The Sound Doctrine Test: 1st John Lesson 11

1 John 2:18-23

 I have noted in almost each introduction to our study of 1 John that John is very black and white and dogmatic. He wants his readers, his spiritual offspring to know that they have eternal life. If you think about John’s time on earth it is obvious that the three years he spent with Jesus were the defining years of his life. But during his time with Jesus there was another one who I suspect had a tremendous impact on how John thinks. There was among the group of chosen apostles of our Lord, one who would betray Jesus. And on the night of the arrest of our Lord, Jesus announced to the twelve that one would betray Him. No one suspected Judas Iscariot. Each thought that he might be the one.

 For three years there had been among the group of chosen apostles one who was controlled by the spirit of antichrist. He was against Christ. And John, nor did any of the rest of the apostles, ever saw it. He never was able to detect the problem.

 John knew that it was easy to say the right words, do the right things, play along with the genuine Christ-followers, and easily pass oneself off as the real deal. John has a burden for everyone who claims a relationship with Christ. He wants them to know for sure. So he has given us test after test after test. We have seen the fellowship test in Chapter 1, the sin test, the obedience test, the love test, the spiritual growth test, and the love of the world test. The purpose of these tests is that those who believe in the name of the Son of God may know they have eternal life. (1 John 5:13)

 In our passage today we come to two more tests. We will be looking at the doctrine test this morning and the duty test next week. The doctrine test is in verses 18-23. The duty test we will look at next time in verses 24-29. Let’s read these verses as a unit this morning as we begin.

 What we believe will always dictate how we behave. Doctrine and duty go hand in hand. What I truly believe is what I live day to day. If I do not live what I say I believe, my claims are nothing more than empty, religious jargon. It is so easy to say, “Jesus is Lord.” But unless my life is lived as an obedient servant to Him, those words are just empty words. But if I say, “Jesus is Lord,” and I live as an obedient servant to Him as Lord, my life is proof that I truly understand and believe that Jesus is Lord. Unless I am living under the Lordship of Jesus, I can’t really claim to believe He is Lord.

 John has consistently pointed out the fact in this letter that what we say is no reliable indicator of spiritual life. Look at 1:6, 8, 10, 2:4, 9. John does not want us basing our confidence in salvation on our words. He wants us, and others, to be able to see the evidence in the way we live.

 It starts with doctrine. We must believe right if we are to live right. This section deals with the doctrine test and the duty test. As we look at the doctrine test today we have three simple points. We will see the reasons for the doctrine test. We will see the reality of the doctrine test. And we will see the results of the doctrine test. We find the reasons in verses 18-19.

 The first reason for the doctrine test is that we are living in the last hour. John mentions this fact twice in verse 18, once early in the verse and once at the end. What does this mean? The last hour is the final chapter before the end of God’s redemptive plan for mankind. In the very end God is going to judge and condemn all who reject His Son. In fact, judgment has been handed over to the Son. Jesus will come and bring the full and final retribution of God upon those who reject Him. The very end commences with the Great Tribulation. But the final hour is the time that began with the first advent, or coming of Christ, and His second coming.

 John was expecting the imminent return of Jesus. So did Paul and Peter and all the Apostles. They were not told that the last hour would last for at least two thousand years, but it has. This does not mean they were mistaken. Obviously, hour does not mean a 60 minute period of time. It means a season. It refers to the latter days as the Bible calls them.

 Jesus explained what it would be like as the final stages of this last hour approached. He gave particular warnings regarding false prophets and their power to deceive. Let’s look at Matthew 24. As Jesus and His followers were leaving the Temple the disciples were pointing out the Temple buildings. I’m sure they were admiring the beauty and magnitude of the structure. Jesus warned them that a time was coming when there would not be one stone left on another. They would all be torn down. 

 From there they went to the Mount of Olives and the disciples questioned Him about when these things would happen. They knew that what Jesus talked about would be part of the end of the age. In verse 4 Jesus said, “See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.” Jesus repeated in verse 11, “Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.” He said again in verse 24, “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.”

 John said that in this last hour antichrist would come, even now many antichrists have appeared. It is from this we know it is the last hour. John was seeing the fulfilling of what Jesus predicted. John writes this almost 60 years after the resurrection of Jesus and he saw this as an indicator of the last days.

 John mentions “the antichrist” and he mentions “antichrists.” What is the difference? To understand the antichrist we need to look at 2 Thess. 2:1-12. Explain this.

 The antichrist in one. Antichrists are many. “Anti” can mean “against” or simply “another that is different.” In John’s time he was seeing many who were different and anything different than the truth about Christ is really against Christ. We have talked about those who were the early Gnostics who distorted the truth about the nature of Jesus Christ as the God-Man. These were antichrists. Many had appeared and John saw the danger and recognized this as one of the things Jesus had warned about.

 There will be an inevitable separation or division between Christ and those who are His, and the antichrist and those who are his. Look at verse 19. Read the verse. The doctrine test is important because we need to know who truly believes the truth about God the Father and God the Son. Verse 22 is going to show us that those who went out, separated themselves from the true fellowship of believers denied the Father and the Son. We will see that in a minute. The separation of those who deny the Father and the Son, and those who confess the Father and the Son, must happen. 

 2 Peter 3:3-4 says, “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning.’” We learned last week that those who live for their own lusts are of the world, love the world, and the love of the Father is not in them. There must be a separation between those who love and follow Christ and those who do not.

 Paul described this separation in 2 Tim. 3. Read this chapter. 1 Peter 1:3-5 describes the security and certainty of God to keep those who are truly His.

 Those who know the truth will remain faithful. Those who deny the Son may not always do so with their lips. It is easy to say, “Jesus is Lord.” But they will deny Him with their lifestyles. There will always be a separation between true followers of Christ and those who simply profess to “believe” in Jesus but do not follow Him. How can two walk together unless they agree? 

 And John knew that there would be an inevitable, eternal separation between the true followers of Christ and those who only give the appearance of following. The sheep will be separated from the goats. The tares will be uprooted from the wheat. The unfruitful vine will be cut off and thrown into the fire.

 Let’s look at verses 20-21 where we find the reality of the doctrine test. Tests show us what is real. The reality is that true Christians know the truth. We know the truth because we have the Holy Spirit. All who have the Holy Spirit know. “You all know” John says. Verse 21 says, “I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth.”

 Look at verse 27. Look at 4:13.

 John describes for us the role of the Holy Spirit in John 14:25-26, 15:26-27, 16:5-15. Read these.

 The reality of the doctrine test is that those who truly belong to Christ will know the truth and walk in the truth. The Holy Spirit guides us into all the truth. The Holy Spirit convicts us when our lives do not line up with the truth. We will not deny the truth about Jesus by walking in a manner inconsistent with His truth. 

 The other side of this reality is also certain. Those who, by their lives, deny the truth about Jesus are living a lie. John says at the end of verse 21, “no lie is of the truth.” If your life is a lie, if your claims of Christ as Lord and Savior are not accompanied by a walk in a manner worthy of the Lord Jesus Christ, your life is a lie, and no lie is of the truth.

 Tests are designed to show us what is real. The reality is that those who know the truth about Christ will live according to the truth they understand. Those who deny, or reject Christ, either by their false beliefs or their contradictory lifestyles, are of their father Satan because they have bought into his lie.

 What are the results of the doctrine test? The result is that those who are the liars will be revealed. Verse 22 says, “Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ.” What does it mean that Jesus is the Christ? “Christos” means “anointed one.” Jesus is the Christ, God’s anointed One who is the Messiah, the Redeemer, the Savior, the Lord.

 There are two ways that people can deny that Jesus is the Christ. The first is by denying the truth about who Jesus is as it is revealed in the Word of God. It would be to deny His deity. This was happening in John’s day.  It could include denying His humanity. This was also happening. If Jesus wasn’t fully God and fully man, He could not accomplish the work of redemption.  This is the doctrine test. Who is Jesus? Is He who He claimed to be? Is He really who the Bible says He is? Did John have it right about Jesus in all he writes in the Gospel of John and these letters and the Revelation?

 No one who denies the truth about the identity of Jesus can be anything other than antichrist. They are against Christ. They deny the Father and the Son. They reject the truth about Christ’s work of salvation and man’s need of it. They are deniers of Christ.

 Jesus said in Matthew 12:30, “Whoever is not with Me is against Me.” There isn’t any neutrality when it comes to Christ. There is no middle ground. We either believe Him for who He is or we reject Him. We are either followers of Christ or we are of the spirit of antichrist.

 But John’s focus in this letter has been on the fact that if you do not deny Jesus as the Christ by rejecting the doctrinal truth, you can still deny Jesus as the Christ if your life does not reflect the truth about who He is. Back in 2:4 we read, “The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” To come to know Jesus means to come to know Him as the Christ. He is the Savior and the Lord. If He is Lord He is to be obeyed. The result of the doctrine test is not that we know what to say. The result of the doctrine test is that we know how to live. Doctrine informs us as to our duty.

 In Chapter 1:6 we learned, “If we say we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” To have fellowship with Jesus is not to say we are in fellowship with Him. Fellowship with Jesus means we walk as He walked.

 John is black and white. If we walk in darkness we lie and do not practice the truth. Where do lies come from? In John 8:44 Jesus says that the devil is by nature a liar and that he is the father of all lies. If our lives are a lie we have a problem.

 Jude 4 gives a good description of those who deny Jesus as the Christ. 

 Verse 23 describes the results even further. “Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father.” To deny the Son can be that we deny that He is God’s Son. This is to deny what God’s personal testimony was concerning His Son. He said at the baptism of Jesus, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 4)

 But to deny the Son can also mean that we reject Him. We reject Him by rejecting all He has done to save us. This rejection can take so many forms. We can reject the fact that we are in need of salvation. We can reject Him by asserting that we can earn our salvation on our own. We deny Him anytime we have an inaccurate view of our depravity and sinfulness or we have an inaccurate view of Him as our Messiah and Redeemer. To assert our own lack of need for Him is to deny Him.

 John closes verse 23 with the opposite result. “the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. 

1 John 4:15, “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.” Again, confession is more than an affirmation of our words. It is a life that reflects the truth about Jesus as Savior and Lord. It is this life that affirms the truth about Jesus and would never deny Jesus in any way.

2 John verse 9 says, “anyone…who does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.”

The doctrine test is important. Not only do we want to believe what is right and true concerning Christ, we want our lives to reflect a right belief. The reason we look at doctrine is that we may know the truth. Tests show us what is real. The reality we want to see in our lives is that we know the truth. We want to carefully examine the results of the test. My prayer is that we are all affirmed that we have the Son and the Father. We want to be assured regarding our relationship with Christ. Remember Judas Iscariot.