Sunday of the Order of Melchizedek (NT)

1 John 2:15-27

¹⁵ Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. ¹⁷ And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. 

¹⁸ Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. ¹⁹ They went out from us, but they 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 all are not of us. ²⁰ But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. ²¹ 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. ²² 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. ²³ No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. ²⁴ Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. ²⁵ And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life. 

²⁶ I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. ²⁷ But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him. 

He who confesses the Son has the Father and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, and with them is worshiped and glorified. So if you confess God most high, you must be confessing the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, right? But if you claim to have Jesus, and not the Father and the Holy Spirit, then you are an antichrist. Likewise, if you claim heavenly Father and deny the Son and the Father are one, then you are an antichrist. What if I claim the Holy Spirit as the regenerator of my soul and I confess Jesus, but without the Law, does that make me an antichrist?

"Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come." They are all around you. They are on your television, in your magizines and newspapers, they are even in our churches. These antichrists have develop new denominations and taken over older ones. Please consider and point out all the different antichrists you are hearing on a regular basis.

I know that I listen to several, and I like to say mainly for comic relief. But all these things have influences on you. They will consume you. Thus, John writes so that you would not be deceived. He warns you, and points you back to the one that is not of this world. There is one Lord Jesus Christ who died for the forgiveness of our sins. He is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit, the only true God. Let their word abide in each of you and strengthen you through His holy Word.