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.

 

The Truth Of Jesus, The Vital Base of Fellowship

 

John gets personal in what he says next. Anyone that denies Jesus is a liar and an antichrist, an opposer, an enemy of Jesus. Anyone who denies the Son cannot have the fellowship of the Father. That the only way to have fellowship with the Father is to acknowledge the truth of the Son.

He tells them to abide, to dwell, to live in this truth that they heard from the beginning of the Gospel and the beginning of their salvation. If they are truly children of God, then this truth will remain in them. This truth is vital because only in it will they know the promise that the Son has given them, the promise of eternal life.

 

John tells them that this is the reason I wrote you because of those who were trying to seduce you, deceive you away from this paramount truth. Yet he trust in the guidance of the Holy Spirit that will lead them into the truth and not a lie.

 

He concludes this section by once again telling them to abide in him. Abide in Jesus Christ, abide in the true Jesus Christ and not a Gnostic fantasy that had no reality, no power and no hope. They needed to know the true Jesus and they needed to stay with the true Jesus and John believed those who were God’s family would stay true.

 

1 John 2:29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.

 

The Truth Of The Last Days

 

What John was warning those early Christian about, in so many ways has become the battle for Christianity in our much later days. The truth of “who is Jesus” is the battleground upon which we will show if we are “of them or we will go out from them.”

From the very beginning of Christianity and the Lord’s church it was the personhood of Christ that was attacked.

 

The Jews could accept Jesus as a prophet but not as God the Son. The Gnostics could accept Jesus as Divine but not as human. And so it has continue until our day in which there are pseudo-Christian cults, pseudo-churches, and pseudo-Christians who will all accept some part of the person of Jesus but not all.

The largest pseudo-Christian group state in their confessions that they believe in Jesus as the son of God but they have replaced Him in their practice with statues, saints and a belief in his earthly mother as the real advocate for their sins.

 

The Mormons believe Jesus was a man who became a god after a pre-existence in heaven where he was the brother of Lucifer.

 

The Jehovah Witnesses deny that Jesus was God.

Many Pentecostals and Charismatics believe in the Jesus only doctrine. That there is only Jesus in three aspects, but no Father or Holy Spirit.

 

Islam proclaims that Jesus was just another prophet but Mohamed is a better prophet.

Whenever a new cult or religion has appeared on the scene since the time of Jesus ministry it always has been defined by this vital truth, what do they believe about Jesus.

 

Here is our Baptist confession of faith about who Jesus is.

 

We believe that Jesus Christ was born of the virgin Mary, and is the only begotten Son of God, God the Son, very God of very God.

 

We believe that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.

 

We believe that Christ arose from the grave the third day after His death according to the Scriptures, and ascended to the right hand of the Father on high.

 

We believe that Christ, and Christ only, is the great High Priest and Mediator between God and Man, and we need not the intercession of any man on our behalf, but that Christ ever liveth to make intercession to God for us according to the will of God.

 

We believe that Christ will come again and after calling home the saints, will then physically return leading the host of heaven and establish His kingdom upon the earth, ruling from Jerusalem on the throne of David.

 

Crucial in all this confession is the statement that Jesus is God.

Does the Bible really teach that? Is Jesus truly God in the human flesh? Take just a moment and listen as God’s Word declares plainly and completely that yes, Jesus is God.

 

He is called God.

 

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

 

Romans 9:5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.,

 

Hebrews 1:8 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom., also in Titus 2:13, John 20:28

 

He claims Deity.

 

John 8:58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.,

 

John 10:30-33 I and my Father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.

 

Also in Mark 2:7-12.

 

He is Equated with God

 

Philippians 1:2 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.; 2:5-6;

 

Matthew 28:18-19 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:,

 

Also in most of Paul's Greetings.

 

He is worshiped as God:

 

Matthew 2:11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

 

John 20:27-28 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

 

If we don’t come, as Thomas did, seeing Jesus through the eyes of faith as our Lord and our God, then we have no fellowship with God, we have no forgiveness of sin, we have no hope of heaven, we have nothing but a sad, weak philosophy that could save us no better than a belief in Darwin’s theory of evolution.