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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hi, I'm Mercy, I'm in 10th grade and I go to American
Canyon High School, and theverses I'm reading today are 1
John, 2, 18 to 29.
Dear children, this is the lasthour and as you have heard that
the Antichrist is coming, evennow, many Antichrists have come.

(00:25):
This is how we know it is thelast hour.
They went out from us, but theydid not really belong to us,
for if they had belonged to us,they would have remained with us
, but their going showed thatnone of them belonged to us.
But you have an anointing fromthe Holy One, and all of you
know the truth.
I do not write to you becauseyou do not know the truth, but

(00:47):
because you do know it andbecause no lie comes from the
truth.
Who is a liar?
It is whoever denies that Jesusis Christ.
Such a person is the Antichrist, denying the Father and the Son
.
No one who denies the Son hasthe Father.
Whoever acknowledges the Sonhas the father also.

(01:08):
As for you, see that what youhave heard from the beginning
remains in you.
If it does, you also willremain in the son and in the
father, and this is what hepromised us eternal life.
I'm writing these things to youabout those who are trying to
lead you astray.
As for you, the anointing youreceive from him remains in you

(01:31):
and you do not need anyone toteach you.
But as his anointing teachesyou about all things, and as
that anointing is real, notcounterfeit, just as it has
taught you remain.
Remain in him and now, dearchildren, continue in him so
that, when he appears, we may beconfident and unashamed before

(01:54):
him at his coming.
If you know that he isrighteous, you know that
everyone who does what is righthas been born of him.
This is the word of the Lord.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Thanks be to God.
Thanks, mercy, that was great.
Are you guys filming over here?
I'm ready.
No, now they're all looking atwhat they filmed.
It's all good.
Hey, we thankful for airconditioning.
It's good.
Yeah, I love it.
Hey, I'm glad you're here.
We are in the middle of doingsome letters at the very end of
the New Testament.

(02:23):
It's called First, second andThird John.
John wrote a gospel.
You find that in the first fourbooks, which is the good news.
Then he writes these letters,and so we've been going verse by
verse.
Today we're actually going tofinish a whole handful of verses
, as you heard some excitingones in chapter two.
John, happy birthday, I see you.
Yeah, welcome.
So, john, if you've evertraveled in an airport, you know

(02:45):
, like how busy it can be andhow crazy it is.
It can feel literally likeyou're in a full contact sport,
like you go there and there'sannouncements blaring, the
screens are flashing aboutdifferent updates and people are
rushing around.
It's like, why did you comethis late?
Like they're auditioning for atrack meet and everyone's
freaking out.
And if that's not enough, youwalk through and it's like every
store is yelling at you aboutthings you didn't know you

(03:07):
needed.
Like over here best coffee, twofor one, sandwiches, duty-free
perfume, and you're like Ididn't know I needed perfume and
then like you need this foryour cousin's cousin that you're
traveling to, and it's justchaos, right.
So this might like bother someof you like give you a lot of
anxiety, but I'm one of thoseguys that after I go through TSA
, if I can just not stop walkinguntil I actually get onto the

(03:32):
plane and into my seat, it was asuccessful trip, right.
Like if I don't have to stopmoving and if I have to wait
like 10 minutes, it's annoying.
Now, some of you guys thatcauses so much anxiety, like I'm
never traveling with you, butwhat do we do if we have to wait
?
Well, what we all do and I dothis too we throw on our
headphones right to drown outall of the noise that's going on
.
Well, that actually bit me onetime when I was in Nashville.

(03:53):
It was an airport I wasunfamiliar with and I got my
headphones on and, without evenrealizing it, they had announced
a gate change and my phonedidn't tell me, and so I was
just in my own little world.
So when I'm going to board ontothis plane and scan the thing
like bloop, bloop, bloop andit's not working right.
And suddenly you realize you'reheaded to a layover in Denver,

(04:13):
but you're supposed to be inDallas.
It's not a good day, right.
Good thing I'm an athlete and asprinter.
But if you're not payingattention, you could very easily
end up at the wrong gate,boarding the wrong plane and
headed to the wrong destination.
Now, friends, doesn't thatsound a little bit like the

(04:34):
spiritual climate we're livingin right now, like our world is
crowded with voices, everyonehas a message, everyone has a
claim to truth, and you canscroll through you know TikTok
for five minutes and encounter adozen self-proclaimed prophets,
philosophers, life coaches,spiritual guides, and each one
is promising peace andfulfillment and enlightenment,

(04:55):
and maybe just like better abs,I don't know.
You know whatever's coming up,but the danger here is that
every voice isn't trustworthy.
Some voices actually promisefreedom but deliver bondage.
Some sound compassionate butdistort the gospel.
Some use the name of Jesus, butthey're hollow of him and his

(05:16):
meaning, and if you're notpaying attention, you might
actually find yourself boardingthe wrong flight, spiritually
headed to the wrong destinationthat you never actually wanted
to go.
And, as we have seen John in hisfirst letter he was writing to
believers facing this exact samereality.
They were shaken, actuallybecause people who had once been

(05:37):
a part of them in their faithcommunity is now distant from
their fellowship.
They've just gone chasing newteachings, these versions of
Jesus, and this community thatwas left then behind is confused
.
These questions are raising upin their hearts, like how do we
know it's true?
How do we keep from beingdeceived, how do we stay

(05:59):
faithful in a world with so manycompeting voices?
And John's answer is actuallyreally clear.
He says abide in Christ.
He says stay with him, don'tmove.
He talks a lot about relying onthe spirit who actually lives
in you, but don't be carriedaway by any counterfeits.
He even starts with thissection today with a little holy

(06:21):
urgency.
Today's passage opens up withwords that are often
misunderstood.
I'm sure you caught it rightoff the bat, but he says dear
children, this is the last hour.
The Antichrist is coming.
Some of you heard that andyou're like we're in for one
today.
Let's go Now.
Most assume that this meansright here.
This means end times prophecy.
But, john, he's actuallywriting about something very

(06:42):
different, something that'shappening in his day and
actually in our day as well.
Now, I don't know about you,but when I read something like
this about the last hour and Ihear that, I automatically think
, like wait a minute.
Like you wrote this 2000 yearsago, how can it still be the
last hour?
But see, john isn't talkingabout like giving us this
countdown clock.
He's saying that ever sinceJesus actually ascended into

(07:05):
heaven, we've actually beenliving in.
What is this final chapter ofGod's story?
A great way to think about it isthink of eras.
There's these different erasthroughout the scripture, and
this is the last era, and thelast days aren't just a week
before Jesus comes.
The last days are this wholeperiod of time from his
resurrection to his return.
Using sports, for those of youwho do that, think about like

(07:27):
the fourth quarter or the thirdperiod in a hockey game, but
it's not necessarily thetwo-minute warning, but it could
be, but it could not be.
Which ultimately means, though,that every moment is urgent.
Every moment's actually leadingtowards eternity, and John says
here's the evidence that we'rein the last hour, that many

(07:48):
antichrists have already come.
He says, dear children, this isthe last hour, and, as you have
heard that the antichrist iscoming even now, many
antichrists have come.
This is how we know.
It is the last hour Now.
When we hear the word antichristhere, a lot of you, your minds
just go to like the big capital,a one right, like the end times

(08:10):
villain with the moviesoundtrack behind him.
And yes, john is actuallyacknowledging this here that
there's a final Antichristcoming.
But he says even now there aremany Antichrists, little
Antichrist people, movements,teachers who oppose Christ or
who replace Christ with asubstitute.
And that's really important tounderstand, because here the

(08:33):
word anti doesn't just meanagainst, it also means instead
of.
And that's exactly what'shappening around us all today.
It's not just like peopleshouting, you know, angrily
against Christianity.
More often it's actually thenice professional TED Talk style
substitute versions of Jesus.

(08:54):
Maybe you've heard some of theseideas, you know.
Here's a Jesus who won't askanything of you.
Here's a gospel that won'tconfront your sin.
Here's a truth that is nicelyjust packaged to whatever
lifestyle that you choose.
And John says don't be fooled,just because someone uses the

(09:15):
name of Jesus doesn't meanthey're preaching the Jesus of
scripture.
He even tells this the church.
He says they went out from us,but they didn't really belong to
us, because if they belonged tous they would have remained
with us, but their going showedthat none of them belonged to us
.
In other words, some of thesepeeps sat in the same pews you

(09:37):
all did.
They sat in these same chairs.
They once carried the label ofChristian or Christ follower,
but their departure, theirdistortion, revealed their true
allegiance.
Let me put it this way have anyof you gotten one of those like
scam emails before?
Ever gotten a scam email?
None of you guys, right, youknow that kind where you're like
hello, I'm the Nigerian prince,I need to transfer $10 million

(10:00):
to your bank account.
Help me and you will receivethe great reward.
And you're like heck, yeah,sweet.
You're like hey, babe, theNigerian prince loves us.
Like let's go Right.
But we laugh at those thingsUsually.
We see it because we're justlike it's an obvious fake.
I don't know the prince, right,but when you realize scammers
actually got smarter, right?
Have you seen those ones Likethey look like legitimate emails

(10:22):
, like from your bank, from yourboss, from Amazon, and the same
font, the same logo, likeeverything looks real and it
like gets you right on the edgewhere you're thinking like maybe
I'm actually supposed to clickthat link.
I had an admin years ago that Ifound out later had like 10 back
and forth conversations withone of these people.
That's how good it was.
It was on one of our days offand she didn't even bother me.

(10:44):
It was one of those where I hadsaid, I guess, like I'm going
into an emergency meeting,please get me a thousand dollars
in Amazon cards and send me thepin.
And so I got a text from herand she's like hey, can I just
text you the pin or do youreally want it in an email?
And I'm like what are you phonecall?
She's like freaked out becauseshe had gotten up, went and got

(11:04):
these with her own money to getreimbursed with and was getting
ready to give this over right.
But here's the thing If you knowwhat to look for, you know the
truth.
Right, that it's fake, andthat's what John's actually
warning us about.
Not the obvious counterfeitsthat we all laugh at, it's the
subtle ones that look closeenough to the real thing to be

(11:24):
really dangerous.
So when that's happening to us,like how do we stay firm in a
world like this?
Well, john tells us well, youhave an anointing from the Holy
One, and so, because of that,all of you guys know the truth.
He said that anointing rightthere is actually pointing to
something we've talked aboutbefore, which is the Holy Spirit
.
In the Old Testament, prophetsand priests and kings were

(11:45):
anointed with oil.
It was the sign of them beingset apart by God.
It was this visible, fragrant,undeniable thing they're saying
now.
Every believer is anointed notwith the thing on the outside,
but with the Spirit on theinside, and so, therefore, that
means you're not defenseless inthis, you're not left alone in a

(12:06):
world of deception, that youactually have the spirit of God
dwelling within you, teachingyou, reminding you of truth,
protecting you from lies Jumpingahead real quick.
John actually says in verse 27for today, as for you, the
anointing that you received fromhim remains in you and you
don't need anyone to teach you.

(12:27):
But as his anointing teachesyou about all of the things, and
as anointing is real, notcounterfeit, just as he has
taught you remain in him.
Now, it's important not tomisunderstand this right here,
because he's not saying Jesusfollowers don't need teachers or
pastors, otherwise this letterhe was writing would have been

(12:47):
pointless.
What he's saying is you don'tneed new secret knowledge, you
don't need to chase after thelatest guru with the latest
revelation, that you alreadyhave what you need the gospel
that you have heard from thebeginning as he talks about,
confirmed by the spirit wholives in you.
And that's the key, becauseevery counterfeit eventually

(13:11):
distorts or denies Jesus.
John says in verse 22, who isthe liar?
It is whoever denies that Jesusis the Christ.
Such a person is theanti-Christ, denying the Father
and the Son.
And no one who denies the Sonhas the Father, and whoever
acknowledges the Son has theFather also.

(13:33):
That's at the root, that if youdeny the Son, you lose the
Father, but if you confess theSon, you have the father also.
And so then John actually urgesus in verse 24.
He says as for you, see thatwhat you have heard from the
beginning abides in you.
If it does, you also willremain in the son and in the

(13:57):
father.
He says let what you heard fromthe very beginning, let that
stuff abide in you.
Don't trade the old ruggedcross for some new shiny thing.
Don't move beyond the gospel.
He's saying, don't let go ofJesus.
Now let me just pause.
I actually just want to bringthis right into our current
world context right now, becauseJohn says that many antichrists

(14:19):
have gone out, and so he mightas well, I think, be describing
our newsfeed.
Because we live in the day andage of new spiritualities and
progressive truths Like, wherethey look enlightened, they
sound compassionate, they feelempowering, but they're really
counterfeit and they replaceJesus with something else.

(14:40):
Take manifestation and the lawof attraction Like you've seen
it, you know TikTok influencerslighting candles and playing
dreamy music, saying like justspeak it into the universe,
right, claim it, visualize it,and then the universe will
deliver.
And it looks spiritual.
But what it does is it makesyou the God, it puts you in

(15:05):
charge of the universe.
And the Bible says ask theFather in Jesus's name.
And manifestation says ask theuniverse in your own name.
And it's not just silly, it'santichrist in spirit.
Let's be honest, how many haveyou have tried a little bargain

(15:25):
prayer that sounds suspiciouslylike manifestation, like Lord.
If you just give me thispromotion, I promise I'll be
extra nice to my mother-in-law.
Right, it's not prayer, it'snegotiation.
Right, it's treating God like avending machine.
And the spirit reminds us thatprayer is not bending God to our
will, it's actually aligningour will with his will.

(15:46):
Or what about this one?
Think about progressiveChristianity.
I really believe that there arefaithful churches who engage
culture thoughtfully andbiblically, and I think that
that's fantastic.
But there's actually a movementthat strips away the
supernatural, where they saythat there's no virgin birth,
there's no bodily resurrection,there's no atonement for sin,
and essentially then Jesus isjust reduced to a wise moral

(16:09):
teacher or a social activist.
And we need wise teachers, weneed compassion and we need
justice.
But if Jesus is just anotheractivist, then we're still in
our own sins, and a Christ whodoesn't save sinners isn't the
Christ of scripture.
Well then we have the spiritualbut not religious trend.

(16:32):
You've heard this one.
Surveys actually say this isone of the fastest growing
identities in America.
People say you know, I don't doorganized religion, right, but
I'm spiritual.
And then they dabble incrystals and astrology, energy
work, mindfulness, breath work.
They might even borrow a verseor two from the Bible.
But you can be spiritualwithout being saved.

(16:54):
You can be into vibes withoutknowing the living God.
It's kind of like buying atreadmill and putting it in your
living room and then justhanging laundry on it.
Right, this is my friend'sPeloton.
It's going great.
This is my other friend.
They have two Pelotons and it'slike a fort for their kids,

(17:17):
right?
And here's the deal.
You can say I'm into fitness,but then like nothing in your
life has changed, right?
And when I think about it, I'mlike I'm into fitness, fitting
this whole burrito in my mouth,right, that's what you guys are
thinking, I guess, how we do it.
Right, it's about lunchtime,right?
Here's the deal.
Being into spirituality withoutJesus, it might look impressive,

(17:39):
but it actually won't get youanywhere.
It might look impressive, butit actually won't get you
anywhere.
Or maybe you've heard of thisone how about self-help
spirituality?
The mantra of our age is you'reenough.
The answer is within you.
Believe in yourself.
And it sounds great, right,like, it sounds like most of you
can just like slap on a coffeemug and sell it at Target.
You can have that one.

(18:00):
But the Bible says the problemis actually within you and the
answer is outside of you.
It's in Jesus Christ and heactually desires to live in you.
And here's the deal.
If you could save yourself, thecross was pointless.
Then there's this other onesyncretism.
This actually mixesChristianity with other beliefs.

(18:21):
I follow Jesus and I use tarotcards, I read the Bible and my
daily horoscope, but I want tosay this really nicely We've
talked about this.
Jesus does not share his throne.
You can't treat him as oneoption among many.
There cannot be two kings lefton the board of life, because

(18:42):
otherwise it is a stalemate.
It is a dead religion.
Another one of our ages culturaltruths.
The slogans of our time is liveyour truth right, love is love.
Follow your heart.
It sounds Disney, it soundscompassionate, but it's feelings
over God's word.

(19:03):
It makes your emotions theultimate authority.
But let me ask you has yourheart ever led you into a
trouble?
Right, I know mine has.
Like my heart has told me Ineed that third donut.
Right, my heart tells me everyyear that the Denver Broncos are
gonna win the championship.
Like it tells me this my hearttells me to say the first thing
that comes to my mind when I'min an argument with my wife,

(19:25):
right?
So, friends, I'm just going totell you, if I follow my heart,
I can say I'm in a little bit oftrouble and what we need is we
need God's word to guide us, notour fickle feelings.
And then, finally, there's thisone out there, this techno
spirituality.
Right, it sounds a little likescience fiction, but there are
voices actually out there sayingthat our hope is in AI or
transhumanism, or actuallyuploading our consciousness to

(19:48):
the cloud like an eternal lifewithout Christ literally a
digital tower of Babel.
But listen, maybe you'veexperienced this.
If Google Drive has ever lostone of your files, do you really
want to trust them with yoursoul?
My friends, let me just tellyou these are the antichrists of
our day.
They're not all hostile, theydon't all come with like horns

(20:12):
and a pitchfork.
Some of them actually soundvery modern and compassionate
and enlightened, but they all dothe same thing they replace
Jesus with a substitute.
And the only way to stand firm,so rooted in the real Jesus, is
that you understand that thecounterfeits stand out instantly

(20:34):
, because you're so rooted inthat you know how bank tellers
tell, are trained how to spot acounterfeit.
It's not actually becausethey're studying the fakes.
They handle the real things somuch that when a fake passes
through their hands, it standsout.
They can feel it right away.
That's what it means to abidein Christ that you're so close

(20:57):
to him, so saturated in his word, that when the counterfeit
comes, you know that it's nothim.
And that's why John says inverse 28,.
He says now, dear children,abide in him so that then, when
he appears, we may be confident.
Confident and unashamed beforehim at his coming, because Jesus

(21:17):
is coming back and John saysthat when he does, there's going
to be one of two responses Oneis confidence, the other is
shame.
He's saying confidence forthose who remained, who abided,
who clung onto Christ, and thenthere is shame for those who
abandoned, who traded him forsome substitute.
Let's be honest, nobody reallylikes the word abide.
It's like this weird archaicword.

(21:38):
It let's be honest, nobodyreally likes the word abide.
It's like this weird archaicword.
It sounds old fashioned, likesomething you'd read in a
Victorian novel, and some of youguys are like so when are you
going to say, therefore andforthwith?
But John uses this word overand over again because, frankly,
it's a really powerful one thatwe can just breeze by.
And abide simply means this toremain.
It's simple, but it's beautiful.
To dwell, to stay put.
And it's not flashy, it's notglamorous, it's not like

(22:00):
headline worthy, it's faithful.
Abiding is like staying married, right, there are beautiful
moments of joy and romance, butthen there's the Tuesday night
where you're eating leftoversand you're arguing about who
left the lights on right.
Abiding doesn't mean perfection.
It means staying.
It means like choosing toactually remain.

(22:25):
It's like when your GPS saysrecalculating you ever had this
where you know like you make thewrong turn or you just miss
your turn altogether.
And then, like Siri gets thattone in her voice like at the
next light make a U-turn right,and here's the deal.
You can fight it voice like atthe next light make a U-turn
right, and here's the deal.
You can fight it, you can arguewith it, but the GPS is still

(22:46):
right.
And abiding literally means likethat you keep letting Jesus
recalculate your route, evenwhen you want to go and do your
own thing.
And John says that.
And then if you do this, if youactually abide, if you remain
in here, then you'll have theconfidence when Jesus returns.
Confidence, not shame.
I mean like, think about that,when the skies split open, when
the trumpets sound, when Jesushimself descends in glory, some

(23:07):
people will rejoice withconfidence and others will
shrink back in shame.
And what makes a difference?
It's not your IQ, it's not howmany followers you have on
Instagram, it's not your status,it's that you abided, that you
abided in Christ.
Now, verse 29 adds and if youknow that he is righteous, you

(23:27):
know that everyone who does whatis right has actually been born
of him.
Now notice carefully here.
John doesn't say we practicerighteousness in order to be
born again.
No, he says practicingrighteousness is actually the
evidence.
It's the evidence that we havebeen born of him.
It's the fruit, not root.

(23:49):
It shows that we're actuallyconnected to the vine and Jesus
gave image of that actuallythrough John in the gospel of
John, in John 15, he says abidein me and I in you, and then,
apart from me, you can donothing.
It's this picture of agrapevine, a branch that has
been cut from a vine, withersand dies, but a branch that
actually remains and connectedto the vine.

(24:09):
It flourishes and justnaturally bears fruit, like
nobody has to yell at and belike produce grapes.
You don't have to do a wholelot because the life of the vine
that flows through it, fruitthen naturally happens, and
that's what righteousnessactually looks like in the life
of a believer Not perfection,but fruit Evidence.

(24:29):
So let me ask you this when theworld squeezed you this last
week, what came out?
Or when the world squeezes youthis week, what's going to come
out?
That's the real test what comesout of you.
When life squeezes you thisweek.
What's going to come out?
That's the real test.
What comes out of you when lifesqueezes you, when you get
stuck in traffic or your kiddrops the phone in the toilets,
or when your boss gives you thatlike we need to talk, with no

(24:50):
details, email.
John says abiding makes all thedifference.
Abide in Christ and when you'resqueezed, then Christ comes out
.
What fruit is that?
Love, joy, peace, patience,kindness, goodness, faithfulness

(25:11):
, gentleness, self-control andforgiveness.
But drift from Christ.
And when you're squeezed, whatoften do we see?
Come out Anger, fear,bitterness, envy.
And I'm gonna tell you, abidingisn't just about Sunday mornings

(25:35):
.
Abiding is Monday morning, whenthe alarm goes off and you'd
rather throw it across the room.
It's real life.
Abiding is Wednesday afternoon,when you're goes off and you'd
rather throw it across the room.
It's real life.
Abiding is Wednesday afternoon,when you're exhausted and
you're tempted to give up.
Abiding is Friday night, whentemptation whispers.
Nobody's going to know.
Abiding is Saturday, when youdecide to open up your Bible
before you open up social media.

(25:56):
Abiding is daily.
So what does it look like?
Well, that's one example.
It looks like opening up yourBible not just to check up a
list but honestly, friends, justto hear the Father's voice.
It looks like prayer, not justat meals but in the car, like at
your desk in the middle ofchaos.

(26:16):
It looks like worship, not justwith music but with your actual
choices.
It looks like fellowship,because we flourish best when we
are a part of the vine,together, not isolated twigs.
And here's the good news yourconfidence that Christ's coming
isn't based on your perfection,it's based on his faithfulness.
And abiding doesn't mean younever stumble.

(26:38):
Understand that.
It means that when you dostumble, you fall into his arms.
Think of it like failingforward, not away.
Think about a toddler.
Have you ever seen a toddlerlearning to walk?
What do they do?
They wobble, they stumble andthey fall.
And then what do we do?
Do we yell at them?
That wasn't a rhetoricalquestion.
Okay, good, because if you'regoing to say something different

(27:00):
, we were going to have a talk,right?
No, what do we do?
We like clap and we pick themup and we're like, oh, you can
do it, that was so good, come on, you encourage them to try it
again.
Friends, that is exactly how thefather sees you when you're
abiding in him.
He doesn't expect perfection,he just wants you to stay with

(27:22):
him to keep walking, to keeptrusting.
And God's love is the soil inwhich obedience grows, and if
you skip that, you're justmanaging behavior.
But if you live in it, you willthen see fruit that only he can
produce.
So, friends, the world is loud,the antichrists are many, the
substitutes are shiny, but youare not defenseless because you,

(27:44):
friends, have the spirit.
You have the gospel that youhave heard from the beginning
and you have a savior who isfaithful.
So stay.
I wanna encourage you to remain.
I wanna encourage you, students, to abide.
And when the noise of theselike new spiritualities grows

(28:05):
loud, abide.
When the counterfeits begin tolook convincing, abide when the
world says that truth is justrelative.
Abide when Christ returns.
Those who abide will not shrinkin shame, but they will stand
in confidence.
So abide, stay when the worldtells you to leave, remain when

(28:26):
your feelings tell you to driftand trust when your doubts tell
you to run and rest in him.
When everything else screamsfor your attention, when
everything else screams for yourattention.
And that, friends, is thepromise of 1 John, 2, 18 through
29.
Would you stand with me andrespond in worship, amen.
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