1John 2:15-29
Outline:
I. \\#1:1-2:11\\ The Essentials of Fellowship.
A. \\#1:1-4\\ There is a FELLOWSHIP.
1. \\#1\\ John introduced the One with Whom the fellowship
was, although not by name.
2. \\#2\\ John re-emphasized the fellowship.
3. \\#3\\ John invited his readers to join in that
fellowship.
4. John revealed the One with Whom the fellowship was.
5. \\#4\\ John told his readers a product of joining in this
fellowship.
B. \\#1:5-2:11\\ How to know you have this fellowship.
1. \\1:5-7\\ If you have this fellowship, you will not abide
in darkness.
a. \\#5\\ John explained this truth with the symbols of
light and darkness.
b. \\#6\\ John stated the truth.
c. \\#7\\ John reversed and restated that truth.
2. \\#1:8-2:2\\ If you have fellowship, you will understand
sin.
a. \\#1:8\\ You will understand you are a sinner.
b. \\#1:9\\ You will confess your sins.
c. \\#1:10\\ You will understand that you have sinned.
d. \\#2:1-2\\ You will understand your Advocate.
3. \\#2:3-6\\ If you have fellowship, you will keep His
commandments.
4. \\#2:7-11\\ If you have fellowship, you will not hate your
brethren.
II. \\#2:12-14\\ John’s Audience
III. \\#2:15-29\\ John’s Warnings
A. \\#2:15-17\\ Beware the World
B. \\#2:18-25\\ Beware the Spirit of Anti-Christ
C. \\#2:26-29\\ Beware the Seducers
In 1John, the writer made sudden and abrupt turns without any
indication. That’s John’s style. As suddenly as he began speaking
about the three groups of Christian growth, he stopped. And with no
introduction, John began to give warnings to his readers which needed
to be heeded. Perhaps the warnings John gave were selected because of
conditions which existed within that local group of believers,
perhaps not. Regardless, the warnings John gave need to be heeded by
all.
\\#2:15-29\\ John’s Warnings
1John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. If any man love
the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
I. \\#15-17\\ Beware the World
A. \\#15\\ The commands:
1. Two commands are given.
a. "love not the world"
b. "neither the things that are in the world"
2. These are not suggestions from men but commands from God.
3. If we violate these commands, "the love of the Father is
not in" us.
a. This was John’s fourth symbolic term for the being
unsaved.
(1) \\#1John 1:6\\ Those who "walk in darkness" are
unsaved.
(2) \\#1John 1:8\\ If "the truth is not in us," we
are not saved.
(3) \\#1John 1:10\\ If "his word is not in us," we
are not saved.
(4) If "the love of the Father is not in" us, we are
not saved.
(5) You can see a fifth one in \\#1John 2:19\\.
b. The light, the truth, the word, and now the love of
God are all qualities used to describe God and His
salvation.
c. We cannot have fellowship with the Father and His Son
without also receiving from Them Their qualities.
B. \\#16\\ The Explanation:
1John 2:16 For all that is in the world, the
lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and
the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is
of the world.
1. John’s explanation boils down to one fact.
a. Loving this world "is not of the Father."
b. You can see that more clearly if you remove a few of
the words in this verse.
1John 2:16 …all that is in the world… is not
of the Father….
(1) One would have to conclude that a person cannot
love both the world and the Father.
(2) Why?
(a) The Father and the world are opposites.
(b) So much so that John was saying that every
person must pick one path or the other.
2. John described three tempters that pull us into the world.
a. "lust of the flesh" - I take it this means pure carnal,
sexual desires. The flesh is attractive to the
flesh and can pull at the most honorable of people.
b. "lust of the eyes" - I take it this means the want of
things, whether it is a nice house, nice car, nice
bank account, or anything else. You see it, and you
want it.
c. "pride of life" - I take it that this is the
temptation of position or power. Some people are
attracted to power whether it provides any monetary
value or not.
C. \\#17\\ The Reality:
1John 2:17 And the world passeth away, and the
lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God
abideth for ever.
1. It a nutshell:
a. The world is not going to last.
b. Those who surrender to God will.
2. Nothing that belongs to the world makes it beyond the
grave, let alone into eternity.
II. \\#2:18-25\\ Beware the Spirit of Anti-Christ
1John 2:18 Little children, it is the last time:
and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come,
even now are there many antichrists; whereby we
know that it is the last time.
A. \\#18\\ "Little children" - John had returned to using this as
a term to address his readers. The term demonstrated
affection and some level of authority over the readers.
B. "it is the last time"
1. It was the "last time in John’s day.
2. It has been the last time since Jesus ascended to heaven.
a. That does not mean God is running late.
b. There is no time limit on how long the "last time" is
to last.
c. John’s use of the term means that in the simplified
plan of God, God had moved into His last major
section.
3. What is the simplified plan of God? No one has seen an
outline, but it might be something like:
a. God with Man and without Sin
b. God with Man with Sin
c. God with Man being Redeemed from Sin - The "last
time"?
C. "antichrist shall come"
1. John told us one sure sign that will demonstrate the last
time.
a. The antichrist SHALL come.
b. The antichrist had not arrived yet but "shall" come.
c. That meant that although we ARE in the LAST times, we
are not at the END of the last times.
2. However, "even now are there many antichrists."
a. The word "antichrist" means "against Christ."
b. While THE antichrist had not come, the fact that many
are AGAINST Christ indicated the spirit of the
antichrist was and is already present.
c. Since this is THE sign that John gave to indicate we
have moved into the last time, the practice of being
AGAINST Christ must have been relatively new or else
picking up dramatically.
(1) Before Jesus came, the only ones looking for the
Jewish Messiah were the Jews, and they happily
looked forward to His coming.
(2) After Jesus came and especially after the gospel
was opened to the Gentiles, first the Jews and
then the whole world developed a hateful view
concerning the Christ.
(3) By the time of John’s writing, both the Jews and
the world stood AGAINST Jesus, and that attitude
is increasing with each passing day.
3. "whereby we know that it is the last time" - That
universal and ever increasingly hateful attitude means
that we are in the last time.
D. \\#19\\ The first antichrists described.
1John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were
not of us; for if they had been of us, they would
no doubt have continued with us: but they went
out, that they might be made manifest that they
were not all of us.
1. "They went out FROM us"
a. "They" - John was speaking of those he personally knew
who had once been part of the church and had gone out
from the church to stand against Christ.
(1) These were the first generation of antichrists.
(2) The spirit of antichrist has not been built
solely on the ignorance of outsiders who never
heard or understood what the church believed.
b. At least some—maybe all of those who choose to stand
against Jesus—have had some relationship with the
church.
(1) It always amazes me how many "Christian" false
religions there are.
(2) Catholics, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses,
Calvinists, and the list grows longer every day.
c. However, it may be that John was telling this group of
believers that their common friend who had once
belonged to the local fellowship had demonstrated
that they had never belonged to the fellowship of
the Father and Son when they "went out from" them.
d. THEY LEFT.
(1) While it cannot be proved, it is likely those had
left were Gnostic in their beliefs.
(2) If you pervert the PERSON of Christ, the atoning
WORK of Christ, or the SALVATION by Christ, you
are no longer Christ-like and no longer part of
the Christian church.
(3) Some can be saved even while part of false
religions, but only as they hear, believe, and
accept the truth in these critical areas of
doctrine.
(4) Then, as new converts, they will not be leaving
the fellowship of the believers but their
community of false religion.
2. "but they were NOT OF us"
a. Although they may have been inside the building with
true believers, they were never part of the believers.
b. Here is the fifth symbolic term John gave to describe
the lost, "not of us."
(1) \\#1John 1:6\\ Those who "walk in darkness" are
unsaved.
(2) \\#1John 1:8\\ If "the truth is not in us," we
are not saved.
(3) \\#1John 1:10\\ If "his word is not in us," we
are not saved.
(4) \\#1John 2:15\\ If "the love of the Father is not
in" us, we are not saved.
(5) \\#1John 2:19\\ If one is "not of us," they are
not saved.
(a) The "us" means those who have fellowship
with the Father and His Son.
(b) John was not bashful about including himself
in the group that has fellowship with the
Father and His Son, meaning he had
assurance of his salvation.
i. So, if you are not one of US, you are
lost and will go out from the true
believers.
ii. Although it is not the primary truth
John wanted to teach here, he was also
implying you can KNOW that you are
part of true fellowship with the
Father and His Son.
iii. There is the assurance of salvation,
and John knew he had it.
3. "if they had been of us, they would… have continued
with us."
a. When they left the local fellowship of believers
because they believed a false doctrine about Christ,
they proved that they were not part of the fellowship
with God and His Son.
b. Those who leave the fellowship with the Father and His
Son today do so because they are not part of that
fellowship any more than those of John’s day.
c. The words "no doubt" are not in the original but were
added by the translators because the "abiding" power
Jesus spoke so strongly of keeps the believers in His
fellowship.
John 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the
branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it
abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye
abide in me.
John 15:6 If a man abide not in me, he is
cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and
men gather them, and cast them into the fire,
and they are burned.
d. "they went out, that they might be made manifest" -
Those who quit on Christ are revealing that they never
became Christ’s.
E. \\#20\\ The Believer’s Difference
1. True believers are different than those who temporarily
join in our fellowship.
a. \\#20\\ True believers are empowered.
1John 2:20 But ye have an unction from the Holy
One, and ye know all things.
(1) "But" - John began to contrast the false
Christians to the true believers.
(2) "ye have an unction"
(a) "unction" means an anointing or empowering.
(b) "from the Holy Ghost" - The Holy Spirit
will be in and on the true believers to
empower them to do something.
(c) "and ye know all things" - The Holy Spirit
empowers true believers to KNOW or
UNDERSTAND these types of things.
b. \\#21\\ True believers know the truth.
1John 2:21 I have not written unto you because
ye know not the truth, but because ye know it,
and that no lie is of the truth.
(1) John did not write because his readers were
ignorant and needed to be taught they were lost.
(2) John wrote because his readers were saved and
needed to know how they could tell.
(3) If they were saved, they were too spiritual to
fall for a lie; and if they were falling for a
lie, they were not saved.
c. \\#23-24\\ True believers know the lies.
(1) What lies? There were two. They mean almost
the same but not exactly.
1John 2:22 Who is a liar but he that denieth
that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that
denieth the Father and the Son.
23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not
the Father: but he that acknowledgeth the Son
hath the Father also.
(a) \\#22\\ "that Jesus is not the Christ," the
anointed One promised in the Old Testament
and sent by God in the New.
(b) \\#23\\ That Jesus is not "the Son," the
eternal God who was from the beginning and
of the Father.
(2) What of those who believe these lies?
(a) \\#22\\ "He is the antichrist"
(b) \\#23\\ "the same hath not the Father," i.e.
he is not saved.
d. \\#25\\ True believers abide.
1John 2:24 Let that therefore abide in you,
which ye have heard from the beginning. If that
which ye have heard from the beginning shall
remain in you, ye also shall continue in the
Son, and in the Father.
(1) The truth abides in them.
(2) They abide in the Father.
(3) \\#25\\ The "abiding" is what was promised to the
believer when God granted to us "eternal life."
1John 2:25 And this is the promise that he hath
promised us, even eternal life.
(a) How could anything abide and not be eternal?
(b) How could anything be eternal and not abide?
2. All of these distinctions are being given to help these
believers see the difference between those who are true
believers and those who had left their local assembly.
III. \\#2:26-29\\ Beware the Seducers
A. John listed another purpose but one still in harmony with
having and staying in fellowship with the Father and His Son.
1. \\#26\\ Beware of the seducers, those spreading the lies.
1John 2:26 These things have I written unto
you concerning them that seduce you.
a. Although we do not know the specific group of believers
to whom John directed this letter, it seems obvious
that they were battling those who wanted to deceive
them with false doctrine.
b. Since John so referred strongly to those who denied
that Jesus had come in the flesh, he may be referring
to those as the seducers.
2. \\#27\\ The Holy Spirit’s anointing will reveal their lies
to you. (The verse is largely repeating what John had
already said but its importance made it necessary to
repeat it.)
1John 2:27 But the anointing which ye have
received of him abideth in you, and ye need not
that any man teach you: but as the same
anointing teacheth you of all things, and is
truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught
you, ye shall abide in him.
B. \\#28-29\\ John Concludes This Section
1. While John did not "wind" down his other sections, he did
this one.
1John 2:28 And now, little children, abide in
him; that, when he shall appear, we may have
confidence, and not be ashamed before him at
his coming.
29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that
every one that doeth righteousness is born of
him.
a. \\#28\\ "abide in him" - So stay faithful.
b. So that "when he shall appear, we may… not be
ashamed."
c. \\#29\\ Since we "know that he (Jesus) is righteous,"
we also "know that every one that" lives right with
God, "is born of Him."
2. John was not finished with the epistle, but he was moving
on to another thought.
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