Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/lw/sermons/8850/sermon-we-know-what-is-real/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] All right, family, if you've got your Bibles, go to 1 John 2. 1 John 2. We've been in the book of 1 John now for several weeks and continuing in our series called We Know, which is all about our confidence, the things that we are assured of as Christians and what we can know. If you want just kind of an overview of what we've been talking about, here's something I just kind of put together that will help kind of put all the different weeks in one kind of summary. The book really starts out with we know who Jesus Christ is. John starts right out of the gate. We saw him. We beheld him. We touched him. We were with him. We know who Jesus is. There is no doubt whatsoever, according to the apostle John, as to who the person of Christ is. And of course, he's saying to these believers, you can know with certainty who Jesus Christ is. Then we move on because we know who Christ is.

[1:31] We move to the fact that we can know that we know Christ. There are signs that point to yes. There are assurances that we can have as Christians to know that we know Jesus. Thirdly, if we know Christ, we know three things about us. And we looked at those last week. You can know that you're forgiven.

[1:53] You can know that you are victorious. And you can know that you are secure. And so we know who Jesus is. And we can know that we know him. And if we know that we know him, we know that we are forgiven and triumphant and secure. And then tonight, what we're going to look at is if we know Christ, then we know what is not Christ or anti-Christ. That is, we can know what is real. If you're able to stand, please do so as we honor the reading of God's word and pick this thinking up here in 1 John chapter 2. We're going to begin reading with verse 15. John is writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He says, 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 for all that is in the world. The desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and the pride of life is not from the father, but it's from the world.

[2:58] And the world is passing away along with its desires. But whoever does the will of God abides forever. Children, it's the last hour. And as you have heard that anti-Christ is coming.

[3:11] So now many anti-Christ have come. Therefore, know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.

[3:26] But they went out that it might become plain. They were not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One. And you all have knowledge. 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.

[3:44] Who is the liar? But he that denies that Jesus is the Christ. This is the anti-Christ. He who denies the father and the son. No one who denies the son has the father. Whoever confesses the son has the father also. 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.

[4:08] And this is the promise that he made to us eternal life. I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you receive 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. Will you pray with me and for me tonight, faith family? Let's ask God to teach us. Father, thanks for the opportunity now to study your word.

[4:47] I pray that you would Holy Spirit go before us and guide us into truth. As this text says, if we have Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit and the spirit is the spirit of truth. And so tonight we trust that you will open our eyes, open our hearts to receive what it is that you have to say to us. And we all, we pray all of this to the glory of Jesus. Amen. You may be seated.

[5:12] Sam was in the back of the grocery store pacing back and forth. He was trying to build up the courage to go through it that you know how you have those kind of internal conversations with yourself. You see, Sam knew that if his plan worked, he was going to be rich. And if it didn't, he'd probably end up in jail. But this wasn't some kind of knee jerk reaction. It wasn't something that Sam had just thought of all of a sudden. It was actually something he'd been thinking about and planning for some time. And that's because he was tired of getting by, tired of living paycheck to paycheck, tired of never getting ahead, never being able to have that car or that house that he'd always wanted. And so there he was pacing in the back of the grocery store until finally he built up the courage to go through with it.

[6:12] He walked from the back of the store up to the cashier and he placed his grocery items there by the cashier. And then he pulled something out from his back pocket and the cashier froze.

[6:27] She was puzzled at first, kind of confused as to what was even going on. And then she began to experience fear when Sam burst into a fit of anger when she refused to give him what he was asking for.

[6:43] And that's when the store manager stepped in and called the cops and Sam was arrested. His crime? Well, it's not what you might be thinking. You see, Sam didn't pull a gun on the cashier.

[7:00] He didn't try to steal any of the grocery items. Rather, according to the Pittsburgh police, Samuel Porter tried to pay for his groceries with a million dollar bill.

[7:17] Somehow, Sam got it in his mind that if he paid for his groceries with fake money, he'd get real money back. And of course, the higher the amount of the bill, well, the higher the amount of cash he'd get in return. Except Sam failed to consider a few things.

[7:39] Like, for instance, a grocery store probably won't have change for a million dollars. Or maybe that pulling out a million dollar bill might cause some attention.

[7:54] But more than those things, what he didn't consider was this. There's no such thing as a million dollar bill. Now, most of us, I've probably never experienced a situation exactly like that.

[8:11] But I know what all of us have experienced. And that is somebody that tried to pass off as real what was actually fake.

[8:23] My guess is every one of us has experienced that to some degree. And the question would be, how do you know when something is real and when it's not?

[8:33] How do you know if something is authentic or fake? Because it's not always easy to tell, is it, Faith Family? For example, look at these tennis shoes.

[8:44] Can you tell which one is real and which one is fake? How many of you, show of hands, think the fake one is on the left? How many of you say the fake one is on the right? How many of you have no idea?

[8:57] Exactly. Most of you. By the way, the fake one is on the right. Or look at these iPhones. Can you tell which one is real and which one is fake? How many of you think, show of hands, the one on the left is real?

[9:10] How many of you think the one on the right is real? How many of you still don't know? Exactly. None of you know the one on the right is fake. Here's one more.

[9:20] What about these watches? Can you tell which one is real and which one is fake? How many of you think the left? How many of you think the right?

[9:31] Again, how many of you don't know? Once again, most of you cannot tell when the fake one, once again, is on the right. See, it's hard sometimes to tell between what is real and what is fake.

[9:45] And we've all experienced things in life that we were certain were real. Like we were absolutely convinced that that was real, but we eventually discovered it was fake.

[9:56] Like, for instance, pro wrestling. Some of you are just now finding that that's fake. I didn't know. Or reality TV. If you think reality TV is real, you have issues.

[10:09] All right. Barry Bonds' home run record. That ain't real. Hot pockets. I don't even know what those things are. Christmas figures of which I will not name.

[10:20] Fake IDs. Fake sunglasses. Fake hair. Fake money. Fake handbags. Fake eyebrows. Fake jewelry. We've probably all received one of those fake emails.

[10:32] And you lose a lot of money on that other investment, the one from the email. You know what, Toby? When the son of the deposed king of Nigeria emails you directly asking for help, you help. That's right.

[10:43] I love that clip. You've received that fake email of somebody wanting money. I love this one. There was actually a Chinese zoo that dressed up a dog to look like a lion.

[10:57] The point is, faith family, everywhere around us in life, we're having to discern between what is real and what is fake. So everybody listen, everybody right here, those of you online, listen closely.

[11:13] How do you tell what's a real Christian and what's a fake one? How can you tell a real Christian from a fake Christian?

[11:28] Do real Christians just wear Lord's gym t-shirts? Right? That was what everybody wore when I was in youth group. Or, no, no, no. A real Christian are those that have the little fish decal on the back of their car.

[11:41] That's how you tell who the real Christian is. Or is it just the ones that have a cross around their neck? Are those the ones that are the real Christians? How do you know? How can you tell?

[11:54] That's exactly what the Apostle John is dealing with in our passage tonight. He's going to show us what is real. How we can know with confidence and assurance real Christianity.

[12:10]  Now, as I've mentioned in weeks prior, John is writing...