About this sermon
This sermon on 1 John 2:18–19 explains the apostle’s warning that many antichrists have come. It considers apostasy, the last hour, and the perseverance Christ gives to those who truly belong to him.
Sermon transcript
Please remain standing for the reading of God’s Word. We are again this morning in 1 John 2, verses 18–19. That is my sermon text for today. I will begin reading at verse 15 and read through verse 25 to provide some context. Our main focus will be on these two verses, verses 18 and 19. By the way, we will return next Lord’s Day to our study of Isaiah, the major series on Isaiah. I thought this would be an appropriate passage for us to consider this morning. You will find this reading on page 1211 in your Pew Bible. So let us hear God’s holy word, beginning at 1 John 2, verse 15.
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For 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 is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
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. 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 clear that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. 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.
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. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. “Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you.” “If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.” And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.
Dear friends, the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Let us pray together. Father God in heaven, we thank you that you have given us an anointing and the grace of your Holy Spirit, the Spirit of discernment. We ask, Lord, that as we consider this portion of your holy word, your Spirit would deepen our discernment and understanding of the Scriptures, that we might have a closer walk with you and be faithful in our discipleship to Christ. We ask, Lord, that you once again, by your grace, would set a guard over my lips, that I might speak only what is faithful in your sight and edifying to your people. We pray, heavenly Father, that you would be with us now as we consider this portion of your word. We ask these things through Christ our Lord. And all of God’s people said, amen.
You may be seated. The title of my sermon this morning is The Last Hour. If you are following along in your sermon outline, you will notice there are three key words I would encourage you to listen for, especially the children: hour, antichrists, and perseverance. Have any of you heard of Hal Lindsey? Yes. Many of you seem to have heard of him. Some of you may not have. If you are of the younger generations, you may not have heard of Hal Lindsey.
But as you may know, Mr. Lindsay was a Bible prophecy enthusiast and a popular religious author in the 1970s and 1980s. He wrote on topics related to Bible prophecy, and his books were very popular in the Christian book market. His most famous book, which was published in 1970, was entitled The Late Great Planet Earth. Since the publication of this best-selling book, many contemporary Christians have become fascinated—some might even say preoccupied—with the prophecies of the Bible and with seeking their fulfillment in current world events. We might say that Mr. Lindsay’s best-selling book helped to popularize the common practice of interpreting Bible prophecy through the lens of daily news.
Newspaper exegesis, if you will, or eisegesis, as I would suggest. Books in this Hal Lindsay genre often fill the shelves of Christian bookstores. Now, friends, do not misunderstand. I am not commending Mr. Lindsay’s writings. In fact, while I would certainly not recommend Mr. Lindsay’s book The Late Great Planet Earth as an accurate interpretation of Bible prophecy, it was my own fascination with Bible prophecy as a young man—fascination that had been stimulated by books of the Hal Lindsay genre—that led me to seek a deeper understanding of the Bible. This pursuit ultimately brought me into contact with the biblical Jesus and the biblical gospel, the good news of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
And as many of you know, one of my favorite sayings is that God can draw a straight line with a crooked stick. And if there ever was a crooked stick, theologically speaking, it would have been Hal Lindsay’s writings. One of the major subjects that Bible prophecy enthusiasts often focus on is the subject of the so-called Antichrist. High on the list of questions for prophecy enthusiasts are questions such as these.
Who or what is the Antichrist? Is the Antichrist an individual, or perhaps an institution, or something else? Was the Antichrist a figure of the past, possibly one who arose in the first century and opposed the spread of the gospel during the apostolic era? Or is the Antichrist a future historical figure who will appear at some time in the future, just before the return of Christ? And if the Antichrist is a figure who will appear at the end of time, just before the second coming of Christ, is the Antichrist alive on Earth today?
Questions can continue in this way. Friends, our passage for this Lord’s Day morning is one of those passages that is especially popular among Bible prophecy enthusiasts, because it is one of the few passages in the Word of God that actually mentions the figure of the Antichrist. However, while it may be tempting for us to focus especially on the Apostle John’s statement in verse 18, where he says that the Antichrist, singular, is coming, it is important for us to understand that in the broader context of this passage, beloved, this mysterious figure is not the main focus of what John is communicating. Yes, John mentions the Antichrist, but he does so briefly to make a larger point. In this passage, John is contrasting the many antichrists who have already come and have left the church with true believers, true disciples of Jesus, those who remain in the faith and in the fellowship of the true visible church.
While our passage for today certainly has implications for a biblical doctrine of eschatology, which means the doctrine of the end times or last things, nevertheless, I would suggest to you that the main focus of our passage is actually soteriological. In other words, it deals with the doctrine of salvation. And certainly, the doctrine of the end times and the doctrine of salvation are connected. But in particular, our passage for today teaches what we in the Reformed faith call the perseverance of the saints.
This teaching holds that true believers ultimately remain in the faith, as shown by their continued participation in the fellowship of the true visible church. In contrast, antichrists—those who are false Christians—ultimately leave behind their profession of faith and depart from the true visible church. In the words of Dr. Simon Kistemacher, believers belong, deniers depart. Believers belong, deniers depart.
So, friends, as we come to this passage of God’s word found here in 1 John, it is important for us to remember the context. It is important for us to remember that in this letter, the apostle John is seeking to strengthen and to fortify the faith of the Christians in a church or a group of churches that are under his apostolic oversight. These churches had experienced a division. You see, heretics and false teachers had left the church under John’s apostolic care because they had rejected essential truths of the gospel, such as the truth of our Lord’s incarnation and atonement on the cross. They were trying to lead the remaining believers away from the gospel and into their false teaching. In terms of the immediate context, Dr. Kistemacher writes: in light of the immediate context, we see that those who love the world and its pursuits have placed themselves in opposition to Christ and therefore are called antichrists.
So let us begin with verse 18. In this verse, we see the importance of understanding the hour. What hour is it in terms of redemptive history? This is a question we can answer from passages such as this one. The first point, then, is understanding the hour.
John begins this section by addressing his readers as children. Children, he says, it is the last hour. This address as children is not meant to be patronizing. He is not speaking down to them as if he is superior. Rather, the term “children” reflects John’s care for them, his concern for them, and his love for them. He has a pastor’s heart. As an apostle of Jesus, he possesses a pastoral concern and is deeply concerned for them. He says to them, children, it is the last hour.
In the English translation, this is rendered as “the last hour.” However, it is important to note that in the Greek, there is no definite article. If we were to translate this in a literal manner, it could be rendered as “a last hour it is.” Although the absence of the definite article may not carry significant meaning here—since the Greek word for “last” often appears without the article—the emphasis in this passage appears to fall on the word “last” rather than on “hour.” This suggests that the focus is on the quality of this hour rather than on its duration. Is this hour a literal span of sixty minutes, or is it a figurative expression? The emphasis is on the word “last.”
John’s phrase “the last hour” means essentially the same as what is elsewhere in the New Testament referred to as “the last days” or “these last times,” and similar expressions.
These kinds of expressions are found throughout the New Testament scriptures. To provide a few additional examples, let us turn to Acts 2, verse 17. This passage is part of Peter’s Pentecost sermon, following the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the church in the powerful, miraculous, and redemptive historical event that occurred on the day of Pentecost. Peter is explaining to his listeners that what they are witnessing is a fulfillment of the scriptures, specifically the Old Testament scriptures. It says, beginning in verse 16: “But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel. 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.”
The implication here is that the day of Pentecost marked the beginning of the period of redemptive history known as the last days. Similarly, consider Hebrews chapter 1, verse 2. I will begin reading at verse 1. We will read verses 1 and 2 of Hebrews chapter 1, with particular attention to the statement in verse 2.
The author of Hebrews writes: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he created the world, and so forth.” Thus, the author of the book of Hebrews, writing in the first century, refers to the time in which he was writing as the last days.
Note this carefully. Often, well-meaning Christians ask whether we are in the last days or in the end times. The biblical answer to this question is that we have been in the last days since the first century.
That is confirmed by passages such as Hebrews 1, verse 2. We have been in the last days ever since Jesus died for our sins, rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, and poured out the Holy Spirit upon his church. Another passage, the final passage we will examine to reinforce what I have been saying, is 1 Peter 1, verse 20. Peter writes in 1 Peter 1, verse 20: “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for your sake.” Christ’s first coming was revealed in the last times. Therefore, the expressions “last hour,” “last days,” and “last time” all refer to the same reality. So again, what does John mean by “the last hour” in our passage for today?
First of all, notice that it is already a present reality, as I have been stating, even from the first century. Notice that John writes, “It is the last hour.” He is writing in the first century, addressing first-century Christians living during the apostolic era. He says it is the last hour, not that it will be the last hour at some time in the future, but that it is the last hour. Therefore, we know that the last hour began in the first century.
We also can discern here that this term, the last hour, is a figure of speech indicating the time that extends from the apostolic era and the appearance of the church’s first antichrists in the first century up until the time of our Lord’s future glorious second advent. It is a designation for this period of redemptive history in which we are living right now. We are in the last hour. We have been in the last hour since the resurrection of our Lord. Therefore, the implication of this terminology is that the last hour points to the imminence of our Lord’s return in glory. When we speak of the imminence of His return, we mean that the term last hour indicates Christ could return at any moment. Friends, let me tell you something.
It is a total waste of time. It is poor stewardship of your time and energy to devote yourself to trying to determine when Jesus will return. It is a waste of time. It is bad stewardship. I would suggest that it may even be a sinful activity to engage in.
Because Jesus made it very clear: no one knows the day or the hour. I have heard some prophecy speculators say, well, yes, no one knows the exact day or hour, but you can know the year. No. The point Jesus is making is that no one knows. It will happen when the Father decides it will happen. It is all set in God’s sovereign decree and timetable, but that is the secret things of the Lord. The secret things do not belong to us. The things that are revealed belong to us. But we know that Jesus is returning. That is the next major event on God’s calendar of redemptive history. That is the return of our Lord.
But notice also that this last hour that John refers to here is a period of redemptive history characterized by the presence of many antichrists, as we are told in verse 18. Whoever the antichrist may be, the point John is making is that even now, even as he was writing in the first century, many antichrists have already arisen. 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. Notice, John is telling us that we now know that it is the last hour. He says, therefore, we know that it is the last hour. How do we know that, John?
We know that because many antichrists have already come. You see, the first coming of our Lord, the advent of our Lord two thousand years ago, triggered a response in the kingdom of darkness. Satan has been defeated in principle on the cross. Christ has risen from the dead. The gospel is going forth. The elect are being gathered from the four corners of the earth into the kingdom of Christ.
And this is not making Satan happy. So the coming of Christ has triggered a response in the kingdom of darkness, with the rise of many antichrists, false teachers, false apostles, false prophets, and others, who contradict the biblical gospel and seek to undermine the work of the Lord. Now this leads me to my next point, and that is we have here in this passage the warning that many antichrists have come. Many antichrists have come.
Again, John says this explicitly in verse 18. Then he explains who they are in verse 19. He says, “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 be clear that they all are not of us.”
Well, this raises the question: what is the meaning of the term antichrist, antichristos, in the Greek? The term anti can mean in place of, or in opposition to, and I believe it may refer to both meanings. Therefore, an antichrist is not only a substitute for Christ, one who comes in the place of Christ, but also one who opposes the biblical Lord Jesus Christ and His gospel. As Kistemacher says, the Antichrist comes in the place of Christ and stands in opposition to Him.
Now, we have a contrast in our passage in verse 18 between the Antichrist and the many antichrists. Although John is focusing on the many antichrists, this still raises the question: who is the antichrist figure that John is speaking of here? The one whom he says in verse 18 is coming. This is a complicated subject.
It is a subject we do not have time to cover this morning, and there are many different opinions about the identity of the Antichrist, even among faithful Bible-believing scholars and theologians. For example, the great reformer Martin Luther, along with the Westminster divines and conservative commentators such as the Lutheran commentator Richard Lenski, have identified the Antichrist with either the Pope or the papal system of Rome. After all, the Pope claims to be the vicar of Christ, to stand in the place of Christ, and many have viewed the Pope, or at least the papacy as an institution, as the Antichrist. Others see the Antichrist as a future religious or political leader who will arise before the return of Christ to deceive the nations. Paul’s reference in 2 Thessalonians 2 to a man of lawlessness who will be revealed before our Lord’s return may support such an understanding of the Antichrist if the man of lawlessness is the same as the Antichrist.
But again, whoever the Antichrist is, John’s focus in our passage is on the many antichrists who have already come. I want you to notice something interesting about what John says about these antichrists. He says that they arise from within the visible church. Look again at verse 19.
John writes, “They went out from us, but they were not of us. They had been associated with the visible church for a time at least, but they went out, they departed because of their heresy. 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.”
Now again, notice that this verse is not only instructive in helping us understand this passage, but it is also instructive for our situation today. They went out from us, John says, but they were not of us.
They went out from us just as Judas Iscariot went out into the darkness on the night before our Lord’s crucifixion. We are told, I believe it is in the Gospel of John, that Judas went out into the darkness to betray our Savior into the hands of wicked men. And that is the picture that seems to be in John’s view here. These antichrists, like Judas, went out from us.
They did not simply leave one apostolic, Bible-believing church to join another church. That is not what this passage is talking about. And if you ever hear a preacher say, “You cannot leave our church to join another faithful church, because that would make you an antichrist,” that would be a spiritually abusive statement. There is nothing inherently sinful in transferring your membership to another faithful, Bible-believing church. But no, John is not talking about that. He is talking about those who have left the faith, not merely left the church to join another faithful church, but who have left the faith in its entirety.
He says, they went out from us, but they were not of us. They were not of us. In other words, they were not truly born-again Christians. They were not in true spiritual saving union with Christ. They were false confessors, not true believers. Now, the particular Antichrist that John was dealing with, we can understand by studying 1 John, what kinds of heretics and false professors he was addressing? Probably those who could be described as proto-Gnostic heretics.
The Gnostics were those who denied the goodness of matter, and therefore, in developed Gnosticism, the goal of salvation was to escape the prison of the body. The body and the physical world are considered evil. Consider this: if you hold a Gnostic mindset and believe that the material world is evil and the human body is evil, then you would certainly have difficulty believing that the divine Christ would take upon himself human flesh.
But as we read earlier in the service, the Bible makes it clear that the Word, the eternal Word, the Lord Jesus Christ became flesh and dwelt among us. Yet these heretics were apparently denying that the man Jesus is the divine Christ. They were making a separation between the so-called Jesus of history and the so-called Christ of faith. These were heretics and false teachers who denied essential gospel truths, such as Christ’s incarnation. And if you deny the incarnation of Christ, you deny that the divine Christ became human, took upon himself our humanity, body and soul, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Then you would have to deny his atonement on the cross of Calvary. These were the kinds of heresies that John was addressing in his particular situation. But do such heresies exist today?
Maybe not in the exact same form as they did in the first century, but fundamentally, an Antichrist is someone who denies the Jesus of the Bible, the Jesus revealed in Scripture. There are many systems today that reflect this spirit. To give a few examples, the Jehovah’s Witnesses are an Antichrist group because they deny that Jesus of Nazareth is Jehovah God. They deny the full deity of Christ.
They deny the biblical Christ, and therefore they are of the spirit of the Antichrist. The same is true of the Mormons, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as they call themselves. Did you know that Mormon theology is actually polytheistic? They teach that God was once a man like you and me, and that he ascended to the Godhead, and that we too, if we are faithful Mormons, can attain Godhood and have our own spirit children, and create our own universes, and so forth.
But even closer to home, the spirit of Antichrist is alive and well in many so-called mainline denominations, because there are many modernists today—called theological progressives—who deny that Jesus is literally God or that he literally rose from the dead. I remember, I think it was last week, watching a video clip online of a female pastor. She wore a clerical collar and was supposedly preaching about the resurrection, but what she was actually doing was mocking the idea that Jesus would physically rise from the dead. She was ridiculing the resurrected Christ. She said, “Oh, we live in the 21st century. We know that it is impossible for the dead to come back to life. Obviously, this is symbolic,” she said.
You know, the Apostle Paul writes in Romans 10, verse 9, that if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord, in other words, you confess that the man Jesus is the divine Lord, you acknowledge his deity, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you will be saved. Paul is speaking about a physical, bodily resurrection. The bare minimum to believe in order to be saved is that Jesus is Lord and that God raised him from the dead.
This woman believed neither. The implication is that if you do not believe these things, you are not saved. Therefore, do not pretend to be a Christian, and especially, I would say to this woman, do not pretend to be a minister of Christ if you will stand behind the pulpit and deny the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The spirit of antichrist still prevails. Many antichrists have arisen throughout the history of the church, and there are many antichrists today. But that leads me to my final point. We notice here in verse 19 of our passage a contrast between the antichrists on the one hand and the persevering on the other. The antichrists and the persevering.
They went out from us, but they were not of us. There is an “us” and a “them” here. A distinction is being made. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. They would have remained and persevered in the faith and fellowship of Christ’s church. But they went out. They went out so that it might become clear that they are not of us.
Notice that this verse is not only instructive in helping us understand the historical setting of this epistle, but it is also incredibly relevant when addressing a pressing pastoral issue and question that many Christians have wrestled with: Can I lose my salvation? Perhaps you have wondered that.
You know, I have come to see my sin. I have come to receive Christ as my Savior. I am resting in Christ for my salvation. I know I am in a saved condition now, but could I ever lose that salvation? Can a true believer— not just a false confessor, not just someone like the antichrists, but a true believer—lose his or her salvation?
Well, dear friends in Christ, this passage clearly indicates that the answer to that question is a resounding no. John makes it clear that true believers will, as he puts it, continue with us. They will remain or abide in Christ and in His gospel. As he exhorts his readers in verse 24, he says, “Let what you have heard from the beginning abide in you.” He is speaking there about the gospel. If what you have heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.
See, friends, true believers are remainers. True believers persevere in faith and in the fellowship of the saints. This does not mean that true believers may not and cannot fall into sin, even serious sin. There are numerous examples in the Bible of true believers who, for a time, seriously backslide into serious, even scandalous sin. But the Lord eventually brings them back to true faith and repentance, and they will ultimately remain in the faith and fellowship of Christ.
But on the other hand, antichrists are false believers, false professors of faith, those who sooner or later reveal their true nature and depart from their profession of faith and from the fellowship of the true visible church. The antichrists are the tares who grow alongside the wheat in God’s kingdom field for a time. They are the husk, while the believers are the grain within the structure of God’s covenant. They are the dead, fruitless branches that are removed from Christ, the true vine. Just briefly, let us turn to John 15, and I will read verses one through six, where Jesus speaks about faith. Faith is abiding in Christ. Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser.”
Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers, and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
Therefore, there are those branches that truly abide in Christ by faith, and those branches that are only externally connected to Christ. These antichrists are those who are temporarily associated with the visible church for a time, but they are not part of the invisible church of God’s elect. Oh, dear listener, are you abiding in Christ by trusting in him for your salvation? If you are, you are not an antichrist. You are a remainer. You are one whom, by grace, God will enable to persevere in Christ even unto the end.
By grace, through faith, let us abide in him, and let us remain in him and in the fellowship of his visible church. And all of God’s people said, Amen. Let us pray together. Gracious Lord God and Heavenly Father, we thank you that Christ is the vine and we are the branches. We pray that by your grace you would enable us to abide in him by faith, to trust him, and to continue to cling to him. For saving faith is that which not only makes a one-time decision for Christ, but that which embraces and trusts in and clings to Christ and Christ alone for salvation. Oh Lord, we pray that we would take heart and take warning from this passage.
We ask, Lord God, that you would enable us to faithfully confess that the man Jesus is indeed the divine Christ, the Son of the living God, the way, the truth, and the life. We pray these things in Jesus’ name, and all of God’s people said, Amen. We are reminded in this passage that I just preached from that Christ is coming again. So let us rise and celebrate and sing of his coming by singing together hymn number 390, “Christ is Coming.”
The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.