The Last Days and Repentance

"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" (I Jn. 2:18,19). The beloved apostle states here in no uncertain terms that the first 'antichrists' were those who were among the early believers, that went out from them in another direction. What this means is that these antichrists were born again believers, who as Peter said, "have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray" (II Pet. 2:15). What I would like to show here today is the exact time and circumstance that began the whole 'antichrist' move in the early new testament, and what the base element of antichrist religion actually is. With John's words in mind about how they "went out from [them]," we'll pick up in the book of Acts: "And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question" (Acts 15:1,2). When Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem and convened with the apostles and elders, the result of that meeting was the following statement from the apostles to the Gentile believers in Antioch: "Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment: It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ... For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well" (Acts 15:24-26,28,29).

To cover this topic thoroughly would take writing a book, but for the moment I just want to point out the most important elements of this evil ideology known in the scriptures as 'antichrist.' The men who went out from the apostles were believing Jews, meaning as I stated previously, that they had been born again by faith in Christ. But they cleaved to the old testament form of the law more than to Christ, and that resulted in them trying to subvert the Gentile believers to also come under subjection to the law. It wasn't things like "Thou shalt not steal" that they were zealous of, but rather it was the carnal ceremonial ordinances of the law that they exalted. They were merely taking the place of the Pharisees and Sadducees who rejected Jesus, whom Jesus rebuked for their zeal of ceremony that was coupled with their despite of the moral aspect of the law (Mat. 15:1-6; Mat. 23:16-23). We see that the apostles sent word by Paul and Barnabas to the Gentile believers that they were not bound to the ceremonial law, which that only serves to reason seeing that the law only led the way to Christ; and these Gentiles were already in Christ. There's no need to go back to the thing that was only leading to Christ, once someone is already in Christ. Paul explained that point clearly in Galatians: "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster" (Gal. 3:24,25). Everything that God established with men since the beginning of the world was all for the purpose of leading the way to faith in Christ, and once faith in Christ was established, that is the all in all and nothing 'more' is needed. To try to establish believers in Christ in the old covenant format of the law is actually to undo what has been done for the believer by being in Christ. Paul also pointed this out in Galatians: "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing... Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace" (Gal. 5:1,2,4). So if we can be made to believe that we have to keep carnal ordinances of the law in order to be 'fully right' with God, after having been baptized by Jesus with the holy Ghost, we are being taken down a path that leads to "falling from grace." The state of being fallen from grace, if not repented of, will eventually lead to apostasy which is the actual state of being an antichrist; which is where a system has actually replaced the Lord Jesus Christ to the point where one will no longer have the confession that he is the Son of God, the Lord, and that God raised him from the dead (I Jn. 2:22,23; I Jn. 4:1-3; I Jn. 5:16; Rom. 10:9,10).

It is an antichrist, or an 'against Christ' ideology that would have us believe that we must be a partaker of the things that only symbolized and led to faith in Christ, in order to be right with him after already being in him by faith. When the antichrist spirit first began working, circumcision was the vehicle that it used to try to get to the Gentiles believers because circumcision was the old covenant sign of being a Jew; and being a Jew was really the whole idea that these antichrists were trying to convince the Gentiles that they needed. That is why Paul, who was the apostle to the Gentiles, said things like the following: "For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God" (Rom. 2:28,29). The antichrist spirit is still around today, though it isn't using the vehicle of circumcision to get to Gentile believers, seeing that vehicle is exposed by the writings of Paul. But the antichrist spirit can and does use any and all of the natural ordinances of the law to try to have the same adverse effect on Spirit baptized Gentile believers today. The truth is that the Gentiles were never under the law to begin with, so they needed no 'schoolmaster' to take them to faith in Christ. We were given the shortcut to Christ, which is simply to BELIEVE on Christ. As Paul said yet again: "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:1). If we have peace with God by faith in Jesus Christ, it makes good sense that we ought to leave that formula alone and not try to 'add' anything to it. By 'anything' I mean carnal ceremonial ordinances that never had any righteous effect on anyone to begin with. If they had, then Christ would not have had to come and go through all that he went through for our sake, as Paul said again: "I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain" (Gal. 2:21). Today for the most part it is water baptism, 'communion' so called, and other less common natural ordinances that believers are often made to believe are necessary in order to complete their hope of salvation. For those who don't understand that water baptism and what is known as communion are old testament ordinances, just check the following scripture references for confirmation of that reality (Mat. 3:15; Mat. 5:17; Mat. 26:19,26-29). While it is true that it doesn't damn a person to be a partaker of these things, it is also true that when these ordinances are imposed on born again believers as something they have to do to be saved, it becomes the same thing that the original antichrists were doing to the believers in Antioch, as we have read.

The very inclusion of natural ordinances among new testament believers today is directly against the order of Christ for his people. One statement from Paul leaves us with no uncertainty about that: "But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law" (Gal. 5:18). I would say that is a very integral verse of scripture, especially when coupled with the following verse: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" (Rom. 8:14). To involve carnal ordinances in our worship and service of God today is to simply go backward from the leading of God's Spirit, as we have seen from the scriptures right here. So whether these things are imposed as being necessary for salvation, or whether they are just kept in the mix, they are contrary to our growth and development in the Spirit of God. The bottom line is that the very foundation of the whole antichrist ideology is seated in keeping the natural ordinances of the old covenant, believing that they are the commandments of God for new testament believers. They are most certainly not, and we really need to let them go. What IS necessary is faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, and the empowerment of his Spirit in us that results from that faith. After we have entered into that then all that is needed is more of the same. Anything apart from those elements, that is recognized and observed as being of the faith of Christ, is NOT of the faith of Christ; and can only hinder OUR faith in Christ. We need to heed the saying of the apostle Paul, who in the following words was seeking to establish this very point with the Colossians: "And ye are COMPLETE IN HIM, which is the head of all principality and power" (Col. 2:10). And how do we get 'in him?' "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit" (I Cor. 12:13). And how do we get baptized with the Spirit? "For ye are all the children of God BY FAITH in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Gal. 3:26,27). Friend, when we have "put on Christ" by being baptized with the holy Ghost, we are as 'complete' as it gets. If we try to add something carnal to that spiritually complete state, we are merely going backward from faith and stunting our growth in 'the faith.' It is not God who would have us tread that path, even as Paul told the Galatians in regard to this very topic: "This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you" (Gal. 5:8). That 'persuasion' comes not from Christ, but rather from the adversary of Christ who would love to take God's people all the way to 'antichrist' territory, so as to shipwreck their faith. I say it's time to put him and his persuasions under our feet while we rejoice in the true liberty of Christ. Amen.