1st John – Part 4 Lawson and Aaron Perdue

  Praise God, friends. We’re gonna be sharing today from 1 John 2: 12 through 1 John 2:21. This is one of my favorite messages in all the scripture. And if you get a revelation of the truth that I’m teaching today, and my son Aaron, I believe this is gonna liberate you and help you live the overcoming life Jesus has for you. Friends, it’s great to have you with us. So glad to have Aaron. We’re teaching from 1 John, and we’re actually talking about our relationship with God or lessons that we learn as we walk with God. John the Apostle, the beloved, wrote this about 90 AD. So he had been walking with Jesus for nearly 60 years at that point. And he’s got a tremendous, tremendous revelation of the love of God. He calls himself the disciple who Jesus loved.

 

  I think it’s actually something you can grow in as well. Over time, you can actually grow in relationships with people. And I think when you come to God and when you get saved, that’s the beginning of that relationship. But you can actually grow in it. So coming back to the love of God and continuing to grow in that, it’s a powerful thing. You don’t wanna become stagnant in your relationship with God. You don’t wanna become stagnant, plateau just in that love relationship that you have with your Heavenly Father. You wanna grow in that.

 

  Aaron, I am passionate about my relationship with God. And I’ve been saved for 51, nearly 52 years. This year, I’ll celebrate 52 years since I received Christ. And I’ve been baptized in the Holy Spirit this year for 46 years. And since I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, spoke in tongues the first time. I’ve probably spoken in tongues nearly every day in the last 46 years. If I haven’t spoken in tongues every day, nearly every day. But you know what? I’m still passionate about God. When you understand the grace of God and the love of God, it’s not gonna cause you to lose your passion. It’s not gonna cause you to go live in sin, do a bunch of stupid things. It’s because people don’t understand the love of God. They don’t understand the grace of God. They don’t really understand their relationship with God, and they focus more on what they’re doing in the outward realm, rather than their personal relationship with God.

 

  And really, from your personal relationship with God, from that love walk with God, you’re gonna find purpose from that. You’re gonna know what to do, you’re gonna know your calling, you’re gonna know where to go from that relationship. Some people are trying to do the right things to please the Father, but you gotta realize he’s already pleased with you, and that your direction comes from that relationship.

 

  And I wanna talk about that. I’m gonna start a little bit beyond where we’re gonna go back to, but I’m gonna read these scriptures. And I’ve taught this in Bible school for years, but in 1 John 2:15-17, it says, “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, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world passes away and the lust thereof. But he who does the will of God abides forever.” I grew up in a traditional church and they preached on things like this. And then I went for a number of years to a Pentecostal church. And again, they preached a lot on the world, the flesh, and the devil. And I don’t discount that the world, the flesh, and the devil are there. But as I’ve taught, I would read these scriptures in Bible school and say, there’s 200 students. I would say, “How many of you in this classroom have heard a message on 1 John 2:15-17?” And generally, 50% of the hands will go up. And then after I read that, I’ll go back and read 1 John 2:12-14. And 1 John 2:12-14 talks about what we have. It talks about we are forgiven, that we have known God, we have a relationship with God. We have, it says, because you have overcome the wicked one, it says, because you have known the Father, again, you’ve known him or a relationship with God, because you’re strong, and because the word of God abides in you. And when you study that out, there’s five things. You are forgiven. You have a relationship with God. He says, you are forgiven, you’re strong, the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one. Five different things. If you understand verse 12 to verse 14, then verse 15 to verse 17 is no problem. So after I read verse 15 to 17, talk about the world, the flesh and the devil, ask the students, “How many of you heard message on this?” Generally, 50% of hands go up. Then I’ll read verse 12 to verse 14. And I’ll say, “How many of you now have heard a message on 1 John 2:12-14? And especially when you heard this message on verse 15 to verse 17?” And maybe two hands will go up. So 50% of the people in the average church have heard a message, right? On 1 John 2:15-17, the problem, the world, the flesh and the devil. And yet only 1% of people in the average church, probably in America as a whole, have heard this message on verse 12 to verse 14, what you already have. It doesn’t say, so that you might be forgiven. It doesn’t say, so that you might know God. It doesn’t say, so that you might overcome the wicked one. It doesn’t say, so that you might be strong. It doesn’t say, so that the word of God might abide in you. It says, because you are forgiven, because you know God, because you’ve overcome the wicked one, because you’re strong, because the word of God abides in you. And guess what? When you understand that, you’re forgiven, you have a relationship with God, the word abides in you, you’ve already overcome the wicked one, and you have a relationship with God, it’s no problem. The world, the flesh, and the devil are no problem. There’s no comparison.

 

  Well, we’ve talked about how important it is to understand that God really loves you and to keep growing in that, and for your identity, for your value to come from God’s love for you, because that’s the highest value anyone has ever set on you was the love from the Father. And he paid the highest price, he paid with the life, with the blood of his only begotten son. And when you realize that you’re accepted, that that’s how much you’re worth, that’s how much you’re valued, you’re not gonna be going to the world to try to find value and acceptance. People wanna feel important. People wanna feel known. People want to feel a part of something. That’s normal. God is relational, and he’s created us as relational beings. But if you don’t understand how much God loves you, that your value comes from that, you’re gonna try to find your value, your purpose, your identity in the wrong places. That might be through relationships, that might be through experiences, through entertainment, through money. But that cannot trump the value that your heavenly Father has placed upon you.

 

  Right, it cannot take the place of it. There is nothing that can take the place of knowing God and what Jesus has done for you. Absolutely nothing. Some people, you talked about experienced. Some people are trying to get high or get more money, get all these different things, and it’s not through all those things that we’re ultimately fulfilled. We’re fulfilled through our relationship with God.

 

  When people try to find, if you don’t have Jesus, you’re lost. And people are trying to find fulfillment through a lot of things. It might be through traveling all the time. And there’s nothing wrong with some of these things. It’s okay to do, but some people just wanna just, they’re never content. They always have to be going somewhere. They’re never at ease, never at peace, never at home, And it’s because something is missing, and they’re looking for it, but they’re not finding it.

 

  Aaron, some of people in the church, they’re always talking about more of God and more of this and more of that. And listen, if Christ lives in you and you’re baptized in the Holy Spirit, you got what you need. Amen, I believe, like if you’re born again and baptized the Holy Spirit, you’re ministry on the inside of you is full grown. And it takes a lifetime to walk that out. But if people are always seeking for more, gotta have more, it’s like they don’t understand what they’ve already been given. And when you understand what you’ve already been given in Christ, when you understand what you’ve already been given through the Holy Spirit living in you, in this baptism of the Holy Spirit, you don’t have to run to the world to try to be fulfilled or always be seeking more, more, more. It’s good for us to hunger and thirst for righteousness. The Bible says, “Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness shall be filled.” But it’s also good to know what you got. Hallelujah. And we’ve gotta recognize these things. Man, this will liberate you if you begin to understand this. And thank God, when I was just a young man, I began to get a revelation of these things. I was born again when I was eight. I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, called to preach when I was 14. It wasn’t till I was 30 that I got a real revelation of the love of God, a real revelation of grace, which transformed my life, transformed my marriage, transformed my ministry. Barbara, your mom says, “I’m not even like living with the same person.” But thank God I got it, amen? And when you get a revelation of that, you don’t have to run here or there, somewhere else, trying to get more all the time. Praise God.

 

  Well, some people are just constantly discontent. Nothing will really make them happy. Not more money, not more, you know, they’re just constantly discontent. As believers, we should be very thankful, very grateful. Godliness with contentment is great gain.

 

  Paul said, “I’ve learned.” He said, “I’ve learned how to be abased. I’ve learned how to abound,” in the end of Philippians chapter four. And he says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Paul’s actually in prison for preaching the gospel in Philippians 4. He’s writing, and as he writes this, there are seven statements of abundance in Philippians 4:10-19 that are literally amazing. And most people, if they were in prison for preaching the gospel, they wouldn’t be doing that. In Acts chapter 16, he’s thrown in prison for preaching, then beaten and thrown in prison and locked him in the stocks, him and Silas. And at midnight, they sang and praised God. Most people wouldn’t be singing and praising and glorifying God. But Paul knew the value of his relationship with God. And so a lot of these things that happened on the outside did not move him. Amen?

 

  Yeah, some people, like they just crave more, more, and more. I talked to a young minister once, and he said like, “If I don’t grow this ministry times 10, then I’m just gonna quit ’cause it’s not worth my time.”

 

  That’s terrible.

 

  And now, he’s not doing anything. Went to zero influence.

 

  Aaron, I pastored for the first 13 years of my pastoral ministry, I pastored in a town of 300 in a county that’s 2200 that covers 2,400 square miles. There’s less than one person a square mile in that county. And yet I was very fulfilled. And you know what? In our church, God raised up people that are changing the world. One of the major leaders at Charis Bible College, Carrie Pickett was raised up in our church, and Kit Carson. And did you know what? Every person is valuable. Jesus spent three years in the ministry and only had a few followers.

 

  He had thousands and whittled it down to just 12 at one point too.

 

  Amen, so call in if you need prayer right now, and we’ll be back right after the break. Friends, we’ve been sharing from my Bible school class, “1 John: Our Relationship with God.” And these truths have revolutionized my life. We are making the teachings of this available live from church, and you can receive them downloadable free in audio form, and my syllabus free online. Blessings. Listen, storms come to everyone. The man that built his house on the rock and the man that built his house on the sand and the storms came and the wise men’s house stood strong, and the foolish man’s house fell flat. You know what the difference was? What they did was the work. Friend, I’m so glad you stayed with us, and I’m so excited about this message. This is one of my life transforming messages. And if people can get ahold of this, I believe it’ll liberate ’em. I believe it’ll help ’em. And we talked from 1 John 2:15 and 17 in the first half of the broadcast talked about what the world has to offer, the world, the flesh, and the devil, our enemies. It is talking about the same challenge that Adam and Eve dealt with: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, the pride of life in the garden, right? That caused them to fail. It’s talking about the same challenge that Jesus overcame when he was tempted. See, the Bible says he was tempted in all points like we were, yet without sin. The lust of flesh, the lust of eye, the pride of life, same things. Matthew 4, Luke 4, here in 1 John 2:15-17. And that’s a major problem if you don’t understand what God’s given you. But when you understand verse 12 to verse 14 of 1 John 2, that you are forgiven, that you have a relationship with God, that the word of God abides in you, that you are strong, and that you have overcome the wicked one, well, you understand that’s a done deal. And it doesn’t say “so that you might,” it says, “because you are.” So when you understand you are forgiven, you have a relationship with God, you are strong, the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, pride of life, the world of flesh, and the devil are no problem.

 

  Yeah, why would you go to the world when you’ve realized what God has done for you, and that you are an overcomer? Now, you are created to be an overcomer. You’re not created to be constantly defeated.

 

  Amen.

 

  And discouraged and distraught and depressed. Many of you have a great call on your life. You’re a mighty man of God, a mighty woman of God created to do great exploits for the kingdom. And the enemy tries to bring deception and think that you’re just stuck in a rut. But you aren’t. You have faith that overcomes the world. And Jesus Christ lives in you and through you.

 

  Amen. We’re gonna jump into 1 John 2:18-27. But really, this part of it talks about the antichrist and the spirit of antichrist. And the spirit of antichrist is alive and well in the world today. It’s alive and well in America today.

 

  What I love in 1 John, it talks about that which was from the beginning, which we’ve heard. John had this great revelation that Jesus was with the Father since creation, since the very beginning.

 

  He is the Christ.

 

  He is the Christ. He is Lord, and he’s Lord of all creation.

 

  Amen.

 

  One thing that Antichrist is doing today on the earth here in America especially is coming against, obviously against Jesus, but against him as creator. When God created everything, he created them male and female. This antichrist spirit is trying to do away with male and female, trying to deceive and corrupt that. But man, it’s so obvious. In all creation, you see male and female. In humanity, in animals, even in plant life, there’s male and female. And that’s how life occurs. That’s how the blessing occurs. That’s how multiplication and abundance occurs. And that antichrist spirit, it’s an anti-creator spirit.

 

  Right. You traveled for your honeymoon, and you went to Italy and you saw things in Italy from the Roman era that were absolutely appalling. And you know what? We’re dealing with that same spirit. And John was writing in the Roman era. Paul was preaching in the Roman era. Paul addresses those same things in the book of Romans chapter one. And people will, and begin to preach that, it stirs up that spirit of antichrist. But there’s another spirit working. It’s the spirit of the Christ, and it’s the anointing of the Holy Spirit. And this talks about in 1 John 2:20-27, after he talks about the spirit of antichrist, he talks about the anointing which we have received of him. And it’s an anointing of truth and anointing of life. And the way that we overcome darkness is through light. The way that we overcome death is through life. The way that we overcome lies is through the truth. And because we have an anointing of truth, of light, of life, we overcome the spirit of antichrist. It’s no match for what we have.

 

  It’s everywhere too. We’re in Colorado Springs, which is a relatively conservative city, but there’s a gentleman from our church who recently got elected to a school board here in this area. And since he’s been elected, just within a few months, he’s been sued three times because he’s trying to remove pornographic LGBTQ books out of the school libraries. And because he is trying to move these completely lewd, inappropriate, really unlawful books-

 

  It’s sick.

 

  That that spirit of antichrist, it’s just seething. But he’s gonna overcome. When you stand up for truth, when you stand up for Jesus, when you stand up for righteousness, when you stand up for children, for innocent, holy, created in God’s image beings, man, God is gonna back you up and you’re gonna be an overcomer.

 

  Amen, and you need not to fear. I tell you what. This liberal left antichrist spirit controlled bunch of woke nuts out there are just attacking everything that is good and godly on a national level, from the office of the President of the United States, clear down to a local level in the school board. But I believe that there’s a grassroots movement in the United States of America. I believe there’s a change that is coming, that God is stirring people up. And even people on the left are beginning to realize that this is wrong. And so let’s read this, 1 John 2:18-19. And then we’ll read verse 20 to verse 27.

 

  So 18 and 19 here in 1 John 2, it says, “Little children, it is the last hour. And as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now, many antichrist have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us but they were not of us. If they had been of us, they would have not continued with us. They would have continued with us, but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.”

 

  So he said, you can tell the spirit of someone if they’re not with you. Jesus said, if they’re not against us, then they’re with us. But if they’re not with you, they’re against you. And that’s what he’s saying. I’m telling you, the spirit of antichrist comes in direct conflict with the spirit of Christ. The darkness comes in direct conflict with the light. If you never have any, you know-

 

  Opposition.

 

  Opposition, you’re probably going the wrong direction. I have people sometimes that just flat oppose me. I mean, I have people that will come against me in different ways. And I’m telling you, it’s because I got the light in me and they got the darkness in them. God’s living in me, and greater is he that’s in me than he that’s in the world. And the devil’s living in them. Once in a while, somebody that we don’t even know, just evil stuff will come out of mouth. Mom will be with me, she’ll say, “What did you do?” “I didn’t do nothing.” And she’s like, “No.” She’s like, “I tell you what. The spirit in him did not like the spirit in you.” You know what the Bible says? All who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. If you never suffer any persecution, I guarantee you, all you gotta do is turn up the godly a little bit, turn up the light a little bit. And you know what? You’ll offend somebody. If you never offend anybody, you probably just aren’t doing very much. And so when you look at this in 1 John 2, let’s go ahead and read. I’ll read verse 20 to verse 27. He says, “Even though this spirit of antichrist in the world, even though there’s darkness and there’s opposition, you have an unction.” Look at this in verse 20. “You have an anointing from the holy one. And you know all things.” Praise God, you got an anointing in you of truth, an anointing of life. And you don’t have to have somebody explain all the birds and the bees stuff to you to figure out that a lot of this stuff is just garbage.

 

  And I love that.

 

  You got an anointing in you.

 

  I love verse 20. They were talking about the anointing that’s in you. Now, Christ is the anointed one. He is the messiah, mashiach, the anointed one. But we are anointed too, because the spirit of Christ is in us. And I remember someone who, I saw him post too. He’s very against like teachings on the anointing and people feeling that they have an anointing. But it’s right here. We have an anointing. You have the power of God, you have the plans of God, the purpose of God, the presence of God with you. You have an anointing.

 

  I’m gonna read this next verse and comment on this, because in verse 21, he says, “I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and no lie is of the truth.” The problem is a lot of times, that people, it’s not because they don’t know the truth. They just need to get really established in the truth that they know. And when you get established, that’s what we’re talking about, in the truth that you know. That’s gonna be like make you strong against the spirit of antichrist in the world. Look at this, in 1 John 5:13, John says, “These things I’ve written to you who believe,” he’s writing to believers, “On the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have if you know what you have.” If you know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe. People who quit believing, who say that they left the faith, there was this one deal, one guy was sharing that 90% of college students forsake him. I’m telling you, there isn’t 90% of anybody who’s born again that rejects Jesus. That is completely religious. That is completely a lie. The problem is they don’t know who they are. They’ve never been truly born again. But if you get truly born again, then he says, “I’m right to you that you might know what you have, that you’ll continue to believe.” The problem with people who quit believing, they never know what they have.

 

  One thing I like to say too is about this notion of truth here in verse 21. He’s talking about that we need to know the truth. The antichrist spirit tries to dilute truth and say there really is no truth. Truth is subjective. It’s the same thing that Pilate did when he washed his hands before Jesus crucified. He said, “Well, what is truth?” That same antichrist spirits in the world today, there really is no truth, there is no right, there is no wrong. Truth is relative. And people say things like, “Well, what’s your truth?” There’s no such thing as your truth. There’s only the truth.

 

  Jesus is the truth. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no man comes to the Father except by me.” That’s John 14:6. And then he said in John 17, “The way that we’re kept from the evil in the world,” he said, “Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth.” So God’s word is the absolute standard for truth. And you’ve gotta go to the word of God and get that. Otherwise, you’re gonna be confused, and you’re not gonna make a real difference in this world. But I believe the truth that we have, we have an anointing of the truth of God. We have an anointing of the life of God, and the truth that we know helps us overcome the lies in the world. And the life that we have overcomes the death in this world and the light that we have. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” Then He said, “You’re the light of the world.” The light that we have helps us overcome the darkness in the world. If you need prayer, I wanna encourage you. If you need to receive Jesus, receive the Holy Spirit, be healed in your body or prayer for some other thing, we have trained prayer ministers that are ready to pray for you and minister to you. And we would love to hear from you today. Aaron, go ahead and just share something before we go off.

 

  Awesome. Well, just don’t believe the lie. The enemy is just full of lies. He might have been telling you a lie that God doesn’t love you, he’s angry at you, he’s caused some hardship in your life, he caused sickness in your life. God doesn’t do those things. He’s full of life, and he wants you to have an abundant life through Jesus. So if you need prayer today, just give us a call. We’d be happy to minister to you. God loves you.

 

  And I’ll be back right after the break. Listen.

 

  When you know Jesus and experience his incredible love for you, you will know who you truly are. You’ll understand the anointing that’s in you, and you’ll realize that you’re part of God’s great family. You can come home to him today through the person of Jesus. We’d like to bless you with a digital copy of “1 John: A Relationship with God,” a $21 value free of charge. Download your copy today at the charischristiancenter.com.

 

  Hey, everybody. I wanna welcome you to our Charis Camp meeting where we’re gonna have great teaching for adults, we’re gonna have special youth meetings, special children’s ministry, and special worship. It is gonna be a great time celebrating Jesus and the truth of God’s word. If you can’t come personally, we would love to have you join us online. Thanks so much in blessings. Friend, I wanna invite you to pray with me right now. Heavenly Father, I believe that Jesus Christ is your son. I believe that he died on the cross for my sins, and I believe that you raised him from the dead and made him Lord. And right now, I surrender to your Lordship. In Jesus’ name, amen.

 

  Thanks for watching Grace For Today. This broadcast has been made possible by our faithful partners. If you would like to become a partner, need prayer, or have a question, please call us at 719-418-4000. Or to partner online, go to charischristiacenter.com/give. You can write us at PO Box 63733, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80962. See you next time on Grace For Today.