Lord's Day: Jan 19, 2025 Preacher: Carlos Montijo Series: First John Topic: End Times Scripture: 1 John 2:20–27, 2 Timothy 2:13, John 8:51, Psalm 27:1–2, 1 John 4:4, 1 Corinthians 14:8, Galatians 1:10, Hebrews 5:14, 2 Peter 3:18 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. 21 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. 22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. 24 As for you, let that which you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise which He Himself made to us: eternal life. 26 These things I have written to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27 And as for you, the anointing whom you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as He has taught you, abide in Him. 1 John 2:20-27 In light of all “these things” that have been written to us, you may have heard the saying that eschatology is only of secondary or tertiary importance Wrong: Eschatology is not always a matter of secondary/tertiary importance This is confusing and misleading, because it’s one thing to have different views of the eschatological millennium (premillennialism, postmillennialism, amillennialism), but it’s another thing to have different views of the final judgment and of antichrist, more consequential Especially in light of the repeated warnings of the apostles against the eschatological Antichrists and the Antichrist, because “‘the mystery of iniquity [is] already [at] work...’ (2 Thess 2:7). So Antichrist must always be seen as a present reality in AD 65, in 1517, in 1999, [in 2025!]. Antichrist’s appearance belongs to the last days, and according to John, the spirit of Antichrist manifested in the false teachers was a harbinger [sign] of the end time.”[6]There are many antichrists, worldly antichrists and religious antichrists, there is a spirit of antichrist in the world and in churches, true and false churches, and then there is the antichrist—the papacy—all of whom “are trying to deceive you” (v. 26) The doctrines of the final judgment and of antichrist are too vital to dismiss or get wrong, they are highly consequential, and, to the extent that they are infected with error, can lead to a dangerous downstream of errors, heresies, and confusion They are not matters of mere secondary importance that we can just disagree on without any consequence Because a false view of the final judgment can pervert the true gospel—New Perspective on Paul, Final Justification/Salvation And because failing to identify/expose antichrists and the antichrist is a failure to identify ours and the true church’s mortal enemies—and makes us ineffective and worse, possibly do more harm than good, in the spiritual battle of this divine drama of redemption and judgmentUnless—we are being careful to exercise and train our senses to discern good and evil, true and almost true, Christ and Antichrist, through constant practice (Heb 5:14)These doctrines are of vital importance to the salvation of our own souls and to knowing, identifying, exposing, and defending our faith, and our souls, against the real enemy and ever-present enemies—antichrist and many antichrists As soldiers of Christ’s army, we must adequately train with the whole armor of God and of light to fight against our mortal enemies But have no fear—the Captain of our Salvation is here! The leader of God’s spiritual army—Jesus Christ the Righteous, He leads the way, our Anointed Lord, Master, and Omnipotent Savior, our Conqueror, our Prophet, Priest, and King So then, continue to abide in Him, beloved, to grow in Him, not by your own mere strength and efforts, but by the anointing of His Spirit in the truth of the saving gospel, by His means of grace Tim Kauffman’s eschatology series on Semper Reformanda Radio: The Danielic Imperative https://thorncrownministries.com/eschatology Steve Matthews’ Radio Lux Lucet https://thorncrownministries.com/radio-lux-lucet We meet on Sundays for worship at 10:00am: ThornCrown Covenant Baptist Church4712 Montana AveEl Paso, Texas 79903 Contact us at: web: ThornCrownCovenant.Churchcall/text: (915) 843-8088email: ThornCrownCovenantBChurch@gmail.com Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com [6] John W. ...
