelation. We are corrupted by sin; our minds are in darkness as Romans 1 says about the things of God. You understand, we sometimes think look at these scientists, look at these professors, look at these brilliant people. I mean you know if they would look at the truth, they would have to accept it. No, because it’s not a matter of intellect. They suppress the truth in unrighteousness, Romans 1. They are not able to discern these things, they don’t understand it. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord that He will instruct him. But we have the mind of Christ, because we have the Spirit of God who knows the mind of God dwelling in us. We say now I thought I learned about God from the Bible. Can’t anyone read the Bible? Anyone can read the Bible but not just anyone can understand the Bible. There are multitudes of examples that I won’t take the time to give you, but I have numerous commentaries on my shelves, written by men who had great insights into the languages of the Bible. Sometimes it seems that they could give perceptive comments on passages of the Bible, but they really had no knowledge of the wisdom of God. I scratch my head and say how could they invest their lives in the study of the Word and be ignorant of it? Men of such intellect who have a far better understanding of the languages and so on than I will ever have. When it comes to understanding the simplest truths of the Bible, blows right by them. You get into portions and suddenly you find out they’re just rejecting it; they can’t make any sense of it. Basic truths, like the deity of Christ—out the window and other things.

You see the importance of the Spirit of God to know the things of God. This is something most of us as believers assent to, but it’s easy for us to forget it. Somehow, we think if we reconstruct the ministry, then the unbeliever will begin to like the truth and respond to the truth and want to do the truth. It’s really a denial of the Bible that we claim to believe. Because unless the Spirit of God intervenes in that life no alteration in the way things are done and how we present it and what we do will make any difference. Much of what goes on in the church today is based upon faulty theology, unbiblical thinking. That is we can manipulate things to bring people to a knowledge of Christ. We can do things to make them more comfortable in our church, we can maybe get external conformity, but the Bible is clear. It takes divine intervention by the Spirit of God to bring the knowledge of God to a life. That’s why our basic role is we present the truth. Because that’s how the Spirit of God works. He uses the truth of God, and He takes that truth and drives it home to the heart and mind and opens our blinded eyes to see and believe. But it’s a ministry of the Spirit of God. We need to be careful. We think we’ll help God out, that that’s one of the ways to do it—just present the truth and let the Spirit of God use it. But there are other ways. There are no other ways. Any other ways are man’s wisdom. Verse 6, “Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature, a wisdom however not of this age.” We think we can do it the way the world does it. They package it, and they use certain things, and they get their results.

Come back to I John chapter 2. “You have an anointing from the Holy One,” verse 20, “and you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it and because no lie is of the truth.” So, you see the connection. You’re a believer, if you’re truly a believer you know the truth. Now if you’re a believer who knows the truth you know that no lie is of the truth. We’re out of the gray area, folks. It’s black and white. You know the truth because you have the Spirit, and you know no lie is of the truth because a lie by its very nature and definition is opposed to truth. What’s the opposite of truth? Lie. No lie is of the truth. Okay, so it’s black and white, isn’t it? We spend too much of our life trying to figure out, well maybe………. Well, I don’t know if you’d call it a lie, they’ve probably corrupted the truth. In other words, they’re lying. I don’t like to make it that black and white. Well, we don’t have to, God has. No lie is of the truth. We are where we are. You either have truth, or as Frances Schaeffer said years ago, true truth, or you have a lie. All right, now I’m writing to believers, they know the truth. Once you know the truth you know anything opposed to the truth is a lie. We know where lies come from. Jesus said in John 8 that the devil is a liar and the father of lies. So here we are back to the spiritual source of these problems.

Who is the liar? We’re going to look at an example, focus us in on an issue, doctrinal areas confronting the believers that John is writing to. 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. We’re dealing with the trinity, there is only one God and three persons—Father, Son and Holy Spirit comprising one God. I do not understand it. There are no analogies or comparisons. The triune God is totally unique, there is nothing to compare Him to and it does not shake my faith that I do not have full, complete, exhaustive knowledge of the triune God. I can know truth about the triune God, but I can have not exhaustive knowledge of Him because I would have to be God. One thing is clear here. “If you deny Jesus Christ, you deny the Father as well as the Son,” verse 22.

Verse 23, “if you don’t have the Son, you don’t have the Father. The one who confesses the Son has the Father also.” Jesus made that clear during His earthly ministry, John 5:23; John 8:19,42; John 14:7,9; on it goes. Jesus made clear while He was on the earth and addressing the religious people of His day, you’re rejecting Me you’re rejecting God. There is no middle ground here.

So, who would the antichrist be? Well, I think this antichrist is that awful, terrible person who will come on the scene in the last days, and there is biblical revelation of him. But you understand all those who deny the truth concerning Christ are themselves antichrist. They are in the line of that coming person who will be the culmination of all the antichrists up to that point; this is the liar. You know he’s not of the truth because he’s a liar, he denies that Jesus is the Christ, rejects the truth that Jesus the Son of God was the Messiah of Israel. What you have here is error concerning the person of Christ. You know all theological error comes back to either error regarding the person of Christ or error regarding the work of Christ. The person and work of Christ are always under attack. Some deny His deity, some deny His humanity, some deny He’s the Messiah of Israel, the Christ, the Anointed One. Well, you might have a lot of things to say, you know I’ve come to understand through the searching of Scripture that Jesus was indeed divine and the Son of God, but it’s a mistake to think He was truly a man. How could God be a man and truly a man and not cease to be God? How could one who is the sovereign God and the creator of all things and the one by whom all things hold together, how could He suffer and die? Would be contrary to His very person and nature as God. Therefore, you must understand that indeed Jesus was God but not completely man. That’s an antichrist. They can raise issues. You say there are things there I have to agree with you, I don’t understand that either. I don’t know how that could be either. When you deny that, not saying you must have the exhaustive knowledge of it. I believe it by faith. God said it, it’s settled, and I believe it.

There were those who had infiltrated the church that really were denying Jesus was the Messiah. Turn over to chapter 4 verse 1, John says many false prophets have gone out into the world. Verse 2, “by this you know the Spirit of God.” Here’s how you know whether it’s the Spirit of God working in that prophet or that teacher. “Every spirit that confesses that Jesus is come in the flesh is from God. Every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.” This is the spirit of antichrist. You see it’s a denial of the person of Christ and denying one aspect of the person of Christ is not more acceptable than denying another aspect. You say well at least they’re not denying the deity, at least we can agree on the deity of Jesus Christ. So that will enable us to serve together and work together, because we agree Jesus is God. We may have differences over how humanity fits into this or how His being the Messiah of Israel fits into this, but we do agree He is God and that’s crucial. Well, it is crucial we believe in God, but that’s not the only thing that’s crucial. If you deny that Jesus Christ was fully man, you are no better than the person who denies that He is fully God. You’re an antichrist, you deny Christ. The errors on the person of Christ are just as serious as the errors on the work of Christ. That would be dealt with in other portions of Scripture. They would deny that salvation is fully provided through His death on the cross and so on.

We must come back to the person and work of Christ. What does God say about Jesus Christ? That’s truth. Everything opposed to that truth is a lie, it’s the spirit of antichrist, it comes from the devil through his children. But you’ll note, how does this kind of doctrine get any acceptance or any tolerance in the church of Jesus Christ? By little increments. You know I don’t think that’s serious enough, I don’t think we want to get into that. I was at lunch with someone last week, fellow believer, he doesn’t attend this church. He said he was having conversation with a well-known Christian teacher, and I asked him about an area of theology that is a serious issue dividing the church, the issue of open theism where God doesn’t know the future. He doesn’t know the decisions you will make later tonight, and so on. And here this august teacher, you would know if I mentioned his name, said oh don’t want to talk about those things, they’re beyond our understanding, don’t want to get into those things that will only wear your mind out. What do you mean? Aren’t people denying the character of God. This believer asked this teacher about it and all this teacher could say is I don’t even want to talk about that, I don’t want to get into those things. We’re going to what? With that kind of heretical doctrine that God doesn’t even know what you’re going to do later tonight go on and be taught in the church? It’s not that that teacher himself taught that, but he is not willing to openly oppose it and stand against it. That’s how these kinds of doctrines get in. This Christian would go away and say well maybe it’s not that important. I mean he is certainly a respected Christian leader and teacher, and if he doesn’t think it’s an issue we should get into and will be helpful to sort through, I guess it’s something I ought to stay out of; and so, the church what? We want peace. You know it’s just like in the world we want peace. Do something, bring peace. In the church, we think we don’t want conflict. I mean this is a church, we’re a family, we don’t fight over these things, do we? Well, I guess we do. We must recognize what a liar is. Do you know the truth? Anything that is not of the truth is a lie and it comes from antichrist. This is a serious matter. You know what John is doing? He’s saying that teachers in the church who have taught this are antichrist. Now those are fighting words. I’ve gotten in trouble for some of the things I’ve said here, about those I might have difference with. I don’t know that I’ve ever stood up and said I just want you to know that the person teaching that is an antichrist. That’s what John does. I mean these are people, you understand, who have been part of the church, who were accepted as believers, who claimed to be believers. You know how it always is, it’s not that major an issue. John is making more of this than he should. You know going around here calling people you disagree with antichrists, people who claim to believe in Jesus and want to serve Him and want to teach His Word. John is running around calling them antichrist. How in the world are we ever going to put this together? I mean they’re just not allowing any room here for making up. Once you’ve declared it, you put it in writing, you send this letter all around. You said these people are antichrist. Now how are we ever going to become friends again? John doesn’t ever intend to become friends with them. They are either going to repent, turn from their error and bow before the living God or he’s done with them. Just what are we trying to put together here? You don’t have any relationship with God the Father, God the Holy Spirit, or God the Son when you deny this about the person of Jesus Christ.

Verse 24, “as for you let that abide in you which you’ve heard from the beginning. If what you’ve heard from the beginning abides in you, you will also abide in the Son and in the Father.” In contrast to the false teachers, they are to let the truth abide, remain, live in them. If they don’t, they reveal they are of the same character as the false teachers. Basically, what John is saying is that false teachers are antichrists, they are children of the devil. Anyone who follows their teaching, thus abandoning the truth, is revealing that they don’t have a relationship with the truth. If what you’ve heard from the beginning, what you heard from the beginning is the truth that you claim to believe.

Look over in II John and John doesn’t write the second letter to apologize for being so harsh in the first. He writes the second letter to reinforce what he said in the first. He started it out by saying that “I’m writing for the sake of the truth which abides in us,” verse 2, “and will be with us forever.” This is all about truth. Look at verse 9, “anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God. The one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.” You see he does not only claim to believe the truth and staying in the truth awhile, but it’s that permanence in your commitment to truth. Those who abandon the truth ultimately reveal their character. A serious matter. If what John says is true, and it is, the church is infiltrated at the highest level, the most important positions by men who are antichrists. We’re denying either the person of Christ or the sufficiency of His work. Because they try to protect themselves with a veneer of claims to be believers, their character is revealed by their abandoning of truth. No lie is of the truth. You say does that mean Christians could never be confused? They can and ultimately, we will not be the judge, I will not be the judge of the heart and the destiny of a person. But I have to deal with where they are. Every indication is they’ve denied the truth. Oh, but I’m sure they are believers. All I can deal with is what they’re doing, what they’re teaching. That’s what John is dealing with, and the scripture seems to indicate that that’s a revelation of who they are. Why are they so confused over truth? The truth is not confusing. The truth becomes confusing when we try to mix it with error. Now issues are blurred.

In verse 24, back in I John 2, “let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. Stay with the truth. You received the truth concerning Christ, if you remain faithful to that truth you will abide in the Son and in the Father.” You’ll note now Father, Son and Holy Spirit go together. You have one, you have all. You cannot have part of it. The truth goes with that. Nobody has a relationship with God who denies the truth. You deny the truth then you don’t abide in the Son or in the Father. Which means you have no relationship with them, which means you are lost, alienated from God. Our relationship to the truth is crucial.

Verse 25, “this is the promise which He Himself made to us, eternal life.” So that’s what you have. You have eternal life when you stay with the truth. If you abandon the truth, you reveal you never had eternal life. You understand, salvation does not occur when you make a claim to believe. Salvation occurs when you really believe. There is a difference. People can claim to believe the gospel, conform their lives in many ways. That doesn’t mean they’re saved. You’re saved when you truly, genuinely believe the gospel. That’s when the power of God works in your heart. You say how do you know that? Well one of the evidences is you remain faithful to the truth. If you’ve really entered into a knowledge and faith in the truth and thus been saved, you will continue to grow in that knowledge and thus remain faithful to the truth. This is the promise which He Himself has made to us, eternal life. Verse 26 “These things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you.” You see the issue, it’s a warning about deceivers.

Look at chapter 4 verse 6, “we are from God. He who knows God listens to us.” This is pretty blunt. “He who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” Pretty clear, isn’t it? Well, that sounds pretty arrogant. Well John is one through whom the truth of God is being revealed. I don’t receive direct revelation from God, but I can say the same thing as John. As long as I’m teaching the truth of God from the Word of God, that’s the dividing line. He who is not from God does not listen to us. It does not surprise me that unbelievers do not want to flock in here to hear me preach. Why would they? I mean he who is not from God does not listen to us. If you’re presenting the truth, those who are not of God don’t want to hear the truth. Does that not say something about the church who thinks its role is to get as many unbelievers there as they can and to make them as comfortable as they can so that they want to keep coming back. We do want to invite our friends to sit under the sound of the truth, but it oughtn’t to surprise us if they go out and say I never want to come back again. Not our goal to offend, but our goal is to present the truth and our goal is to present the truth so clearly in its purity that those who don’t submit to it will be offended by it. It’s a terrible thing to think you present the truth of God in such a way that unbelievers are not offended. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Doesn’t that bring clarity? It’s a clarity we don’t like today. We don’t like it in the church even today. Just that clear. Well, is the truth being presented? Is that what God said in His Word? Yes, but I don’t think it needed to be said that way, yes but I don’t……… Wait a minute, is it truth or not? As I present the truth, I cannot offend the elect and I cannot keep from offending the non-elect. That’s the point of verse 6 of chapter 4. That’s what John is talking about.

Come back to chapter 2. So, I’ve written these things about those who are trying to deceive you. John’s concern, it’s a relentless concern of the New Testament epistles that the devil is doing his work of deception in infiltrating the church and trying to turn the church away from its purity of devotion to Christ as Paul says in II Corinthians 1. So be aware, be faithful to the truth. “As for you the anointing which you received from Him abides in you.” What’s the anointing we received from Him? That was the Holy Spirit, wasn’t it? He abides in you. That’s the role of the Holy Spirit. Romans chapter 8 verse 9 says “if any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” Now there is a permanent dwelling of the Holy Spirit in the life of the one who truly belongs to God, who has truly believed in Christ alone for salvation. The anointing which you received from Him abides in you and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things and is true and is not a lie, and just as it is taught you, you abide in Him. It’s the role of the Holy Spirit, you see the residence of the Holy Spirit in the life and that continued faithfulness to truth go hand in hand. The Spirit of God who indwells a true believer does not become the spirit of a lie. So, if your really have the Spirit of God indwelling you, what does the Spirit of God do? Gives you understanding of truth.

Back to I Corinthians 2. He’s the revealer of the mind of God. So, the truth of God, the Word of God makes sense. I fear that much of the trouble in the evangelical world is because we have opened the gates and many have come in and have no true relationship with the Spirit of God, with the Son of God, with the truth of God. So, their corruption spreads out and we say what’s wrong? Well, if you have the anointing, you have the Holy Spirit. This is not a feeling; this is not the Spirit of God. I sense the Spirit of God telling me something. No, it’s going to be objective revelation of God in His Word, the truth of God. It’s the Spirit of God who enables the truth of God to be understandable.

That’s why in I Corinthians chapter 3 Paul says that when the Jews read the Old Testament, they read it with a veil over their heads. They don’t understand it. He said the veil is lifted in Christ. So apart from the ministry of the Spirit of God in your life you can read and reread the Bible but if the Spirit of God doesn’t open your blinded eyes you don’t see anything. You can talk a lot about the Bible, but you fail to grasp the significant truth of the Bible. You abide in Him; He abides in you. You’ll note verse 27, the first part of the verse. “The anointing which you received from Him abides in you and you’ve been taught now by the Spirit, and you abide in Him.” Because there is a mutual abiding. You abide in Him, and He abides in you. You cannot not abide in Christ; you cannot not abide in the Spirit and be a believer. Because if you don’t abide in Him then He doesn’t abide in you. It’s that mutual abiding, He lives in me, and I live in Him. That’s the only way it is, that’s the only way it can be.

Go back to John’s gospel chapter 14 as we wrap this up, John 14. You’ll note verse 16 is the promise of the Holy Spirit being with you forever. That means the Spirit of truth in verse 17 of John 14, called the Spirit of truth, and He will be in you. Referring to His ministry from the Day of Pentecost on in the lives of the believers. What John is doing is repeating what He said here in his gospel. Verse 23, “if anyone loves me, he will keep My Word.” Verse 24, “if he does not love me, he will not keep my words”, but the Helper, verse 27, “the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things.” That goes on in the lives of these apostles as they write the Scripture. But it goes on in our lives as we’ve seen in I Corinthians 2 and other passages. What John is saying to those he’s writing to; He teaches us, so the Spirit of truth is teaching us, He dwells in us, He abides with us, we abide in Him, and this ministry of the Spirit is ongoing. So, you abide in Him. That’s part of having the Spirit in you. You abide in Him.

Now as John concludes this chapter, “now little children you abide in Him so that when He appears we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.” Our abiding in Him is what gives us confidence when Christ returns. That shrink away from Him can be translated literally be put away from Him in shame at His coming. Those who do not abide in Christ and thus do not have Christ abiding in them, what will happen to them at the coming of Christ? They’ll be put away from Him in shame, depart from me cursed ones, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. “Many will say to Me,” Matthew 7, “in that day Lord, Lord we did many mighty works and all in you name.” He’ll say what? “Depart from Me, I never knew you.” They’ll be put away from Him in shame. It’s not a profession, it’s a reality. You abide in Him, and this is your confidence. You won’t be put away from Him in shame at His coming because the fact you abide in Him and He abides in you, His truth abides in you, and you continue to be faithful to the truth. That’s all evidence, this is the line. There are those who are going to be put away from Him in shame, they’ll be revealed for what they are. They may have been respected as teachers, they may have been honored for their writings or their work, even among the church. They’ll be revealed, I never knew you. We did many mighty works. Doesn’t matter, I never knew you, you never belonged to Me. You had the acclaim of men, you had the honor of men, you may have deceived people into thinking you were genuine. This is scary, how are we going to know. Well, verse 21, “I have not written because you do not know the truth, but because you know it. You know the truth if you’re a believer and no lie is of the truth.” It’s not very difficult. That’s what it is? That’s right. You have the truth; you have the Spirit of God, and you’ll know the truth. Doesn’t mean we don’t have to study to handle accurately the Word of God. We do, but believers know the truth, they turn to the truth, compare what the truth is compared to what teachers are teaching. You say that doesn’t line up with the Word of God, then it’s a lie and no lie is of the truth. Well, I think they’re believers. It doesn’t matter. No lie is of the truth, and even if a believer lies, it’s a lie. A lie is not acceptable because it comes from someone who claims to be a believer. Whether they are a believer or not I don’t know. I know no lie is of the truth. I don’t accept a lie just because they claim to be believers.

If you know that He is righteous you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him. Has to do with your doctrine and your life, what you believe and what you do. Together they demonstrate the reality whether you belong to Him. This is what the church is, this is who the church is; those who by God’s grace have been declared righteous in Christ and now practice righteousness because He is righteous, now practice truth, are faithful truth because the Spirit of truth dwells in them. What an honored position we have as sons of the living God. What has been entrusted to us in its beauty, in its simplicity, and here we are privileged to have in black and white the truth of God. Every believer has within him the Spirit of God who is the author of the truth of God. He is there to enlighten our minds and enable us to understand this truth, to apply this truth to our lives and conform us more and more to the truth. We have a passage like this in John that requires us to draw lines with the truth so that we might be faithful to the truth.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the church of Jesus Christ. Thank you that the church is made up of those who are redeemed by your grace. Lord, we would guard against arrogance and pride and self-righteousness because we are nothing, but sinners redeemed by your marvelous grace. It is not our exceptional insights or intellect or wisdom that has given us understanding, but your grace, the ministry of your Spirit in our lives has blessed us to understand and know truth. Lord may this truth be so precious to us that it takes precedence above all else. May we be faithful to this truth in our lives personally and ministry of our service together as the church of Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.