(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right, actually, let's turn just a few pages back in your Bible to 1 John 2. We're going to get to 2 John a little bit later. Let's look at 1 John 2, and we'll get the title of my message from 1 John 2.18, where the Bible reads, Little children, it is the last time. And as ye have heard that Antichrist... Notice the singular there. You've 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, I want to preach this morning a subject, There are many Antichrists. That's the title of my sermon this morning. There are many Antichrists. Now, of course, we believe and understand, and John is very clear here, that there is one man coming who is going to be known as the Antichrist. We truly believe that. It's prophesied in Revelation 13 and 14. It's prophesied in 2 Thessalonians 2. There is one Antichrist, but he says, Yes, you've heard that. You know that. You understand that. But he said, What I want to teach you right now, is that there are actually many Antichrists today among us. He said, There are Antichrists in this world. And I'm going to show you some scriptures on who these Antichrists are. Now, first, I just want to expound this passage to you, because a lot of people, a lot of people will try to twist this verse 19, and take it out of context. Let's look at verse 19. It says, They went out from us, but they were not all 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, the Calvinists will try to take this verse, right? And try to say that anybody who doesn't stay in church, anybody who quits on church, or gets backslidden, or goes out from us, is not really saved. But you see, that's not what it really says here. It doesn't say that all of those who are saved will continue with us. It says here that these Antichrists, okay, we're talking about prophets here. We're talking about, and I'll get to that a little later, who these Antichrists are. These false prophets, these false teachers. He's saying, If they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. He's talking about doctrinally. They went out that they might be made manifest, that they were not all of us. They never were, right? They had crept in false teaching, false preaching. It's not saying that everyone who's saved is going to continue with our church. That's not what it's saying. And that's taking it out of context. It's talking about preachers, pastors, people who preach another gospel, people who preach false doctrine. And so he says in verse 20, But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. 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. And then in verse 22, he's going to begin to expound us who some of these Antichrists are. He says in verse 22, Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is what? Antichrist. So even though there's one man coming called the Antichrist, anybody who believes that there is a Messiah other than Jesus Christ, because that's what the word Messiah means. The Bible says, We found him which is the Messiah which is being interpreted the Christ. Okay, it's just two different languages. And so Messiah, the Christ, we're talking about the same person. Anybody who's looking for a different Messiah and says that there is a Messiah, but that it's not Jesus, that is the spirit of Antichrist that is already in the world, the Bible says. Teaching another savior, another Messiah, besides the man Christ Jesus who physically walked and talked on this earth 2,000 years ago, who physically died on the cross and shed his blood for our sins and was buried and rose again. Anyone who's teaching another Christ, another Messiah, another savior is an Antichrist, according to the Bible. Let's keep reading. It says, He is Antichrist, verse 22, that denieth the Father and the Son. A person who denies the Trinity is what we're talking about here. That denies the fact that there's a Father and a Son and a Holy Ghost, as enumerated just a few chapters later in the same book of 1 John. Then he says, Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father, but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. 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, and this is the promise. This is a great verse. I love this verse. I don't want to use this. This is the promise that he had promised us, even eternal life. These things have I written unto you, concerning them that seduce you, 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, talking about the Holy Spirit, teacheth you of all things, in his truth and his no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him, and now little children abide in him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence and I'll be ashamed before him at his coming. Flip over, if you would, to 2 John. 2 John, just a few pages later, where we started this morning. You see, there are many antichrists, the Bible says, and John is warning us about people who will try to seduce us, people who will seduce others, people who are lying and teaching a false doctrine, and he says, here's how you know. First of all, they're teaching another Christ, another Messiah that's coming, and he said it's a deceiver. It's an antichrist. Look at 2 John. He says in 2 John, and notice the same wording in verse number 7, For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. So we see here another antichrist. Someone's saying that Jesus Christ did not come in the flesh, that maybe he was some kind of a spiritual being, and this is what the New Age religion teaches today, that he was a spiritual being, that he was some kind of an anointed one, or kind of like Buddha, kind of like these different people throughout history, and they say the Christ spirit rested upon him, and all this kind of false doctrine. No. Christ is a person, and that person is Jesus Christ who was physically born. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3.16, God was manifest in the flesh. He said, Our hands have handled him, it said in 1 John chapter 1. He said we saw him with our eyes, we heard him with our ears, and he said our hands handled him. You remember when they put their fingers and actually touched the holes in his hands after he rose again from the dead? Tell that to the Jehovah's Witnesses who say that Jesus just spiritually arose but did not physically arise. That's why he said, handle me. That's why he said, thrust your hand into my side and be not faithless but believing. That's why he said, give me something to eat, and he literally ate with the disciples and drank with them after he rose from the dead. According to the book of Acts, according to the book of John, it's repeatedly mentioned how he ate and drank to show a physical resurrection. You see, this is the kind of false doctrine that we need to watch out for. But notice what he's saying here in verse number 9. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God's speed, for he that biddeth him God's speed is partaker of his evil deeds. So wait a minute. When the Jehovah's Witnesses come to your door, are they bringing the doctrine of Christ? Are they bringing the doctrine of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost and these three are one? Are they bringing a doctrine of a physical Jesus Christ, a real person that died and was buried and physically rose again? No. Should you let them into your house? According to the Bible. I remember when I was a teenager, the Mormons knocked on my door. I was about 16 years old. The Mormons knocked on my door, and I brought them into my house, set them down on the couch, and I was trying to give them the Gospel. And I was talking to the Mormons, these two Mormon missionaries, and my dad got home. And my dad showed up, and he was angry. He immediately threw them out of the house. He took the Bible, and he showed me the Scripture. And he said, The Bible says, Stephen, not to let them into your house. And you have violated Scripture here. And from that day to this, I would never let them into my house because I was shown this verse from God's Word that said, Receive him not into your house. But look at the next phrase. Neither bid him God's speed. What is God's speed? That's a blessing. That's basically, have a good day. That's God be with you. That's, you know, God bless. He said, don't bid him God's speed. He that biddeth him God's speed is partaker of his evil deeds. Those who bring you false doctrine. Now this is not just talking about someone of another religion that you come into contact with. You know, somebody who's just deceived by religion. We're talking about somebody who comes to you and brings you another Gospel. They're bringing you false teaching. They're bringing you lies. They're bringing you what the Bible calls this anti-Christ doctrine. He says, don't let him into your house and don't bid him God's speed. Don't say, God bless you. Don't say, have a good day. But here's what's interesting now, and this is where I'm going to lose some people on this who want to resist the truth of what God teaches in the Bible. This is where I'm going to lose people because in 1 John 2, who did it say who was the biggest anti-Christ of all? Who is a liar, but who? He the denieth that Jesus is the Christ. He's anti-Christ. He said, boy, if anybody's a liar, if anybody's a deceiver, if anybody's an anti-Christ, it's those who teach that there is another Christ besides Jesus. He said, this is a deceiver and an anti-Christ. And yet today in the average Baptist church, you will be told that if you bless the Jews, and we're not talking about a race of people. It has nothing to do with race. God has made all nations of the earth of one blood. There's no difference between the Jew and the Greek. There's no difference between the white man and the black man. We're all created by God. But I'm talking about the religion, my friend. I'm talking about the nation of Israel today that worships another God that does not believe that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, that actually believes that Jesus is not the Christ, but that another Christ is one day coming. They're still looking for him. And we're told that if we bless them, God will bless us. And if we curse them, God will curse us. Wait a minute. God said if we bless those who preach an anti-Christ doctrine, we're partakers of their evil deeds. This is exactly the opposite that's taught in Scripture of what's being preached in many churches. We're told that we're supposed to bless those who are... Bless the Jewish rabbi who's teaching that Jesus is not the Christ. The Jewish rabbi is an anti-Christ this morning. Now, that doesn't set well with some people, but it's the truth. The Jehovah's Witness who comes to your door witnessing is a deceiver and an anti-Christ, according to the Bible. The rabbi is an anti-Christ. The Mormon missionary is an anti-Christ. He's teaching another Christ. He denies the doctrines of the Father and of the Son. He doesn't acknowledge the Son as being God in the flesh. He is a deceiver and an anti-Christ. Don't bless him. Don't say, have a good day. Don't say, here's a cup of cold water for your journey. The Bible says you'll be a partaker of his evil deeds. Don't let him into your house. I was wrong as a teenager. I violated Scripture unknowingly by letting him into my house. I was in direct violation and my heart was in the right place. Still wrong because God said no. And so you see how a lot of times tradition can override God's clear teaching in the book of 2 John and 1 John 2. You see, people will have us to believe that when God said to Abraham, Surely blessing I'll bless thee and multiplying I'll multiply thee. And then he said, I'll bless those that bless thee and curse those that curse thee. They will apply that to people who are purveyors of a false religion just because they physically descend from that man. They are not the children of Abraham. And they were told by Jesus in John chapter 8, you are not Abraham's children. He said, you would do the works of Abraham if you were Abraham's children. He said, you're your father the devil. And then he told them, he said this about these people who did not believe on Jesus Christ and who believed that there was some other Christ, some other Messiah. And by the way, that's what they believe. They believe that there's another Messiah coming. And by the way, he is coming. And he's the antichrist. And he's coming, I mean the one man who's known as the antichrist. But you see, the Bible makes it clear that to Abraham and to his seed were the promises made. Then he goes even more into detail in Galatians chapter 4. He says, not to seeds as of many, but to thy seed as of one which is Christ's. Then he says, if ye be Christ's, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. And so therefore, when the teaching of surely blessing all bless thee and multiplying all multiply thee and the teaching that says I'll bless those that bless thee and curse those that curse thee applies to God's people, applies to those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior. That's who it applies to. Not the physical children of Abraham. John the Baptist said it, he said, think not to say within yourselves we have Abraham to our father. For I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children of Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the tree and every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. You see, God made it clear that it's not physically being descended from Abraham. It's being a child of Abraham because he's the father of faith and the Bible says in Romans 4 that he's the father of all them that believe. Whether they be circumcised. Whether they be Jew or Gentile. Whether they be bond or free. And so I want you to see that first of all, that there are many antichrists in this world. Now, go back to 1 John 2, you're in 2 John, just go back a few pages. Look at 1 John chapter 2 and here's an important verse, verse number 23. The Bible says in verse 23, Whosoever denieth the son, the same hath not the father, but he that acknowledgeth the son hath the father also. Go back to Exodus chapter 6. Exodus chapter number 6. Exodus chapter number 6, second book in the Bible. Right at the very beginning of the Bible we find Genesis then Exodus. Exodus chapter 6. And if you want you can put your finger in Acts chapter 10. You might already have it memorized because it's one of my favorite verses actually. And it's a verse that I've preached a lot. But in Exodus chapter 6, this is basically God has revealed himself to Moses at the burning bush. And he's given this information that he's to go to Egypt and to face Pharaoh and say, let my people go. Well, he's basically gone there and he's faced off with Pharaoh at first. And it's still in the very early stages of this whole showdown between Moses and Pharaoh. The Lord speaks to Moses again in verse number 1 of chapter 6. Then the Lord said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh, for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land. And God spake unto Moses and said unto him, I am the Lord. And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty. Now, is God Almighty a name? Absolutely. He said, I appeared by the name of God Almighty. But by my name of Jehovah was I not known to him. So, in the book of Genesis, when we see the early days of this earth, we see all the men before the flood, culminating with Noah and his three sons and their wives getting on the ark. Then after the flood, we see the Tower of Babel. We see nations established. We see God choosing one man to establish a nation, the nation of Israel eventually, that was supposed to be a light to the Gentiles. That was supposed to be a nation that would basically preach the gospel to the rest of the world. That would be a pattern nation. Of course, they failed at that. But we see Abraham, and this is where I'm going to tie in with what I was preaching about on Wednesday night, calling upon the name of the Lord. Remember that? In Genesis chapter 12. Even before that, even further back, we saw Seth calling upon the name of the Lord. Isaac and Jacob calling upon the name of the Lord. But was it the name of Jehovah? No, God was not revealed to them by that name. Does everybody follow what I'm saying? God was not revealed to them by his name of Jehovah. He was revealed to them by a different name, God Almighty. There are other names that are used throughout the book of Genesis, which show us that they were calling God by the name of God Almighty, the Lord God, which is a different word, and so forth. Now, look at Acts chapter 1043, if you're there. Acts 10 43 says this, Now, according to this scripture right here in Acts 10, the whole Bible teaches, from Genesis to Revelation, all the prophets. And God says that it was from Abel in another place. He said all the prophets were from Abel to Zacharias. And that shows us that when he says all the prophets, he's talking about all kinds of people throughout the book of Genesis. He's talking about Abel, he's talking about Enos, he's talking about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. He said of Abraham, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. Abraham was a prophet, Isaac was a prophet, Jacob was a prophet. All the prophets, according to the Bible, every book of the Bible, all 39 books of the Old Testament, teach the concept that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sin. That means salvation's always been by faith. That means in Genesis it was by faith. That means in Exodus it was by faith. That means in Leviticus it's never been by works because no one has ever been good enough to go to heaven. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. It wasn't that he was perfect. It wasn't that he was sinless. It wasn't that he deserved to be spared, but he found grace because salvation's always been by grace through faith. But he says here that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sin. Now a lot of people, to try to make void the Word of God, and that's what they do, they try to negate what God is saying here. They'll try to say, wait a minute Pastor Anderson, in the Old Testament they didn't even know the name of Jesus. Right? Now let me ask you something. Did they know the name of Jesus in the Old Testament? They didn't know that name. Now the Bible says that the Gospel was preached unto Abraham in Galatians 4. The Bible says that they were saved by the faith of Christ like as we are, according to Acts 15. Hebrews 4 says that they were saved by faith. I mean, we could go on and on all the places in the New Testament where God explains that they were saved in the same way that we're saved. But wait a minute. You say, Pastor Anderson, how can it be when they didn't even know the name of Jesus? But wait a minute now. When Abraham called upon the name of the Lord, he wasn't calling upon the name of Jehovah, he was calling upon the name of God Almighty. When David called upon the name of the Lord, and how many scriptures did we see on Wednesday night from Psalms over and over and over again? David emphasizing the fact that he called upon the Lord for salvation. That was the name of Jehovah that he was calling upon. But in the New Testament, the Bible says this in Acts 4.12, Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. You see, what the Bible teaches from Genesis to Revelation is that salvation is number one to whosoever believeth. Are you looking down at Acts 10.43? Salvation has always been to whosoever believeth, and it's always been through His name. Now, in the Old Testament, that name was not revealed yet of Jesus. Go back before the burning bush, and the name of Jehovah was not even revealed to most people. They were going by the name of God Almighty. But the bottom line is that when the Old Testament says in Joel chapter 2 that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, and then it says in the book of Acts that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, and then it says in Romans 10 that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that the gods are raised from the dead, and then he puts that in the context of, because of the fact, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. What you have to understand is that they were calling upon the same person. It wasn't the same name. It was the same person's name. Because when they said God Almighty was the same Savior, the Lord Jehovah in Isaiah 43, 10 said, I'm the Lord, and beside me there is no Savior. They were calling upon the Lord in Genesis. They were calling upon the Lord in Psalms. They were calling upon the Lord in the New Testament. And today, when you're saved, you're calling upon the name of the Lord. But the only difference is that now that Jesus Christ has literally, physically already come 2,000 years ago, He's been here in the flesh. The Bible says that in order to be saved, we have to acknowledge that. We have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ in order to be saved. Now in the Old Testament, they were trusting in the Lord for salvation, looking forward to the coming of the sacrificial Lamb of God, looking forward to the coming of God's Son, the Messiah. You see them in John 4 saying, we know that when Messiah comes, He will show us all things. You see them in John chapter 1 when the apostles say, we've found the Messiah. We've found Him of whom the Scriptures have prophesied. Remember in Matthew chapter number 2, Herod demanded of them, the scribes and Pharisees, where Christ should be born. And they said, in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written in the prophets. You see, the name of Jesus today is what saves you. The name of Jesus. There's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. People say, well, somebody can be saved without even knowing Jesus' name. It's a lie. You're saved by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in the Old Testament, they didn't know that name. But they called upon the Lord by the name that they did know in faith for their own salvation. Did they know as much as we know today? No. We have the whole book revealed to us. We have the 66 books of Scripture before us. They did not have all these books of Scripture. But I assure you, they were saved in the same way you were saved by calling upon the Lord in faith. That's how they were saved. That's how you're saved. That's how everybody's always been saved. And so people can try to attack this verse here. And really what they're trying to do is just negate it. Because it clearly says that it's taught throughout the Bible that through His name, through the Lord's name, whosoever believeth shall receive remission of sins. That's what it was in Genesis. That's what it was in Exodus. And that's the way it is today. You see, in the book of Job, for example, in the book of Job, you say, when was the book of Job written? And here's the thing. I've always preached and I've always believed that the book of Job was the oldest book in the Bible as far as when it was written. Have you ever heard, who's ever heard me say that? I've heard many preachers say that. I've heard a lot of people say that. Are there any reasons for that? Because when you read the book of Job, number one, all the place names and people names correspond with a time during the book of Genesis. Before Moses wrote the Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. And so I'll tell you truly that the events in the book of Job did take place during the time of Abraham, give or take a few hundred years, but well before Moses. But, what's interesting is that when you read the book of Job, 31 times, God is made reference to as the Almighty or God Almighty. And remember, that's the name that he was revealed by at that time. He was not revealed by his name of Jehovah. He was revealed by the name of God Almighty. That's why 31 times in the book of Job, Job and his three friends are constantly calling God God Almighty, God Almighty, the Almighty, the Almighty God, over and over again. But, here's what's interesting. In Job 1 and 2, when the narrator is telling us the story of Job, he's calling him nothing but the Lord, Jehovah, Jehovah, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord. And then at the end, it says the Lord appeared under Job out of the world. So that shows right there that the book of Job was written hundreds of years after the events in Job took place. Because the events in Job took place, everybody's calling him God Almighty. You know, a few hundred years later when the book of Job was written, it's calling him every time, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord. But then when it says what the people were saying to each other, it's Almighty. It's the God Almighty. You say, oh, Pastor Anderson, how do we know that the book of Job is accurate then? It's written later. Because it's God's word. I mean, how is Genesis accurate? When Moses was writing it, thousands of years after the events that took place in the Garden of Eden, in the Noah and the Ark and the Tower of Babel, he was way past that, my friend. You've got to understand that the Bible is written by God. It's inspired by God. And the people who wrote it down, look at the books of the New Testament. John Mark wrote the book of Mark. Was he there for the ministry of Jesus? Was Luke there with Jesus? Neither of those men were the disciples. Now, look at Isaiah chapter 9. You say, why are you going into all this? Why are you explaining all this? Well, look at Isaiah 9, 6. Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6 is another great verse on the deity of Christ because we want to be able to know what we believe and understand why these false teachers, these deceivers, these antichrists are wrong. We see that salvation's always been the same, whether you're in the book of Job and in Job's day, and they're talking about God Almighty, or whether you're in the time of Moses talking about the Lord with all capital letters, which is Jehovah. Look at Isaiah 9, 6. It says this, For unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his children. Of course, it's talking about Jesus Christ, the Son. It says, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Now, turn to Philippians 2. You see, here in Isaiah 9, 6, Jesus Christ is called the Mighty God. The Mighty, not a mighty God, because a God doesn't make any sense because there's only one. So you can't say a God. It's the God. The God of Abraham. The God of Isaac. The God of Jacob. The Mighty God. And the Jehovah's Witness, the antichrist that he is, will tell you, he'll say, Wait a minute. It doesn't say God Almighty. It doesn't say the Almighty God. It just says the Mighty God. And they'll say, well, you know, God the Father is the Almighty God, and Jesus is just Mighty God. Now you're thinking to yourself, what is the difference? But you see, the difference is that God Almighty is a name. But the Jehovah's Witness says that God only has one name, and that's a Jehovah. They say he only has the name of Jehovah. Hold on a second. Did Abraham even know that name? Nope. And look at Philippians 2 and find out the most important name out of all these different names, because God has a lot of names, my friend. Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. These are all God's names. See, they're titles. Nope, they're names. You'll never find the word title referring to any of those in the Bible. It's always his name. You say, wait a minute. How many names does God have? It's just Jehovah. It's just his one name. It's just God Almighty. No. The Bible says that he has all these different names. He reveals himself by different names to different people throughout the Bible at different times, and there's one name that you better know, my friend. It's found in Philippians 2 where it says in verse 9, Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. A person today cannot be saved without believing on Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ has already come in the flesh. He's physically been here, and now he demands that every single person believe on Jesus Christ as their Savior and acknowledge him as the Lord that he is. Now in the Old Testament, yes, they're saved by faith. Yes, they call upon the name of the Lord. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .