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, 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... You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things... 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. (1 John 2:15-23)

When the world shakes—and it will—where you have fixed your affections will determine whether you stand or fall.

Not About the Antichrist—Not Primarily

When I had you sit down, some of you sat back up on the edge of your seat. Like Pavlov's dogs at the ringing of the bell, you saw verse 18: "Little children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard, the Antichrist is coming." For some of you that produced an immediate excitement—surely there's something good here about the Antichrist.

I hate to disappoint you, but the end times, the last hour, and the coming of the Antichrist are not really the focus of John's message in this passage. Instead, John is continuing to drive home his primary point.

John's Real Concern: Deception

John wrote this letter 2,000 years ago because he was observing something troubling in the churches—and when I say the churches, I mean individual Christians, because Christians make up churches. The people he ministered among knew the truth (1 John 2:21). They knew Christ (vv. 13-14). They knew forgiveness (v. 12). They had even overcome the wicked one. But in spite of all of that, they were in danger of deception.

Look at verse 26, which we'll come to next week: "These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you." John was nearing the end of his life. The church was in its seventh decade. We're at the close of the first century, and John writes because he is concerned the church could be deceived. Deception was a very real danger in his day.

Jesus' Warning on the Mount of Olives

How did John know? Because one of the very last teachings he heard from Jesus addressed exactly this. John was among the first followers of Jesus and heard His teaching firsthand. When Jesus was with His disciples in Jerusalem, He made a bold statement about the temple—which was the center of Jewish life, politics, thought, and religion, much as the Capitol or White House is a center for us. Jesus said, "You see this building? Not one stone will be left upon another. All will be torn down."

In the minds of His disciples, the only thing that could follow the destruction of that building was the end of the world. So they came to Him on the Mount of Olives and asked, "When will this happen? What will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?" Jesus answered in what we call the Olivet Discourse, recorded in Matthew 24 and 25.

And how did Jesus begin? "Take heed that no one deceives you" (Matthew 24:4). "Many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many" (v. 5). "Many false prophets will rise and deceive many" (v. 11). "False christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect... See, I have told you beforehand" (vv. 23-24). No less than four times Jesus says, "Take heed that no one deceive you."

Watching the Prophecies Unfold

Now John writes some 60 to 65 years after those words on the Mount of Olives. And what is he seeing? He is seeing false prophets and false christs arise. He is seeing an exodus, as people who were part of the church depart. He is seeing persecution under the emperor Domitian—exactly as Jesus said.

What's remarkable is that John had already seen Jesus' words about the temple completely fulfilled. About 40 years after Jesus spoke, in A.D. 70, the temple was torn down. It no longer existed. So you can be sure John and many in his day were on the edge of their seats as they watched their world.

An Anxious Age—Then and Now

Here we are in the 21st century, 2019, and there is a similar anxiety in our day. The end times, evil antichrists, magnificent deliverers—it's all the rage. And not just among Christians. What's the number one movie right now? Avengers: Endgame. What is that but an apocalyptic narrative—a story of someone coming and at the snap of a finger making everyone disappear, with heroes rising to fight back? "Oh, that's just for kids," you say. Fine. It's still an apocalyptic end-times narrative people pay billions to see.

And most of our culture is into an apocalyptic drama played out every night on Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN. This is apocalyptic narrative for adults—evil ones with orange faces, billionaire CEOs who by nefarious means have seized power, and the heroes who will rise to save us. Maybe next year, just maybe, they'll save us. That's how some people think. Let me tell you something: if you think your deliverance is found in a political messianic figure, you have worse blind faith than Christians. That won't happen.

What the Early Church Expected

The early church—and the church today—waits for the return of Jesus. He promised He would come again. But the Scriptures also teach that before He comes, there will arise the man of sin, the son of perdition, the one John alone among New Testament writers calls the Antichrist. And before even that, there would be a falling away within the church.

Where does this come from? Second Thessalonians 2, written about 40 years before John's letter. Paul writes, "Concerning the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him"—some call that gathering the rapture—"do not be soon shaken in mind or troubled... as though the day of Christ had already come." Just 20 years after the resurrection, the church feared they had missed Christ's coming. Paul says, "Let no one deceive you by any means; for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first."

That phrase "falling away" is the Greek word apostasia—apostasy. That day will not come, Paul says, until the apostasy comes and "the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God... so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."

So the early Christians lived expecting the Lord's return, but also expecting false prophets, false christs, persecution, tribulation, wars, famines, and an apostasy where people would depart from the church.

Two Different Anticipations

Consider the contrast between the historic church's anticipation and the modern American church's anticipation. The historic church anticipated tribulation, difficulty, famine, persecution, and opposition. But if you listen to much of what is exported from the modern American church to the rest of the world, what does it expect? Blessing and ease.

I want to suggest to you that the historic church was far better prepared for reality. And I want to warn you that there are false prophets and teachers in our day, masquerading as teachers of Scripture, giving forth a false gospel that leads people to fall away when hard times come. If you're told to expect only blessing and ease, and then cancer or the loss of a loved one comes, many lose their faith.

I'll never forget jogging alongside an atheist who told me he became an atheist when his father got lung cancer. He prayed, nothing happened, and he concluded God could not exist. Where does that come from? From a false teaching that says you'll have everything perfect in this life if you follow Jesus. The Bible never taught that, so we ought not believe it.

My Focus Must Be on the Father and the Eternal

John was concerned that Christians might be led astray by deceptive, antichrist teaching that would shift their affections onto this life instead of the life to come. So he writes, "Do not love the world." At face value that's a challenge—after all, "God so loved the world." But John explains: "Do not love the world or the things of the world... 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."

Point number one: my focus is to be on that which is of the Father and eternal. My flesh, my nature, is inclined to be focused only on what I can sense—what I see, smell, hear, touch, and taste. And if your entire focus is on those things, then when things begin to fall apart in this world, you fall apart too.

So Scripture exhorts us, in Colossians 3: "If then you were 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 things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." Set your focus on the eternal, because this world is passing away. This is not an indifferent view of everything in the world—God has given us good things richly to enjoy and to use for His commission. But we need a loose grip on the things of this world and a tight grip on the things of heaven.

Why We Need a Refocusing

Why do we need to refocus? Two reasons. First, Romans 8: "To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace... the carnal mind is enmity against God... so then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God." To be fixated on this world brings death to your soul, and you cannot be pleasing to God while absorbed with this broken, temporary world.

A good test for whether your mind is in the wrong place is how you feel about what's happening in the world. For three decades the Gallup polling agency has measured happiness in America—and it rises and falls with the Dow Jones. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. If your hope is in Washington or Wall Street, you'll be shaken. If you're a disciple of Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, Rachel Maddow, or Anderson Cooper, you'll be depressed most of the time. I've often told brothers and sisters: fast for thirty days from Sean Hannity and see if your mood changes. I guarantee it will.

My Focus Shapes My Affections, Actions, and Destiny

The second reason is right here in verse 17: "The world is passing away, and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever." Point number two: my focus influences my affections, actions, and destiny.

What I focus on, I become absorbed with. If my focus is the lust of the eyes and flesh and the pride of life, my affections will be bound to this world—and when it topples and breaks, I'll be shaken. That's why Jesus says, "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions... I go to prepare a place for you." Reset your focus and your affections will follow.

Your actions follow too. What you love, you devote your time, energy, and money to. And ultimately your destiny follows. That's why this matters so much.

We Are Living in the Last Hour

"Little children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard, the Antichrist is coming. Even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that 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."

Are we in the last days? Yes—and we have been since Jesus came the first time. Hebrews 1: "God, who at various times... spoke to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son." From the first coming of Jesus until His second coming, we live in the period Scripture calls the last days, the last hour, the end of the age. It is filled with wars and rumors of wars, kingdoms rising and falling, pestilence, earthquakes, false teachers—and the gospel preached in all the world.

Yes, the Bible describes one day when an individual, the man of sin, will come. We don't know who he is, but every generation tries to identify him. In 2008 a great many thought they had him. In 2016 a whole other demographic thought they had him. In a year we'll have a new one. They once thought it was Nero, then Domitian, then Hitler. One day he will come—but don't lose sight of this: many antichrists have already come and are already in the world, opposing the work of Christ. They even found their way into the church. That's what John means by "they went out from us"—they identified themselves by departing with their seductive heresies.

Guarding Against the Enemy Through the Anointing

Point number three: my focus upon the Father enables me to guard against the enemy. And this we do by relying on the anointing God has given us. "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 antichrist is at work in the world, but the Spirit of God is at work in the church. First Corinthians 3:16: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" The enemy—the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience—is at work in this world. But the church has the Spirit of God within.

Discerning Truth From Error

Point number four: God's Spirit enables me to discern between truth and error. Jesus said in John 14:17, "I will not leave you as orphans. I will send the Spirit of truth, and He will guide you into all truth." He gives us the ability to discern between a lie and the truth, the genuine and the counterfeit.

We are tempted to spend all our energy hunting the antichrist. I've met so many Christians over the years looking for the antichrist—and nowhere in Scripture are we told to do that. There are discernment ministries, blogs, and YouTube channels devoted to it, all this crazy stuff. But the Scriptures exhort us instead to set our minds on things above, to get to know the genuine and the true. Once you know what is true, the counterfeit won't pass the smell test. You know the smell test—you reach into the refrigerator, pull something out, and instantly know, "That's not good." You'll do the same with falsehood once you know the truth.

The Test: The Identity of Jesus

What is the ultimate test? Verse 22: "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."

John gives it again in 1 John 4:1-6: "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. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist... By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error."

Point number five: the fundamental test for truth and error is the nature and identity of Jesus. The foundation of the church is the simple confession God inspired Peter to give in Matthew 16, when Jesus asked, "Who do you say that I am?" and Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus replied, "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father in heaven... and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." That confession is the bedrock of the church.

John, the author of this letter, also wrote the Gospel of John, and there he gave his purpose: "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 20:31). When others left Jesus and He asked the Twelve if they would also go, Peter said, "We have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Where else would we go?" The Ethiopian eunuch confessed, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God," and was baptized. And immediately after his conversion, Saul of Tarsus "preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God" (Acts 9:20).

So the chief determining test for any worldview, philosophy, or theory comes down to this: What do you say about Jesus? When someone knocks on your door Saturday morning, ask them. They may say He's the spirit brother of Lucifer, or Michael the archangel incarnate—both wrong. He is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and there is salvation in no other name. How do you know if you have life in His name? "These things 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."

An Optimistic Vision of the Future

We need a refocusing, because so many things in this world distract us—notifications, Twitter, news radio, TV news, emails telling us, "We found the antichrist; oh my goodness, it's you." We're constantly discouraged. And Jesus says, "Let not your heart be troubled."

How do you know whether end-times fascination has become a misfocus? If it does not increase your joy but only brings you stress, it's not what God intends. In the passages where He addresses these things, He says, "Comfort one another with these words." That's why here at Cross Connection we want everything we do to be done with joy, because we have an optimistic vision of the future. And that vision is not the United States of America—it's the kingdom of God. "Of the increase of His kingdom there will be no end." Jesus will rule and reign forever, King of kings and Lord of lords, the Alpha and the Omega.

That's why for 2,000 years the church has prayed, "Lord Jesus, come quickly." But until He does, He has set us here for a task: to be a light to a dark world, to bring hope to the hopeless. Too often the church has been absorbed with deconstructing world events—not biblical exposition, but biblical cartography, trying to decode every structure and locate the antichrist. Jesus says, look to Him.

Communion

This is why, on the night He was betrayed, Jesus gathered His disciples to refocus them. He took bread, broke it, and said, "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. As often as you drink it, do this in remembrance of Me. As often as you do these things, you proclaim My death till I come."

What does He leave us with? The second coming. So we partake this morning to remember His body broken for us and His blood shed for us, and to proclaim that His death in the past has implication for the present and tells us something important about the future: He will come again. Many of you need a refocusing, because your focus has been Washington, or Wall Street, or the neighbor next door. It's time to refocus and remember.

Closing Prayer

Father, we need our hearts set on You—our eyes, our minds set on You. There are so many things in this world that distract, discourage, and weigh us down. There will be things this week: catastrophes, earthquakes, terrorist attacks, school shootings—horrible, horrible things. But all these do is remind us that we live in a broken world that needs the gospel, that needs Your grace. Jesus, You promised that one day You would come and right all wrongs. There will be justice where there has been injustice, righteousness where there has been unrighteousness, and sin and sorrow and death and suffering and war will be no more. So we say, come quickly. Set our hearts right as we remember You today. In Jesus' name, amen.