1 John 2:15

Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it. But he who does the will of God abides forever.

Little children, it is the last hour. As you have heard, the Antichrist is coming. Even now, many Antichrists have come, by which we know it is the last hour. 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 be made manifest that none of them were of us.

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is Antichrist, who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either. He who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

Father, as we open the Scriptures this morning, we need Your Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth and teach us all things. Jesus, You promised that You would not leave us without a helper, but that You would send the Spirit to guide us and to teach us. So we pray, Holy Spirit, that You would open our eyes and our ears, our minds, to understand and comprehend not just the interpretation, the meaning of this text, but, Lord, the application. What do You want to speak to us, living in 2019? We pray that You would speak and give us wisdom, insight, and understanding, for we ask this in Jesus' name. And all those that agreed said, Amen.

You may be seated.

Now let me begin first this morning by addressing the fact that there is a word here, or maybe not just a word, but a concept that we just read in that text in 1 John, that for some of you made you sit on the edge of your seat when I just had you sit down. Like Pavlov's dogs at the ringing of the bell, there is a watering in your mouth when...

You see what it says there in verse 18. Look at 1 John chapter 2, verse 18: "Little children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard, the Antichrist is coming." The Antichrist is coming. For some people, that is exciting; they can't wait for something good to be revealed about the Antichrist. I hate to disappoint you, but when it comes to talking about the end times, the last days, the last hour, and the coming of the Antichrist, that is not really the focus of our time together today.

The point John, the author of this letter, is seeking to bring forth in this passage is different. John is continuing to drive home his primary point, which is that he was writing this letter 2,000 years ago because he was observing something in the churches. As I have pointed out previously, it is worth noting that when I say "the churches," we are talking about individual Christians, because Christians make up churches. He was seeing something happening in his day that was causing him to have a bit of concern.

The people he was ministering to, the Christians in his day, knew the truth, as we see in 1 John 2, verse 21. They knew Christ, as mentioned in 1 John 2, verses 13 and 14, which we considered together last week. They knew forgiveness, as stated in 1 John 2, verse 12. They were even victorious and had overcome the wicked one, as noted in 1 John 2, verses 13 and 14. However, in spite of all these great things, they were in danger of deception.

Look at verse 26, which we will actually cover next week: "These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you." John is writing this truth to the church because he is concerned that they could be deceived. Deception was a very real danger in his day. Why does John say this?

How does he know that deception is a very real possibility and danger in his day? It's because one of the very last teachings that John had heard from Jesus. The author of this letter was one of the first followers of Jesus and heard the teachings of Jesus firsthand. One of the probably very last teachings that Jesus gave to his disciples came when John and some of the other disciples, like Peter, Bartholomew, and Thomas, were with Jesus in Jerusalem.

Jesus made a bold statement about the temple, which at that time was the center of Jewish life. It was on a level, if you will, similar to the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., or the White House for us. That building was the center of the nation, at least politically, and for the people of Israel 2,000 years ago, the temple was the center of Jewish life, politics, thought, and religion. Everything was bound up in that building on that plot of ground, which you know today is no longer there.

Jesus said to his disciples 2,000 years ago, "You see this building? Not one stone will be left upon another; all will be torn down." In the minds of his disciples, when they heard Jesus say this, they thought the only thing that could come from this building being torn down was the end of the world. They believed it had to be the end of the world. So they came to Jesus and asked, "Listen, Master, you have to explain to us when this is going to happen. What shall be the sign of your second coming and of the end of the age?"

They asked him this on a hillside outside of Jerusalem called the Mount of Olives, and then Jesus began to teach them. It's recorded in Matthew's Gospel, specifically chapters 24 and 25, and we call it the Olivet Discourse because it's a discourse given on the Mount of Olives. Even Christians 2,000 years ago had that question on their minds: When will the end come?

Jesus's teaching on that topic began in this way: Matthew chapter 24, verse 4. Jesus answered and said to them, "Take heed that no one deceives you. Don't be deceived." He goes on in verse 5, "For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and they will deceive many." Then again in verse 11, "Then many false prophets will rise and deceive many." Again, in verses 23 and 24, "Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ,' or 'There,'..."

Do not believe it, for false Christs and false prophets will rise, and they will show you great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand; I’ve given you advanced warning, Jesus says. He says it no less than four times: "Take heed that no one deceive you," having to do with these things surrounding the second coming of Christ and the end of the age, the last things.

John is now about 60 to 65 years after Jesus gave those words on the Mount of Olives. What is John seeing in the church? He is seeing false prophets and false Christs arise. Not only is he seeing false prophets and false Christs, but he is also witnessing something of an exodus, where people who were part of the church are departing. They are leaving; they are being taken away. He is seeing persecution.

What’s really amazing is that prior to John writing this letter, he had seen the very words of Jesus completely fulfilled. Jesus had said in about 30 A.D. that not one stone of the temple would be left upon another; all of them would be torn down. Well, just about 40 years after that, in the year 70 A.D., John saw that happen. The temple no longer existed. All of these things are taking place, and John is watching this unfold.

You can be sure that John and many of the people in his day were on the edge of their seats as they looked at the events happening in their world. In fact, when John is writing this, the Roman Emperor Domitian is already bringing persecution against the church, which is exactly what Jesus would say: "You will see persecutions, tribulations, difficulties." There was an edginess, an anxiety, if you will, about the end of the age.

I'm not sure if you've noticed, but here we are in the 21st century, 2019, and there seems to be a little bit of anxiety among people in our day as well. The end times, the last days, evil antichrists, magnificent deliverers—it's all the rage. Eschatology, we talk about it. Eschatology is the study or the theories having to do with the end of all things. This is not just among Christians; it is not only in the church. This is in pop culture. What’s the number one movie out right now? Avengers: Endgame. And what is that but an apocalyptic narrative?

It's a story of the end of the age. It's the story of a figure coming in, rapturing everybody at the snap of a finger. Well, not exactly rapturing them, but suddenly, they're gone. We need to fight back. We need the Avengers to come and protect us.

Now, you may say that's for kids, that it's like comic book stuff. All right, fine. It's still an apocalyptic end-times narrative that people are paying billions of dollars to see. But sure, it's just for the kids. Let me tell you something: many of you, and most of our culture, are into an apocalyptic end-times drama played out for you every single night on Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN. This is an apocalyptic narrative for adults. That's exactly what it is.

It's all about evil ones who come with orange faces, billionaire CEOs who, by nefarious means, have taken control of the greatest superpower in the world. Somebody helped them get in there, and now we need 24 Avengers to come and raise money to campaign against them. Next year, the drama will play out. Maybe, just maybe, they will save us. That's how some people think. They believe there is an evil one, an evil empire, and deliverers who will come. That's their hope.

Now, listen, if today you think that your deliverance is found in a political messianic figure, you have worse blind faith than Christians. That won't happen. But people get sucked into this; they get anxious about it. The early church, and even the church of today, is waiting for the return of Jesus. This is what Jesus said would happen. He promised that He would come again.

So, the church for the last 2,000 years has been expectantly looking forward to the return of Jesus. However, within the church is also the teaching that before Jesus comes, there would be one who the Bible identifies as the man of sin, the son of perdition. John uses the word several times; he's the only one of the New Testament writers who does. He uses the word Antichrist. And so, there's been this view.

Jesus is going to come again. He promised he would. But before He comes, there is going to be one who will oppose the work of Christ: the Antichrist. Even before that happens, there will be a falling away within the church.

You may wonder, where are you getting this from? Well, it comes right from the scripture, specifically from a passage in Second Thessalonians in the New Testament. If you're in First John, you can look at it with me if you'd like to, or just note it down in your notes. It's just to the left, maybe 50 or 100 pages from where you're at. You can find First and Second Thessalonians.

Second Thessalonians, chapter two, was written about 40 years before John was writing the letter that we are studying through First John. In Second Thessalonians, chapter two, verse one, Paul writes this to the church at Thessalonica: "Now brethren, concerning the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him." Some people refer to that gathering together as an event called the rapture. That's not for today, but it's something to consider.

Maybe you've heard that word before. Paul continues, "We ask you, do not be soon shaken in mind or troubled. Don't be troubled by these things, either by spirit or by word or by letter as from us, as though the day of Christ had already come." Twenty years after Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, the early church was concerned that they had already missed the coming of the Lord. Paul says, "No, don't be concerned that it's already happened. Let no one deceive you."

In Second Thessalonians chapter two, verse three, you might want to underline that in your neighbor's Bible: "Let no one deceive you by any means, for that day"—what day? The coming of the Lord and our gathering together to Him—"that day will not come unless the falling away comes first."

Now, the falling away there in the Greek is the Greek word apostasy, from which we get our English word apostasy. That day will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and not just the apostasy. The man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

Paul wrote these words 20 years after Jesus ascended into heaven, 40 years before John writes the letter that we are now studying. The early Christians in John's day, nearing the end of the first century, about seven decades after the church began, lived...

With an anticipation and an expectation of the return of the Lord, the early church lived in a state of readiness. Not only did they anticipate the return of the Lord, but they also expected, based on the teachings of Jesus, Paul, and the other apostles, that false prophets and false Christs would come to oppose the work of Christ. They anticipated persecution, having already endured it under Nero and now under Domitian. The church would continue to face persecution, as it has for the last 2,000 years.

The early church expected difficulties, troubles, tribulations, famines, wars, and rumors of wars. They anticipated a falling away and apostasy, where individuals who seemed to be part of the church, or who were indeed part of the church, would depart and leave in an exodus from the faith.

As an aside, it is interesting to contrast the historic church's anticipation with that of the modern American church. The historic church anticipated the second coming of Jesus, tribulation, difficulty, famines, and persecution, all of which opposed the work of the church. In contrast, the modern American church, for the most part, expects blessing and ease. Much of the teaching that comes out of the modern American church and is exported to other parts of the world promotes this expectation.

I want to suggest that the historic church was better prepared for reality. Not only was the historic church more well-prepared, but I would also argue that there are false prophets and false teachers today masquerading as teachers of Scripture. They propagate a false gospel that leads people to fall away when hard times arise. If you are told that you should expect only blessing and ease in this life, and then you face cancer or the loss of a loved one, many people lose their faith in such situations.

I can't tell you how many people I have met over the years who have shared similar stories. I will never forget an atheist I jogged alongside one day. He told me how he became an atheist after his father was diagnosed with lung cancer. He prayed for his father, but nothing happened, leading him to conclude that God could not possibly exist. Where does that kind of thinking come from? I suggest it stems from false teaching that promises everything will be perfect.

It is not true that life will be perfect if you follow Jesus. The Bible never taught that, and we ought not to believe it. We need to be careful of the false teachers that are present.

Returning to the focus of the text, John was concerned that Christians of his day might be led astray by deceptive, false, anti-Christ teachings that would shift their affections. He feared that their affections would become focused on this life rather than on the life to come. If you frame it in that way, as John does, it is quite eye-opening and enlightening for the day in which we are living. John was worried that the church, through false teaching, could be pulled aside and have their affections misplaced.

He writes in 1 John 2, verse 15, which we read just a few minutes ago: "Do not love the world." At face value, those words might be a challenge because, wait a minute, for God so loved the world, and we should love the world. So what is he saying? He explains what he means by this: "Do not love the world or the things of the world." If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world—these are the things of the world we are not to love: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. These are not of the Father but are of the world. The world is passing away, along with its lusts, but he who does the will of God abides forever.

Point number one on your outline is that my focus is to be on that which is of the Father and eternal. John and the Christians of the late first century were living in anticipation of the second coming of Jesus and all the potential events that would surround that. Paul mentioned in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 that we are looking forward to the coming of the Lord, but before He comes, there will be the man of sin, the apostasy, persecution, and various other events happening in the world until the time that Jesus returns, just as He taught in Matthew chapter 24.

The church was living in anticipation of those things that would precede His return. However, their focus was not to be on the things of this world but upon God and eternity. This is a really important reminder because my flesh, my nature, and your nature often lead us to focus on worldly things.

It is inclined to be focused only on that which is sensed by our senses. Our earthly, carnal nature can only really be attached to that which it can sense and understand—see, smell, hear, touch, and taste. We become absorbed with those things. If your entire focus is on these worldly matters, then when things begin to fall apart in this world, you will fall apart too.

The writers of Scripture would say, "Listen, we need to change our focus." The things of this world—the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, the pride of life—are not of the Father; they are of the world and they are temporary. So, what should be the response of the Christian to the things of this world?

At least one of the things we need to do is what the Scriptures exhort us to do. Paul writes in his letter to the Colossians, specifically in Colossians chapter three, verse one. He says, "If then you were raised with Christ," and if you are a Christian today, many of you would say, "Yeah, that's me." If you are raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on the things of the earth.

Why? For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, appears, you also will appear with Him in glory. Set your heart, your mind, and your focus on the things above, on that which is eternal and with the Father. Why? Because this world is passing away; it will pass away. If your life is all bound up with the things of this world, well, Jesus said, "Where your treasures are, there your heart will be also."

If you treasure this world, that is not to say we should have an indifferent view of everything in the world. No, we have great things that God has given us to richly enjoy and to use for the commission He has called us to. However, we need to have a loose grip on the things of this world and a tight grip on the things of heaven.

If our grip is bound around the things of this world, then when the things of this world shake—and they will, with wars, rumors of wars, pestilence, earthquakes, and difficulties—what happens every time those things occur? People come out from the woodwork of Christianity, saying, "It's the end of the world." No, it is not. Jesus, in Matthew 24, said those things are not the sign of the end. Why does He say that? Because we are inclined to think that every time a bad earthquake happens or a tsunami occurs, it signals the end.

Or some war happens, it's the end of the world. He says that's not the end. These things are standard fare for a broken and fallen world. We have a call in the midst of that broken and fallen world, and we can't be distracted by these things. So, we need a refocusing.

Why do we need a refocusing? I think there are at least two reasons. One is found in Paul's letter to the Romans, specifically Romans chapter eight, verse five. He wrote, "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." To be carnally minded brings death to your soul.

A good test for whether or not your mind is in the wrong place is how you feel about the things that are happening in the world today. Gallup, the polling agency, has been polling Americans every single day about happiness for the last three decades. What's amazing about happiness in America is that it rises and falls with the Dow Jones. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. If your hope is in Washington, D.C., or Wall Street, you will soon be shaken by the troubles of this world.

If you're a disciple of Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, Rachel Maddow, or Anderson Cooper, you're going to be depressed pretty much all the time. Why is America known to be the nation, above all other nations, where prescription drugs for anxiety are the most prescribed? So many times, I've had to encourage my friends in the church, brothers and sisters, to consider fasting for like 30 days from Sean Hannity and just see if maybe their mood changes. I guarantee it will—100%.

So, the first reason that we need to refocus is that to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Verse seven of Romans eight says, "Because the carnal mind is at enmity with God." You are opposing the work of God when you are focused and fixated upon this world, for it is not.

Subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. That's devastating. You cannot be pleasing to God and be absorbed with the things of this broken, temporary, fallen world.

That's one reason we need a refocusing. The second reason is what we see here in this passage, 1 John 2, verse 17: the world is passing away and the lusts of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever.

Point number two on your outline: My focus influences my affections, actions, and destiny. My focus influences my affections. What I'm focused on, I will find myself to be absorbed with. John here says, "Do not love the world." If I'm focused on the things of this world—the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life—my affections will be with this world. I will be in love with the things of this world.

When the things of this world start to topple, fall, and break—and they will—then I will soon be shaken. Jesus constantly says, "Let not your heart be troubled." How does He bring us to a place of trouble-free existence? "You believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you," an eternal place, not this place.

Constantly, Jesus and the apostles are pointing us back to focusing in the right place because where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Reset your focus, and your affections will follow.

Not only are your affections affected by your focus, but your actions are as well. Those things that you love, you will begin to be devoted to, and your time, energy, and money will follow, whether for good or for not. If your affections are on the things of this world, you will devote every single morning to checking what’s going on in Washington, D.C. You will be checking to see what’s happening moment by moment on Wall Street. You will be constantly troubled.

Ultimately, destiny as well follows these things. Why is all this important? Well, look at what John says in 1 John 2, verse 18: "Little children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard, the antichrist is coming."

They knew this. They had been taught this. Paul taught this before John spoke of it here in this passage. Jesus spoke of it back in Matthew 24, and they heard this. They knew the Antichrist is coming, but even now, notice this: even now, many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. We know we're living in the last days. Why? Because when the Spirit of God is moving and working in this world, you can be certain that the spirit of the enemy will oppose everything that is of God.

They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. They went out so that it might be made manifest that none of them were of us. We are living in the last days. That's the answer to the question that so many people have: are we in the last days? Yes, and we have been since Jesus came the first time. We know this from Scripture. Hebrews chapter one says, "God, who in former times spoke to us by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son."

So, ever since the first coming of Jesus until the second coming of Jesus, we are living in a period that the Scriptures call the last days, the last hour, the end of the age. All of those terms are used interchangeably in the New Testament to describe this period that we are living in. It is a period that Jesus says will be filled with wars and rumors of wars, kingdoms rising up and kingdoms falling, pestilence, earthquakes, and all these different things. There are going to be false teachers, and the gospel is going to be preached in all the world. We are living in that period of time.

Yes, the Bible does describe that one day there will be an individual, the man of sin, the son of perdition. We don't know who he is, but let me tell you, every single generation tries to identify him. The best we can say is that it appears from everything we read in the Scripture that it is a man. He will come, the son of perdition.

So what happens? Well, in 2008, there were a lot of people in November who thought they identified him. Then in 2016, a whole other demographic of people thought they identified him. In about a year, we'll likely identify a new one. At one point in time, they thought it was Nero. Then they thought it was Domitian. Throughout the ages, they thought it was people like Hitler. One day he will come, but don't lose sight of this important truth: many antichrists have come, and they are already here in the world opposing the work of Christ. They found their way into the church. This is what John means when he says they went out from us; it indicates that there were people of the spirit of antichrist within the church.

How did we determine who they were? Well, they left with their seductive heresies.

They identified themselves by departing. The fact that the antichrist finds its way into the church is a reminder that we need to be on guard in the times in which we live. How do we do that?

Point number three on your outline: my focus upon the Father enables me to guard against the enemy. We do this by relying upon the anointing that God has given to us. If you are a Christian today, you have an anointing from the Father. First John chapter two, verse 20 states, "But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things." I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

The spirit of the antichrist is at work in the world, but the spirit of God is at work in the church. Amen. There is the spirit of the antichrist, the one who opposes all the work of God in the world. However, there is also the spirit of God within the church. First Corinthians chapter three, verse 16 says, "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and His Spirit dwells within you?" The Holy Spirit of God dwells within the people of God, the church.

We are in a world where the enemy, the adversary, the devil, is at work. The Bible calls him the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, the prince of the power of the air, the son of perdition, the man of sin. That spirit is at work in this world, but the church has the spirit of God within them.

Point number four on your outline: God's Spirit enables me to discern between truth and error. You have the Spirit of truth dwelling within you. Jesus said in John chapter 14, verse 17, "I will not leave you as orphans. I will send the Spirit of truth, and He will guide you into all truth and teach you all things." The Spirit of truth gives us the ability to discern between what is a lie and what is true, what is genuine and what is counterfeit.

We are tempted to try and look for the antichrist. I have met many Christians over the years who are looking for the antichrist, and never in the Scriptures are we told to do that. Instead, we are called to look to Christ. We can become so bound up in trying to figure out all the counterfeits and determine what is genuine and what is false. There are discernment ministries, blogs, and YouTube channels where people identify this person as the antichrist and that person as teaching about the antichrist.

This crazy stuff that's out there! The church is exhorted in the Scriptures to set your mind on things above, to get to know the genuine, to get to know the true. All these other things just won't pass the smell test. Everybody knows the smell test. You're going through the refrigerator, looking around, you grab something, you pull it out, and you think, "Oh yeah, that's not good." You will do that with that which is false. If you get to know what is true, the ultimate test for truth and error is this: Look at verse 22 of First John, chapter two.

Who is a liar? How do we determine the liar, the lies? Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either, and he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. This is the challenging but also very simple test of the spirit of Christ versus the spirit of antichrist in the world.

To make it all the more clear, John gives it a second time in First John, chapter four. Just turn a page or two to the right. Look at First John, chapter four, verse one: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world."

By this, you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you've heard was coming and now already is.

In verse six, the last part of it states, "By this, we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error." Point number five on your outline: the fundamental test for truth and error is the nature and identity of Jesus. The foundation upon which the church is established is a simple statement that God inspired the Apostle Peter to pipe up and give in Matthew, chapter 16. Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do you say that I am?"

And Peter spoke up and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. You are the anointed one spoken of by the Old Testament prophets. You are God in the flesh, God incarnate." Jesus replied, "Peter, that's the right answer. Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say that you are Peter, and on this rock, that rock of a statement, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it." That is the bedrock of the church: Christ. Jesus is the Son of God.

John, the author of the book we are reading, First John, also wrote the Gospel of John. In the Gospel of John, chapter 20, he tells us, "This is my reason for writing this gospel." John 20:31 states, "And truly, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name." John says he has written these truths so that you would trust that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

There was a time when a group of followers of Jesus left, and Jesus asked his twelve disciples, "Are you also going to leave?" Again, Peter spoke up and said to him, "We have come to believe and to know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Where else would we go?"

We see a confessional statement from a newly converted Gentile believer in Acts chapter 8. He was with an evangelist named Philip and asked, "What keeps me from being baptized?" We will be having a baptism here at the end of this month, and we will talk more about this verse. Philip replied, "If you believe, you may." The man said, "I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God," and he was baptized as a believer in Christ.

Immediately after Saul of Tarsus became a convert to Christianity, what did he do? Acts 9:20 tells us that he immediately preached the Christ in the synagogues, declaring that he is the Son of God.

This is the chief determining test for truth and error: Is a worldview, philosophy, or theory about life in the universe true or false? It comes down to this: What do you say about Jesus? The person who knocks on your door on a Saturday morning can be asked, "What do you think about Jesus? Who is he?" They may say, "Well, he's the spirit brother of Lucifer," and that is wrong. They might say, "He's Michael, the archangel incarnate," but that is not what the Scriptures say. He is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and there is salvation in no other name.

But this is the only way. How do you determine whether or not the coworker who sits next to you in the cubicle aligns with the truth of God? Ask them, "Who is Jesus?" How do you know today if you have life in His name? These things are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that by believing, you may have life in His name.

We need a refocusing because there are so many things in this world that can distract and pull us down. We are bombarded with notifications from Twitter, news radio, TV news, and all the different things. We receive emails from people telling us, "Well, we found the Antichrist." Oh my goodness, it's you! We are constantly being discouraged by the things of this world, and you will always be troubled if your affections and focus are on this world. In light of all this, Jesus says, "Let not your heart be troubled."

This is a simple truth, and I know it’s something that everyone loves to get into, especially since the mid-1970s with the book that came out, "The Late Great Planet Earth." Some of you were part of that whole movement and the huge upswing of end-times craziness over the last 150 years. In all of that, people get so bound up with these issues. How do you know whether or not that sort of focus is misdirected? If it does not increase your joy but brings you down to stress, it is not what God would want. In the passages where He talks about these things, He says to comfort one another with these truths.

That's why I like to say that here at Cross Connection, we want everything we do to be done with joy because we have an optimistic vision of the future. What is that optimistic vision? It is not the United States of America; it is the Kingdom of God. The Scriptures say that of the increase of His Kingdom, there will be no end. Jesus will rule and reign forever. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Alpha, the Omega, the Beginning, and the End, the First and the Last, the One who was, and is, and is to come.

That is why the church for 2,000 years has said, "Lord Jesus, come quickly." But until He does, He has set us here with a task: to be a light to a dark world and to bring hope to the hopeless. We need to refocus because I think the church, especially throughout my growing up and into adulthood, has been totally focused and absorbed in all the things happening in the world, trying to deconstruct. It’s not biblical interpretation or biblical exposition.

It's like biblical cartography, trying to decode all the structures of what's going on and find the Antichrist. Jesus says to look to Him. This is why, on the night that Jesus would be betrayed, the night before He would be crucified, He gathered with His disciples and said, "We need to refocus." He took bread, broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, "This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me." Then He took the cup and said, "This is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me." As often as you do these things, you proclaim my death until I come.

What does He leave us with? The second coming. We are going to partake of communion this morning to remember His body that was broken for us, His blood that was shed for us, and that we would proclaim His death in the past, which has implications for the present and tells us something important about the future. He will come again.

Anthony, our worship leader, is going to come and lead us in worship. The ushers are going to come and distribute the bread and the cup. I want you to hold on to them until we have all received them, and then we will partake together. During this time, listen to the words of the song; they are powerful. I think that there are many of you who need to refocus because your focus has been on Washington, D.C., Wall Street, or your neighbor next door who bothers you with his dog.

I don't have a neighbor next door with a dog that bothers me; my dogs bother my neighbors, which is a problem. But this is a time to refocus and remember. Father, we need our hearts to be set on You, our eyes and minds to be set on You. There are so many things in this world that are distracting, discouraging, and weigh us down. There will be things this week: catastrophes, earthquakes, terrorist attacks, school shootings—horrible, horrible things. But all these things do is remind us that we live in a broken world that needs the gospel. It needs Your grace.

Jesus, You promised that one day You would come and write all wrongs. There will be justice where there has been injustice. There will be righteousness where there has been unrighteousness. Sin, sorrow, death, suffering, and war will be no more.

And so we say, "Come quickly." Set our hearts right as we remember You today. In Jesus' name, amen.