Dear Church family and friends,

I pray that as you make the time to do this short study, that the Word of God would speak to you and equip you to stand firm in these last days. Many are abandoning their faith today. My prayer is that you keep keeping on!

Ice Breaker: Have you ever gotten talked into buying something that turned out to be a complete counterfeit? What was it?

This week’s text: “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.” (1 John 2:18-25)

John’s main purpose in writing this section was to remind his readers that they already knew the Truth and that by consistently living in Truth, they continued to abide in the Son and in the Father. The same is true today. Relative truths swirl around us on every side as we sink deeper into postmodern and post-Christian culture. Power is not truth. Wealth is not truth. Authority, ideas, philosophies, or influence are not truth. Truth is the Living Word, God Incarnate: Jesus who is the only source of salvation and reconciliation between creation and Creator. This is the gospel that believers from the first century until now know, and it is the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth.

And by the way, Satan always tries to counterfeit the truth. Have you ever seen a three dollar bill? Of course not, it doesn’t exist so there is no need to counterfeit a three dollar bill since it’s not a thing or real. In the same way Satan won’t spend his time on something that’s not real and that is why he attacks what is real, like the deity of Christ. And friend, don’t fool yourself, “antichrists” are alive and well today working hard to discredit the Christ of the Bible.

John warns us against antichrists in 1 John 2:18-25.

1. What time did John say it is and what does it mean? (2:18)
2. Who was coming & who had come at the time John wrote this? Why is the answer singular, then plural? (2:18)
3. What did John say about those who had left? What had they left? (2:19)
4. What did the readers of 1 John have? What difference does it make? (2:20)
5. What did the readers of 1 John know? Make a list of the things you know that you have in Christ. (2:21)
6. How is the antichrist identified? (2:22)
7. In what way is denying (or acknowledging) the Son related to having the Father? What does the trinity have to do with this and how important is it to believers in the trinity? (2:23)
8. What did John encourage his readers to do and what does it mean? (2:24)
9. What did the Father promise? Why is this promise important to you personally? (2:25)

May the Lord bless you and draw you closer to Him through His word. See you Sunday!