EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/29/2024 9:37 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “The Characteristics of
Antichrists”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: 1 John 2:19,
22-23, 26”
Message of the verses: “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; but they went out, so that it would be
shown that they all are not of us… 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 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who
confesses the Son has the Father also…26 These things I have written to you
concerning those who are trying to deceive you.”
According
to MacArthur the ones that John is writing about here were teachers and if
those teachers and their followers had possessed the true eternal life, they
would have remained with us. MacArthur
adds that “God allowed—and still allows—liars, deceivers, and false teachers to
come into the assembly of believers to purge it, so that it would be shown that
they are not of the fellowship. Those
who defect give clear evidence of their true character and unregenerate
condition. Thus, in His perfect plan,
God uses false teachers to draw away false believers from the church, so they
will not remain in the assembly as harmful and corrupting influences (cf. 1
Cor. 5:6; Gal. 5:9).” Now let us take a
look at those two verses to help us better understand the truth that MacArthur
just wrote about. “Your boasting is not
good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?) (1 Cor. 5:6). “9 A little leaven leavens the whole
lump of dough” (Gal. 5:9). If I understand these two verses correctly
Paul is saying that it only takes a few unbelievers in the church to cause it
to not be speaking the truth as they can affect the entire congregation. MacArthur’s not from his study Bible on 1
Cor. 5:6 as he writes about the leaven states “In Scripture, it is used to
represent influence, in most cases evil influences, although in Matt. 13:33 it
refers to the good influence of the kingdom of heaven.” “Whole lump: When tolerated, sin will
permeate and corrupt the whole local church.”
I think that those explanations will help us to understand more thoroughly
what John is talking about here. I move
on to say that God permits antichrists to do their sinister work in His own
church for the ultimate good of His body, and here is an example from the Old
Testament, and of course it really has nothing to do with the church but I
think we will understand why I am including Genesis 50:20 here: “"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant
it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many
people alive.” I don’t think that it would be a problem to also quote Romans 8:28 “And
we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love
God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” It is in a surprising way that the Lord
allowed a messenger from Satan to fracture the Corinthian church in order to
wound the apostle Paul and produce in him greater humility, trust, and strength
and this is seen in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, verses that most of us will know
about, but if not take the time to look them up. Now of course false teachers are fully
responsible for their heinous actions. Earning for themselves the severest
eternal judgment and an example can be seen in Jude 13 and also 2 Peter 2:12,
verses that we will not look at. “wild
waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for
whom the black darkness has been reserved forever” (Jude 13). “But these, like unreasoning animals, born as
creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no
knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed,” (2
Peter 2:12). MacArthur concludes this
paragraph by writing “Nevertheless, in spite of their hatred for God, they
serve His end to purify His people.
Satan and all his demons, in the final analysis, serve the sovereign
purposes of God.”
Now
if you are a genuine believer you need not fear some fatal influence from the
activities of antichrists, and the reason is because the children of God will
always stay true to the faith and persevere to the end. Let us look at a few verses to confirm this
last statement beginning with John 10:27-30.
“27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28
and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.
29 “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one
is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 “I and the Father are
one.’” I want to also look at Jude 24-25 “24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to
make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, 25
to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory,
majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” This benediction from Jude is one of my very
favorite verses in the entire Bible. Now
I have recently been studying the book of Colossians as I am teaching this book
in our Sunday school class and there was a problem with this church as they had
false teachers come into their assembly to teach lies and so Paul writes to
them and assures them that because they were reconciled to God that they would
not defect as seen in Colossians 1:21-23.
“21 And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged
in evil deeds, 22 yet He
has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present
you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach — 23 if indeed you continue in the faith firmly
established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that
you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which
I, Paul, was made a minister.” Now I
want to move onto the book of Hebrews as the author gave a similar assurance in
Hebrews 3:6, and 14, verses that I will allow you to look up on your own. MacArthur concludes this paragraph by writing
“On the other hand, those who oppose the truth or engage in apostasy (cf. Num.
16:1-35; 22-25; 1 Tim. 4:1-3, 2 Peter 2:1-9; Jude 10-13), or are not anchored
in the truth (Matt. 7:26-27; Mark 4:17; Heb. 6:4-6), have no real salvation.”
I
hope to finish this section in my next SD but there is still much ground to
cover.
11/29/2024 10:19 PM
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