Our sin will find us out. There will be no sighs of relief that we escaped the condemnation due us for our transgressions. Our sin that we tried so hard to hide throughout our lives will be laid bare. And there will be no defense that can be made. We stand guilty, our sin exposed. Yet God paints for us another scenario, one where there are no games, only grace. 
Then the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.’ (Luke 2:10–11, NKJV)
His past had come home to roost. After years of philandering, the now elderly man sat in the dock awaiting the verdict. His barrister had done his best but nothing was certain until the jury had rendered its verdict, nothing except the reality that he was indeed guilty of rape as charged.
The movie had built to a climax. Flashbacks gave the viewers inside knowledge of how it had all unfolded, and it had been just as the woman on the stand had described the event from twenty years earlier. But would she be believed? Was the Crown’s case compelling and unequivocal enough to elicit a guilty verdict?
It was not. The jury foreman was instructed to answer two questions. One, had they reached a unanimous verdict? Yes. Two, was the verdict guilty or not guilty? Not guilty. The man in dock collapsed in on himself like a giant sinkhole, unable to sustain his weight, his shoulders heaving with sobs of relief.
The accused and his legal team had played the game well.
That cannot be the case for you, or for me, or for anyone who stands before the tribunal of the living God. Our sin will find us out. There will be no sighs of relief that we escaped the condemnation due us for our transgressions.

We might wonder why John the Witness would find such a prominent place in the few verses of the prologue to John’s gospel. It’s because of his function as a witness. John stands as a representative of Old Testament prophecy and promise that point to Jesus Christ as the one in whom all is fulfilled. John is the greatest of the Old Testament prophets (cf. Matt. 11:11) because he is the last of its prophets. The One prophesied about has come. The One who is Himself the message prophesied has come. He is the Word incarnate (John 1:1, 14).        
             
While the other three Gospels call this forerunner John “the Baptist” (e.g., Matt. 3:1; Mark 6:14; Luke 7:20), John the gospel writer never does.
“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness,to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.” (John 1:6–7, NKJV) 
Standing before Pontius Pilate, Jesus declared: “For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” (John 18:36–37). To Jesus’s statement Pilate replied, “What is truth?” (v. 38).                                   
What is truth? That’s not an easy question to answer. What would you say if a child asked you that? It’s one of those deep metaphysical inquiries that defies simple explanation. In fact, John records no answer from Jesus. Perhaps the reason is that the entire gospel of John addresses that question.
In his gospel account, John is concerned to distinguish truth from error and to highlight the uniqueness and exclusivity of Jesus as the truth. One of John’s favorite words is witness. We might think of a witness in a trial who testifies to what he or she has seen. That testimony serves to confirm, to authenticate, to verify. John regularly brings witnesses to the stand to give testimony about Jesus’s identity and mission.                                   
He begins his gospel account with John the Baptist: “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.
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While we gain assurance of our salvation through telltale signs of God’s workmanship, such as love for others and conviction of the truth revealed, our confidence is grounded in the God who appointed our salvation, accomplished it for us, and applied it to us. He holds us fast. Jesus will lose none of those the Father has given Him. 

But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you (1 John 2:27, NKJV).
John speaks to the importance of our abiding in truth and not abandoning that truth for a lie. Any other gospel, any other source of spiritual life, can only be a counterfeit. Like a fake gold watch, it will tarnish and break and disappoint.
John is concerned that we abide in Christ. But his ultimate confidence that we will abide in Christ and realize true life – spiritual, abundant, and eternal – is not rooted in our efforts to abide, but in God’s efforts on our behalf.
That’s why John goes on to speak of the anointing that abides in us. “But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him” (1 John 2:27).
What is this anointing that we as Christians receive from God? It is the presence of God Himself who takes up residence in our hearts and seals us as His own.
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John distinguishes truth and falsehood, what proceeds from the mouth of God and what is purported to be truth but is a lie. That’s why John will later urge us to “not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). How do we test the spirits? How do know truth? By holding fast to the revealed word of God, which is truth (John 17:14-19). 

Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either (1 John 2:23, NKJV).
What comes to mind when you think of antichrist? Perhaps a mighty demonic being or a rival to the throne of Jesus, such as described by Paul to the Thessalonians: “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (2 Thess. 2:9–10).
John, however, has spoken to us of many antichrists. Yet whether singular or plural, they are all cut from the same cloth and present us with the same challenge in our walk with Christ and work for Him in this world. That challenge has to do with love of the truth and acting upon it. At stake are matters of life and death.
John addresses believers as truth-holders. “I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth” (1 John 2:21).
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The “last hour” to which John refers has to do with the period of time between our Lord’s ascension and return, in which the spirit of the antichrist is at work. In that time frame the Lord Jesus is building His church. But that building faces opposition from a world that does not know Jesus. 

Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming (1 John 2:18, NKJV).
It is in vogue in our day to desert the Christian faith in the name of freedom. There is even a name for it: “deconversion.” Deconversion testimonies follow a distinct pattern. A person steeped in the Christian faith and an outspoken adherent of it, perhaps even seen as an influencer for the faith, will declare their emancipation from its bondage. By their testimony they now become evangelists for whatever religious, spiritual, or philosophical construct that suits them at the moment.
Little do they realize, however, that they have exchanged the truth for a lie and given themselves over to the bondage of sin and Satan.
John describes these sorts of people who once were part of the community of faith but have departed from it for one reason or another. “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 they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us” (1 John 2:19).
John is not speaking of a wandering but of a definitive break with Christ. The apostle has his own term for such deserters, “antichrist.” “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour” (1 John 2:18). Antichrists are those in league with the devil, who oppose Christ and His church.
The “last hour” to which John refers has to do with the period of time between our Lord’s ascension and return, in which the spirit of the antichrist is at work. In that time frame the Lord Jesus is building His church. But that building faces opposition from a world that does not know Jesus. Jude put it “that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit” (Jude 18–19).
John, however, is confident of the faith of those he addresses as “little children.” Because he is convinced of the workmanship of God in their lives, he is confident that they are secure in Christ against the lures and molestations of the devil. “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things” (1 John 2:20). His point is that they remain in the truth and have not bought into the devil’s lies, and therefore are safe and secure in the arms of their Lord.
While all not of the Kingdom of God are in bondage to sin and can be called “children of the devil” (John 8:44), those who are antichrists make it their business to lead people astray.
What are the telling signs of an antichrist that you can look out for?
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James makes it clear that pursuit of the wanderer is not only the job of the elders in their obligation to the flock. It is the responsibility of the entire family of God. James issues his charge to the “brethren” (James 5:19). We all have the role of speaking the truth in love, rebuking one another, confessing our sins to one another, and exhorting one another.

Truth Matters
. . . if anyone among you wanders from the truth . . .—James 5:19
We’ve seen James to be an eminently practical book. The question is, do we take seriously what James has taught us? Do we buy into the idea that faith can be authentic or counterfeit? Do we believe that we can deceive ourselves with mere presumption of saving faith, being professors but not possessors? Do we believe that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ works itself out in allegiance to Him and alignment with His will, as it resists the schemes and snares of the evil one? Do we acknowledge that the gospel of the kingdom is truth and that apart from that truth there is neither life nor hope?
If we do embrace what James has taught us, then we will not be surprised by James’s closing words: “Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:19–20). In a sense, James is authenticating all that he has said before. Apart from Christ, there is no salvation. Apart from faith in Christ, a person is not saved. A profession of faith apart from works that validate that profession is nothing but presumption. Truth matters. To wander from the truth is to stray from the word of God and the Christ it reveals.
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Jesus is also the true Light because He does not merely give light; He is Light. He is the Light of life (John 8:12). He stands in contrast to the darkness of sin that has infiltrated the world and contaminated everything in it.

He who loves his brother abides in the light (1 John 2:10, NKJV).
What is “true” light? John refers to the new commandment in respect to the true Light. “Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining” (1 John 2:8).
Isn’t light, light? There may be different intensities of light but how is light “true”? Again, the answer is Jesus. Just like the old commandment to love one another is new in Him, so He is the true Light that was to come into the world.
John highlights Jesus as the true Light in the prologue to his Gospel. Speaking of Jesus as the eternal Word of God, incarnate to give life, John says, “That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world” (John 1:9). This light is not overcome by darkness but rather overcomes it.
In one sense, Jesus is the true Light in contrast to the shadow of the Old Testament.
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Like we might search a child’s face to figure out who she looks like, John bids us to search our hearts to see if the truth of God is in us. If it is, we will discern a love for the law of God and a delight in doing what He commands. If not, we are liar, deceiving others and self-deceived. 

But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. (1 John 2:5, NKJV)
My son and daughter-in-law had their firstborn baby, a girl. She is gorgeous in every way. A work of art formed by God in her mother’s womb. With apps that tracked the baby’s development in the womb and ultrasound pictures that showed her appearance, they were able to track her in that formation until the day she was born and they saw her face to face.
If love were a baby in the womb what would it look like at maturity? Ultimately, that baby would look like God incarnate, born into this world thoroughly other-oriented. Jesus was born not to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. The Kingdom He would bring would not be about Himself but about others, those He came to save, those for whom He gave Himself.
We tend to think of love as some sort of warm fuzzy, squishy with sentiment, not needing any backbone.
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While we are in this world sin remains in our mortal flesh, as John has reminded us twice (1 John 1:8, 10). Yet if we confess our sin, God will forgive us, not merely because we confess that sin but because we confess Christ as the end of sin. Jesus is our “Advocate with the Father” (1 John 2:2). He represents us before the throne of judgment, having atoned for our guilt and suffered the wrath of God for it on the cross. 

If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1)
“Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” (Rom. 6:1) That was a rhetorical question posed by Paul following his explanation that a person is justified not by works but by faith in Christ. It is a natural question to a proper understanding of the gospel. If salvation rests upon what Christ did and not what I do, then I can sin with abandon. Can’t I?
In Romans 6-8, Paul explains that our obedience and growth in holiness are not contributors to our acceptance by God but consequences of it. The Spirit who unites us to Christ for salvation forms Christ in us for sanctification. Sin is inconsistent with our new life in Christ. We who were dead in sin are now dead to sin and alive in Christ. That shows up in a changed life.
In like fashion, John reminds us that our freedom from sin’s penalty does not promote license to sin but prompts disdain for sin because of our new identity in Christ and our new relationship with God.
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When John writes his epistle to those who believe in the name of the Son of God to assure them of eternal life (1 John 5:13), he includes awareness of sin. The unbeliever who walks in darkness may not perceive his sin or be pained by it, but the believer will be gripped by his sin and grieve over it with a godly sorrow. 

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8, NKJV)
Isaiah was never more acutely aware of his sin than when he stood in the presence of the glory of God. While the seraphim joined in heavenly chorus, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” (Isa. 6:3), the prophet of God cowered in painful recognition of his sin and peril in the presence of the holy God. “Woe is me, for I am undone” (Isa. 6:5). Yet while Isaiah was powerless to do anything to save himself, God acted on his behalf so as to declare, “Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged” (Isa. 6:7).
Our sin is never more glaring, never more grievous, never more hideous than it is in the light of the glory of God. The closer we draw to God, the more painfully aware we will become of our sin and shame. That realization is what lies behind John’s assertion: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8).
Truth is in accord with the light. It testifies to the way of God and the glory of the gospel.
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