1 John Chapter 2

“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous… He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him… He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked… He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes… Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things… 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. Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him."

What you have just read is the bulk of 1 John chapter 2. This is such a powerful chapter of scripture that nothing can really be said about it other than to repeat what IS said. I can tell you this with the utmost certainty: If we believe, obey, and keep the sayings of this chapter, we WILL be saved. If we refuse to hold to sin, and abide in the commandments of God, and walk as Jesus walked; we will surely be saved. If we refuse to hold a grudge against anyone regardless of what they have done to us, and we go out of our way to not be an offence to anyone in anything, we will absolutely be saved. If we do not prefer anything or anyone of this world over Jesus in any way, and we refuse to live in excess of this world, then we will escape the destruction that is soon to come on the wicked. The remainder of the chapter is an admonition to not accept antichrist teaching, and the truth is that the first half of the chapter that has been summed up and repeated here is the key to not falling prey to the antichrist teachers. If we hold fast to our faith that the Jesus of the Bible is THE Christ, and that he is the ONLY Christ; and we refuse the antichrist doctrines that say he is NOT the Christ, or that he is not the ONLY Christ; then we will be saved. By the way, these kinds of teachings have never gone away, and they are about to make a grand resurgence worldwide in the near future. Everyone who does not love Jesus with all their heart, and does not demonstrate that love by abiding in the commandments of God free from sin, will be taken in by these things. The apostle Paul spoke of this final resurgence of antichrist teaching, and he told who would be deceived by it: "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (II Thess. 2:11,12). So it is the love of the righteousness of God, which the first half of this chapter promotes, that is the key to staying free from the massive falsehood that is soon going to take the world by storm. And lastly the apostle assures us that God will give us eternal life if we allow his Spirit to teach us in all things, and if we abide in the righteousness of God that the Spirit will lead us into and empower us to do (Jn. 16:13; Acts 1:8; Gal. 5:16). All I can say is, What a chapter! May God give us the grace to be found in this truth at all times, and never to slip from it. God bless.