1 John 2:18-29

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TALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANS

A Test of Separation from False Teaching

BACKGROUND NOTES



DOCTRINAL POINT(S)

  1. Separation from false teaching is a test of Christian fellowship.
    a. The reality of false teaching.
    b. The restraint of false teaching.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

  1. Let’s be ashamed to be ashamed.

QUESTIONS

  1. Is everyone who claims to be a Christian a true believer?

  2. The apostle John warned the believers about a certain false teaching. What name was given to this false teaching in the second century A.D.?

  3. Which group of believers are especially vulnerable to false teaching?

  4. What is the difference between spirituality and spiritual maturity?

  5. Who is the enemy who targets new believers?

ANSWERS

  1. No. Some so-called Christians even deny that Jesus is God.

  2. It was called Gnosticism. Among other things, it denied the full deity of Christ.

  3. The babes in Christ (the new believers) because they haven’t been exposed to as much teaching as the other groups.

  4. Spirituality has to do with your love and devotion to the Lord. Spiritual maturity has to do with your knowledge of the word.

  5. Satan is the enemy, trying to get new believers confused.

DISCUSS/CONSIDER

  1. Refer to 1 John 2:24-25. Notice how separation from false teaching is a test of Christian fellowship. If you don’t abide in the core teachings of our Lord and His apostles, it is evidence that you are not part of the Christian fellowship and you don’t have eternal life. Are you abiding in the core teachings of Scripture?

  2. The author’s point in 1 John 2:18 is that the false teaching was definitely a reality that they were facing because they were already in the last days. The last days really began with the coming of Christ (see Hebrews 1:2), but they continue to get worse and worse, as seen from 2 Timothy 3:1, 13. The core of false teaching is a denial of the full deity of Christ and a denial that Jesus is the Messiah and Savior. Any religion that says that Jesus was only a good man, or only one of many other ways of salvation is a false religion. Check out false religions.

  3. How do we protect ourselves from false teaching? By the Holy Scripture (see 1 John 2:24-25) and by the Holy Spirit (1 John 2:26-27). We need to abide in the word for protection – read, meditate and obey the word daily.

CHALLENGE

  1. Re-read 1 John 2:28-29. Are you a faithful servant of Jesus Christ? Let’s be ashamed to be ashamed.

KEY VERSES

  • “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.” 1 John 2:18

  • “You have an anointing from the Holy One…” 1 John 2:20

  • “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.” 1 John 2:22-23

  • “Let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.” 1 John 2:24

  • “This is the promise that He has promised us – eternal life.” 1 John 2:25

  • “Abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.” 1 John 2:28



1 John, New Testament, TalksDeb Harms1 John 2:18-29