God's family is comprised of individuals at various stages of spiritual maturity, from "little children" to "fathers." Young believers, or "little children," are particularly vulnerable to false teachers, referred to as "Antichrist." The sermon emphasizes that safety for these young believers comes from the indwelling Holy Spirit, who provides spiritual intelligence and power, and from their knowledge of God's truth as revealed in Scripture. Believers are urged to test all teachings against the Word of God, as no lie is of the truth, and to recognize that denying Jesus as the Christ, the Son sent by the Father, identifies one as an Antichrist.
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Beloved radio friends, we greet you in the other precious and the worthy name of our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus. We earnestly give you an invitation to take time and listen carefully to the broadcast of the precious Word of God. We believe that there is no greater message for men and women, boys and girls, to listen to than words that come from the heart and the throne of the living God. We thank God for the honor, the priceless privilege that is given to one, to open his blessed book and to minister from the contents of it, the eternal truth that never shall pass away.
There have been many books written in this world, but there is only one book that will never pass away. Heaven and earth shall pass away, said the Lord Jesus. But my words shall not pass away. We turn again to the Word of God in First John, the Epistle of John chapter two. We continue our consideration of those children in the family of God who were called little children. John, by the Holy Spirit, is writing to the young believers, the infants that are in the family of God. For may we repeat, There are three grades of spiritual growth and development in God's family as he looks upon his children today.
There are those, and would to God there were more of them, whom he can call fathers, indicating by the expression their spiritual maturity to full development and Christian growth. There are those whom he calls young men. They are past the stage of little children. They've gone unwell to be young men manifesting spiritual strength and seeking to let the Word of God have its abiding influence in their hearts and in their lives. But there are those who are still in infancy, little children in the family, their spiritual grade and development, just perhaps commencing, or perhaps having not developed as it should have done properly.
We now would read in first John chapter two, beginning at verse twenty-one and read through verse twenty-three. John continues to write to the little children, saying, 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. Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is Antichrist. that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father. But he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
Now let us make a resumption of what we have already seen in relation to the little children. Their great danger, preeminent danger, is the danger of being exposed to Antichrist, meaning false teachers. John mentioned in verse eighteen there were many of them. And though they may have had the Christian profession and taken the name of Christ, they departed from that Christian profession and abandoned it, and they became antagonistic and became false teachers. John calls them rightly. They are Antichrist.
He doesn't call them the Antichrist, but he calls them Antichrist, meaning they are against Christ. Now this development of all false teaching will consummate in what we have in verse twenty-two and twenty-three. It will consummate in the appearing of the Antichrist. But consider with me first of all. John's reference to the little children and another method of safety they should enjoy. In verse twenty-one, I've not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
Now let us be reminded that in our closing moments of the preceding message, we noted that in verse twenty, one source of safety for the little children in the family of God, meaning the young believers, newly in the faith, they possess the Holy Spirit. May I re-emphasize and rivet home this fact more tenaciously. Every young believer possesses the Holy Spirit. May I state, and I state it from experience, if you are a young believer, And one comes to you and asks the question, saying, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since you believed?
I hope you will give them an affirmative answer. The question was placed before me for my first experience in ever hearing of it when but a young Christian. I was puzzled. But one thing I did know, I had the Holy Spirit. And though the questioner was quoting scripture from the book of the Acts, chapter nineteen, it was being quoted out of context and out of its meaning, which can only be applied as it is written in that nineteenth chapter, in that day long ago when Paul addressed it, the question to some disciples of John the Baptist.
We reaffirm, as you read on, don't stay in the nineteenth of Acts. Read on, and as you have the teaching of the Holy Spirit in the epistles, we are told that every believer has the Holy Spirit, and that upon believing ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. So the Holy Spirit is one genuine, as well as a divine source of safety and protection, imparting spiritual intelligence to the believer, no matter how young. imparting spiritual power. For thank God he is the teacher. And I commend to my young believing friends the reading and the studying of First Corinthians chapter two, verse nine through sixteen.
There you will find that you have been given the Holy Spirit, and he has been given to you for the purpose of teaching you all the things of God. Now let me make a statement in relation to this premise that we are touching upon. Don't depend upon a man for final authority regarding divine truth. I don't care who the man is, and it could be myself. You prove what he declares by the Word of God. Whatever you listen to, whoever you listen to, You prove that message by searching the scriptures.
Do you remember in the seventeenth chapter of the book of the Acts when Paul went from Thessalonica to Berea? He declared, or it is written by Luke the apostle who wrote the account, that the Bereans were more noble than the Thessalonicans. For they searched the scriptures to see if these things were so. When Paul and his companions came to Berea, they heard the preaching, the same preaching that the apostles had preached in Thessalonica. But rather than being persuaded by what those apostles said, they went to the Word of God to prove their message.
My beloved young Christian, listen. I don't care how mature the teacher may be. I don't care how great and proficient and efficient and gifted he may be. Don't take what he says as the final answer. You make sure that his message is in agreement with the teaching of the Word of God. That is why the Holy Spirit has been given to you. To prove all things and to test them by the Word of God. Now in verse twenty-one there's another source of safety John mentioned. And that is, they have the knowledge of God's truth. He says, I've not written unto you because you know not the truth. This is, you know it.
In other words, what you know and what you've already learned has been God's truth. Now what's the danger then? If they knew the truth, if the danger is this, you could start listening to lies. For at the end of verse twenty-one he declares, No lie is of the truth. And may I say something that I believe is a word of warning and counsel for young Christians. When young Christians know the truth, it can be a great mistake for them to begin examining false teaching. Now my young believer, I know there are many false teachings prevailing around us.
The cults are many, and you may be desirous to know what they teach. Listen, you will be much safer if you will stay away from lies. For you have the source of all wisdom, and the source of all wisdom and knowledge for you and for me is the Word of God. And what John is referring to, you have the truth. You have already been given the Word of God. Now stay with it. Don't listen to lies. For you know no lie is of the truth. And of course, John particularly goes on to declare, Who is a liar?
And he mentions anyone that denies that Jesus is the Christ. Who is a liar and who is Antichrist? Anyone who denies the Father and the Son. My beloved may I point out to you that in the great gospel and the representation of Christianity, Christianity is particularly noticeable for the fact It revolves around the Father and the Son. Oh, beloved, our subject is a precious one, concerning God the Father and His family. And well made you and I realize, as we should do, that God's family belongs to Him and He is their Father, and they are made the children of God.
They are brought to the Father by the Son. And oh, beloved, Anyone that denies the true basis and foundation of Christianity, that the Father sent the Son into the world to be the Savior of the world, and that no man can come unto the Father except by Christ, anyone that denies that, they're Antichrist, they're liars. Oh, I must confess, you can find many professing ways to God, according to to what you hear around. Let us recognize one alone can, will, and does bring a believing sinner to the Father to become his child.
And that one is the Lord Jesus himself. Any other would be Antichrist. May God keep this clear in the heart and mind and soul and life of every believer. Father sanctify thy holy truth. May it indeed edify all in Jesus' name for His glory, amen.