Last time we talked about a couple of the ways walking in the truth protects us. By solidifying our faith and through an overcoming power.
Another way the truth protects us is that it warns us against deceivers. It tells us what to look out for, what we are to be on guard against, what will characterize their living and how they will attack.
This is a very predominate subject throughout the New Testament, and one that we need to pay close attention to.
This is the reason for John’s correspondence. Why he took the time to write this very personal letter. His affection and his concern were aroused when he heard of what was going on. And he went to some lengths to step in.
I think that’s the first thing we can notice about our struggle against the deceivers in this world – that this is not a struggle we are to face alone. WE NEED EACH OTHER. We need to be looking out for one another. We need to be ready to confront, even willing to go to great lengths, to protect our brothers and sisters.
This is yet another way the truth protects us – it protects us by rousing others to act when we are failing. Praise the LORD that we are not alone in this struggle.
V. 7 -- “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.”
“have gone out…”
Gone out from where?
This phrase indicates there was a place from which they departed. Whether by expulsion or of their own accord. A place they left or forsook.
What is this place?
1 John 2:19 says –
“They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.”
“and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.” – Acts 20:30
The place they left is the church. These are men who at one time, claimed to be our brothers. Those who we fellowshipped with, prayed with and worshipped with. Even those who we put a degree of trust in at some point.
This is important because it means they are well versed in the truth. The truth is not foreign to these deceivers. In fact – I would say that in many cases they know it better than most believers.
It requires more work and effort to live a lie than it does to live a genuine life.
They know how to act and what to say to fit in. And once this infiltration takes place, they begin to corrupt.
There are different characteristics of false teachers that are highlighted in different passages
But I want to, as much as possible, stay in our passage and look at what John emphasizes about them.
This is a very short epistle and his description is a little broader, but in it there are some key things that we are to look out for in relation to recognizing those who come in sheep’s clothing.
“…those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh.”
Christ is the object of their attack
This is where we are to look. What do they say about Christ? What do they do with Him, who do they say He is? These are good questions to ask when discerning if a teacher is false.
Their goal is to undermine, and destroy. Their motivation is personal gain. Through wealth and through power they seek to dominate. They misuse and exploit the grace of God to promote they’re sensual and destructive ways -- making their corrupt desires appear permissible.
They have no place for Christ in their teaching. BUT they have to deal with Him. He cannot be avoided as He is the central focus of the gospel.
What does it mean to deny Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh?
A denial of the incarnation – of Christ as God.
This is a denial of the virgin birth of Christ. A denial of the incarnation – that Jesus is God robed in humanity. Fully God and at the same time fully man. A denial of His deity.
If there had been no incarnation – if Jesus was not God this would be nothing more than another vain attempt by man to reach God. Christ is the bridge, the intercessor. He is how man comes to God. Man didn’t go up, God had to come down. Almighty God condescended in the form of Christ to bring sinners to Himself. This is paramount. To deny the incarnation is to deny the only hope that there is for sinners.
False teachers have no desire to see people come to salvation.
JESUS means Jehovah is help or Jehovah is salvation.
They deny His very name
Which leads us to another thing this denies –
A denial of Christ as Savior.
CHRIST – “means one who has been anointed, symbolizing appointment to a task.”
Christ is God’s Man. God’s anointed – His Chosen One whom He tasked with the accomplishment of an eternal plan.
To acknowledge Christ as the Word made flesh – the foretold One and Messiah who came with the will and power to fulfill His Fathers redemptive plan is to call Him Savior.
And they Will. Not. Do. It.
Think about what it is they are doing…they are dishonoring the cross – Christ’s greatest achievement. One which we are commanded to remember.
The marks that Christ bore He bears still (Rev 5:6) They bring Him glory, and He wears them like a trophy, they are His glory. They stand as a memorial to the crucifixion, so that we will NEVER FORGET what He did for us.
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain!”
It’s been said that “the only man-made thing in heaven will be the scars of the Savior!”
A denial of Christ as LORD
“For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” – Jude 4
More than a denial of Him as Savior, is a denial of Him as LORD. To acknowledge Christ as Savior is to acknowledge Him as Lord. Coming to Christ as my Savior means submitting to Him as my Lord.
You cannot accept one aspect of Christ’s character and deny another.
When we accept Christ, we accept ALL of Him. And HE. IS. LORD.
“God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” 1 Cor 1:9
“yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.” – 1 Cor 8:6
This really gets to the heart of their problem.
False teachers have an innate abhorrence for authority. They despise it (2 Peter 2:10, Jude 8). Their arrogance will not let them bow to anyone.
They will not submit to Christ as Lord because they have already claimed that position for themselves. They bow only to the baseness of their own desires.
A denial of Christ’s glory
We’ve already touched on this. To deny the cross is to rob Christ of His glory.
The Gospel is set up so Christ is the One exalted, He gets the glory.
These men do not share the spotlight. They consider Christ a rival.
“Who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Phil 2:6-11
This is what they deny. They deny the life, work and character of Christ.
Nothing should be more infuriating to us than to see our LORD treated thus.
If we are honoring Christ as we should any deviation from His perfect work and character ought to immediately grab our attention.
This is rather timely as we draw closer to the time of year when, “Christ coming in the flesh”, is emphasized perhaps more than any other.
When we celebrate the birth of Christ we are celebrating the incarnation. God come to earth.
Let us do so carefully. That we not dishonor such a gift. And be watchful against any who would seek to.
One of greatest desires of God’s people should be to see Christ lifted high.
-Augusta
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