Introduction: In Disguise
It is often difficult to understand why people give in to certain temptations. From our vantage point, their problem should be easy to handle.
We may even wonder how Adam and Eve could have been so foolish as to have thrown aside all that God had given them in the dawn of their existence. We wouldn’t have fallen so easily—or would we?
Part of the problem is that Satan wears a disguise when he slithers into our lives. As Mephistopheles says in the drama Faust, “People do not know the devil is there even when he has them by the throat.”
The Bible tells us that the serpent was “more cunning than any beast of the field” (Genesis 3:1). No ominous hissing or rattling warned of danger. He didn’t ask, “Pardon me, may I have 20 minutes to destroy your life?”
Public Enemy No. 1 uses the same tactics today as he did back then. He appeals to our sinful desires. Satan even disguises himself as an angel of light, and his cohorts appear as ministers of righteousness.
To resist temptation and to detect Satan’s deceptions, we must live in close fellowship with Christ (1 John 2:28). Then we won’t be fooled by Satan’s disguises.
Source: Haddon W. Robison, Our Daily Bread
But there is day coming in which the Devil through off all his disguises! In that day the earth will literally quake at all the Devil with throw at the inhabitants of this planets. The bible says that if God does not stop the Devil in his tracks all humanity would be wiped off the face of the planet!
I. The Hour Of Antichrist 18
18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.
A. It Is The Last Hour 18a
1. Before we talk about the last hour, let’s talk about the last day
a. The Great and Terrible Day of the Lord in the OT Ezekiel 30.2
i. Everything high shall be brought low Isaiah 2:12
ii. It will come as destruction from the Almighty. Isaiah 13:6
iii. Sinners will be destroyed. Isaiah 13:9
iv. It is the day of the LORD’s vengeance Isaiah 34:8
v. It will make the inhabitants of the land tremble Joel 2:1
vi. The day of the LORD is great and very terrible Joel 2:11
vii. It is so terrible is it not to be desired
Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! For what good is the day of the LORD to you? It will be darkness, and not light. —Amos 5:18
viii. It is bitter
The great day of the LORD is near; It is near and hastens quickly. The noise of the day of the LORD is bitter; There the mighty men shall cry out.
—Zephaniah 1:14
ix. It is a day of wrath Zephaniah1.18
b. This day is a specific day in human history – it is Judgment Day!
2. But aren’t we getting a little ahead of ourselves?
a. Aren’t there a couple of things that must happen before Judgment Day?
b. Specifically, mustn’t the Antichrist be revealed?
B. It Is The Hour Of The Antichrist 18b
1. That is exactly what John said in verse 18
18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come,
2. I think before the antichrist comes, the Lord Jesus Christ will come for us!
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
—1Thessalonians 4:16
3. After the Lord remove His church, the antichrist will be revealed.
a. Upon his revelation, 7 years of tribulation will fall on the earth.
b. Jesus will then plant his flag on the earth and reign in peace for 1000 years.
i. During that time, the Devil will be chained in Hell!
ii. Following that the Devil will be released for a season and raise an army against the Son of God!
iii. But Jesus will defeat him with the Word of His mouth!
4. It is at that time, the hour of the antichrist will be over.
a. It will be ended by the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord!
b. The Devil and his angels will finally be cast into the lake of fire forever!
c. When that Day if over, time will cease!
d. New heaven – new earth – new Jerusalem – new everything!
i. The old stuff
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
—2Peter 3:10 NKJV
ii. The new stuff
1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.
2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
—Revelation 21:1-2
II. The Hour Of Abandonment 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 they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.
A. We Were Abandoned
1. They went out from us
a. What have we been talking about? Antichrist
b. Now we have the little “a” antichrists that were once part of the church and have now quit us!
2. Does this verse indicate that believers may fall from grace?
a. NO! NO! NO! Not on His Life!
b. But what this does indicate is that there are religious people in the church who are not TRUE Christians!
c. If you become a child of God – you remain a child of God.
3. John is speaks to this very point
for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us
a. If they had been in the family of God, they would have stayed in God’s church!
b. Listen, I know that situations arise that cause people to leave A church.
c. But there no situation should arise to cause you to leave THE church!
d. John says they left the church because they were never part of the body!
i. Why do we think this is strange and why do ministers take this so badly?
ii. If Paul, and thousands of his kind, could persecute the church and then get saved?
iii. Don’t you think there are some who might be raised as Christians and ditch the church ASAP.
B. They Were Apparent – why?
1. in order that the church might be purified from their influence
2. in order that it might not be responsible for their conduct, or reproached on account of it;
3. in order that their real character might be developed, and they might themselves see that they were not true Christians;
4. in order that, being seen and known as unbelievers, their opinions and conduct might have less influence than if they were connected with the church;
5. in order that they might themselves understand their own true character, and no longer live under the delusion that they were Christians and were safe,
C. Application To The Church
1. These two verses don’t seem to have a lot in common.
2. But they deal with the same subject.
a. One in the church – the little “a” antichrists.
b. The other out of the church – the big “A” Antichrist.
III. Conclusion
