[0:00] 1 John 2, verses 18-27.
[0:22] Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that Antichrist is coming, So now many Antichrists have come, therefore we know it is the last hour.
[0:34] They went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they are not all of us.
[0:45] But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you have all knowledge. I write to you not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth.
[0:56] 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. No one who denies the Son has the Father.
[1:09] Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and the Father.
[1:23] And this is the promise that he made to us, eternal life. I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you, but the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you.
[1:39] But as his anointing teaches you about everything and is true and is no lie, just as it has taught you, abide in him. May God add a blessing to the reading of his word.
[1:49] Would you please be seated? Well, I'm sure that many of you know what a con man is, but you may not know where that term comes from.
[2:03] The con in con man is an abbreviation of the word confidence. In the mid-19th century, there was a man named William Thompson.
[2:16] Thompson's base of operation was New York City, and what he would do is he would wear fine clothing, and he had a very well-manicured appearance, and he would target people who looked like they were part of the upper class on the street.
[2:37] What Thompson would do is he would approach them looking nice, looking trustworthy. He would strike up a conversation with them, and eventually he would ask. To hold on or to borrow something that they had, coming up with some excuse.
[2:50] Oftentimes, it was an expensive watch, and he would ask them, do you have the confidence to give this to me? And he would promise to return it. And so again, people saw this well-dressed, fine-looking man, and they had confidence in him that whatever they let him borrow, he would eventually return.
[3:10] However, when Thompson never returned with that item, that watch, money, whatever it was, they learned that their confidence had been betrayed.
[3:25] Eventually, one of Thompson's victims pointed him out to the police, and he was arrested. And during his trial, the New York Herald reported how Thompson tricked men to gain their confidence.
[3:41] Thus, the phrase confidence man or con man has become a part of our vernacular. Though the word con man originated in the 19th century, the practice of gaining and betraying people's confidence has ancient and satanic origins.
[4:04] Satan is the ultimate confidence or con man. In the Garden of Eden, he deceived Adam and Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit by gaining their confidence, making promises to them that he had no intention or ability to keep.
[4:24] Satan is the ultimate con man. Satan is the ultimate counterfeiter. Whatever God says, whatever God does, Satan counterfeits that.
[4:34] The more valuable something is, the more likely it is to be counterfeited. And Satan is always making counterfeits, again, of what God has created, what we are to value, and what God has said.
[4:51] Some of you have probably watched Pawn Stars on the History Channel, and you know oftentimes people will bring their items in, and they believe that they're valuable.
[5:02] They believe that they have a lot of worth. Sometimes it's something they picked up at a swap meet, and they think they've got this great deal, and they're ready to retire once they sell this item to the pawn shop.
[5:13] And sometimes it's legitimate. What they have is worth a lot of money, but other times it's not. It's a counterfeit. It's a forgery. And so experts in that show are called in to assess the item, and oftentimes when it's a forgery they point out all of the inconsistencies that prove that that item that the person thought had value is a fake, a fraud, a forgery that's really not worth anything at all.
[5:42] As John mentioned in our text last week in chapter 2, verses 15 through 17, the world that we are commanded not to love is a system ruled by Satan to oppose what God wills and what God desires.
[5:59] The world system functions as Satan's swap meet. He seeks to deceive us by gaining our confidence to exchange what has value for what is worthless.
[6:14] And one of the ways he seeks to blind people to the truth is through counterfeit Christs, false teachers who look and who act the part, but are truly being used by Satan as pawns to keep people in the dark.
[6:37] Remember, it was this issue that prompted John to write this letter in the first place. John was writing to the churches in Asia Minor. Those churches were under attack by false teachers who were spreading lies, false false doctrines and philosophies, and it was leading to many people straying from the truth and departing from the church.
[7:06] John and those who were still a part of the churches there were disturbed by all of this, by this disorder, by this chaos, by this confusion that these counterfeit teachings of these counterfeit Christs, what they were saying, what they were spreading and what they were creating.
[7:25] And so John writes to them not only to counter these false teachers and what they are teaching, but more importantly to remind true believers, those who hadn't been deceived of the certainty of their salvation, the certainty of their faith, the security of their salvation, and their eternal life in Jesus Christ, the one true and only Christ that there is.
[7:50] And so the main idea for this morning's sermon is that the Holy Spirit keeps Christians from the deception that Satan uses to propagate. The Holy Spirit keeps Christians from the deception that Satan uses Antichrist to propagate.
[8:08] Again, Satan is a master deceiver who uses the world system he rules to spread counterfeit versions of the truth. He's more deceptive than most people give him credit for.
[8:23] Far from being the red-skinned, horn-headed, clothed-foot, pitchfork-wielding, grotesque figure that many imagine him to be, in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul talks about other false teachers there and how they model Satan in his appearance and how they deceive.
[8:42] He says, Like Satan, those Antichrists disguise themselves and their teachings in ways that appeal to the desire, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and to the pride of life.
[9:21] But God has given believers what they need to discern and detect their schemes and to prevent them from falling for their deception.
[9:33] And so in this passage, John presents us with three promises concerning Satan's deception and the Holy Spirit's role to keep us from falling for it.
[9:46] Why is this important? Well, believers, these promises that John gives to you here should comfort you in knowing that what God saves, God keeps.
[10:01] There is no power deceptive enough to remove you permanently from the love of God that you received when you put your faith in Jesus Christ, His Son.
[10:15] And that joy should produce within you a desire to expose these counterfeits, to expose these errors. As Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 5, We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.
[10:35] You and I, brother and sister in Christ, we are on a rescue mission. Jesus said that we are the light of the world.
[10:46] Those whose lights shine brightest for Christ are those who know how to rightly handle His Word. Our world, our churches, need Bible experts who can detect and who can expose counterfeits.
[11:07] And so I hope the Holy Spirit will use this sermon to encourage you to be one of those experts. If you're an unbeliever this morning, we are glad that you're here.
[11:19] But you must understand that the Bible says that we are in a spiritual war, that there is spiritual warfare going on around us, and without Christ, you are defenseless against Satan.
[11:35] But you don't have to be. You don't have to continue in that state. Jesus offers you not only His protection from Satan and the schemes of Antichrist, but salvation.
[11:49] And so my hope is for you today that He will expose the counterfeit beliefs that maybe you have been deceived into believing and the treasures that maybe you have trusted in that are truly worthless things that cannot save you and they cannot give to you what Jesus can give to you.
[12:12] And so the first promise that John presents us with about Satan's deception and the Holy Spirit's role to keep us from falling into it is just the reality.
[12:22] The reality of what Satan is up to in this world. And so he tells us in verse 18, that first promise, that deception is prevalent in the world.
[12:33] It's prevalent in the world. John begins verse 18 again with a term of endearment, calling these people His children. And he says there that, children, it is the last hour.
[12:46] Now this letter was written 2,000 years ago. That's 17,520,000 hours. That's a lot of hours.
[13:00] John isn't talking, though, about a literal hour that consists of 60 minutes. He, along with other New Testament authors, uses this term or a similar one.
[13:12] They'll say the last days in reference to the period of time between Jesus' first coming and His second coming. For example, in Hebrews 1, verses 1 through 2, long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.
[13:34] 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. Peter, in his sermon in Acts chapter 2, quotes Joel.
[13:47] He says, And so those texts reveal to us that the last hour or last days are characterized by the Holy Spirit being poured out in new measure.
[14:09] But John points out another characteristic of the last hour or these last days in the rest of verse 18. And as you have heard that Antichrist is coming, so many Antichrists have come.
[14:26] Therefore, we know that it is the last hour. And so these Christians that John is writing to, they knew about the coming of the Antichrist.
[14:40] Antichrist means all that opposes Jesus or anything that seeks to sit or stand in the place of Jesus.
[14:51] And the Bible talks about a final Antichrist who will arrive during the end of the last days or the last hour. And he will be a world ruler who will be an imposing, intimidating figure of superior intellect and charismatic appeal.
[15:12] And if you take a step back and you just look at how the world is going right now, you can see that everything is lining up for this man to one day come.
[15:23] He'll be someone kind of like what Hitler was to the Germans. He captivated the entire nation. And they blindly followed him.
[15:36] The Antichrist is going to do that on a worldwide scale. They will follow him. They will believe that he has the answers to all of the world's problems, that he is the solution.
[15:52] And, you know, I think we've seen how eager people are right now to throw their full support behind a political leader.
[16:03] We've seen that in our nation. Turning a blind eye to things about their character that they shouldn't because they are mesmerized by their oratorical skill or the things that they promise that they will do.
[16:18] And so they follow them. Before Christ's second coming, the Bible predicts a specific man of sin who will be the embodiment of sin and evil.
[16:34] He will be Satan's ultimate counterfeit Christ. In 2 Thessalonians, Paul is writing to Christians who were upset by some other false teachers who had taught that Jesus had already come, that it was the end of the last hour or the end of the last days.
[16:55] And in chapter 2, verses 3 through 4, he explains why that can't be for one reason. Let no one deceive you in any way, for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first.
[17:08] And the man of lawlessness, that's speaking of this Antichrist, is revealed, the son of destruction, 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.
[17:24] So you see the Antichrist, and Antichrist is anyone who opposes Christ, not only doing that, but seeks to take the place of him. 2 Thessalonians was written 40 years before 1 John.
[17:39] So John's readers may have been familiar with that letter, but also they would have been familiar with what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 24, verses 15 through 25.
[17:54] Jesus, talking about the end of the last hour, the end of the last days, says, So when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
[18:12] Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. And alas, for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days, pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath.
[18:28] For then there will be great tribulation, such as not has been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved.
[18:42] But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, look, here is the Christ, or there he is, do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
[19:03] That's how deceptive they are and will be. And he says, see, I have told you beforehand. So John's point here isn't to stir concerns amongst these believers about who the final antichrist may be.
[19:21] That's not the purpose of this sermon either. His purpose is to remind Christians of the reality that the spirit of antichrist, it's already in this world as evidence by the prevalence of preliminary lesser forms of antichrist who have caused trouble for them and many others.
[19:48] until this age ends with the coming of the man of lawlessness, Satan will use people to taint and distort the truth of the Bible in an effort to lead many astray.
[20:06] For example, the Gospel of John begins in verse 1 with these words, speaking of Jesus, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
[20:21] This sentence teaches us a lot that Jesus is the eternal Word of God who has always existed. Before God created anything, He was there.
[20:34] He was with God as God. This verse is critical for us to understand the Trinity and the person of Jesus.
[20:46] But back in the late 1800s, a man named Charles Russell became increasingly uncomfortable with what he read in the Bible.
[20:59] The first thing he was uncomfortable with and denied was the existence of hell. And that led him to deny that God has wrath towards sin.
[21:12] Eventually, he taught that Jesus was a created being and was actually the Archangel Michael in human form.
[21:23] He also taught that Jesus died physically but that he was not raised bodily. And he started his own periodical called Zion's Watchtower Bible and Herald of Christ's Presence.
[21:39] And before long, 16 million copies of Russell's books and booklets were in circulation, were in print. Eventually, those teachings created the Jehovah's Witness cult of which 8 million people are a part of today.
[22:02] And in 1950, they produced their own version of the Bible. And here is how they render John 1.1.
[22:13] In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God. And here's the difference. And the Word was a God. One single word.
[22:28] One letter. The letter A. And with that, Jesus is reduced to a created being and just one of many other lesser gods that they say God the Father created.
[22:46] The difference is subtle, isn't it? It's one word. It's one letter. But it's profound. It's the difference between truth that saves and error that condense.
[23:01] And that's how Satan deceives. That's how Satan confuses. Blending just a little bit of error, even if it's just one word or one letter, into the truth and out comes something totally deformed and perverted and wrong.
[23:22] Its effect is similar to taking a drop of cyanide and dropping it into a bottle of water. Would you drink that? I hope not because you'd die if you did.
[23:35] That's what Satan seeks to do. Just a little bit and just a little bit taints and poisons and corrupts the whole thing. So again, this is the reality of our age, the last hour that John is talking about.
[23:52] Satan taints the truth of Christ and Scripture by deceiving men and women producing antichrists.
[24:04] Whether that's the health and wealth gospel, whether that's something called the secret, you familiar with the secret, just that you can control the universe with the power of positive thinking, whether that's Jehovah's Witnesses as been mentioned or the Church of Latter-day Saints and I could go on and on.
[24:25] These things are out there. Why do they exist? Why are there so many different beliefs about the person and work of Jesus Christ?
[24:37] Because Satan is doing what he's always relentlessly done. 2 Corinthians 4, 3-4 says, And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
[24:50] In their case, the God of this world, that's Satan, has blinded the minds of the unbelievers using antichrist and these false beliefs and religions to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God.
[25:07] So, deception is prevalent in the world, but the Christian, the person who has truly been saved and born again has a promise from God that they will be kept from falling for it.
[25:26] So now we come to our second promise here. Yes, deception is prevalent in the world, but the Holy Spirit preserves our faith from deception. deception. The Holy Spirit preserves our faith from deception.
[25:40] Look again at verse 19 with me. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us, but they went out that it might become plain that they are not of us.
[25:57] In this verse, the words they and us each appear five times. John is making a clear contrast here.
[26:11] He says there is an us and there is a they. Almost like there are two different teams. There's the they team and there's the us team.
[26:24] They are, there's the they team, those who leave the church, those who abandon orthodoxy, those who reject what the Bible says and its authority and what it teaches.
[26:39] Most often it's a voluntary departure, but not always. This is a person who at some point professes to have been born again.
[26:50] They claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ, a disciple of Jesus Christ, but when they leave they prove that they never truly experienced the new birth.
[27:03] They never truly were saved and so they commit apostasy. That's when someone abandons or renounces the beliefs that they once claimed to have.
[27:16] Now understand not everyone who leaves the church is apostate. Not everyone who leaves the church is in the they team.
[27:27] And if you go to a church where you leave and you go to another good church and they say that you're an apostate, you probably should have left that church to begin with. Jesus warned about such people.
[27:42] He warned about people like that in a parable that he told in Matthew chapter 13. It says there, and he told them many things in parables saying, a sower went out to sow.
[27:56] As he sowed seeds, some fell along the path and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil and immediately they sprang up since they had no depth of soil.
[28:09] But when the sun rose they were scorched and since they had no root they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked them.
[28:20] Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears let him hear. The seed in this parable is the gospel and those who are on the they team are like the seed that fell in the soil that had the rocky ground.
[28:44] Because there was no root there was no moisture there was no connection to a life source they withered and they died.
[28:56] And so the faith they proclaimed to have once they realized what it meant to truly follow Christ died. Those on the they team never truly experienced salvation.
[29:12] They were never truly born again. They were lost and they're still lost. On the other hand there's the us team.
[29:24] The us team is like the seed that fell on the good soil and it produced fruit. They are those who are truly connected to Jesus through their salvation as his being our life source.
[29:36] Their life source. They remain in him. the ones on the us team they're like the wise builder that Jesus talked about in his conclusion in the sermon on the mount.
[29:47] They are those who built on the rock. They completely trust in Jesus. And when the waves came and the winds blew and the storm shook that house when persecution came for them they remained.
[30:05] They stayed put. They were still standing because they know Jesus and in knowing Jesus they persevere.
[30:16] Those who truly know Christ will stay with Christ and they will not be deceived. As Jude 1 says those who are called beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.
[30:31] Jesus talked about this keeping in John chapter 10 verses 27 through 29. My sheep hear My voice and I know them and they follow Me.
[30:44] I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
[31:03] How is it that no one can snatch those on the us team from Christ? John tells us in verse 20 and 21 but you have been anointed by the Holy One and you have all knowledge.
[31:22] I write to you not because you do not know the truth but because you know it and because no lie is of the truth. In the Old Testament anointing was a ceremonial act involving the smearing or the rubbing or the pouring of oil on someone's head as an outward symbol that God had chosen that person and set them apart for a specific holy purpose.
[31:48] At the launch of his earthly ministry Jesus quoted Isaiah 61 1 which spoke of himself. He said the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
[32:02] He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind to set at liberty those who are oppressed. Jesus fulfilled all the Old Testament prophecies as the anointed one the Messiah but the Bible also talks about how Christians are anointed in Christ when he saves them at the moment of salvation believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and they are joined to Christ the anointed one 2nd Corinthians 1 21 through 22 talks about that very thing and it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us and who has also put his seal on us giving us his spirit in our hearts as a guarantee and that's the anointing that I believe that John has in mind that's what he's talking about there in verse 20 because later on he'll say in chapter 4 verse 13 by this we know that we abide in him and he in us because he has given us he has anointed us with his spirit when you are saved you are chosen you are called you are anointed by the indwelling of the
[33:26] Holy Spirit and what God saves God keeps we don't need any kind of additional anointing because God plays for keeps he's not going to trade you to the other team your skills aren't going to diminish and you go into free agency and he says I don't need you anymore you're on his team always and forever through the Holy Spirit the believer is kept and the believer is preserved from deception it's like the Holy Spirit operates in us as a sort of lie detector distinguishing and discerning between truth and error God has saved us God has revealed the truth to us and the Holy Spirit sanctifies us continually in that truth as he makes us more and more like
[34:31] Jesus and detecting those who claim to be with us but who are truly with the they's because eventually what they say won't match what scripture says and they will be exposed for the liars that they are John continues in verse 22 and 23 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 no one who denies the son has the father whoever confesses the son has the father also so please understand what you believe about Jesus makes all the difference what you believe about
[35:31] Jesus makes all the difference Jesus Christ the Bible says is the eternal sinless son of God he is the word who became flesh who dwelt among us and who died sacrificially on the cross to atone for our sins to absorb the wrath of God for our transgressions he died he was buried but on the third day he rose again bodily he's ascended to the right hand of the father where he lives right now to make intercession for his people and when the last hour is over he is coming back and he will receive to himself all those who have trusted in him as their Lord and Savior is that what you believe amen
[36:36] I hope that is what you believe I hope that that is the truth that you confess that you are on the us team and not on the they team because Jesus said in Luke 11 23 whoever is not with me whoever is not in me whoever does not follow me is against me and whoever does not gather with me scatters those who are truly in Christ have received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who preserves them from error he guides them in truth he detects lies and keeps them from being deceived by them John will say again in 1 John 4 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God this is the spirit of the antichrist which you heard was coming and is now in the world already maybe you've heard
[37:44] I'm sure you've heard the expression of passing the acid test does it pass the acid test there were this comes this old term from back in the days and what would happen centuries ago is people discovered that there were metals that looked like gold and so they would pass them off as the real thing and make a fortune from that and so an acid test was designed by scientists this acid that you would take the gold or the fake gold whatever it was and rub it against a black rock and then you pour the acid on whatever was behind and only the gold because it's a noble metal would remain so the fake metal would wash away this is what the holy spirit does for us whatever you're hearing whatever you're reading again Satan is deceptive and it may sound good but does it pass the acid test if the holy spirit indwells you he will work in conjunction with his word to reveal that to you the promise we have from
[38:53] God is that we will be kept by the indwelling of his spirit that he has revealed the truth to us we know the truth and that truth that he has revealed to us that we know is so good so pure so valuable that there is nothing in this world that we would exchange it for we are prone to wonder yes but thank God that he keeps us eternally tethered to him by the anointing we've received by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit when he graciously saved us next John gives us the promise about how the Holy Spirit works in conjunction with God's word to protect us from the deception that Satan uses Antichrist to propagate so the third promise the word of
[39:54] God protects us from deception the word of God protects us from deception verses 24 through 27 let what you heard from the beginning that's when you were saved abide in you if what you heard from the beginning abides in you then you too will abide in the Son and the Father he's certain of this and this is the promise to I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you but the anointing that you received from him abides in you and you have no need that anyone should teach you so all of that human wisdom and their opinions and their philosophies they have nothing to add to us who have been taught by the Holy Spirit but as his!
[40:42] anointing teaches you about everything and to abide in him we have a truth to abide in we have a truth to remain in we have a salvation and an anointing that preserves us and that guards us from deception we have we have the Bible we have the word of God and we can use it and we should use it to engage in battle with the spirit of the Antichrist that is prevalent in this world and that is deceiving many we have the Holy Spirit we have God's word and they work in conjunction to preserve us and to protect us from lies that would hurt us you know I was thinking of what this looks like and I remember being in an airport and
[41:43] I could tell there was a family you know as is the case often in airports they change your gate at the last minute and they don't tell you you just have to be watching and they were in a rush to get to wherever they were going and they had little kids with them a mother and a father a couple little kids and what the father was doing is he was paving the way he was looking at the gates and he was moving his family in the direction that they needed to go and clearing out space kindly for them to be able to maneuver and the mom was in the back and she was making sure that the kids were following their father because you know as kids are they're prone to be distracted by all the different things that are going on it's an airport what kid isn't excited about seeing planes take off and land and so the mom you I'm sure like me we're prone to just look around at the world and kind of get caught up in what's going on but we have the spirit of
[42:44] God leading the way and we have the word of God as our foundation behind us that keeps us moving towards sanctification keeps us moving towards the direction that we need to go the world is a!
[43:00] place isn't it? but understand and please take courage in this be encouraged by this child of God this world is scary but you're safe you're safe we don't like it it's heartbreaking but in Christ you're safe you're his you are kept you will be lied to but the one who is the truth will keep you from falling for it falling into it and doesn't that make you feel good it makes me feel good I hope it makes you feel good too so how do we adjust our lives to this well it's what
[44:04] John is calling for Christians to do here and what the Bible tells us over and over again persist in God's word and obey the prompting of the Holy Spirit we need to know the Bible it protects us it's the truth that we need it nourishes our hearts our minds our souls we need it the Holy Spirit will use that time of study and he'll prompt us throughout our day to be obedient to follow Christ to be an example to him in a world in desperate need of Christians to be like Jesus you need to be an expert in God's word for yourself and for others one thing that I know very little about is cars I know how to drive a car but I don't know how a car drives I look under the hood and I and I'm just flabbergasted like
[45:04] I can't believe that all of this stuff works somehow and I don't know how it works I know where you put in the gas I know where you put in the windshield washer fluid and I know some other small things if a YouTube video can tell me in about five minutes but there's a lot of things about cars I just don't know and so thankfully for me back in Kansas City my best friend growing up his family owns an auto mechanic shop and I'm sure I've told you this story about him before but we were buddies we were best friends growing up we trustworthy don't they and so
[46:07] I would call my friend and say hey and this one time specifically I got this car and the guy is telling me it's good and it's going to last us for a while would you mind checking under the hood and he's like yeah bring it by and so he did that he did it for me for free and he looked under the hood and he's like it's fine but here's a couple of things that are wrong with it not a big deal but you can get a cheaper price if you tell them that you know about it man thank you it's great to have experts like that in our lives isn't it you be that expert you be that expert for others and look if if you're hearing something you're reading something and you're that you can go to that you can talk to and they can show you so rely upon the experts that are out there now listen to them and God will use them too to protect you from deception for application questions as
[47:12] Pastor Tyler said we don't have community groups tonight it'll be Jeremy Norton's ordination at 630 here in the sanctuary I encourage you to come and be part of that special moment for our church question number one why is it important to remember that Antichrist is both a principle and a person why is it important to keep in mind and not forget that Antichrist is both a principle and a person and how can we identify the principle around us question number two do doctrinally how can we identify the spirit of the Antichrist what are those boundaries theologically and doctrinally that once you cross you are no longer orthodox you are no longer in the truth what are those things how can we identify those who truly believe and read
[48:17] Matthew chapter 7 verses 15 through 20 I think that will help question three why is it so important to expose false teachers in the church why is it important that we do that that we name names and we not be afraid to do that but then follow up what is the best way to do that we probably shouldn't hang a pinata of Joel Osteen and take turns beating it or something like that you know what I'm saying there's a good way and there's a wrong way what's the good way and who are some modern day false teachers and teachings that deceive many today and then finally how can we use both the word and the spirit in the fight against the spirit of antichrist read Ephesians 6 10 through 15 and that verse will help you that passage will help you let's pray Lord we thank you that in this world that is cursed by sin in this world system that opposes all that you are all that you value all that is true that we haven't been left without an ability to discern truth from error that
[49:37] God in your grace you've saved us and you've given us your spirit who resides within us who teaches us who guides us and who works in conjunction with your spirit to preserve us and to keep us safe Lord you've given us these things and we praise you for them because otherwise Lord we know without you we would be as deceived we would be as blind to the truth Lord in your grace you have revealed the truth to us and we thank you for that God we know also that you have given us a mission that we are to go into the world as lights that we are to expose!
[50:23] expose to expose those who claim to speak for you and to know you but whose teaching is leading others astray because they're truly a pawn of Satan and so God we pray that in the right way we would go about the business that you've given us to expose these lies and to point people to the truth that more would know Jesus Christ and God I pray!
[50:51] you would encourage each of us Holy Spirit that you would lead us to the word that each of us would desire and become an expert in it both for our benefit our sanctification but also for the benefit of others in this church and in this world that's surrounded by darkness and surrounded by evil Lord thank you for what you've given and give us the strength for what we need to do in Jesus name we pray amen