Introduction:
3 Signs You Are Not an Antichrist Impersonator: (1 John 2:18-27)
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You COMMIT to the Church. (1 John 2:19)
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You CONFESS Jesus as Savior and Lord. (1 John 2:20-23)
2 Peter 1:3 - His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
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You CONTINUE in old truths and CHALLENGE new lies. (1 John 2:24-27)
John 17:3 - And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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Please turn your Bibles to 1 John 2, verses 18-27. 1 John 2, verses 18-27. And as you're turning there, I have a question for you. What is your favorite conspiracy theory? What is your favorite conspiracy theory? There are a lot of conspiracy theories. I fell down the rabbit hole this week and I was shocked by what I found.
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I'm going to read a list of famous conspiracy theories.
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And to be clear, please don't corner me after service if I mention one that you think is true.
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You are loved. Go ahead and believe it. Just don't tell me to believe it myself.
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Again, you are loved. Here are a shotgun blast of theories.
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The moon is a fake projection.
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The earth is hollow.
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The Denver airport is the headquarters of the Illuminati.
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Birds aren't real. But Bigfoot is real. King Charles is a vampire. He kind of does look like one, doesn't he? Maybe some validity there. We all live in a cosmic simulation. Shapeshifting lizards secretly control governments, Hollywood, and major corporations. Amelia Earhart crash landed on an island where she was eaten by three-foot long and coconut crabs. Do you want to know what my favorite conspiracy theory is?
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Elvis Presley didn't die in 1977. He is still alive and well today. People believe that the body in the casket wasn't actually a body, it was a wax dummy. Some think the FBI put him into witness protection against the mafia. Others thought he faked his own death because he couldn't handle fame any longer.
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Do you know why this theory is still believed today? Do you know why this theory still has legs 50 years later? Because there are so many Elvis impersonators in the world. According to Google, which is never wrong as we all know, there could be as many as 400,000 active Elvis impersonators right now. Could it be that the Elvis you saw at the Waffle House in Atlanta, is not the real Elvis, but one of these Elvis impersonators. Could it be that the pictures online of I spotted Elvis in South America isn't actually Elvis, but one of these Elvis impersonators? These impersonators dress like Elvis. They talk like Elvis. They sing like Elvis. They move their hips like Elvis. There was only one Elvis.
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But there are a lot of Elvis impersonators in the world today. They look like Elvis and they act like Elvis. According to 1 John 2, verses 18-27, there is one Antichrist who is coming in the future, but in the meantime, there are a lot of Antichrist impersonators who look and act like the Antichrist. Listen to what John says about this in chapter 2, verse 18.
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Children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard that Antichrist is coming, so now many Antichrists have come. Therefore, we know that it is the last hour. The last hour is the time between the first coming and the second coming of Jesus. We live in that last hour right now. At some point, someday, Jesus will rapture his people into heaven and seven years of tribulation and Wrath will fall upon the earth. During those seven years, a world leader will arise who is controlled by Satan. He will deceive the world. He'll claim to be God and oppose the one true God. This man will be the Antichrist, as John calls him, or the man of lawlessness, as Paul calls him in 2 Thessalonians 2, 3. This guy will look good, he will sound good, but he will be anything but good.
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He will be empowered and controlled by Satan. He will be evil because He will be filled with the evil one. He will hate Christ and He will hate Christ's people. He will try and fail to usurp the reign and fame of Jesus Christ. This may disappoint some of you who love biblical prophecy and the book of Revelation, but I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about the Antichrist in this sermon.
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today. If you're interested in that topic, go to our sermon archive. You can watch sermons from Pastor Jeff on Revelation and 2 Thessalonians that talk more about the Antichrist. The Antichrist is not the focus of the sermon because the Antichrist is not the focus of this passage. John talks about the future very briefly, but he spends most of these 10 verses talking about the present. In this text, John isn't very concerned with the future.
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he's very concerned with antichrist impersonators trying to deceive you today. I may sound like Captain Obvious, but let me make this very clear. Antichrist means against Christ. Very simple. Antichrist impersonators are those who oppose Jesus with what they say and with what they do. Antichrist impersonators do a solid Imitation of the Antichrist. One day, the Antichrist will pretend to be God. So for right now, Antichrist impersonators pretend to be Christians. One day, the Antichrist will deceive the world and twist the truth. So now, Antichrist impersonators sneak into the church to deceive and twist the truth.
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There may be 400,000 Elvis impersonators in the world today, but I guarantee there are many more Antichrist impersonators. There are Antichrist impersonators in many churches across this country and across this world. There may even be Antichrist impersonators in this room right now. These Antichrist impersonators do not come across as villains who maniacally rub their hands together. Again, they look good.
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sound good, but they are anything but good because they are empowered by the evil one. They knowingly or even unknowingly oppose Jesus Christ in all that he stands for. You may be sweating a bit internally and wondering to yourself, how can I be sure that I'm not an antichrist impersonator? How can I be sure that I'm not being duped by antichrist impersonators?
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in our text for this morning, John gives you three signs that you are not an antichrist impersonator who falls to the lies of Satan and spreads the lies of Satan. Before we continue, let's go to the Lord and ask for his help. Please pray for me. I will faithfully proclaim God's word and I will pray for you that you will faithfully receive God's word. Father, we come before you to acknowledge that there is so much false teaching. There are so many false teachers.
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May we as your people not fall prey to these false teachings and these false teachers. May we not care what other people say. May we only care about what you have said. Your son once said that his sheep know his voice. May we hear your voice today, Father. May we hear what you clearly want us to hear. We ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen.
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Three signs that you are not an Antichrist impersonator. First sign, you commit to the church. You commit to the church. Antichrist impersonators are often great church attenders and great church participation, at least at first. They're really active at first. They say they love the church, but they actually hate the church.
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They say that they're serving Christians, but they're actually targeting Christians. Antichrist impersonators will walk into a Sunday morning gathering. They'll walk into a small group setting with one goal in mind, one mission in their sights, to take the spotlight off of Jesus Christ and shine it onto themselves. To shine the spotlight on to their wisdom, their insights, which are nothing but pure trash.
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for a window of time and while they're around they are busy busy busy. Antichrist impersonators are not lazy people. They are hard at work. They are like spiritual termites who slowly but surely try to eat away at the foundation of the church. How do antichrist impersonators accomplish this mission? They gossip. They sow discord. They sabotage friendships. They question godly leaders. They They constantly push the boundaries. They take advantage of the goodwill of those who don't really want to call them out because that's awkward. Many antichrist impersonators carry out this mission with malicious intent. They want to hurt the church. While other antichrist impersonators do this with oblivious intent. They think they're doing the right thing.
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They think that they are helping, but they're actually hurting.
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They are deceiving others because they themselves are deceived.
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Intentions are important, but intentions are not everything.
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Intentions are important on the road, but a driver can still unintentionally run you over with his car.
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Intentions are important in the church, but a misguided teacher can still unintentionally run you over with false teaching and ungodly actions and cause a lot of damage to the body of Christ. Whether malicious or oblivious, Antichrist impersonators expose themselves by deflecting correction, refusing to be rebuked, and by eventually bailing on the church.
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Listen to what John says about this in verse 19.
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They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that it might become plain that they are not of us.
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This verse is really hard for us to wrap our mind around in 2026 because we live in a time of church hopping and church shopping.
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There are so many options to choose from in the church buffet line. Baptist churches, Presbyterian churches, Bible churches, non-denominational churches, on and on the list goes. If you get offended at this church, you can go across the street to the biggest church in town. If someone here lovingly calls you out, you can decide to drive down 19 in either direction and find another congregation to check out. That was not the case in the first century.
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There was no church hopping or shopping back then. If you lived in Ephesus and your pastor said something you didn't like, you couldn't say, that's it. I'm done with this church. I'm going to the first Baptist church of Ephesus. If you lived in Smyrna and something happened that offended you, you couldn't say, I'm done with this church. I'm going to the new community, new direction, new whatever church of Smyrna.
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Why couldn't you do that? Because there was one church in Ephesus. There was one church in Smyrna. If you bailed on that local church, you proved to not belong to the universal church. If you left the fellowship of brothers and sisters in Christ, you proved to not be a member of the family of God. In an age of church hopping and church shopping, Antichrist impersonators will pack up their false teaching freak show and go on tour. They will try to find a church that will buy what they're selling, that will dig their performance. And when a church confronts them, they're out. They're done. They try to draw other people with them. They try to take professing believers with them. Leave this healthy church to follow my unhealthy leadership.
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their own twisted version of a church online or in person. There are false preachers out there with social media platforms who will tell you, oh, you don't need to go to church on Sunday. You don't need to give to your church. You need to listen to a pastor. But hey, come to my virtual seminar. Give money to me. Listen to me. Be watchful of influencers who pretend to be shepherds. Very often, influencers are sad and lonely.
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people who want to influence you to be sadly, sad and lonely with them.
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Very often, influencers prey on the vulnerable.
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They play with your emotions.
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They try to meet a felt need instead of addressing your true need, which is forgiveness of sin.
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Many influencers ask thought-provoking questions, but they have no satisfying answers to those questions.
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A few months ago, I opened up Facebook and I saw an advertisement that invited those who were disillusioned with organized religion to come for a time of sharing, healing, and inspiration. If you've been hurt by organized religion, come hang out with us. That sounds pretty organized and religious, doesn't it? There's a place to go, a time to meet, a leader to lead. In other words, come to my fake church that's built on my pride and my ego as we the true church that the sinless son of God purchased on the cross with his own blood. Hard pass. I'm not messing with the body and bride of Christ. Christ is the husband and head of the church. Imagine if you said to me, Pastor Taylor, you're a great guy. I like you, but to be honest, I can't stand your wife. Kate just isn't my cup of tea. I hope that's okay. I hope we can still be friends.
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as buddies pan out, no. If you hate my wife, it's see you later. Or if you said, Taylor, your head's okay, but the rest of your body, yuck. I just, I can't stomach the sight of you. Whenever we hang out, whenever we talk, I'm just going to put my hand out so I can just see your head, not the rest of your body. Will that type of friendship appeal to me? No, not at all. In all seriousness, you cannot say that you love Jesus and hate the church.
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You cannot claim to be close to God while you walk away from His people. It's just not possible according to the Bible. Friends, love the church because Jesus loves the church. Do not abandon the bride of Christ because Jesus will never abandon His bride. Don't attack the church. Don't tear the church down. Build the church up. Serve.
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the church.
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Yes, people in the church will let you down.
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If the pastors and elders here haven't disappointed you yet, just give us some time.
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We will disappoint you very soon.
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Other people in this room will hurt you.
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We'll say something that offends you.
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Other Christians are often disappointing, but Jesus never is.
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The church is worth it because Jesus is worth it. Antichrist impersonators always end up bailing on the church, while Christ followers always end up committing to the church. Three signs that you are not an antichrist impersonator. Second sign, you confess Jesus as Savior and Lord. You confess Jesus as Savior and Lord.
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of this series, Pastor Jeff talked about the Gnostics, who gave the early church and John a very hard time. Gnostics were Antichrist impersonators. They thought they had secret knowledge that nobody else had. They thought they cracked the code of the Bible and saw things that even the apostles couldn't see. They had a very high view of themselves and a very low view of anyone who disagreed with them. When you're emotionally immature and spiritual, You feel superior when you think you know something that other people don't know.
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You will rub it in their faces that you have something that they don't have.
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And that's what the Gnostics were doing. They were like kids in the playground going, neener, neener, neener. I know something you don't know. It's childish. It's lame.
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But many Christians back then felt inferior. They felt less than. Am I missing something that I need to know?
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And John says very clearly in verses 20-21, you're not missing anything. Read these verses with me, 20-21. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. John is reigning on the parade of antichrist impersonators. John is saying, who cares what those Paul's teachers think that they know. They know nothing. You know the truth. Because you have been anointed with the Holy Spirit with the ability to understand God's Word. The Holy Spirit has been given to you by the Holy One, Jesus Christ. The Spirit will lead you. He will guide you. He will teach you everything you need to know. Isn't that encouraging? Because that promise is true for you.
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Christ. You may be a genuine believer who feels like you don't know very much about the Bible. The more you pray, study, and read, the less you feel like you know. You feel like you're scratching the surface of all that you could know. You feel intimidated when you talk to smart unbelievers who ask questions that you don't know the answers to. In those moments, you feel like the Christians back in John's day. You feel inferior. You feel like you know No, nothing. But according to John, the least educated and the least eloquent Christian knows infinitely more than the most educated and the most eloquent non-Christian. The massive library of information they possess in their minds only leads him or her away from Christ and into spiritual darkness. While the truth that you have been given leads you towards Christ and into his marvelous light.
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Peter tells us in the second epistle, God's not holding out on you. He says that God has given you everything pertaining to life and godliness. Everything that you need. You may not know a lot about the Bible right now, but you know enough to be saved from your sins. If you know enough to be saved, you can teach others how to be saved. If you know how to be saved, you can grow in your knowledge of that salvation. You can grow in your knowledge of Scripture because the Holy Spirit Himself will be your guide. He will be your teacher. Christian, do not belittle what you know right now. But also, don't settle for what you know right now. You may not be who you want to be just yet, and that's okay. Because you're not who you were. And you are not who you will one day be.
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Keep reading. Keep studying. Keep praying. Keep coming on Sunday. Keep taking diligent notes. Keep going to small group. Keep asking questions. How do you eat an elephant? What's the answer to that? One bite at a time. How do you consume this massive book that is made up of 66 individual books? One verse at a time. One chapter at a time. One book at a time.
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Take a bite every single day. Don't take a cheat day. Don't skip a spiritual meal. If you do that, I promise you, I guarantee you that you will see spiritual growth. You will see yourself fighting sin. You will see yourself growing in your knowledge of God's Word and your wise application of that Word. You will see yourself loving God more and loving the world less. Antichrist impersonators tempt you with shortcuts.
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to spiritual growth. You don't need to go to church. You don't need to read the Bible. Christ followers know that there are no shortcuts when it comes to spiritual growth. Spiritual growth requires hard work. Spiritual growth requires humility. Antichrist impersonators exalt themselves over this book and try to make it mean whatever they want it to mean. While Christ followers submit to this book, they're humbled by the church.
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Antichrist impersonators are puffed up with lies. Listen to the lies that Antichrist impersonators are puffed up with in verses 22 through 23. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist. He who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father.
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Antichrist impersonators always lie about Jesus. All the time. They may say some nice and clever things about Jesus, but at the end of the day, they deny that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Chosen One, the God-Man who came to this world to deal with our sin problem with his own death. Every cult, every false teacher gets Jesus wrong.
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Jehovah's Witnesses get Jesus wrong. Jehovah's Witnesses don't believe that Jesus is God, which means that Jesus can't be your Savior. A godless Savior is no Savior at all. Jesus has to be God and man to bridge the massive chasm that exists between God and man. Mormons get Jesus wrong. The Bible says that Jesus is the is the uncreated son of God who had no beginning.
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The Book of Mormon teaches that Jesus is a created being.
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He has a massive spiritual family.
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And do you know who his brother is?
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Satan!
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I'm not even making that up.
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That's what the Book of Mormon actually says.
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Progressive churches get Jesus wrong.
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I've watched a countless number of clips of progressive pastors who spew the most sickening blasphemy of our Lord and Savior.
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False teaching like, it doesn't really matter if Jesus existed or not. It doesn't really matter if he resurrected from the grave. All that matters is the Jesus Spirit within all of us that makes us loving and kind. That's wrong. I've heard people say the idea that Jesus died on the cross and was sent by his Father to die on the cross, that's divine child abuse. That is not loving. That's wrong.
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of the Roman Catholic Church gets Jesus wrong. I want to be clear. There certainly are many Christian Catholics. Hear me in that. There are many Christian Catholics. But that's despite the official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, not because of it. The gospel math equation of the Catholic Church is faith in Jesus plus the Eucharist, penance, and baptism equals salvation. Legalists who pop up in every church teach a very a similar gospel equation. Faith in Jesus plus obedience to good works equals salvation. Several years ago, I was driving down Route 8, and I saw a sign that advertised a math service called, Just Math and More. Does anybody else see a problem with that sign besides me? Just Math and More? You're kind of painting yourself into a corner with the just part of that sign. We are just about math.
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and nothing else. Thankfully, the owners agree with me, and recently they changed it to just math. Isn't that way clearer? It's way less confusing, isn't it? True believers love clarity. Antichrist impersonators love confusion. Every time they teach, they put up this advertisement. It's very confusing. Just Jesus and more. Just Jesus and more.
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Antichrist impersonators mess with the person and work of Jesus Christ. They add their own ideas to the gospel. But here's the problem. When you add to the gospel, you subtract from the gospel. By trying to give you more, they end up giving you less. Jesus plus anything or anyone else always equals nothing of value and substance.
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you know and love God, but you deny what the Bible says about Jesus, you do not know and love God. At Harvest, our focus in preaching the gospel will always be just Jesus. Just Jesus. And nothing and no one more, because nothing and no one more is required. Because according to John, whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.
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Antichrist impersonators deny that Jesus is who he says that he is, while Christ followers confess that Jesus is Savior and Lord. Antichrist impersonators trust in their own goodness, while Christ followers trust in Jesus who was good on their behalf and died in their place on the cross. Antichrist impersonators are their own bosses who march to the beat of their own while Christ followers bow the knee to King Jesus and follow his marching orders. Three signs that you are not an Antichrist impersonator. Final sign. You continue in old truths and challenge new lies. You continue in old truths and challenge new lies. In verse 24, John encourages you to hold on to the truth. No matter the lies, are thrown your way. Look at what he says. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. John uses the word abide three times in this verse, and he uses it two more times in the following verses. What does it mean to abide? It means to stay, to remain, to continue.
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John is saying, continue in the truth. Do not waver. Do not give up. Do not be duped. Do not lose your grip on the gospel that saved you and will sanctify you. You demonstrate the genuineness of your faith by continuing in your faith. In verse 25, John lays out the ultimate prize for those who continue in the truth.
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the truth and remain faithful. He says, and this is the promise that he made to us, eternal life. The faithful who continue in the truth experience eternal life now and will experience eternal life then in the future. Jesus describes eternal life in this way in John 17 3, and this is eternal life that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Almost every good gift in this life comes to an end. Almost every good gift. Vacations, friendships, relationships, careers. But there is a good gift from God that will never, ever come to an end. And that gift is eternal life. Eternal life is friendship with God that starts at conversion and goes on forever.
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Only Jesus Christ can offer you eternal life. Antichrist impersonators cannot offer you eternal life. They can only offer you eternal destruction. John has one final warning about being deceived by the new lies of the Antichrist and one final encouragement about continuing in the old truths of God's Word. Look at verses 26 through 27.
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to deceive you. But the anointing that you receive from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, it is true and is no lie, just as it has taught you, abide in him. It may appear that I preached myself out of the job. You have no need that anyone should teach you. Uh-oh. Should I just like quit and go apply to sheets after this?
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No, John isn't saying that you should fire the preacher and cancel preaching. New Testament is clear. Preachers should preach. Teachers should teach. Pay attention to what John is actually saying here. He says, I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. AKA, I'm talking to you about false teachers. I'm talking to you about antichrist impersonators. But the anointing, that's the Holy Spirit and his instruction of the truth that you receive from him abides in you. And you have no need to anyone should teach you. In other words, don't be deceived by antichrist impersonators who treat God's word like an etch-a-sketch that you can shake up and change. You don't need new revelation. You don't need to be taught new ideas. You don't need new teachers who teach new things. You need preachers and teachers who just teach you what God has already said.
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You have the Holy Spirit will help you to understand what God has told you. Simply put, if it's new, it's not true. If it's new, it's not true. Continue in old truths and challenge new lies. I want to take a few minutes to warn you about those who are trying to deceive you in 2026. I want to expose some new lies that you must challenge. Don't feel like you have to write all these down.
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I actually made a handout that will be given to you by hospitality on your way out. But let me talk about some false teachings to be aware of. The prosperity gospel, which teaches that you will avoid suffering, financial issues, and physical ailment if you simply have enough faith. That is a new lie from the world, not an old truth from God's Word. In my pastoral experience, the faithful don't suffer the least, the faithful suffer the most.
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Me-centered theology. This is just prosperity, theology, light. These are the ideas that God doesn't call you to deny yourself. He calls you to accept yourself. Forgive yourself because you are enough. By the way, forgiving yourself is not a category in the Bible. You need to accept the forgiveness of Christ. And by the way, you're not enough. I'm not enough. But good news is, Jesus is.
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In the end, everyone will be saved. God will open wide the doors of heaven. Every religion will come in. That is a new lie and not an old truth from God's Word. Jesus actually talked about hell more than anybody else in the Bible. And He commands all of us to repent and believe in Him. Anyone who does not do that will not enter heaven. The New Apostolic Reformation, they teach that the offices of apostle and prophet have been restored to the church. God is unveiling new revelation through visions, dreams, and prophetic messengers. That is a new truth and not in, that's a new lie, I'm sorry, that's a new lie and not in old truth. That is not from God's Word. God's revelation ended with the book of Revelation. If you want to hear from God, open the Bible and read it. That is how God speaks to you.
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I know what some of you are thinking at this point in the message. Pastor Taylor, this sermon is really blunt. It's really intense. This sermon isn't very nice. You're right. I absolutely agree with you. This sermon is blunt. It's intense. It's not very nice. I have some questions for you. Is John blunt in this passage? He calls false teachers antichrists and liars.
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Was Jesus intense with the religious leaders in the Gospels? Let me read you what he called them. Hypocrites, blind guides, fools, serpents, children of the devil, liars, lovers of money, wolves in sheep's clothing, whitewashed tombs who look good on the outside but are full of dead men's bones on the inside. And he accused them of shutting the kingdom of God in the face of lost and dying sinners.
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he dealt with false teaching.
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He actually called the Judaizers dogs, mutilators of the flesh, evil workers.
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He also called false teachers out by name.
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Why is John so blunt in this passage?
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Why was Jesus so intense with the religious leaders?
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Why was Paul not very nice with false teachers?
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Because true shepherds protect the sheep from the wolves.
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It is not loving for a shepherd to let the wolves in the door and have at the whole congregation. That is not loving and kind. I love you too much to leave you to the wolves. As one of your pastors, I care about your soul. I have been entrusted with your soul and how you are taught. I have been called and commanded by God to guard the truth and challenge lies. And if you're a Christian, you're called to do the same.
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exact thing. Guard the truth. Challenge lies. Men, don't sit back and let your families be destroyed by lies. Don't let your children, your wife, be devoured by lies. Husbands, wash your wives with the water of the word by doing devotions with her, by praying with her. Wives, encourage your husbands in this role. Parents, disciple your children. Teach them to be discerning, to be able to tell what is true.
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and what is false? Women, there are so many horrible books, conferences, and messages aimed at you in particular. Be strong in the word so you can defend yourself. Teenagers in the room, you have greater access to more misinformation than any other generation in human history. But you also have access to great in-depth tools that were not available, to any other generation. Take advantage of these things. Sharpen your mind of consuming the garbage of this world. Antichrist impersonators challenge old truths and continue in new lies. Christ followers continue in old truths and challenge new lies. The worship team can make their way forward. Christ has already come into the world and he will return. The antichrist The Antichrist is coming in the future. Who do you look like more? Christ or the Antichrist? The word Christian literally means belonging to Christ. I have to ask you, do you belong to Christ? Are you a Christian? Or are you an Antichrist impersonator? Are you falling for the the lies of Antichrist impersonators. Antichrist impersonators bail on the church. Antichrist impersonators do not confess Jesus as Savior and Lord. Antichrist impersonators do not continue in the truth. Do any of these things describe you? If these do describe you, it's not too late to change your allegiance.
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your direction. You can go from an Antichrist impersonator to a true disciple of Christ right now. You can go from a hater of Jesus to a lover of Jesus. How does that happen? By you doing what the Antichrist and Satan can never do and will never do. By admitting that you are nothing and Jesus is everything. By humbling yourself.
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I beg you today, let go of your pride. Grab a hold of the grace of Jesus Christ that he offers you right now. You don't need to be deceived any longer. You don't need to deceive any longer. Accept the truth. Love the truth. Remain in the truth. Let's pray. Father, we thank you.
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for this hard word. We thank you that there's so much encouragement in this hard word. Lord, even though there's so much false teaching, there are so many lies for us to be aware of, you have gifted us with the truth that we can read anytime we want. And you have gifted us with the Holy Spirit, our teacher and our guide who will lead us into the truth every single day. Lord, lift up those in this room who do not know you, have not truly trusted and Christ. May today be the day of salvation where they accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and are forever changed. And for the rest of us, Lord, may we be on guard. May we be on defense. May we listen for your voice in a world of so many competing voices. And we ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read 1 John 2:18-27
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
What is an antichrist impersonator and what does this person do?
What specific false teachings should we be on guard against in 2026? Why is it not unloving to call out false teaching and expose false teachers?
How do you need/want to grow in your knowledge of God’s Word?
Why is committing to a local church essential and not optional?
Breakout
Pray for one another.