Sermon Tone Analysis
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TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES
It makes no difference what you believe, just as long as you are sincere!”
That statement expresses the personal philosophy
of many people today, but it is doubtful whether most of those who make it have really thought it through.
Is “sincerity” the magic ingredient that makes something true?
If so, then you ought to be able to apply it to any area of life, and not only to religion.
A nurse in a city hospital gives some medicine to a patient, and the patient becomes violently ill.
The nurse is sincere but the medicine is wrong, and the patient almost dies.
A man hears noises in the house one night and decides a burglar is at work.
He gets his gun and shoots the “burglar,” who turns out to be his daughter!
Unable to sleep, she has gotten up for a bite to eat.
She ends up the victim of her father’s “sincerity.”
It takes more than “sincerity” to make something true.
Faith in a lie will always cause serious conse quences; faith in the truth is never misplaced.
It does make a difference what a man believes!
If a man wants to drive from Chicago to New York, no amount of sin cerity will get him there if the highway is taking him to Los Angeles.
A person who is real builds his life on truth, not superstition or lies.
It is impossible to live a real life by believing lies.
to drive from Chicago to New York, no amount of sin cerity will get him there if the highway is taking him to Los Angeles.
A person who is real builds his life on truth, not superstition or lies.
It is impossible to live a real life by believing lies.
God has warned the church family (“little chil dren”) about the conflict between light and darkness () and between love and hatred ().
Now He warns them about a third con flict: the conflict between truth and error.
It is not enough for a believer to walk in the light and to walk in love; he must also walk in truth.
The issue is truth—or consequences!
Before John explained the tragic consequences of turning from the truth, he emphasized the seriousness of the matter.
He did so by using two special terms: “the last time” and “antichrist.”
Both terms make it clear that Christians are living in an hour of crisis and must guard against the errors of the enemy.
“The last time” (or “the last hour”) is a term that reminds us that a new age has dawned on the world.
“The darkness is past, and the true light now shineth” ().
Since the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God is doing a “new thing” in this world.
All of Old Testament history prepared the way for the work of Christ on the cross.
All history since that time is merely preparation for “the end,” when Jesus will come and establish His kingdom.
There is nothing more that God must do for the salvation of sinners.
You may ask, “But if it was ‘the last hour’ in John’s day, why has Jesus not yet returned?”
This is an excellent question and Scripture gives us the answer.
God is not limited by time the way His creatures are.
God works in human time, but He is above time (see ).
“The last hour” began back in John’s day and has been growing in intensity ever since.
There were ungodly false teachers in John’s day, and during the intervening centuries they have increased both in num ber and in influence.
“The last hour” or “the last times” are phrases that describe a kind of time, not a duration of time.
“The latter times” are described in .
Paul, like John, observed characteristics of his time, and we see the same characteristics today in even greater intensity.
In other words, Christians have always been living in “the last time”—in crisis days.
It is therefore impor tant that you know what you believe and why you believe it.
The second term, “antichrist,” is used in the Bible only by John (, ; ; ).
It describes three things: (1) a spirit in the world that opposes or denies Christ; (2) the false teachers who embody this spirit; and, (3) a person who will head up the final world rebellion against Christ.
The “spirit of antichrist” () has been in the world since Satan declared war on God (see ).
The “spirit of antichrist” is behind every false doc trine and every “religious” substitute for the realities Christians have in Christ.
As I mentioned in chapter 1 of this study, that prefix anti- actually has a dual mean ing.
It can mean, in the Greek, both “against” Christ and “instead of” Christ.
Satan in his frenzy is fighting Christ and His eternal truth, and he is substituting his counterfeits for the realities found only in our Lord Jesus.
Christians have in Christ.
As I mentioned in chapter 1 of this study, that prefix anti- actually has a dual mean ing.
It can mean, in the Greek, both “against” Christ and “instead of” Christ.
Satan in his frenzy is fighting Christ and His eternal truth, and he is substituting his counterfeits for the realities found only in our Lord Jesus.
The “spirit of antichrist” is in the world today.
It will eventually lead to the appearance of a “satanic superman” whom the Bible calls “Antichrist” (capital A).
He is called “the man of sin” (or “lawlessness”) ().
This passage explains that there are two forces at work in today’s world: truth is working through the church by the Holy Spirit, and evil is working by the energy of Satan.
The Holy Spirit, in Christians, is hold ing back lawlessness; but when the church is removed at the rapture (), Satan will be able to complete his temporary victory and take over the world.
(John had more to say about this world ruler and his evil system in the book of Revelation, particu larly 13:1–18; 16:13; and 19:20.)
Does it make any difference what you believe?
It makes all the difference in the world!
You are living in crisis days—in the last hour—and the spirit of antichrist is working in the world!
It is vitally impor tant that you know and believe the truth and be able to detect lies when they come your way.
John’s epistle gives three outstanding marks of the false teacher who is controlled by the “spirit of antichrist.”
He Departs from the Fellowship (2:18–19)
“They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us” ( nasb).
“They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us” ( nasb).
The word us refers, of course, to the fellowship of believers, the church.
Not everyone who is part of an assembly of believers is necessarily a member of the family of God!
The New Testament presents the church in a twofold way: as one worldwide family and as local units or assemblies of believers.
There is a “universal” as well as “local” aspect of the church.
The whole world wide company of believers is compared with a body () and with a building ().
When a sinner trusts Christ as Savior, he receives eternal life and immediately becomes a member of God’s family and a part of Christ’s spiritual body.
He should then identify himself with a local group of Christians (a church) and start serving Christ ().
But the point here is that a person can belong to a local church and not be part of the true spiritual body of Christ.
One of the evidences of true Christian life is a desire to be with the people of God.
“We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren” ().
When people share the same divine nature () and are indwelt by the same Holy Spirit (), they want to enjoy fel lowship and to share with one another.
As we have seen, fellowship means “to have in common.”
When people have spiritual realities in common, they want to be together.
Holy Spirit (), they want to enjoy fel lowship and to share with one another.
As we have seen, fellowship means “to have in common.”
When people have spiritual realities in common, they want to be together.
But the “counterfeit Christians” mentioned in did not remain in the fellowship.
They went out.
This doesn’t imply that “staying in the church” keeps a person saved; rather, it indicates that remaining in the fellowship is one evidence that a person is truly a Christian.
In His Parable of the Sower (, ), Jesus makes it clear that only those who pro duce fruit are truly born again.
It is possible to be close to an experience of salvation, and even to have some characteristics that would pass for “Christian,” and yet not be a child of God.
The people in view in left the fellowship because they did not possess the true life and the love of Christ was not in their hearts.
There are many unfortunate divisions among the people of God today, but all true Christians have things in common, regardless of church affiliation.
They believe that the Bible is the Word of God and that Jesus is the Son of God.
They confess that men are sinners and that the only way one can be saved is through faith in Christ.
They believe that Christ died as man’s substi tute on the cross, and that He arose again from the dead.
They believe that the Holy Spirit indwells true believers.
Finally, they believe that one day in the future Jesus will come again.
Christians may differ on other matters—church government, for example, or modes of baptism—but they agree on the basic doc trines of the faith.
If you will investigate the history of the false cults and antichristian religious systems in today’s world, you will find that in most cases their founders started out in a local church!
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