TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6
“Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.”
1 John 2:18-19 (ESV)
GETTING OFF TRACK
Have you ever knowingly passed a phony five-dollar bill? According to the United States Treasury Department, you may have. One of the reasons is because of a counterfeiter named Blinky, perhaps the greatest counterfeiter of all times. He made five-dollar bills that defied detection. It was impossible, even for experts, to identify the real bills from his counterfeits. It’s estimated that hundreds if not thousands of the Blinky-made five-dollar bills are still in circulation. A bizarre set of circumstances finally led to Blinky’s downfall. He decided to expand his operation and started making twenty-dollar bills. He was arrested when trying to pass one of his phony twenties. In court, his lawyer challenged the experts to identify the phony bill from the real one. Immediately, they did so. Later Blinky discovered where he had made his tragic mistake. The bill he had used to copy his counterfeit twenty was itself a counterfeit!
The church has always had members who are counterfeit followers. And in 1 John 2:19 we are taught that one of the ways to recognize the counterfeits is that they will not stay on track with God’s truth and will eventually leave. These false teachers during the time of John were members of the Christian churches and fellowships. But then they left these churches and fellowships. John says this is proof that they were never believers to begin with. If they were true believers, they wouldn’t have left the other Christians and sound biblical doctrine. They may have had many different motivations for going to church, but they hadn’t truly given their lives to God.
Reflection
Paul wrote in Philippians 1:6, “I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” God promises to keep us on track when we are genuinely saved. This doesn’t mean we won’t have seasons of struggle but in the end, we will remain true to our profession of faith in Jesus as Savior.
Pray
Pray for those who have wandered from the faith. Pray that God would save their souls if they are lost or God would bring them home if they are already saved.
