First John

2:12-28

Introduction

You are in danger from a thief.

Jesus, in John 10, said,

The thief Jesus was referring to was and is the devil. Jesus came to give you life and abundant life. He came to give you eternal life. Eternal life involves both quantity and quality. Eternal life is life forever, but it is also life with fullness right now. It is the experience of fullness of joy in your fellowship with Jesus. This fullness of joy in your fellowship with Jesus is one of the things the devil wants to rob from you. He wants to rob you of your Christian joy.

The Apostle John is writing to you about joy - about fullness of joy in your fellowship with Jesus. He said in chapter 1,

John wanted you to go on experiencing abundant, eternal life. He wanted your Christian joy to be full and to remain. He knew that the devil would try to rob you of your joy. In the verses we've read he discusses certain of the devil's favorite methods for robbing your joy.

He calls the devil "the wicked one" in verses thirteen and fourteen. How does the wicked one seek to rob you of your joy? He uses the fleeting world, and he uses a false word to rob you of your joy.

In verses twelve through seventeen John talks about the fleeting world. Fleeting means "passing [away] quickly." The devil is the Prince of this fleeting, temporary world. He uses it as a lure to appeal to your lusts, interrupting your fellowship with God and thereby robbing you of your joy.

In verses eighteen through twenty-eight John talks about a false word. He tells you men will come with false teachings from or about God's Word in order to deceive you. These men are antichrists, John says - types of the coming Antichrist of Revelation. And the Antichrist of Revelation is empowered by then possessed by the devil. Antichrists with their false word are the devil's henchmen, helping him to rob you of your joy.

Since you want your joy to be full and remain, you must avoid these perils - the devil's world and the devil's word.

#1 The Devil's Fleeting World Is The Peril

Around You That Robs You Of Your Joy

The word "world" is used in at least three ways in Scripture. World can refer to God's creation, to the physical world around you. It can refer to humanity as a whole, to the world of people. It can also refer to the organized efforts of the devil to oppose God and the plan of God. It is this last sense of the word "world" that John has in mind.

The devil is called the ruler of this world. In Ephesians 2:2-3 you read,

Ephesians 2:3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

The devil is the "prince of the power of the air," ruling the "course of this world." He uses the world to hold men captive and to oppose God and God's plan. But we are told in that same second chapter of Ephesians that God,

Ephesians 2:5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ...

Ephesians 2:6 ...and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

You have been raised-up together with Jesus and are seated in heaven with Jesus right now. You are also still in the devil's world. Your spiritual position is in heaven; your physical position is in the devil's world.

The Apostle John says, in verses twelve, thirteen, and fourteen, that, because of your spiritual position, you have already overcome the wicked one. Then, in verses fifteen, sixteen, and seventeen, he tells you that you can apply your victory in your physical position in the devil's world.

Your spiritual position:

1 John 2:13 I write to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, Because you have overcome the wicked one. I write to you, little children, Because you have known the Father.

1 John 2:14 I have written to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, Because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, And you have overcome the wicked one.

John designates Christians as "little children," "fathers," and "young men." These describe three experiences in your Christian life.

All believers can be described as "little children." We are little children because we are born into the family of God. You are little children "because your sins are forgiven for His Name's sake." Jesus Christ has become your personal Lord and Savior, and you therefore "have known the Father." You have come into a relationship with God. He is your Father because you have been born into His family, you have been born again.

All believers ought to desire to be "fathers." Father, when applied to you, means maturity and growth into Christian adulthood. Christian maturity is described twice as knowing "Him Who is from the beginning." This wording takes you back to the first verses of First John. John told you there that knowing Him Who was from the beginning ought to result in fellowship and fullness of joy. As little children you have been born into God's family; you have a relationship with God through Jesus. As fathers you ought to experience the bliss of fellowship with God through Jesus.

To move from birth to bliss you must do battle. You must, as "young men" and "young women," do battle while you are in the devil's world. John says you have already "overcome the wicked one." That's because Jesus, at the Cross, defeated the devil. If you are a Christian, you have therefore already overcome the wicked one. Your battle strategy is to simply apply what is already yours. You apply the benefits of your spiritual position to your battle in your physical position.

John tells you how you do this: "you are strong, and the word of God abides in you." In any and every battle in this world, you are already strong enough and God's Word is always sufficient for you to apply your victory!

You are strong because you are in the Lord. The Apostle Paul, when describing your battle, says "be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might." I always think of the closing scene of the movie, The Bear, when I read this verse...

God's Word is always sufficient for you to apply your victory. The devil tempted your Lord, offering Him all of the kingdoms of his world. Jesus responded with God's Word. God's Word was sufficient.

It should be noted that the more of God's Word that abides in you, the better you will appreciate it's sufficiency!

John now takes a closer look at your physical position in the devil's world, in verses fifteen through seventeen.

Your physical position:

1 John 2:16 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.

1 John 2:17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

The devil's world is a lure that he uses to appeal to your lusts. As a Christian you still struggle with your old, sin nature - as John pointed out earlier in this letter. Your old, sin nature has lusts - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Lust is an intense, unrestrained craving to satisfy some physical appetite.

The lust of the flesh is the intense, unrestrained craving to satisfy some appetite of your body...The devil is always appealing to you to go beyond God's loving boundaries and indulge your bodily appetites.

The lust of the eyes is the intense, unrestrained craving to satisfy some appetite of your soul. It is craving the things the devil's world has to offer - comfort, security, position, wealth, etc. When the devil tempted Jesus, he first appealed to the appetites of His body. Jesus was hungry and so he tempted Him with bread. But then he showed Jesus all of the kingdoms of the world. It was an appeal to the lust of the eyes - the craving for the things this world has to offer.

The devil finally tempted Jesus by taking Him up to the pinnacle of the temple and urging Him to jump off - trusting in God to save Him. This is the pride of life. It is the attempt to incite a craving in your spirit. It is the ambition to be seen as greater than someone else, to be glorified in the eyes of others. It is, of course, the devil's own particular specialty!

The world around you is the devil's lure, appealing to your lusts. John has told you that you already are strong and that God's Word is always sufficient against them. Now he adds some things to help you keep the devil's world in proper perspective:

The devil's world is passing away! It is temporary, transitory; it is fleeting. It can never deliver on what it promises - not in this life, and not in eternity. So you should "do the will of the Father" while you are in the devil's world.

Your love for God, and the lusts of the world, are mutually exclusive. You are in the world, but the world should not be in you. Let His Word abide in you that you might know and do His will.

#2 The Devil's False Word Is The Peril

Among You That Robs You Of Your Joy

Within this fleeting world God has given you the blessing of the Church, of gathering together with other believers, for your edification and encouragement. John tells you that the devil also comes to Church! He comes in among you with his false word.

The "last hour," or the "last days," describes the whole period between the ascension of Jesus and His second coming. Christians are always to see themselves as living in the Last Days. One of the characteristics of the Last Days is the presence of antichrists. The term "antichrist" is used in the Bible only by John. It describes three things: 1. a spirit in the world that opposes and denies Jesus Christ; 2. the false teachers who embody this spirit; and, 3. a particular person who will ultimately embody this spirit in the final world rebellion against Jesus Christ.

The spirit of antichrist is in the world today, being promoted by many false teachers. It will eventually culminate in the appearance of the Antichrist, the satanic superman of the Great Tribulation.

The spirit of antichrist is the devil's false word. It is his lie to deceive you, to lead you astray.

The lie:

1 John 2:21 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 devil's false word is always a lie about the Person and work of the Lord, Jesus Christ. It is a denial that "Jesus is the Christ." It is a denial that Jesus is God come in the flesh as the prophesied Savior. John doesn't deal with every possible lie about the Person and work of the Lord; he just tells you that the devil's false word can always be recognized in the end because it distorts the truth about Who Jesus is and about what He has done. He tells you that you already know the truth and should be able to spot the lie. You know God's true word; you should recognize the devil's false word.

Those who promote the devil's false word are liars. They are not Christians at all. John says that if you are wrong about Jesus, you can't have a relationship with God the Father.

In verse nineteen John promises you that antichrists will eventually be manifested for their lies and will leave your Church. In the mean time, they seek to deceive you:

How can you avoid the peril of their deception? Spiritual deception must be met with spiritual discernment. Spiritual discernment is described in the remaining verses.

Spiritual discernment is your privilege as a Christian, and it should be your practice as a Christian.

Spiritual discernment is your privilege:

The "anointing from the Holy One" is a reference to the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit of God. God the Holy Spirit "abides in you" (2:27). Since He abides in you, you have spiritual discernment. It is your privilege.

Why are so many Christians deceived by the devil's false word? You must practice spiritual discernment. It is not automatic.

Spiritual discernment should be your practice:

This phrase literally reads "you know all." It doesn't mean you are a know it all. You don't, and never will, know everything there is to know. What does it mean?

One of the things it means is that you should be secure in what you do know about God. One of the techniques of those who promote the devil's false word is to make you feel insecure about your relationship with God. They say you are somehow deficient, that you are missing out on something vitally important.

The Mormons do this. They tell you that there is a further revelation of God in their books, something beyond the Bible. You are deficient, missing out, if you don't accept their further writings.

Beloved, "you know all." Your sins are forgiven for His Name's sake, you have overcome the wicked one, you are strong, and the word of God abides in you. It sounds to me like you need to realize more and more about all that is already yours!

Be secure. Then be settled:

1 John 2:25 And this is the promise that He has promised us; eternal life.

Another technique of those who promote the devil's false word is to convince you that you don't really understand God's Word. They have fresh, new insight - something that has previously been unknown to generations of blood-bought believers.

John says that you should let abide in you God's Word which you heard from the beginning. Ephesians 4:14 encourages you to be "...no longer...children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting." Be settled in the Word as sufficient for your eternal life.

Be secure; be settled; and be sure you scrutinize what you read and hear:

1 John 2:27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

John is not saying that there is no need for teaching. The fact that he wrote to them to instruct them is proof enough that there is a biblical, spiritual gift of teaching. What he is saying is that the teaching you receive must be carefully scrutinized; it should be examined with great care, it should be evaluated critically. God the Holy Spirit within you is your helper as you scrutinize the teaching you receive from men. He helps you to judge both the character of the men and the content of their message.

Scrutinizing Bible teaching is itself criticized today! You are considered unspiritual, or as quenching the Spirit, if you want to examine and evaluate teaching. You are neither unspiritual, nor are you quenching God's Spirit by doing these things. You are practicing necessary discernment to avoid being led astray by lies in these Last Days.

These same principles of practicing discernment can help you evaluate all teaching - not just the devil's false teaching. Among sincere Christians there are areas of disagreement that do not fall into the category of false teaching - especially in the areas of the gifts of God the Holy Spirit and Bible prophecy. When you hear a different doctrinal viewpoint, remain secure; scholars have been discussing these issues for centuries, and will go on disagreeing over them until Jesus returns! Remain settled; your particular viewpoint on some secondary issue does not affect your salvation. And scrutinize each position. Don't be quick to adopt something new until you've really studied it out and seen all of its consequences.

You have the privilege of discernment. Practice discernment!

Conclusion

From 1:5 through 2:27 John has been discussing the perils that can rob you of your joy. Sin is the peril within you, the world is the peril around you, and false teaching is the peril among you. When you succumb to one or more of these perils, your joy is robbed. You have a relationship with God, but you are not experiencing the fullness of your fellowship with God.

Verse twenty-eight is John's concluding word on avoiding these perils:

It is the Last Days. Jesus Christ is coming quickly! When He appears, He will appear to take you to heaven where you will know fullness of joy for ever and ever.

Abide in Him now; that is, let your joy remain, rather than be robbed. If you abide, you won't be ashamed at His coming.

Why would you be ashamed? You'd be ashamed if you let sin, the world, or false teaching interrupt your fellowship with the Lord. You'll be ashamed because you will realize that you were being ripped off, conned out of His blessings for you.

Let your joy remain!