Confessing Christ & Denying Antichrist | 1 John 4:2-3

Lord's Day: June 29, 2025  Preacher: Carlos Montijo  Series: First John  Topic: Discernment  Scripture: 1 John 4:1–4; Luke 11:23; 9:49–50; Acts 20:26–32; Hebrews 5:14; 2 Corinthians 11:13–15; Matthew 15:13–14; Revelation 3:17; 1 John 2:22–23, 18; Matthew 7:15

²By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. 1 John 4:2–3

• To confess Christ is to deny Antichrist
• Law of Excluded Middle: Luke 11:23 and Luke 9:49–50

I.  There are many false ways of relating to God, and “many false prophets have gone out into the world”

• Acts 20:26–32
• Those who are in error are often completely unaware of their own biases and imbalances—self-deception
• They often assume that their errors/traditions are biblical, instead of carefully investigating them, instead of discerning all things, instead of testing every spirit
• Gresham Machen’s Christianity & Liberalism—Either/Or, Excluded Middle

II.  Confession

• What does it mean to confess Jesus Christ who has come in the flesh?

III. Repentance

• Repentance is a form of discernment, a rejection of lies and acceptance of truth

IV. What is “the spirit of the Antichrist” (v. 3)?

• Zeitgeist, spirit of the age, mindset that is of the Antichrist,[1] allegiance

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Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com

[1] Gordon H. Clark, First John: A Commentary, Trinity Paper, No. 2, 2nd ed. (The Trinity Foundation, 1992), p. 126 <https://www.trinitylectures.org/first-john-p-85.html>.