WWUTT 453 Abiding In Truth?

Oftentimes, when we think of loving one another, we think of doing nice things for each other, right?

Charity! Good works! But love is quite a bit more than that. It's also patient and forgiving when we understand the text.

This is when we understand the text, studying God's Word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ.

Thank you for subscribing, and if this has ministered to you, please let others know about our program. Here once again is

Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. And here we are again in our last of the three days examining the book of 2

John. All 13 verses we'll read through once again before we bring the study of this short book to a close.

John writes, The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only

I, but also all who know the truth, because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever.

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the

Father's Son in truth and love. I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the

Father. And now I ask you, dear lady, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning, that we love one another.

And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.

For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh.

Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.

Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have

God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.

Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete.

The children of your elect sister greet you. So jumping back here to verse, let's say, we'll go to verse 6 here.

And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, to love one another, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.

Verse 7, for many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh.

Now that is an interesting leap. It's an interesting jump right there. To go from telling this church to love one another, right into many deceivers have gone out into the world.

Why is that still in the same context of what John is issuing to this church to follow?

Follow the command of Christ to love one another, for many deceivers have gone out into the world.

It's because the love that we have for one another protects each other from the deceptions of the devil, from false teaching.

The closer knit we are as a church, the less likely it is that we'll be led astray by false teaching.

I think of this passage in Ephesians chapter 4, starting in verse 11, where it says that God gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the

Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

Rather, verse 15, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head and to Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow, so that it builds itself up in love.

The love that we have for one another in the body of Christ, the more tightly knit we are, the closer we are, the more protected we are from false teaching and the schemes of the devil.

That is why the statement that John is making here is still in the same context. The statement in verse 7 is in the same context as verse 6.

It doesn't start a new paragraph. It doesn't begin a new thought or a new section. This is love, that we walk according to his commandments, and this is the commandment to love one another, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.

For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh.

Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. And the less that we are practicing love in the body of Christ, the more division there is between us, and not like clear division, but just that we're just not tightly knit.

The wider the gaps, the looser the bonds, the easier it's going to be for the devil to weasel his way in and break up the body, causing schisms, causing divisions, causing a church to fall apart, to split.

And this starts with rumors about one another, distrusting each other, holding grudges, gossip, pride, selfishness, no longer putting others needs ahead of your own.

Quite frankly, just not having an attitude of grace toward each other. When it comes to loving one another, when we say to love one another, oftentimes what pops into our minds is doing nice things for each other, right?

Praying for somebody else, making a meal for them, taking it over to their house, saying nice things, laughing at their jokes.

Some of it could be rather cheesy when it comes to the ways that we think of what it means to love one another.

But loving each other also means that we're forgiving each other. It means that we are gracious toward one another.

It means that we don't hold grudges and we don't have to have our own way, and we just have an ability in our gracious attitude to just let things go, to not have to vent, to not have to express our grievances with somebody else, but realizing it's just not that big a deal or knowing that we need to go to a person with a problem rather than gossip about them to somebody else, which creates division.

And so therefore we can take care of the problem between brothers, between sisters, and come to an agreement with one another, loving one another through these things.

This is all part of loving each other. It's not just doing nice things for one another. It's also forgiving each other.

Consider these words that Paul shares with the Colossians in Colossians chapter three. I'm going to start in verse 12, put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.

And in that, in meekness, it is doing things for other people, not expecting anything in return, not expecting even recognition for it.

That's what it means to be meek, patience. When somebody wrongs you, be patient about it.

Don't fly off the handle or don't automatically assume the worst about a person just because you don't fully understand the comment that you heard them make, bearing with one another.

We go on in verse 13, bearing with one another. If one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the

Lord has forgiven you. So you must also forgive and above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

So in everything that we've read here in these three verses, verses 12, 13 and 14, have you seen any description of compassion and love as doing actual physical working acts for somebody else?

Nowhere in these three verses is love described that way. And again, it's very important that we do that.

Those are great things to do for one another, that we show service and kindness to one another in that way.

But that's, that's not the heart of love. The heart of love that we have for somebody else is not just what we can physically give to another person, but it is, it is an attitude of heart right down to the core that we would be forgiving of one another, compassionate, kind, humble, meek, patient, bearing with each other, forgiving each other, knowing this, that as the

Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. And this goes back to the Sermon on the

Mount in Matthew chapter six, when Jesus was teaching us how to pray. Remember that some of those words that we're supposed to daily pray is to forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

And then Jesus goes on in Matthew six verses 14 and 15 to say this, for if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you.

But if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your heavenly father forgive your trespasses.

Whenever we've had somebody in our church that has left our church and has gone to another church, almost always their reasons for leaving are completely inconsiderate, inconsiderate of others.

And I'm not, I'm not talking about those who are moving, like, you know, the Lord has called somebody to move to another place.

There's no way they could continue to attend church there. I'm talking about people who have actually decided, you know,

I'm just not going to go to church there anymore and decide to go somewhere else. Doing that is, is inconsiderate of other people.

Like you, you think that the people of that church don't matter and they're not giving you what you think you need or want or desire out of a church.

I'm not talking about an apostate church. I'm not talking about a church that's teaching things that no church should be teaching from their pulpit.

I'm saying the doctrine is sound, the love is genuine, and yet you'll have those rogue individuals every once in a while who will just decide, you know,

I'm not really feeling it here. And so they leave that church for somebody else. There is no love in their heart.

There is no patience. There is no kindness toward anyone else. There is no forgiving others their trespasses as the

Lord has forgiven us. And if we have a complaint against one another, forgiving each other as the

Lord has forgiven us that these are the things that pull people away from a church when they lose the grace.

When there is no longer grace in their hearts for the members of the body of Christ, then they start looking at what the church should be giving me.

And when the church is not giving me that, then I'm going to, I'm going to go to this other place instead. And maybe they will give it to me.

And then you're going to end up with the same problem there and woe to that church that welcomes that individual without figuring out where they came from first and what was going on in the previous church before they came there.

That's important to me. And when we've had instances where somebody in our community comes to our church from another church,

I will go to them and I will ask, where did you come from? They'll say, oh, hey, we went to, you know, such and such a church here in town.

And so I'll go to that pastor and I'll say, so what was going on with this individual before they came here?

And then I'll go to that person and say, it sounds like you've got some things at your previous church that you need to take care of first before you come here.

Because otherwise, if I welcome them into my congregation, they're bringing all that baggage in with them.

If somebody was under church discipline at a previous church, I'm going to tell them, you need to go back and you need to receive the discipline that you need before you come here.

If the wounds are too deep after all of that, you think you cannot stay, then come here and we'll talk about you being here.

But until you go and get this figured out, you don't have any place here because you're sitting here just as much as you were sitting there.

So this all has to do, I mean, this is loving one another too, by the way, church discipline.

Not letting a person walk in unrighteousness, but calling them to repentance that they would return to the path of righteousness.

That's also loving one another. That's also what's contained in this command to love the brothers.

And John has witnessed among some members of this particular church evidence of walking in the truth.

But there's apparently been some things going on in this church that is evidence that there are individuals not walking in the truth.

So he encourages this elect lady and her children to love one another.

Same command that we had in the very beginning. And some of the problems of division that you guys are experiencing in your church, it's because many deceivers have gone out into the world.

And if you loved one another and you were more tightly knit, you would be able to protect yourself from the devil's schemes, from false teaching, not being tossed to and fro by the shifting winds of doctrine.

Watch yourselves so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.

In other words, don't let this false teaching come from within either. Keep fast on the sound doctrine that you have been taught in the gospel of Jesus Christ, that which we have worked for.

Verse nine, everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have

God. So this is not just about saying, I believe in God. You must know

Jesus Christ, the son of God. And if you do not know his teaching, then you don't know

God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the father and the son.

I didn't go as far when I was reading Colossians three, I didn't go as far as verse 16, where it says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and I'm sorry, encouraging and admonishing one another in all wisdom.

It's a building one another up and calling one another to repentance with goodwill when necessary, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

That's the very next verse. And so whoever abides in the teaching, the word of Christ dwelling richly has both the father and the son.

If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, sound doctrine, teaching that accords with godliness, that flows from the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.

Now, there are those who have used this verse to mean that we can't have unbelievers in our home, but that's not necessarily what that means.

I mean, that's that's certainly at your discretion, but that's not necessarily what the verse means, because just as John is addressing this church as the elect lady and the members of the congregation as her children, so he is referring to the church also as their house,

OK? So he's addressed them as being like a family, a mother and her children. And so the place where they meet is their house.

Now, some have taken this to mean it's literally a house because you had the house churches that met together back in the first century.

That may be the case, but it still could be that John is being very figurative here, no matter where it is that they're meeting, where they are as the church with the with the family oriented language that John has been using through this letter, where they meet is their house.

So if somebody does not accept the teaching of God through his son, Jesus Christ, and all that Christ has commanded, don't let him come into your house, into your church and give him any greeting as though he were one of you.

Certainly do not give him a place where he can testify or prophesy, because what is coming out of his mouth is lies.

And whoever greets him in such a way, verse 11, takes part in his wicked works.

You are giving him a platform to breathe out his lies. So if a person does not accept the teaching that comes from Jesus Christ, don't accept him in your house.

Don't give him any kind of endorsement. Don't let it be that he will go from your church then to another church and say, well, you know, that church down the road, yeah, they were totally welcoming of me.

That cannot be the allowance. False teachers are not allowed a place in your church.

And this comes down to a person who attends your church for a little while and decides they want membership.

You've got to be sure that what they believe is sound, or at least they want to learn. They want to learn the truth and they'll soak it up like a sponge.

Whatever is coming from their Sunday school teachers, Bible study teachers, the pulpit, that sort of a thing. We had a situation that happened.

This was last year. As a matter of fact, a fellow came into our church and very sharply dressed, handed a woman a business card.

And that woman came to me and gave me that business card and said, have you seen that this guy's coming into our church and he's handing out these cards?

Well, the card was for a ministry that was apostolic and it was a oneness of faith.

They denied the Trinity. They believe that God showed himself as a father or a son or a

Holy Spirit. But he was not three persons in one God. So I confronted the man and I said to him, look, if you can come here and you want to learn, if you really want to be here and worship with the people of God and learn what

I am saying to you, what is being preached from the pulpit, then you're welcome to stay. But if you're here to proselytize, then you can't be here.

And so that's what ended up happening. He came again and was trying to proselytize members, handing out his business cards and that sort of a thing.

So we had him escorted out. And as he was being escorted into the parking lot, he's like throwing a curse on the building and saying that the

Holy Spirit isn't here and everybody's going to hell and all this other kind of thing. Anyway, so we were not going to allow him to have a platform to spread his false teaching in our church and certainly not be able to say to somebody else in our community, well,

I go to First Southern Baptist Church when he was speaking such lies, for otherwise we would be taking part in his wicked works.

Now, when it comes to welcoming unbelievers into your home, that's at your own discretion, but you still need to be very careful about that as well, especially if you have young children and they have young children, because when they go over into the next room and play, do you really know what's going on in that other room?

Now, I'll tell you, between my wife and I, we very rarely have unbelievers in our home. Usually when we are witnessing to somebody else over a meal, we're doing that in a restaurant or someplace else.

It's not always in our home. We have had some unbelieving families come and visit us before, but it's not very often.

And some of that is to protect our children. We want our children to know that the people that we are closest with that are most welcome around our table are going to be our

Christian brothers and sisters with whom we do ministry. And that's our own home.

That's our own personal conviction. There are going to be people that have great ministries out of their own homes where they're welcoming unbelievers and breaking bread around a table and sharing

Christ. And that's great if you have a platform to be able to do that. So here's how

John concludes the letter here. Verse 12, Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink.

Instead, I hope to come to you and talk face to face so that our joy may be complete.

The children of your elect sister greet you. So this is very kind of John to say this, but it probably might even be a little unnerving for the church to hear it.

Because John is going, hey, let's get together sometime. I want to come see how things are over there.

And then with these words that he's just shared, the church is going, oh, boy, I don't know if we would be all that comfortable with the apostle coming in to the environment that we have right now in our congregation.

So this may it may have also been something that he said to kind of whip him into shape.

That's the conclusion of our study of the book of Second John. Next week will be in Third John.

And just like this letter, we're going to cover it in just three days. Let us pray. Our Lord God, we thank you for the guidance that you have given us according to your word.

And I pray that by the instructions we've read today, we would indeed love one another. And more so in understanding that word, we learn patience with one another.

We learn to be gracious, to be forgiving, because we know that the Lord God has forgiven us our sins.

So let us forgive the sins of others. If we don't forgive sins, then neither will the

Lord God forgive us our sins. Help that be a conviction in our heart and understanding from the words of Christ in the

Sermon on the Mount. We thank you for the patience that you have displayed with us, because we are certainly evil and deserving of destruction.

And yet you showed us love through Jesus Christ. And so we realize other people around us deserve the same judgment that we deserve.

Yet you've been patient with us. We must also be patient with them, holding out the word of life and extending the gospel to those who are believers and unbelievers, for it is the power of the gospel that saves.

Praise be to God in Jesus name. Amen. This has been When We Understand the

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