We are continuing this study in I John titled “Living in the Light.” Remember with me that John is writing to this group of churches in Ephesus and encouraging them to “Live in the Light,” because “God is Light and in Him is no darkness at all.” That means God has no downside, dark side, or scandals in His life. The in nothing in the life of God that He has to be ashamed of. Of course we do – we have scandals, we have a dark side, a downside, we have “junk in our trunk.” We have things in our lives we are ashamed of.
Yet, through the saving grace of Jesus Christ, He has brought us out of darkness and into the Light, and given us a “New Name.” We, as children of God should live up to the New Name we have received, yet we fail and are incapable, in and of ourselves. God’s desire for our lives is that we “SIN NOT,” yet we do – we are incapable of keeping His commandments. And because of that, we have an “Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.” If is Jesus who stands before the Father as the “propitiation for our sins, and not our only, but the sins of the whole world.”
Last week we discussed how we are to be “Light Engaging the Darkness.” John encourages us not to “Love not the world, neither the things of the world.” We discovered two lessons about the world:
- The world is tempting;
- The world is temporal.
We also learned that although we are not to love the world, are called to “Live in the World.” That means we are not to Hide from the World, or even Provoke the World, but we are to engage the world, we are to stick-out like Mike Brown would stick out in the Dominican Republic, we are to be “Light Engaging Darkness” everywhere we go.
Today, we are taking that a little further and find that John is warning us to “Be Aware of the Deceiver.”
I John 2:18, 19, “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. 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.”
Now there are two things he gives us here: There is the “antichrist” who is to come, and then there are many “antichrists” who have already come. Here in I John and again in II John are the only place in the Bible that you will see that word “antichrists.”
There are other terms used to describe the antichrist, such as:
- Daniel 7:8, “little horn.”
- Daniel 9:26, “The prince that shall come.”
- Revelation 13:1, “The beast of the sea.”
- And 28 more times in the Book of Revelation the antichrist is referred to as “the beast.”
So, who is the Antichrist? Well, he is a charismatic, political world leader who will be empowered and possessed by Satan to rule the world for a time until the Lord returns. He will deceive the world into believing that he is god. He will be worshipped as god, and after the Return of Christ, he will be overthrown by the one true God. And he, the antichrist, will be cast into the lake of fire for all eternity.
John says of this “antichrist,” that he is yet to come. Then he references the many “antichrists” that have come. These are people in the church who were claiming that there were other ways to God apart from Jesus Christ.
In every church, there are closed-handed and open-handed issues. The Divinity of Christ is a closed handed issue. That Jesus was perfect, lived a sinless life so that He could be the accepted atonement for sin, and spotless – he was perfect. For us, that is a closed-handed issue. If you do not believe that Jesus is perfect, sinless and spotless, then you are still dead in your trespasses and sin. And that is not Joe’s Apologetics – that Biblical Apologetics.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes unto the Father but by me.” We do not believe that there are many ways to God – there is only One way, and exclusive way – and His name is Jesus. And if you don’t believe that, then you have no way to God, because He is the Only Way. For us as a church, that is a closed-handed issue.
I know the question on your mind then is: “Well what are your open-handed issues?” There are a lot of them, but one of them we will get into is the study of Eschatology – the study of End times.
Now here is the problem we have in the church – a lot of people want to take closed-handed issues and make them open-ended issues. And then there are those who want to take open-ended issues like, Eschatology, or Baptism, or feet-washing, versions of the Bible, church membership – and they want to make those closed-ended topics. They say, “If you don’t believe what I believe on this, then you can get out of here because we have no business being yoked together. I am right and you are wrong.” We like to make these issues our “Hill to Die on!
Here is the beauty of non-denominational churches, at least this one. We don’t take a denominational stand on issues – we study the Bible for ourselves. And we try to do what we believe the Bible is calling us and leading us to do.
We believe that God is Sovereign and that He has given man freewill – and the two do not contradict or overlap one another.
We believe that God has called everyone – male and female – to be image bearers of Christ. We believe we are equal in the eyes of God and will be equally judged.
We also believe that God has given us distinct gifts and roles. Everyone should use their calling and gifts for the edifying and building up of the Body of Christ. And everything done in the church should be done decently and in order.
So, let’s talk about some of those open-ended subjects I mentioned earlier: Eschatology, water-baptism, feet-washing, Biblical versions, and church membership.
ESCHATOLOGY
Now when it comes to Eschatology, there are a lot of views. Some are pre-trib, mid-trib, or post trib. Some are amillenial, premillennial, post-millenial. There are a lot of views. But what is clear, is that the anti-christ will come before the return of Christ. And Christ will come and set everything that is broken and upside down right.
II Thessalonians 2:1-10 is probably some of the strongest Scriptures regarding the end times. Verse 1 and 2 says this, “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, . . .”
Now does this mean that in studying eschatology we should be end-time preppers, run off into our own corner of the world together and hide from the world? NO. What is supposed to do is stir our love and longing for Jesus Christ return. The study of Eschatology is not meant for us to show how wise we are in predicting the end times, but to fall in love with Jesus and rest in the assurance that He will return.
Verse 2, “. . . and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.”
The study of end times is not meant to scare you or shake you to your core, it is solely about Jesus coming back.
“Well, what’s gonna happen between now and then?” A whole lot of stuff’s going to happen that you don’t know and can’t predict.
There are a lot of people that have made a lot of money on end time prophecy (or I should say predictions). And they have scared us into believing that we are going to be left behind, we will be slaughtered, though we don’t want a tattoo, we are going to get one right on our foreheads. But what they do not tell you is that the whole point of studying Eschatology is to stir your affection for Jesus Christ. Paul said to the church in Thessalonica, “Don’t let it shake your mind or trouble your spirit.”
Here is what I will tell you my belief on end times are: I believe we are closer than we have ever been to Jesus returning, and if He doesn’t come back today, then we will be even closer tomorrow. But rest assured, He is coming – He promised His disciples He would return. In fact, He even told them “Let not your heart be trouble.” “Don’t be scared, rest assured I WILL COME AGAIN.” Folks, He is coming, and we are closer now than John was then. And if He blows the trumpet right now, I know I am where I am supposed to be – not because I am a pastor, but because of the fact that I have the assurance that He is living inside of me! I am a child of God.
“3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”
John is saying here, “In the end times, the one who opposes God is going to pose as god and he will sit on the seat of God.” And we are not there yet.
“5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6 And now ye know what withholdeth (restrains) that he might be revealed in (illuminated) his time. 7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth (lawlessness) will let, until he be taken out of the way.”
Now these verses right here are why I am a pre-triber (in case you were wondering). God is doing His present day work through what? THE CHURCH. That is you and I. SO the restraints on the antichrist right now is THE SPIRIT OF GOD LIVING WITHIN HIS CHURCH. So, I don’t believe we are there yet because the church is still here. But there will be a time when that restraint is pulled away – and I believe that will be the rapture or calling away of the church.
“8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed (Illuminated – the mask is coming off), whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: (the 2nd Coming of Christ) 9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”
WATER BAPTISM
Having grown up in a Baptist church, I have always practiced Water Baptism by full immersion. However, they are others who practice water baptism by sprinkling. Others interpret water baptism as a second work of salvation. Now that is something we do not believe or practice here. We believe salvation is by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ – PERIOD – nothing else required. We practice baptism simply as a way of identifying the new relationship we have with Jesus Christ, and His death, burial and resurrection. I have witnessed some people that refuse to fellowship with other Christians over the manner of baptism they practice.
What we believe here, is that while Christians may differ on the mode or timing of water baptism, our fellowship is grounded in faith in Christ, not in uniformity of practice. Unity in the gospel should outweigh disagreements over non-salvation issues.
FEET-WASHING
Many churches recognize the ordinances, or practices as being Water Baptism and Communion. There are others who believe that Feet-washing is also an ordinance – such as the Free Will Baptist. On one hand, those who do not practice feet-washing refer joking to the others as “feet-washing Baptist.”
Again, some chose not to fellowship with one another over this issue that again, has nothing to do with salvation. Feet-washing is a very humbling experience, but is not a condition of salvation. Again, fellowship should be based on our shared faith in Christ, not divided over this practice.
CHURCH MEMBERSHIP
Another topic – and maybe I am way off the mark here – most every church that I know of requires membership – for identity, for the right to vote in church matters, etc. My issue with church membership is this: It is the spirit of God that calls one to salvation. When someone accepts Jesus Christ as the Lord of their Life, they automatically are born into the family of God. I can’t find anywhere in the Scripture that says the church needed to vote on it.
Now, I do believe that once a person is born into the family of God, they should find a place to serve together with other believers, a place where they feel God can best use them and their talents. But that is a place that you chose – not a place chosen for you.
I can’t tell you the number of people that have asked with what is required of them to become a member of Rally Point Biker Church – and here is my answer – SHOW UP, BE APART. To me, membership simply means this: “This is my church, this is where I chose to serve God, and I am all in.” I know that is simple, and I know that makes people crazy, but if you want to be a member of this church, don’t expect us to vote on you – YOU JUST SHOW UP.
BIBLE VERSIONS
If you haven’t figured it out by now, I use the King James Version. Though I only use the King James Version, I am not King James only. There are a lot of people that will break fellowship with you over that statement. There are even some denominations that preach the KJV is the only inspired version.
Personally, I believe breaking fellowship over Bible versions misses the heart of Christian unity. Scripture calls us to center our fellowship on Christ, not on preferences in translation. Different versions can faithfully convey God’s Word; what matters is living out God’s Word in love and in truth.
The tempter loves it when we are deceived into allowing these open-ended issues to so easily divide us as the people of God. I just think that as God’s people, we should put more focus on what unites us, rather than focus on the opened-ended issues that divide us. The Tempter loves to trick us into thinking the world view matters to us a whole lot more than it should.
You are never going to find joy, you will never find satisfaction, you will never find meaning, and you will never find purpose, apart from the abiding presence of Jesus Christ in your life. You and I were created to have a divine connection to the Creator, and nothing that the world, or the deceiver, has to offer can fill that void. “My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.”
Fighting for My Pea Patch 