Sermon 5
Sermon at Wonersh by Jeff Wattley on 16th
October 2005
Sermon Series 1 John
Truth and
Deception
Reading 1
John 2 v 10-27
Introduction
We live in
strange and disturbing times. In the
last year there has been a higher number of natural disasters than we are used
to: since Christmas we have seen the
tsunami in South East Asia, drought and famine in Darfur, hurricanes in the
Gulf of Mexico, flooding in central America and the devastating earthquake in
Add to that the
military upheavals in
Even within the
Christian Church which has received ‘a kingdom that cannot be shaken’ and is
charged to proclaim that Jesus is ‘the same yesterday, today and forever’ there
is a sense of shifting ground and for bible believing Christians a growing need
to defend and justify truths that have stood for thousands of years. There is under growing pressure to keep
quiet: to compromise a little here and there in order to be acceptable to the
growing liberal agenda to abandon any moral absolutes and bless every kind of
arrangement that feels right in the eyes of men and women. The greatest crime in our age seems to have
become dogmatism: or having any unshakable beliefs even if they derive from
scripture. What is celebrated today is
tolerance: or free thought.
Against this
background, the Letters of John can bring much needed clarity and certainty. He speaks not of compromise and vagueness but
of assurance, knowledge, boldness and confidence. John wants Christians to be confident and
assured that the Christian faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God is true and
reliable, no matter how far it may fall out of fashion. Through the Word of God, we can know the
truth about the world and the state that it is in; we can know the truth about
ourselves; our duty and our destiny and above all we can know the truth about
God and about Jesus Christ.
The issue in the
passage we are focussing on this morning: (Chapter 2 verse 18-27) is false
teaching about who Jesus is and what he came to do. The passage is about truth and
deception. This is always the
battleground that Satan chooses to fight on: because he is the father of
lies. His greatest ambition is to
mislead individual Christians and whole
Let’s deal with
a couple of terms that raise alarm among readers of this passage.
V18 Dear Children (I’m ok
with that bit) this is the last hour! What does the ‘last hour’ mean?
An old farmer
had a grandfather clock in his house that had always kept good time and it
chimed every hour day and night. Except
one night it went wonky and for no good reason went on to chime 14 times! The farmer was up in a flash and woke
everyone else in the household saying they had to be ready. His family looked a bit bleary eyed and
bewildered and asked him why. He looked
at them with alarm in his eyes and said:
Because it is later than it has ever been before!
This is the last
hour: it is later than it has ever
been before. Christ’s return is closer
than ever before. There is a sense in
which all Christians are meant to live with a sense of urgency: a sense that
time is limited and is running out.
Why? Because it is. The world of which we are a part has a
limited shelf-life, and the people living upon it have but a short time to live
compared to eternity. Moreover it is
only while we are on this earth that we have the task of etelling others the
truth about Jesus Christ: a truth which has eternal implications. It was the last hour for John and it is the
last hour for us. There is a sense of
divine urgency surrounding the work of the Church. I wonder if the casual visitor would be aware
of it!
The verse
continues: Dear Children, this is the last hour and as you have heard that the
antichrist is coming, even now many antichrist’s have come.
What does John
mean when he refers to the antichrist and to antichrists? This word occurs only in John’s letters but
there are other words used in other parts of the New Testament which refer to a
sinister force opposed to Christ: Paul
refers to this as The man of Lawlessness, and Jesus referred to false Christs
and false prophets.
The essential
characteristic of an anti-Christ is that he sets up in opposition to Christ or
equally the prefix ‘anti’ could mean ‘an
alternative or pretender’ to the position of Christ. In the final cosmic conflict that we read
about in Revelation; John refers to the Beast who becomes the focus of all that
is opposed to Christ and who aspires to take his place and receive the glory
and honour due only to Jesus Christ. But
as John makes clear in this passage, we ourselves are engaged in a spiritual
battle for truth and all those who seek to distort the truth about Christ and
to lead people away from Him are engaged in the work of the antichrist: indeed John actually calls them antichrists.
The true and
living Christ said ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life’ and it is in
precisely these three areas that false teachers and false Christ’s seek to
challenge the truth about Jesus.
It is clear that
John is talking about human teachers; indeed even former teachers in the very
Church where he was speaking. In Ch 4 v
1 he refers to them as false prophets.
Specifically at that time the false teachers were a powerful faction
that grew up within the Church which laid a special emphasis on special
insights and knowledge (hence Gnostic: the Greek word for knowledge) that they
claimed to have received as sparks of light from God: an extra and more up to
date revelation than others had received.
Moreover they argued that Jesus was not really fully divine: he was just a human being who was occupied by
Christ for a while whilst he was on earth.
Specifically they claimed that Christ the Messiah came upon Jesus at his
Baptism and left him at his Crucifixion.
Now this was a
serious heresy: If Jesus was not the
same as Christ the whole doctrine of the Trinity Collapses: the virgin birth becomes unnecessary: the
resurrection becomes untrue: and the authority of scripture is undermined. The implications were serious because truth
was at stake. That is why John uses such
stark and inflammatory language when dealing with false teachers. And we also need to take great care to guard
the good deposit (in other words hold on to the biblical truth that we have
received). John says in verse 24: See that what you have heard from the
beginning remains in you. If it does you
also will remain in the Son and in the Father.
And this is what He promised us (in short: this is what is at stake);
even eternal life!
We don’t have
Gnostics today: at least not under that name.
But we do have many people who would teach that Jesus is not the Christ:
that the Bible is not God’s authoritative and sufficient word, that salvation
is not by Grace and that Jesus is not the Way to God: the Truth about God or
the source of true and eternal life.
There are many,
many voices trying to lead you and me astray.
Those voices are perhaps loudest in our colleges and universities. Every sect, cult, new philosophy, religion
and every form of materialism and hedonism is presented in its most seductive
form to draw people away from the truth that Jesus is the Son of God and the
saviour who alone paid for our sins when he died on the Cross. We need to be on our guard.
But there are
two things that we have been given to protect us from being swayed by these
modern manifestations that are opposed to Christ. The first is referred to in verses 20 and
27. You have an anointing from the Holy
One and all of you know the Truth. John
is talking about the gift of the Holy Spirit, given to every true believer
whose work is to lead us into all truth: indeed he is even called the Spirit of
Truth. In verse 27 John says: As for
you, the anointing you received from him remains in you and you do not need
anyone to teach you. John is not suggesting that the teaching
ministry in the church is not important: but he is saying that with the Word of
God and the Holy Spirit; you have enough to protect yourself against heresy. Ephesians 4 v 11 says God gave some to be pastors and teachers to prepare God’s people for
works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach
unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature
attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of God.
The second thing
we have been given to protect us from being swayed in our faith is of course
the word of God: what verse 24 refers to
as that which you heard from the
beginning. Timothy takes up this
theme when he says: continue in what you
have learned and have become convinced of and how from infancy you have known
the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith
in Jesus Christ. All scripture is God
breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking (including rebuking the anti-
Jesus teachings we hear today) correcting and training in righteousness so that
the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
We are engaged
in a Spiritual battle for truth. The
enemy is tireless in saying anything at all that will oppose the truth that
Jesus is the Christ: the son of the Living God who has come to bring
forgiveness and salvation to mankind. As
people of the Word and people of the Spirit we are called to stand firm in the
face of this onslaught: with God’s Word
as the Sword in our Hand and his Spirit as our Shield and simply, courageously
and faithfully: remain in him. There is
no safer place to be: no more privileged place to stay than in the love of
Christ secure in the eternal truth that He is the Son of God and He is your
Saviour.
Prayer: Almighty
God we thank you for the gift of truth revealed to us in your Word and
incarnate for us in your Son Jesus Christ.
Seal that truth is us by Word and Spirit and give us strength to remain
in the Truth and stand up for the truth in the face of so many within the
Church and outside it who would blatantly stand against Jesus Christ. For it is this truth that sets us free.
Amen
Jeff Wattley