Today we heard Jesus warn us about false teachers when He said, “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many … many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.” Matthew 24:4,5,11 The Apostle John echoes that when he writes, “… it is the last hour, and as you have heard that Antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know it’s the last hour.” 1 John 2:18

The Apostle John teaches us the importance of staying in fellowship with Christ and the Apostles. Fellowship with Christ and the Apostles means that you hold to the teachings of the New Testament; that your faith and conviction is based on the words of Christ and His Apostles and not on the false teachers or the ways of the world. This is how you learn to recognize the false Christs and avoid them.

Once again, we are back to the importance of being Biblically Literate and Doctrinally Sound. The only way to be biblically literate and doctrinally sound is by regular and serious study of the Word of God. You learn the truths of the New Testament; you learn the doctrines of Scripture; you know the stories of the Bible. The study of Holy Scripture is a lifelong venture; it is a sign of discipleship; this is how you abide in Christ, and it is how you recognize the false ideas about Christ. Put the word of God into your everyday life; continually learn it and study it!

By the grace of God, and the power of the Holy Spirit at work through the Word of God, we know, believe, and confess the Lord Jesus Christ; the crucified man who has risen from the dead is the Son of God and the Savior of the world! Amen!