Today's Message

"Be Real" Series

How to Guard Against Anti-Christ

Speaker Eric Fan

Scripture 1 John 2:18-29

Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth.Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us—even eternal life.

I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.

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1. Guard by knowing what to look for (v18-19)

• Matthew 7:15
• "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves."

• Walk in accountability
• Walk humbly as divinely inspired
• Spirit of perseverance
• Listening to man vs listening to God: Colossians 3:23
• "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men"

2. Guard by knowing the truth (v 20-23)

• Ignorance of the truth can lead us to be easily deceived.
• The advice that we receive and follow: are they Christ-centred?
• Philippians 3:7-14
• "But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead."

3. Guard by the Spirit (v24-29)

• 2 Tim 1:14
• "Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us"
• Ask God for revelation
• John 16:18
• "They kept asking, "What does he mean by 'a little while'? We don't understand what he is saying."
• Are we trying to establish/accomplish with our own effort without God?
• Prayer is vital!