They Went Out From Us

1 John 2:18-19 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

“18Children, it is the last hour; and just as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their departure made it clear that none of them belonged to us.”

We need to see what this says here from a spiritual and not a physical perspective. For this is not about a Christian (or a professing Christian) deciding to leave an institutional and/or denominational “church” gathering. For actually God requires that we leave any gatherings of this sort which have been turned into businesses, which are being marketed to the world, and which are partnered with the world, the ungodly, and with the state in unholy unions which are forbidden by God. And we are to follow Christ in His ways in conducting the gatherings of His church according to the Scriptures.

In their case this may have been a physical departure, so I am not ruling that out. But a physical departure from man-created “church” gatherings is not necessarily a sign that the ones departing are antichrist. They could be departing because the gatherings themselves are antichrist in how they are operating, and so they, in departing, are obeying God. So we must think of this mainly in terms of a spiritual departure from the faith as taught by Jesus and by His New Testament apostles, taught in the correct biblical context. If we depart from the faith, and if we refuse Christ, we are thus antichrist.

[Matthew 21:12-13; John 2:13-17; Acts 5:27-32; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13; 1 Corinthians 3:1-9; 2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Philippians 3:18-19; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22; Revelation 13:5-8; Revelation 18:1-5]

This is the Antichrist

1 John 2:22-23 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

“22Who is the liar, if it is not the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, who denies the Father and the Son. 23Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well.”

So what does it look like if we deny that Jesus is the Christ and if we deny both God the Father and God the Son (Jesus Christ). To deny them is to refute, to reject, to refuse, to disown, to disallow, to disavow, and to renounce them for who they are and for what they stand for and what they require of us in thought, word, and deed. And who is The Christ? He is the Messiah, the Anointed One, our Redeemer, our Savior, our Lord. And He is God, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Therefore all Jews who claimed the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as their Father, but who refused Jesus Christ as their Messiah, they are antichrist. So the political and physical nation called “Israel,” which, as a nation, denies Jesus Christ as their Messiah, they are antichrist. They are not God’s chosen people. God’s chosen people under the New Covenant are all who are of genuine biblical faith in Jesus Christ which requires that we deny self, put sin to death (repent), and we obey God and His commands.

Therefore, anyone, Jew or Gentile, who denies Jesus as the Messiah with their lips, and/or who denies the Lordship of Christ over their lives via holding on to their sin, refusing to let it go, and continuing in deliberate and habitual sin and in disobedience to God, they are antichrist. For they are against Jesus and who He claims to be, and they are against what He requires of us in thought, word, and deed, that we must now die with Him to sin so we will now walk in obedience to His commands, in His power.

Remaining in Christ

1 John 2:24,28-29 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

“24As for you, let what you have heard from the beginning remain in you. If it does, you will also remain in the Son and in the Father… 28And now, little children, remain in Christ, so that when He appears, we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming. 29If you know that He is righteous, you also know that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him.”

Remaining in Christ is not with lip service only. We can profess with our lips that we are “In Christ,” but not be in Christ at all. We can claim that we are in fellowship with God, that we know God, and that we love God/Christ, but if sin is still what we practice, deliberately and habitually, and if obedience to God and to His New Covenant commands is not our practice, we do not know God, we are not in fellowship with Him, and we do not love Him (see 1 John 1,2&3). Therefore we are not saved from our sins and we do not have eternal life with God. For lip service only does not = genuine faith.

And we have many people in our world today who have “prayed the prayer to receive Christ” or who have verbally confessed Him as Lord, and who have claimed to believe in His death and in His resurrection, but their hearts did not change. They did not deny self, die to sin, and obey God and His commands, but they chose to continue on a path of sin, instead. Outwardly they may give the appearance of being married to Christ, by faith in Him, but it is a lie, for they are still married to their sin, to idolatry, to adultery, and to the lusts of their flesh. So, in practice, they are antichrist.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Are You Antichrist?
An Original Work / October 6, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

The Great Redeemer

Lyrics by Francis Foster, 1915
Music by Samuel W. Beazley, 1915

How I love the great Redeemer
Who is doing so much for me;
With what joy I tell the story
Of the love that makes men free.
Till my earthly life is ended,
I will send songs above,
Then beside the crystal sea
More and more my soul shall be
Praising Jesus and His love.

He has purchased my redemption,
Rolled my burden of sin away,
And is walking on beside me,
Growing dearer day by day.
That is why I sing His praises,
That is why joy is mine,
That is why forevermore
On the everlasting shore
I shall sing of love divine.

Glory be to Him forever!
Endless praises to Christ the Lamb!
He has filled my life with sunshine,
He has made me what I am.
Oh, that everyone would know Him,
Oh, that all would adore!
Oh, that all would trust the love
Of the mighty Friend above
And be His forevermore.

He is everything to me, to me,
He is everything to me,
And everything shall always be;
I will never cease to raise
A song of gladness in His praise;
Here, and in the world above,
My soul shall sing of saving love;
Life and light and joy is He,
The precious Friend who died for me.

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