Guarding Against Antichrists

September 28, 2025|Guarding Against Antichrist|1 John 2:18-27

John-Daniel Cutler

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Today we continue our journey through the letter of 1st John.

We have seen that the apostle John sets this teaching in the context of writing to those who know the truth, who have embraced the truth, and yet at this very time men are trying to deceive them, most likely through an early form of gnosticism and docetism.

Each week we have tried to belabor the context of 1st John, which by the way is one of the benefits of preaching through a book verse by verse so that we keep the context in the forefront of our minds. The context helps us understand the individual pieces we are looking at each week in light of the whole.

I will remind you then, that John begins this letter establishing himself as an eyewitness, and not himself alone, but he writes in terms of we, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—.

Why is this important?

Because John says, the message concerning Jesus that we proclaim to you is rooted in our own eyewitness testimony and experience, and we declare that our fellowship is with God and with His Son, and in receiving the truth we proclaim, so will yours be.

Then John begins his work of separating those that belong to Christ and those who do not.

God is light, therefore, those who walk in darkness do not have fellowship with him.

Moving from figurative language to concrete language, to walk in darkness is to live in sin, which John says all men have, but those in Christ have a propitiation for our sins. Therefore, those who are in him, ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

From there John moves to establishing the contrasting revelatory idea of love versus hate, not straying far from the imagery of light versus darkness.

Whoever says he is in the light but hates his brothers is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light. After a poetic encouragement that his readers’ sins are forgiven, that they know the father, and they have overcome the evil one, John applies the idea of love in a broader sense than just for our brothers.

He draws another distinction, those who love the world do not have the love of the Father, because the world and all that is in the world- the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life is not from the Father. But be encouraged, the world is passing away, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

At this point John has done a pretty good job delineating the difference between those who say they belong to God and those who actually belong to God. Those who claim versus those who belong.

If we just stopped there, we may draw the conclusion that John is simply talking about those who genuinely belong to Christ and those who think they belong to Christ or say they belong to Christ.

We could rightly conclude then that John wants us to self-evaluate as well as call those who are clearly not of Christ to recognize that they do not in fact belong to Him. Certainly this is a critical aspect of what we have been studying. Jesus himself tells us that not everyone that says Lord, Lord actually belongs to him. Therefore as a church and individuals, we must clearly articulate the gospel, often, we must clearly proclaim the evidences of belonging to Christ, and we must repeatedly call those who claim to know Christ to evaluate themselves in light of the truth so that none are deceived.

But, as John rounds this corner in his letter, he wants us to understand that it is not just that we need to be aware of those who are deceived themselves, but those who are actively working against the cause of Christ.

That is there are not only two categories, those who belong to Christ and those who think they belong to Christ, there is a third category that John is going to get into in our text today, there are those who have set themselves against Christ or worse, in the place of Christ. These he calls anti-christs, which is simply a combination of two words, the greek word anti (an-tee') and the greek word christos (khris-tos'). Transliterated into our english word antichrist.

The word christos, is the word for anointed one, which is used for the Messiah, which of course is where we get the word Christ from.

Christ is not Jesus of Nazareth’s last name. It is a title.

When we say Jesus Christ we are saying Jesus, who is the Anointed one, who is the Messiah. It is a confession that we believe that this Jesus is the promised Messiah, God’s anointed one. The word anti can be used in two different ways, one as something that is opposed to or opposite of, and two in the place of. From this understanding, we can see that John is talking about an individual or individuals, as we will see, that who are against Christ or have placed themselves in the place of Christ.

When we say Jesus Christ we are saying Jesus, who is the Anointed one, who is the Messiah. It is a confession that we believe that this Jesus is the promised Messiah, God’s anointed one.

These are not merely people who are deceived, but are actively working against Christ and his kingdom. We can of course, immediately see why we should listen carefully to what John is saying so that we may be on guard against such men. This morning, I want to look at John’s message under the heading, Guarding against antichrists.

If you haven’t already, open your copy of God’s word to 1 John chapter 2 and we will begin in verse 18. 1 John chapter 2, at verse 18. If you don’t have a copy of God’s word, there should be one in a seatback close to you and we will also put the words on the screens. 1 John 2:18. John says,

1 John 2:18–27 18 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. 19 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 all are not of us. 20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. 21 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. 22 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. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 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. 25 And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life. 26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27 But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.

The first thing I want you to see is John’s invitation to…

I. ASCERTAIN THE TIME

For our younger audience, to ascertain something is to ‘make sure of’ to spend time exploring something in order to make certain of it. In this context, John wants his readers to be certain of the time they are living in. He says…

1 John 2:18 “18 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.”

John begins this section of his letter, returning again to this term of endearment that he uses repeatedly through this letter. Choosing this time to use children and not little children.

As we have said, we should not see in this term any derogatory tone or even an implication that he considers these believers to be infantile in their understanding or walk with Christ, but rather as a term of endearment from someone who loves the brethren and has a fatherly, pastoral concern and love for these believers.

Then John makes an assertion.

It is the last hour.

The New Testament includes many references like this.

For instance… 2 Timothy 3:1 “1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.” ;

James 5:3“3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days.” ;

2 Peter 3:3 “3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.” ;

Jude 17–18 “17 But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18 They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.””

We can see from Peter’s sermon on Pentecost that the apostles connected that event with the ushering in of the last days, when he stands before the scoffers and declares from the prophetic writings of Joel. Acts 2:17 “17 “ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;”

John does use different language here when he says, last hour, but I think we should not make too much of that other than John stressing the immediacy of the threat he is about to reveal. Contextually, I think, the last hour, indicates not that the last days are coming to a close, but a reminder that these believers are in fact in the last days. This is not a future threat, but a in their time, threat.

Why does John declare that it is the last hour?

He says as you have heard that antichrist is coming.

Now, when we hear the word antichrist, at least in the context of growing up where a pre-millennial dispensational eschatological viewpoint was the major view, we most likely immediately think of the Antichrist, the man of lawlessness, the beast, etc…Images from revelation come to mind.

Two reasons why I think that we need to be careful, one, John does not use a definite article. He does not say the Antichrist is coming, but you have heard that antichrist is coming, and two is that line of thinking immediately puts the threat out there somewhere in the future.

The threat John is warning these readers about is a current threat, and so he says, so now many antichrists have come, using the plural form of the noun antichrist.

Therefore, John says, we know that it is the last hour. How do we know it is the last hour? Because many antichrist have come and we know that in the last hour antichrist will come.

Far from being circular reasoning, John is saying, do not be misled, you have heard that in the last hour, the last days, antichrist is coming, we know that it is the last hour now because that has happened.

Imagine for a moment that you are watching the weather channel and a meteorologist says there is going to be a bad storm tomorrow that will begin with rain. When tomorrow came and it began to rain, you would say this is the bad storm he told us about.

Jesus told his disciples that ‘many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’. In the same teaching he said, ‘this must take place, but the end is not yet, these are but the beginning of the birth pains.’ In that same section of teaching Jesus says, For false christs and false prophets will arise.

Jesus, being the great teacher he is, uses a really good analogy there.

This is the beginning of the birth pains.

We know that the baby is coming when the contractions begin, a woman is in labor, they are in the last hour of their pregnancy, no matter how long it lasts. You know labor has begun because the contractions have begun.

In the same way, John says, it is the last hour because antichrists have come. Why does John begin here, and why are we spending time here this morning? Because if we do not ascertain the time, we will not behave accordingly.

...if we do not ascertain the time, we will not behave accordingly.

There is a reason Jesus warned us about false Christs and false prophets, there is a reason writers of scripture include these warnings.

What a gracious gift from God, this warning against deception and danger.

As I studied this week, one of my prayers was, Lord, thank you that you have warned us ahead of time that men will come in your name who do not belong to you that we may be aware of the danger.

The threat is real, the danger is present, the time to be on guard is now. When Jesus came, he ushered in the last days of this age and when he returns it will come to a close, whether that is 2,000 years or 3,000 years.

Let me ask you, are you living like it is the last hour?

Are you on guard against the attitude of the antichrist that is against Christ, that rejects Christ?

If this is the last hour and we are supposed to be diligently watching, praying for our Lord to return and warning those around us of the reality of not being a part of Christ when he returns, or are we acting as though we have all the time in the world?

Jesus uses two time periods to warn us of failing to ascertain the time. In Luke chapter 17 he says.

English Standard Version Chapter 17

26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, 29 but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— 30 so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed.

In the days of Noah and in the days of Lot. They were eating, drinking, marrying, buying, selling, planting, building, not heeding the warnings of the time until it was too late. Which one describes your life, are you living with an urgent expectation that drives you to faithfully proclaim the word of God and live in light of Christ’s return or have you been lulled into a sense that there is no danger, there is no urgency? The apostle John wanted his readers and by extension, ourselves, to understand clearly that it is the last days.

We must ascertain the time, we must also…

II. ANALYZE THE THREAT

John moves from the evidence of the antichrists being the sign that we are in the last hour, to how we will identify the spirit of the antichrist or these antichrists?

1 John 2:19 “19 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 all are not of us.” 1 John 2:22 “22 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.”

Notice, first that these threats are not only coming from outside the church, indeed John says they come from within the church. Growing up in the church, especially the church that was all in on the pre-trib dispensational eschatology, I cannot tell you how many times I have heard this person is the antichrist, or this person is the antichrist. Just since my late twenties till now, I have heard so called ‘Christian minds’ identify Obama, Pelosi, Trump, and Elon Musk as the antiChrist, often citing scriptural verses as evidence. Historically, the title has been applied various Roman emperors, to various popes, to the office of pope itself, to Hitler, Stalin and so on.

As far as the antichrist, the final manifestation of the spirit of the antichrist, as far as the future fulfillment, if they follow the pattern for us in scripture, they will not be so easily identified as someone out there.

John says they went out from us, indicating at least for some portion of time, they outwardly appeared to belong to the true church.

Prior to them going out and showing themselves as antichrists, John seems to be saying that they seemed like they were one of us. At least in the beginning, they will appear to be genuine believers, which is I think why John has spend so much of the previous portion of this letter, laying out these doctrinal and confessionary tests, so that we will we able to clearly see when someone’s claims do not match their lives. These antichrists, John says, went out from us, but they were not of us.

John surely has in mind, those who physically went out from them, but also I think there is an idea of departing the teachings of the faith, not just a locational departure. I think we see that clearly in John’s language, when he says, they would have continued with us. I don’t think John is saying, if they were truly Christians they would not have gone out physically. If it weren’t for men and women willing to go out physically from their home church to places where the gospel is needed, we wouldn’t have missionaries, we wouldn’t have church planters, we wouldn’t have evangelists. But these ‘went out’ outside the teachings of the faith, outside the tenants of the faith, outside the truth of the scriptures, so that it might become plain that they all are not of us. That they all are not of us indicates that some of them are, those who, although separated by distance, remained connected in doctrine.

What is the primary departure John lists as the evidence of antichrist?

He who denies that Jesus is the Christ.

This is the liar, John says. This is he who denies the Father and the Son.

As we saw in the beginning of our time together, Jesus Christ is short for Jesus is the Christ.

To deny that Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed one, the Messiah, then is to deny that God has sent his one and only son to be the propitiation of the world, to be the sacrificial lamb that takes away the sins of the world.

But by now, I pray that our time together in John has shown you that what John is saying here goes far beyond simply saying Jesus is the Christ.

For instance, to say that Jesus is the Christ and to walk in darkness would make us a liar. Why? Because God is light and Christ is the manifested light of God, you cannot truly embrace the light if you still walk in darkness. To say that we have no sin, would be evidence that the truth is not in us. Why? Because God’s word said that Jesus was sent to be the propitiation for our sins, if we deny that we have sin, we deny that we need Jesus. To say that Jesus is the Christ and not keep his commandments, John says exposes us as liars. You cannot say that Jesus is THE Messiah, God’s anointed one, his sole provision of sin and rightful Lord over all and not obey his commands. And on and on 1st John goes.

To deny any part of the statement Jesus is the Christ and its implications is to deny Christ.

To say that Jesus wasn’t a real physical man of flesh and blood as the gnostics did is to deny Jesus is the Christ.

To say that Jesus is the only way to the Father, is to deny that Jesus is the Christ.

To say that any man is not in need of being saved is to deny that Jesus is the Christ.

To say that Jesus simply embodied the Christ-consciousness that is within us all is to deny that Jesus is the Christ.

Jesus of Nazareth, born of a virgin birth, who lived a sinless death, who died a sinner’s death substitutionally for his sheep, is THE Christ, the chosen one, the anointed one, the messiah, God’’s one and only son.

To say anything about Jesus that is not directly in line with scriptural teaching and the declarations of the Father is to deny both the Father and the Son.

Jesus of Nazareth, who was born of a virgin, who lived a sinless death, who died a sinner’s death substitutionally for his sheep, is THE Christ, the chosen one, the anointed one, the messiah, God’’s one and only son.

So how do we analyze the threat? How do we know who is antichrist?

They deny these core truths about Jesus. They set themselves as opposed to Christ and therefore John says they deny the Father. The threat of antichrists is that they will deny core truths about Christ.

The danger that I have seen in my life is that will often not come out and flatly deny Christ, they will affirm much about Christ, enough to lead immature and uncertain believers into error, but they will deny important aspects of his nature or his mission.

Having been awakened to the present danger of antichrists, and having looked at how to analyze who they are, how do we respond to them? How do we guard against them.

The last thing we are going to look at this morning is we must…

III. APPLY THE TRUTH

Continuing his writing style of using contrasting elements, John contrasts the lies of the antichrists with the truth that these believers have. You have all knowledge, you know the truth, you have no need that anyone should teach you, the anointing is true and is no life.

God has given us the antidote to the antichrists that are all around us.

The spirit of the truth. Jesus uses this terminology to refer to the Holy Spirit in the upper room discourse with his disciples, after he declares that he is the truth.

John 14:16–17 “16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”

John 15:26 “26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.”

John 16:13 “13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”

As does the apostle John in this same letter. (ESV) 4:6; 5:6

1 John 4:6 “6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”

1 John 5:6“6 This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.”

This is what John is talking about in 1 John 2:20–21 “20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. 21 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 says, you know the truth, I am not writing because you don’t, but remember that no lie is of the truth. These false teachers who deny Christ are not of the truth, in the truth, or from the truth. You can reject them outright because you know the truth. If they deny the Son, you can be sure that they do not have the Father.

To deny one is to deny the other, on the other hand, to confess the Son is evidence one has the Father.

Let’s look more closely at what John says in verses 23-27.

Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. To abide is to remain, borrowing from John’s earlier words, it can be described in the negative as ‘to not depart’. To hold continually. To what, what you heard from the beginning. We saw John use similar language earlier in chapter 2 concerning the command you had from the beginning. There we said that we believe John is talking about when they heard the gospel and believed. When Christ was proclaimed to them and they believed on his name through faith.

So in essence, John is saying stay grounded in the gospel, hold on to the truth. This is his answer to the influence of the antichrists that are trying to deceive them.

John says, if they do that, If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.

You will remain in the son and in the Father. In verse 27, he goes to the other side of the coin, if you are in the Son, if you have fellowship with the Father, you have the Spirit of Truth, here called the anointing that you received.

John then says something that can be easily misunderstood and misapplied, so I want to spend some time here. He goes on, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie- just as it has taught you, abide in him.

The scripture is clear that all believers have an illumination from God through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, who accompanies the Word and keeps them in the truth of the gospel. This ministry begins at conversion. Apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, no man will believe the truths of the gospel, it is foolishness to him. I believe this is what John means when he says, just as it has taught you, abide in him. Now is John saying that because we have the Spirit we will immediately understand all of scripture and we do not need any teachers?

I don’t think that is what John is saying at all.

One, because he is actively teaching them through this letter.

Two, scripture makes it clear in other passages that God has given teachers to the church to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. Rather, I think John is saying. You know the basics of Christianity, you know who Christ is, you know what he has done, the Spirit has led you into a saving knowledge of Christ through the proclamation of the gospel. You don’t need anyone to teach you these things again and if anyone comes to you bringing a gospel or a doctrine that contradicts the basic tenants of the gospel message, you know that they are false teachers or as he says here antichrists. Teachers help us understand the depth of the gospel, they remind us that it is Jesus is the main character throughout scripture, they help us with nuance and to understand the more difficult parts of scripture. Primarily because they also have the illuminating work of the Spirit in their lives and have been called and gifted to teach, but and I want you to hear me, they build on the gospel foundation they do not change it.

No true teaching of the Spirit will ever contradict or distort the gospel.

This is what these false teachers were doing, they were saying Jesus only appeared to be in the flesh, or that he only appeared to die, which is in direct contrast to the gospel message. I think John is saying that we have everything we need to evaluate and expose these antichrists if we will simply apply the truth to what they are teaching. No true teaching of the Spirit will ever contradict or distort the gospel. Friends, if you are a Christian, you do not need to fear the antichrists. John is not writing so that we will be fearful but so that we will be encouraged to stand firm, guard the truth, and resist those who would try and deceive us. John returning to this topic in chapter 4 says,

1 John 4:1-6 (ESV) 1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Every Spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.

Do you see how John applies the test?

The gospel says that Jesus was born of a virgin, that he was fully man and fully God, that he really lived and really died. That he was buried and raised physically to life and he ascended bodily and will return bodily.

If any spirit does not confess this about Jesus, it is not from God.

Our problem in resisting false teachers is not that we do not know enough, but that we don’t apply what we know.

This is the encouragement of the apostle John.

You know the truth, hold fast to it, you will overcome those who are from the world.

Consequently, then, the better we immerse ourselves in the scriptures, the better we understand the gospel, the more prepared we are and the easier we can apply the truth to these false teachers and teachings. The less we engage with scripture, the more we ignore the beautiful truths within, the less prepared we are and the easier we can be led astray by false teachers and teachings.

John writes to people that he loves dearly and that he wants to warn, to encourage, and to challenge to abide in the truth that they have received. He wants them to be able to recognize the false teachers, the antichrists that have come so that they will hold fast to the truth and abide in Christ.

In that, I think that his words here today can function in much the same way. If we are going to hold fast to the truth we need to ascertain the time, we need to not only realize the time we are in but live accordingly.

We need to analyze the threat, that is we need to recognize that just because someone is in the church or near the church it does not mean that they are in Christ, or even that they think they are in Christ, there are those and have always been those who are against Christ.

Finally, we need to apply the truth. We stay close to the gospel, we remind ourselves of it regularly, we teach it to our kids, we talk about it with our peers, we learn more deeply about it from our teachers. It is not only the foundation of our faith but it is by the gospel truths we measure those who claim to be in Christ as well as expose those who are against Christ.

Let us pray.