Please turn in your Bibles this evening to I John chapter 2 as we continue our study through the Word of God. Tonight we will finish up this chapter that we began last week and as we do, keep in mind that we are in a section that we called GOD IS LIGHT. This section covers I John chapters 1 and 2, and they are very important for us to understand. You see, this is a basic truth about God, that He is light and there is no darkness in Him at all! And John makes that point in I John chapter 1.
Now in chapter 2, since we know that God is light, the focus is that we should walk accordingly or walk in the light as He is in the light. If we are walking in the darkness then we are not walking with God for as I have said, there is no darkness in Him at all! Now tonight we are going to be looking at the spiritual state of believers or how they mature in the faith – I John 2:11-14. John then speaks of the focus of our love, the world or the Lord - I John 2:15-17. Then he moves into the deceptions that are coming and have come into the church – I John 2:18-23. He then moves to how the truths of God that we have can set us free from these deceptions that have come and are coming upon the church – I John 2:24-27. Lastly, John closes out this chapter by looking at how we should be when our Lord appears since we are children of God, that we don’t need to be ashamed in Christ – I John 2:28-29. With that said, lets begin reading in I John chapter 2, starting in verse 12 and see what the Lord has for us this evening.
VERSES 12-14
When John speaks of “little children” he uses the Greek word TEKNION, (tek-nee’-on) or “little born ones.” John is speaking of the new Christian, the one who is born again in Christ and the amazement they have, the wonder they have, the joy they have knowing that their sins have been paid in full, they are forgiven! And that forgiveness is not based upon our works, our efforts, but by the work of God on the cross of Calvary!
John says that these children, these new believers “know” the Father, GINOSKO is the Greek word and it speaks of knowing by experience. Think about growing up and how when you were young you would cry out, “Daddy, daddy!” You would follow him all around, “That’s my daddy!” As great as that is, you must grow up. You don’t want to be 20 years old, 30 years old going, “Daddy, daddy!” You must grow up, you must mature. As Christians it is great to know that our sins are forgiven, it is great to know the Father, but we must also grow up, because, like I said, you can’t go around all your life saying, “Daddy, daddy!” It is not that we don’t love our Father, or think less of Him, but we must grow in the Lord, mature in the faith, but He will always be our Father!
Thus, the next step in our maturing faith is becoming young men. As cute as little children are, if they don’t grow up, that is tragic and the same is true for Christians! Paul makes this point in I Corinthians 3:1-3 as he says, “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?”
Thus, you can’t remain a spiritual baby all your life, you need to grow! And think about it, you don’t send children to war and you don’t send old men to war, but you send the young men to do battle because they are equipped to do battle with the enemy, they have the strength to fight! In verse 14 John tells us that because they are “strong” and he uses the Greek word ISCHUROS, (is-khoo-ros’) and it speaks of a power that has been given to us, to be equipped with a talent or quality and John tells us that it is the Word of God that gives us the power to overcome the wicked one – it is the sword of the Spirit! The young men are on the front line doing God’s Work among His people!
John speaks of fathers next, or those who are mature in the faith. They have grown over the years because they have been rooted and grounded in Christ. John uses the Greek word GINOSKO again, which speaks of knowing by experience. They have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, they have done battle with the enemy and now they are able to share what they have experienced with others so that they may grow in the Lord. You see, through life’s experiences they have grown in the faith, it has made them strong.
Think of a very tall tree, it looks very impressive, but a wind can come and blow it to the ground, but why? How can something that big and tall be knocked down, it looks so strong? Because its roots are not firmly established in the ground and all you can see is what is above ground, but when the storms come, it will not stand. For a mature Christian, he has his roots firmly established in Christ and thus, when the storms of life come, and they will, they will not be blown away, they will not be blown down! What a great lesson for us to learn!
So John has given to us the Christian spectrum for growth, from the new believer who knows the Father and knows his sins are forgiven, to the young men that are strong and have lives that are filled with God’s Word and are victorious in the battles they face with the enemy, and he ends with the father or the mature Christian who has a deep personal relationship with Christ and shares it with others. Now John is going to move into a warning, he doesn’t want us to fall into this trap that the enemy has set up. So let’s look at this warning!
VERSES 15-17
The Greek word for “world” is KOSMOS, which can speak of people, the earth in general, nature but in this context it speaks of those things that are in opposition to God. Remember that John told us that God is light and there is no darkness in Him at all. Thus, if we are walking in opposition to God, we are not walking in the light but in darkness, we are not walking with God. James 4:4 tells us, “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” We may not like that, but it is clear, you can’t serve God and mammon, you must chose and if you make yourself a friend of this world that is in opposition to God, then you are not a friend of God, but an enemy!
There is a tremendous pull the world has on us, and it is easy to be drawn into its destructive ways. The world wants our time, it wants out attention, it wants our resources or our money and as we are drawn down that path our attention towards God, our time we spend with God, the resources that God has given to us is put aside, we just don’t have the time, the attention or the resources to do both!
John lists three things that Satan uses to draw us away from God and he hasn’t changed his ways since the Garden of Eden when he deceived Eve! I guess if something works, why change. Let’s look at these three areas so we can be wise and not be drawn into its magnetic pull of destruction.
A. THE LUST OF THE FLESH
The Greek word John uses for “lust” is EPITHUMIA, (ep-ee-thoo-mee’-ah) and it speaks of a craving or a passionate desire. Now that can be good or bad depending on the context of the sentence. Here, obviously, this is not good, it is used negatively because the Greek word for “flesh” is SARX and it speaks of carnality, the depraved nature of man that is governing his life: his reason, his will, his emotions!
How do we know if something is right or wrong? By God’s Word opened up to us by His Spirit. Here the person is given over to satisfying his fleshly desires with no concern about anything else. Think of people who are addicted to drugs, alcohol, pornography, sexual sin, and-so-on. All these are appealing to the flesh and they are done to satisfy the fleshly appetite! The lust of the flesh!
B. THE LUST OF THE EYES
This is just what it says it is, seeking to have all that you see. Job tells us, “I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a young woman?” Job 31:3. You see, he purposed in his heart that he would not look upon a woman lustfully, he took at stand with his eyes and refused to look, or take a second look! David said in Psalm 101:3, “I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not cling to me.” Don’t put things in front of your eyes that are going to cause you to lust after them, be wise!
Here again John is speaking of a person who has been given over to carnality. Look at the catalogs that are mailed out today, they are appealing to the lust of the eyes with the idea once you see something, you will want to buy it! That is not of God, but of the world that is in opposition to God, there is no control here. And again we see that today where people can’t stop buying things, the lust of the eyes!
C. THE PRIDE OF LIFE
This has the idea of boasting or bragging to impress someone. We boast as if we have the power to do these things apart from God enabling us. You see, what this does is it takes God out of the picture even though the Bible tells us that He is the giver and the sustainer of life, that it is only because of Him that we live and breath and move! There is no room for the pride of life if we say we love God and are walking in the light as He is in the light!
Listen to what we are told in Genesis 3:6, because way back then we see the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. We are told, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” Satan hasn’t changed much, he hasn’t had to, we still fall prey to these things. He dangles them in front of us and we partake of them. Eve saw the food was good from this tree, the lust of the flesh. Eve saw that the food was pleasant to her eyes, the lust of the eyes. And she saw that this food could make her wise, like God, the pride of life. And what did she do? She ate the fruit that God said not to, she feed the flesh nature!
If you look at the advertising industry, those are the areas they focus on so that we may partake of their product. Thus, we need to learn to be wise in what we desire, what we see, what we boast in! We need to do as Paul admonished us in Romans 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Being conformed to this world is easy, just let them press in upon you and you will look just like them. But God’s desire for us is to be transformed by the renewing of our mind, by allowing the Word of God opened up to us by the Spirit of God to work in us to make us more like Him!
God has given to us abundant life, eternal life and Satan gives us the things of this world that will be destroyed, they won’t last, they are not eternal! The thing is, where will you put your investment in, the things of this world, which are passing away, or the things of God, which are eternal? You see, it is pure folly to invest in this world that is in opposition to God and won’t last! But, if you do the will of God you will dwell with Him forever. It truly is a no brainier and yet, so many give into that which is temporary instead of that which is eternal. Learn the lesson! You put your time, your attention, your resources in the things of God and you will gain eternal rewards! I like what is on D. L. Moody’s tombstone, it really says it all: “He who does the will of God abides forever.”
VERSES 18-19
John was expecting the Lord’s return at any moment and folks, we should also feel that way. We are living in the last days and the biggest sign that the Lord’s return can happen at any moment is the birth of the nation of Israel, the Jewish people have returned to the land of Israel in 1948 after almost being destroyed by Hitler! And then in 1967 they re-captured the city of Jerusalem. And John is going to tell us that those who have this hope in the soon return of Jesus will purify themselves or that having that attitude will help them to live godly lives as they prepare for the return of Jesus!
First John speaks of the antichrist coming, the man of sin who will step on the scene at the beginning of the seven year Tribulation Period as a man of peace. You see, the world will be on the brink of destruction from a nuclear war in the Middle East, economic collapse, environmental disasters and he will come in and unite the world together and bring about a pseudo-peace. But, at the end of 3½ years he will go into the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem and demand to be worshiped as god and it is then his true colors will be manifested. You might say that at this point all hell breaks forth on the earth! And we will see that when we get to the book of Revelation in a few months, but the stage has been set for history’s final drama to unfold!
John also speaks of antichrists or really the spirit of antichrist. The word “anti” can mean “opposite” or “instead of” and we are seeing this move away from Jesus and towards other things today. It is this spirit of antichrist that will welcome and embrace the antichrist when he comes! And John says some of these people are in the church, they claim to be Christians but they are not. In fact, they ended up leaving the church, not moving from one church to another, but they left the faith, the body of Christ. Now they didn’t lose their salvation, they were never saved in the first place and thus, their life is just reflecting the nature they have. Now why did they leave? Because the church they belonged to taught the Word of God and they could not make any headway into that church, so they moved on. Tragically, today they are welcomed into the church and they are given teaching platforms to promote their lies, their heresy! Let me give you one example to show you what I mean. We are told:
Apr 19, 2005 While Rick Warren is gearing up to train a billion people, unbeknownst to many he has also been teamed up with New Age and contemplative promoter, Ken Blanchard, for some time now. According to a new biography on Rick Warren, A Life With Purpose written by George Mair, Rick Warren has solicited the services of Ken Blanchard to aid him in training leaders: “Rick taps the best and most famous to help train church leaders to be like Jesus. He has hired Ken Blanchard . . . to come to Saddleback to help train people how to be effective leaders.” P. 193.
In light of knowing who Ken Blanchard is, this is shocking and devastating news for the church.
There is countless evidence to show that Blanchard sits on the New Age/mystical/contemplative bandwagon. Blanchard believes in the benefits and use of mantra meditation, yoga and has no trouble borrowing from Buddhism. Here are just a few examples:
Blanchard makes no apology when he says much can be gained from Buddhism. He and his wife both encourage the practice of yoga (p. 11) and mantra meditation. Even more disturbing is his seat on the Board of Advisors of a New Age organization called Hoffman’s Institute (known for the Hoffman Quadrinity Process).
For those who do not find the words of an unofficial biographer (Mair) linking Rick Warren with Blanchard convincing enough, Ken Blanchard, Rick Warren and Bill Hybels (Willow Creek) have become team players at the Lead Like Jesus conferences and the Leadership Summit Conferences, which take place across North America. The three also have an audio set they co-authored together. Incidentally, Rick Warren sits on the Board of Blanchard’s Lead Like Jesus organization along with Ken Blanchard, Mark Victor Hansen (Chicken Soup for the Soul), John Maxwell, Bill Hybels, and Laurie Beth Jones.
Did Rick Warren know of Blanchard’s sympathies when he brought him in to help at Saddleback? Of course he did. And do you think that Rick Warren and Ken Blanchard are going to train their “billion” soldiers for Christ how to practice New Age mysticism and learn how to go into altered states of consciousness? You bet. And that is definitely something to be concerned about. “. . . they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. And for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false . . .” II Thessalonians 2:10-11.
Folks, the church needs to stand up for the truths of God found in the Word of God and not allow the spirit of antichrist to promote their false doctrines! It is a sobering thought to think that those that are offering a false Jesus, an opposing Jesus, come from the church, but they are not of us and we need to earnestly contend for the faith that has been entrusted to us. That means not allowing their false doctrine to come into the church, don’t give them a platform to teach their heresies from! Be wise.
VERSES 20-23
There are some on television that speak of “the anointing” like they alone have it or it is only for special people to receive it. Maybe you heard them. The problem in what they are saying is they are wrong. John is telling us that all believers have this anointing of God, but what is it? It is speaking of the Holy Spirit who will show us the deceptions, expose them to us as false so we don’t fall prey to them. The Holy Spirit will expose these heresies with the truth of God’s Word.
And when John speaks of knowing these things he doesn’t use the Greek word GINOSKO or to know by experience but EIDO, which means knowledge by intuition. You see, we know some things by intuition, the Holy Spirit speaks to our hearts about them and they of course are in line with what God’s Word has to say. Paul, in I Corinthians 2:10-16 tells us, “But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For ‘who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.”
Then why are so many people being lead astray? They are either not saved or they are not listening to the Holy Spirit’s guiding, thinking they know better - but they don’t! Maybe you have talked with them, you try to explain why this New Age mysticism, this eastern religion coming into the church is not of God and you speak of leaders like Rick Warren getting into this, leading the way, and they won’t believe it. They refuse to accept that he is wrong and all those millions of people that are following him are wrong. You see, as Christians we know the truth, the real question is, “Will we follow the truth?”
You see, it is not how you perceive Christ, or who you think He is, but what God’s Word says, what the Holy Spirit is teaching and if you don’t agree with that, John says you are deceiving yourself into thinking you are saved. If you don’t believe that Jesus is fully God, that He died for your sins and rose the third day according to the Scriptures, if you don’t believe that He is the only way to the Father, you will die in your sins! The spirit of antichrist identifies itself by its denial of who Jesus is, and we are seeing that coming into the church today!
VERSE 24
How do we preserver during these threatening times when the spirit of antichrist is growing? By abiding in Christ, by abiding in the truths of God found in the Word of God. Don’t let go of the truth of God. We often here that new is better, but that is not always the case. But as I listen to this Emergent Church movement, that is their push, new is better! But remember what Paul said in Galatians 1:6-10, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.” Don’t succumb to the philosophies of man, but be a bondservant of Christ!
VERSE 25
When God’s truth lives in us, that which we heard from the beginning, then God lives in us and if God lives in us, then we have His promise of eternal life!
VERSES 26-27
As in John’s day, there will always be those who will try to deceive you. But we have the Holy Spirit, the anointing of God that will teach us the things we need to grow by. Now please don’t come to the conclusion that teachers are not necessary, you should not be taught, because that is not what John is saying here nor is it what the Scriptures teach. In fact, in Ephesians 4:11-16 Paul tells us, “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head — Christ — from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”
But don’t leave it all up to teachers, you do have a responsibility to search the Scriptures, to see if what the teachers are saying is true so that you may grow, you can learn to discern what is truth and what is not! You study the Scriptures, you read the Word of God! And as we grow in God, as the Holy Spirit directs us in all truth, we will grow closer to Jesus!
VERSES 28-29
We have no need to be ashamed when Jesus comes because we are abiding in Him, we are His children and we will not stand before Him in our own righteousness, which are like filthy rags, but the righteousness of Christ that has been imputed into our lives by faith in Jesus. Paul put it this way in II Corinthians 5:21, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
But for those who are not His, not abiding in Him, they will be ashamed as they stand before God in their own righteousness, which are like filthy rags before a holy and righteous God! Those who have the spirit of antichrist, who deny Jesus, they will be ashamed!
I like the way that Spurgeon sums this up in regards to being prepared for the Lord’s return. He wrote:
“What is the way to prepare for Christ’s coming? By the study of the prophecies? Yes, if you are sufficiently instructed to be able to understand them. ‘To be prepared for the Lord’s coming,’ some enthusiasts might say, ‘Had I not better spend a month in retirement, and get out of this wicked world?’ You may, if you like; and especially you will do so if you are lazy. But the one Scriptural prescription for preparing for his coming is this, ‘Abide in him.’ If you abide in the faith of him, holding his truth, following his example, and making him your dwelling-place, your Lord may come at any hour, and you will welcome him.”
As I close this evening, let me leave you with this to think about. I have a picture of my dad when he graduated High School, and if I didn’t know it was him, I would have to say that it was a picture of me, we look exactly alike, it is scary! Why is that? Because he is my father and thus, there is a family resemblance. We, as children of God should have a resemblance of our heavenly Father because we are born of Him, and thus, our actions, our nature should resemble His. We won’t be perfect in this life, but practice righteousness, live, walk in the light as He is in the light! Shine forth Jesus and that will happen as we continue to abide in Him!