『Wolves in Shepherd’s Clothing』のカバーアート

Wolves in Shepherd’s Clothing

Wolves in Shepherd’s Clothing

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John shows how to deal with false teachers by broadening our common conception of the antichrist, reassuring believers of the supernatural reality of their faith, and building a framework for discernment of false teachers. So I’m going to read from 1 John chapter two, verses 18 to 25, which is what we’ll be discussing today together. I say discussion. It’s a sermon. Don’t answer unless it’s rhetorical, especially goes out to my children, who out of force of habit, will no doubt talk over me at some point. And security, if you could just keep an eye out for them, actually. Carry them away at the slightest misdemeanor. Children, it is the last hour and you have heard that the Antichrist is coming. So now many antichrists have come. Therefore, we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out that it might become plain that they are all not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar, but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ. This is the Antichrist, he who denies the father and the son. No one who denies the son has the father. Whoever confesses the son has the father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard in the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the son and in the father. And this is the promise he made to us eternal life. Children, it is the last hour. The Apostle John writes these words with the heart of a father. He is both tender and fiercely protective. Like any loving parent. He speaks with both love and with discipline. He addresses his readers as children, not because they’re immature, but because he cares for them the way a parent cares for sons and daughters who are growing up in a dangerous world. He lovingly cautions them against anything that would pull them off the godly path that they’re on. He reminds them of the truths they learned when they were young, in the faith. Truths that were simple enough for a child to grasp, yet deep enough to sustain them for a lifetime. And he does all of this with a ferocious protectiveness that will not let them be led astray by smooth-talking deceivers. Now John writes in a densely poetic manner. It’s as if he cannot merely convey the information. He must also express the awe he feels towards God. And that leads him into rich and mysterious and weighty and sometimes actually quite difficult passages. His language is evocative, even lyrical at times, because the reality he is describing is bigger than words can easily contain. Yet even in this mystery, John is not trying to confuse us. He wants to clarify, to equip. And in this particular passage, I want to suggest that we can break it down into three clear and applicable points. First, he broadens the typical conception of the Antichrist from a singular entity who has or who will directly oppose the church. And instead John takes that idea, that spirit of deception, and he pluralizes it. He tells us that many antichrists have already come. These are not necessarily the headline-grabbing monsters that we might expect. They’re individuals who subtly corrupt the faith from within. They use false teaching. They look like insiders. They sound familiar. They once sat in the same gatherings we sit in. This broadening of the concept of Antichrist is quite disturbing, but also very helpful. Secondly, he reassures the believers that their faith is a supernatural reality. These antichrists haven’t discovered some brilliant new revelation. And in fact, they’re woefully adrift. They’re not enlightened. They’ve not seen something that the rest of us missed. The true believers have been anointed by the Holy One, the Holy Spirit, and their faith therefore rests on something solid and something eternal. Thirdly, through all the passage, John builds a practical framework for discernment. He shows us how the Holy Spirit attests to the reality of the gospel message rather than generating new revelation. So with those three things in mind, let’s draw out the themes from the text, and let’s let John’s words sink in deeply. This isn’t just ancient history. This is as useful today as it has been in every age. Perhaps even more so. Children. It is the last hour, and as you have heard, the Antichrist is coming. So now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us. Who is the liar, but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist. He who denies the father and the son. These people, it’s clear, were once part of their community. They shared the same meals, the same buildings, perhaps even the same public confession of faith. And then they left. But when they left, they didn’t ...
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