Are You an Antichrist?
Do you know any mean, nasty people? Do you know anyone that is truly bad or evil? How evil do you have to be before you are an antichrist? Let me ask you a question: are you an antichrist? Before you say of course not, please listen to these words in 1 John 2:18: 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.
The apostle John continues in 1 John 2:19-22 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. 20 But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. 21 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. 22 Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
You may have no problem being an Atheist tonight. It may not bother you to deny that God is real. But are you really prepared to be an antichrist? Are you really willing to walk around with the same title as Hitler, Stalin and Charles Manson? Can you really stand here tonight and say that it doesn’t bother you to be an antichrist? These words in first John really jumped out at me the other day while I was reading the Bible. If you deny Jesus and God, then you are an antichrist! If you realized how serious this is, it would shake you to your very core.
It probably doesn’t bother most of us to be known as being against something – to be anti something. Personally, I’m anti –abortion, I’m against same sex marriage. I’m anti-false religions. I’m against all the cults in the world today – Islam, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and all the other ones. I have no problem being anti or against these things I just mentioned.
It may not bother you to be anti-street preaching. It may not concern you that you are against biblical teachings and a biblical world view. It may not bother you that you are not for Jesus Christ; that you are not one of His followers. But do you really want to be known as an antichrist? Do you really want to find yourself fighting against God Almighty? Do you really want to spar with the Creator of the universe?
Jesus said that you are either for Him or against Him. You are either on his side or you are against Him. If you are not for Him, then you are opposed to Him. You are antichrist. Are you really willing to stand before Jesus on Judgment Day and admit that you were against Him? Are you really willing to continue in your sins even unto death and then stand before the great Judge and admit that you were anti-Jesus, that you were an antichrist? Do you see how foolish that would be? Do you see that you will be in a no win situation when you stand before Jesus and you have to admit for all to hear that you were antichrist?
Maybe you are out here tonight and you think, well I’m not for Jesus and I’m not really against Him either. You may think that you are God neutral, that you really don’t know if God exists, but that you aren’t really against Him (like an Agnostic). But please do not fool yourself. You can’t be neutral. You are either for Him or against Him. There is no in between. If you are not for Him, then you are against Him by default. Even claiming neutrality won’t help you. If you aren’t a follower of Jesus, then you are not one of His. You are against Him. You are an antichrist.
Now maybe no one has ever pointed this out to you, but it’s biblical. It’s right here in the Bible. You can’t deny it. If you have never been born-again, then this should bother you greatly. You should be extremely worried. The flames of Hell are waiting to welcome you as soon as you die. You need to realize just how serious this is. If Jesus Christ is not your Lord and Savior, then you are not one of Jesus’ disciples, you are lost, you are Hell-bound, you are actually against Almighty God, you are anti-Jesus, you are antichrist.
If you are an antichrist, this should cause you to lose sleep. You should stay awake all night long worrying about Judgment Day and your current guilty state of being against God. You should be afraid because life is but a vapor. None of us know when we are going to die. God forbid, but you could die tonight. Two people were stabbed not too far from here last weekend. Just a few days ago a 38 year old woman was killed by a drunk driver on South Campbell. Thirty eight years old. That’s young! She had no idea that she would die that morning coming home from the hospital. Let the reality of this grab you. Life is short. You are going to die some day. Do you really want to die opposing God? Do you really want to die in your sins as an antichrist?
Please, please do not die as an unrepentant sinner. You don’t know when you are going to die. It could be tonight. Even though you can’t control when you are going to die, you can decide if you will continue living your life in rebellion against God; opposing God and being antichrist. You can stop being against Jesus and you can be for Him. You can stop choosing spiritual death and you can choose life. You can choose eternal life.
How do you choose life? How do you stop being antichrist? You surrender your life to Jesus Christ. You acknowledge Him as Lord. He is Lord of all. All things were made by Him and for Him. He is Lord of the universe. He is alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. He is the only Savior (Acts 4:12). You can stop trusting in your own goodness and your own good works. You can admit that you are sinner. You can confess and forsake your sins. You can repent and believe the Gospel.
We have all sinned against God. None of us are righteous. None of us are good. We have all strayed from God. Even though He made us and loves us, we have all rebelled against Him. Every time that you have sinned, you have rebelled against God. You have been antichrist. Every white lie, every bold-faced lie, every time you stole something, every time you lusted after someone, every time you were angry without cause, every time that you were envious and coveted, every time that you put something in your life above God, every time that you dishonored your parents, every time that you hated someone, every time you did any of these things, you sinned against God.
God is so Holy, righteous and just that even one little white lie is enough to separate you from God’s love – forever. Just one sin is enough to justify your suffering in Hell forever. James 2:10 says that if you break one commandment, you have broken them all. Again, we are all guilty of this. None of us have lived perfectly, our whole lives.
But God loves us so much that He sent Jesus to this earth 2,000 years ago. Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary. Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life He never sinned one time. He perfectly kept the 10 Commandments. He always did the will of God the Father, He obeyed God the whole time He walked this earth.
Then Jesus willingly laid down His life a ransom for many. No one took His life from Him. He willingly gave up His life for guilty sinners like you and me. He was beat beyond recognition. He hung on the cruel cross for six long, grueling hours. The whole time, absorbing the wrath of Almighty God for guilty sinners like us. Jesus spilled His blood, died on that cross and was buried for three days. Then He rose victoriously from the grave. Jesus did what you and I couldn’t do. He satisfied God’s wrath over our sins. Jesus defeated sin, death, Hell and Satan. He is the victor and Jesus offers everlasting life to each and every person who repents by turning away from their sins and puts their faith in Him.
Jesus said that we are to repent and believe the Gospel. Belief is more than just intellectual knowledge. Belief is where we stop trusting in ourselves or anything else and we trust fully in Jesus. We confess our sins to Him. We ask for His forgiveness. We have godly sorrow over our sins. We realize the extremely high price that Jesus paid for our sins. We have true sorrow over the punishment that He bore on our behalf. We cry out for Him to save us. Then we put our trust in Him. We have faith in Jesus that His finished work on the cross really was for our benefit. We trust that His shed blood really did wipe away our sins.
But without true repentance, there is no salvation (2 Corinthians 7:10). If you tell Jesus that you are sorry for your sins (whatever sin that may be) and you continually keep committing the same sin over and over again, then you really aren’t truly sorry for it. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, God can help you overcome any addiction. God can help you give up alcohol, drugs, immoral sexuality, pornography, stealing or whatever sin that still has you bound up. You can’t think that Jesus’ sacrifice was a cheap sacrifice. You can’t think that you can ask Jesus to save you and then continue wallowing in the mud and the mire of the sins you once loved.
Repentance is a turning away from. You turn from your sins and you turn to Jesus. You give your life to Him. He gave His life for you when He hung on the cross 2,000 years ago. When you are truly saved, you give your life to Him. Jesus said that you must lose your life in order to save it and if you try to save your life, you will lose it. You surrender your life to Jesus fully and completely in order to be saved.
Won’t you stop being an antichrist and be for Jesus Christ tonight? Won’t you repent and believe the Gospel? Won’t you submit to His Lordship tonight? Won’t you turn away from your sins and turn to Jesus? Won’t you come to Jesus tonight and be saved? Won’t you stop rebelling against God and be for God? Won’t you cry out for God to save you tonight (Romans 10:9-10; 13). Do this tonight and be saved.
Be on the winning side. Come to Jesus. Be for Him. Surrender to Jesus tonight. Receive everlasting life. Then go out and tell others how good it is to be on the Lord’s side. Warn others to flee from the wrath to come. Plead with them to choose life. Plead with them to stop being antichrist and be for Him. Plead with them to be saved. Plead with them to repent by turning away from their sins and put their faith in Jesus. Plead with them to join you in being for our Lord and Savior – Jesus Christ.
(This message was proclaimed in downtown Springfield, MO on February 13, 2015)