Beware of Deceivers & Antichrists | 2 John 7

The letter of 2 John, and I want to read, I want to read verses 6 -7, 2 John verses 6 -7, verse 6, And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you all have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.

The Deceiver and the Antichrist

For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. This is God's word. Amen. So, in the bulletins, I mentioned that I was going to cover verses 7 -8, but I just, I had so much to go off of from verse 7 alone, that that's going to be the primary focus of today's message, in verse 7.

And, last Lord's Day, if you recall, we saw that the apostolic author of this letter, greatly emphasizes the commandments of God, 8 times, in verses 4 -6, and even more later on. He returns, he comes back to that later on, as we will see.

There's the commandment of charity, that we saw, right? The law of love, to love God and neighbor, both and. You cannot separate those two, according to God's commandments. And, I need to make a quick correction.

Last time, I mentioned that the famous love chapter is 1 Corinthians 3, but that's not right. It's actually 1 Corinthians 13. That's the love chapter, and that's in addition to the other love chapter, in 1 John chapter 4.

That's the Johannine love chapter. And, I encourage you to look at the sermon that I preached on the law and gospel of love, from the other love chapter, which was on 1 John 4, 7 -10. So, that's where I cover a lot of that stuff, as well.

And now, you can see from verse 7, and the sermon title, Beware of deceivers and antichrists. Beware of deceivers and antichrists. We saw that 2 John transitions from an emphasis on truth, in verses 1 -3, and on knowing the truth, to walking in the truth, to emphatic warnings against deceivers and antichrists, especially in verse 7, right?

And then, verses 8 -11, and on. And, commands to reject and oppose those who deny, reject, oppose the truth, and specifically the truth of Christ. Primary doctrine. Primary doctrines. So, like the Apostle says, the deceiver and the antichrist.

And now, this is the other major reason as to why the Apostle John writes this letter to the chosen lady and her children, to the church and her members. It is to warn, to warn them. If we go back to verse 7 in 2 John, once again, we see a very clear, clear warning.

And notice what he says in verse 7. For many deceivers have gone out into the world. Many, many of them, back in that day, have gone out into the world. Out into the world. Why? Why is that? Why have they gone out into the world?

Notice that. This shows that they have a plan. They're on a mission. They have a specific purpose for why they have gone out into the world. Those who do not and will not confess, acknowledge Jesus Christ coming in the flesh.

They do not acknowledge his incarnation. They deny the incarnation of Christ, among other things. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. The deceiver and the antichrist. Now, obviously, we've seen before in 1 John, there isn't just one antichrist, per se.

Yes, there is the antichrist, which the reformers and the faithful church of old has identified as the papacy, that succession of men. That's the antichrist, but there are also many antichrists, many deceivers, right?

There is a spirit of antichrist that is infecting the world and infecting churches as well, deceiving believers even. There is a spirit of antichrist that 1 John also warns about, and there are many antichrists, like 1 John also warns, and here in 2 John as well.

Many deceivers. Deceivers and antichrists, plural. So, this is very clear that 2 John was written both to encourage and to warn. To warn a sister church, the elect lady, of the missionary efforts of secessionist false teachers, deceivers, also discussed in 1 John and many other places, and of the dangers of welcoming them and their teaching, right?

And many today, you can often judge a believer's maturity level by how they respond to these kinds of warnings, their level of discernment. That's often how you can measure a believer's maturity, their discernment level.

How mature are they in discernment? Because many today would be offended by this warning. They would be offended, right? Can't we all just get along? They would say, they might say, what's the big deal?

What's the big deal? Who cares? And I just, this should go without saying, but if you are offended by this, you are already deceived. You are already deceived if this offends you, or if you don't think this is a big deal.

You've already fallen prey to the deceptions of antichrist deceivers, because the letter, this letter, among many other writings in the Bible, Old and New Testaments, these are serious warnings, and they carry with them eternal weight and eternal consequences, right?

Because it's very clear. You do not acknowledge the doctrine of Christ. You do not have God. That's serious. That's very, very serious. Eternal life and death serious, in fact. Now, if you remember, when I introduced this letter, we saw that the antichrist, secessionist, false teachers, deceivers, were former church members of the apostles' churches, the apostolic churches.

They were former members of those churches who adopted heretical doctrines about Christ, right? They denied the incarnation, that Jesus is the Christ, and so on. Many cults do that today as well, and they departed or seceded.

They departed from the community, from the church, and subsequently organized itinerant traveling missionaries, right? They organized themselves to carry out the mission of spreading their false teachings among the remaining believers of these churches, among which the church that 2 John is written to was also under attack by these antichrist deceivers.

Docetism, Gnosticism, and the Denial of Christ’s Humanity

And again, Scripture is full of these warnings because there are wicked men, satanic antichrist deceivers, who are on a very specific mission to destroy the church and the faith of believers. And that carries with it, beloved, eternal weight and consequences.

This is serious stuff, not just for the ones who fall prey to them, their heresy, but also for them. Be careful if you mess with God's people. Be careful because Scripture says God will have his vengeance if he does not grant you the gift of repentance and faith and true faith in his gospel, in his Son, Jesus the Christ, which these men denied.

The apostles and early church directly address these false antichrist teachings and teachers. There were heresies of docetism and gnosticism in the early church, much of which the apostles were fighting against, doctrinally refuting and rebuking.

And now docetism was a heresy with several variations concerning the nature of Christ, who Jesus is. Generally, it taught that Jesus only appeared to have a body. He only appeared to have a body, that he was not truly incarnated, not truly human.

And that's where the Greek word doceo comes from. It comes from the Greek word doceo, docetism, doceo, to seem or to appear, but not really be there. This error developed out of the dualistic philosophy, which viewed matter as inherently evil, that God could not be associated with matter.

Again, this is all very gnostic as well. It's a form of gnosticism. And that God, being perfect and infinite, could not suffer. So, therefore, God as the word could not have become flesh, according to John 1 and so on.

In the beginning was the Logos. The Logos was God. The Logos was with God, and the Logos was God. And the Logos became flesh and dwelt among us. Right? This is a denial of the true incarnation that Jesus did not, and a denial that Jesus did not truly suffer on the cross, and that he, therefore, did not rise from the dead.

So, this is a denial of the gospel, beloved, plain and simple. It's a denial of some of the most primary doctrines of scripture. These doctrines are of first importance. They are of gospel importance.

The incarnation of Christ, that he became truly man, to suffer, bleed, and die, to propitiate, and to satisfy the wrath of God on behalf of his believing ones. Right? All the believing ones. The ones believing in him.

This is what its salvation comes from. This gospel. And they denied every single part of that gospel. Every major part of that gospel, they denied. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, as a reminder of what these primary propositions and doctrines of the gospel is composed of.

1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 3. The Apostle Paul, with God-breathed words, declares to us, writes to us, for I deliver to you, as of first importance, primary importance, what I also received, that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day, according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, to Peter, and to then to the twelve, in his resurrected body.

He did not just appear to be human. He really was truly God and truly man, like the historic early creeds say. Now, many, like I said, many cults and false religions deny this, including Islam. Islam, in the Quran, there's a chapter on the Quran, chapter 4, or it's called the Surah.

Surah 4, verse 157, says this. The Jews said, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, the messenger of God, the messenger of Allah, according to them. They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, though it was made to appear like that to them.

They got, literally got this heresy straight from the Gnostics. He was only made to appear like that to them. They utterly deny the incarnation of Christ, that he suffered, bled, and died. Those that disagreed about him are full of doubt, with no knowledge to follow, only supposition.

They certainly did not kill him. They deny the gospel. They deny that Jesus Christ was truly man, that he lived a perfect human life and died a propitiatory death on behalf of his believing ones. To deny the incarnation, beloved, is to deny the perfect life and propitiatory death of Christ, the active and passive obedience of Christ, like our reformed doctrine teaches us, and scripture does as well.

Scripture affirms and teaches us these very things. It is a denial of the gospel, a blatant denial of the gospel. This is what the liberals also denied. This is why the fundamentals of the faith were written in the earlier 20th century, because the liberals denied the incarnation, among other things.

This is what men like Paul Tillich and even Martin Luther King Jr. also denied. This is what the liberals, they don't believe this stuff. So this now brings me, beloved, to a very critically important public service announcement.

Why Believers Are Vulnerable to Deception

This is very important for us to understand, and that is that it is far too easy in our day for people to be deceived. It is far too easy for people in our day to be deceived, even God's people. This even happens to God's people.

They can often suffer from being too disconnected and detached from scripture, from the teaching of scripture, and from the application, the faithful application of scripture to our day. And Jesus warned about these things.

He warned against these things. Matthew 24, 24 -25, for false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect, even the chosen people of God, even the elect.

What does he say after that? Behold, I have told you in advance. I have warned you in advance. And yet people still fall prey to this all the time, even sincere believers. We need to ask ourselves, beloved, why is that?

Why are believers so often and easily deceived? Why is that? There is an excellent article from the Reformed theologian John Robbins. I heartily commend it to you for your reading and edification. It's called, Why Heretics Win Battles.

He lists four reasons. There's four big reasons. There's others as well, but there's four big ones that he that he lists. First, he says, scripture tells us that heretics are more clever and more cunning than believers, right?

For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. That's what Jesus taught in the parable of the shrewd, the shrewd manager in Luke 16, 8. Jesus warned about this very thing.

They have a way of thinking that makes them more politically astute, more conniving, more deceptive, more street smart, more imaginative in their machinations, more willing to act in sinful ways in order to achieve their goals.

Stealing, lying, bribery, bribery are fine so long as they advance the kingdom, right? This is what a lot of these antichrist deceivers were doing back in the times of the apostles. Peddlers, like the apostle Paul warns about, peddlers of God's word.

How False Teachers Introduce Error

They peddled the Bible for money. They manipulated and twisted the Bible for money like we see many today doing as well. Secondly, heretics introduce false ideas and doctrine stealthily, subversively, but this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus that they might bring us back into bondage, right?

Bondage. Galatians 2, 4. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, unnoticed in churches who long ago were marked out for this condemnation. Jude 4. They appear to be sheep but are not, right? They disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness just like the devil does but they are not.

And the ideas they teach, at least at first, appear to be true but are not. They use our language. They sound like us but they are not of us like the apostles warned and Christ warned. By their smooth words they deceive many into thinking that they are Christian brothers and the ideas they advance are biblical but they are not.

Force, Persecution, and Christian Nationalism

Third, heretics frequently use force to persecute Christians. Force works. It silences the opposition. That is why heretics and tyrants alike use it. The blood of martyrs is not the seat of the church.

Only the gospel is. Only the gospel is the seat of the church. It is the power of God unto salvation. Amen? This is what we must understand, beloved. This is what is so often misunderstood. Sadly, but we have to recognize this as well because sadly misguided believers presently and in the past have also used force or advocate the use of force to compel others to become Christians or to attack others who do not agree with them, including some of the protestant reformers.

They were guilty of some of these things themselves. Luther was guilty of this. Zwingli was guilty of this and they were protestant reformers. They were very sound doctrinally in many respects but they lacked balance and they fell into these errors, some of these errors of unbiblical sinful use of force.

And beware, beloved, because this is still with us today. This is what theonomists often try to promote and extreme forms of what's called Christian nationalism. This is still with us. We have to be careful with this stuff.

It's not biblical. I also recommend that you all check out an article by John, another article by John Robinson called Theonomic Schizophrenia. Very helpfully details a lot of these errors from these guys who are reformed and claim to be reformed and protestant and yet they are pushing these errors, these dangerous errors into the church.

Discernment and Courage in Defending the Truth

Now fourth and most important, those who believe the truth tend to be slow to recognize error and even slower to take the actions necessary to defend the truth. They lack both discernment and courage.

This is the crucial matter. Christians cannot help the fact that the sons of this world are more shrewd than they are or that false brethren do things subtly, surreptitiously, and coercively but Christians can help how they understand and respond to such doctrinal and ecclesiastical subversion or attacks or deceptions.

Their lack of discernment stems from a lack of knowledge of scripture and their lack of courage comes from a lack of belief in the promises of scripture that God equips us to handle and deal with all of these oppositions and things in a spiritual way primarily and you can't say amen you ought to say ouch like Pastor Voti would say right this this is what this is what we have to come to grips with beloved and and when you think about this more meditate on this it's no wonder it's no wonder that the bible depicts believers as vulnerable sheep who wander they wander off and they go astray and they constantly need the care the personal care of the shepherd to pull them back in reign them back in and to defend them from who the ravenous false teachers who are depicted as savage wolves savage wolves dogs serpents and vipers broods of vipers who who is more threatening and dangerous a lost sheep or these other vile men dogs serpents vipers and wolves they're more menacing more threatening and more dangerous and more cunning wolves disguised in sheep's clothing like Jesus warned.

The Biblical Need for Watchmen and Warnings

Right. But in addition to what John Robbins said all excellent points that we need to understand and and be clear on there's something else there's something else to this. Is anyone warning us. Is anyone warning us our pastors warning against these dangerous many and diverse threats.

What about that. Where are the watchmen. Right. Where are the watchmen. And why do I bring this up. Why do I bring this up. Why have I brought this up. Well for one thing because scripture does right.

Scripture clearly repeatedly and all throughout its sacred pages addresses this these matters as we've clearly seen and will continue to see. But also ask yourselves this. Ask yourself this this question again what is the purpose.

What is the biblical purpose of preaching and teaching. What really is the biblical purpose of preaching and teaching. You have all kinds of different definitions and and understandings that people will try to push and promote in countless books about preaching and whatnot.

Right. And people will say things that sound very good they sound very pious. Right. The purpose of preaching is to preach christ. We should preach christ. Right. We should encourage each other build each other up.

But we have to ask ourselves how do we biblically build each other up. What does that. What does that mean biblically. You know previously when I began this series on 2nd john I gave a definition of biblical preaching as this to explain the text faithfully within both its immediate context and whole counsel of god context and to expound and connect the theology and doctrines that it teaches and to rightly apply it to our day.

The problem this is what the many people would agree with this definition. The problem is what does this actually entail. What does this actually involve. Now there is no question that the apostles preached christ and him crucified.

Right. That's what first corinthians 2 2 the apostle paul says I determined to know nothing among you but christ and him crucified. The apostles also encouraged believers. But in addition they also refuted and warned against these false teachings and teachers numerous times numerous times.

You can't read many of these letters without reading about some man some guy or some group of people being called out or some teaching being called out. It's all over the bible all over the bible. Not only that but this is also why the apostles wrote many of their letters in the first place including john's letters.

I'm going to go through some of these key passages because this is this is so incredibly important for us to this is where the disconnect often is. There's a huge disconnect from even conservative churches to understand and apply and teach these things properly faithfully and biblically.

Elders Must Exhort Sound Doctrine and Refute Error

Titus 1 9 through 11 says. Biblical elders must be holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to reprove rebuke refute those who contradict it contradict sound doctrine.

For there are many rebellious men. He's warning against these guys empty talkers and deceivers. Same warning especially those of the circumcision the judiazers. They are anti-christ as well who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families.

They must be silenced refuted by scripture teaching things that they should not teach for the sake of dishonest gain money influence people unrighteously. Is it any wonder you know I hear this so often.

I mentioned the pietist and the pietism. People will say things like well we shouldn't tear people down. We should build people up. You'll hear people say these pious sounding things. But would these people tolerate paul's preaching.

Would they even tolerate the apostle the apostolic preaching. Would they even tolerate jesus preaching when the apostle paul preached night and day for three years straight continuously warning the ephesian church against these savage wolves night and day night and day like he said in acts 20.

Right. I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of god. Be on guard for yourselves and for all the among which the holy spirit made you overseers to shepherd the church of god which he purchased with his own blood.

You have to have a body in order to have blood. That's the incarnation that the anti-christ deceivers denied. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock.

And from among your own selves men will arise subversively subtly deceptively speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be watchful remembering that night and day. For three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.

I warned you. I warned you. And the good thing is that the ephesian church did listen to paul. And they rebuked the apostle. The false apostles in the book of revelation. They had other problems. But they at least did the right thing with the false apostles.

John’s Warnings About False Professors and Antichrists

The false brethren again beloved. Let's go back to 1st john. 1st john chapter 2. 1st john chapter 2. 1st john is full of these warnings. 1st chapter 2. Verse 4. The one who says I have come to know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.

So there's not only doctrinal heresy there's also behavioral hypocrisy from these false teachers. Verse 9. 1st john 2 9. The one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness.

Until now it's the same heretics and hypocrites that they're calling out. Verse 11. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

1st john 2 15 through 19. Do not love the world. Know the things in the world. If anyone loves the world the love of the father is not in him. He has not saved for all that is in the world. The lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the father but it's from the world.

And the world is passing away. And also it's lust. But the one who does the will of god abides forever. Children it is the last hour. And just as you heard that antichrist is coming. Even so now many antichrists plural have come.

Singular antichrist and plural antichrist have appeared from this. We know that this that is the last hour. They went out from us but they were not really of us. For if they were of us they would have remained with us.

Testing the Spirits by the Confession of Christ

But they went out so that it would be manifested that they all are not truly of us. It's astounding the force of these warnings. And and he doesn't stop there. 1st john 4 chapter 4. In the very beginning beloved i do not do not believe every spirit.

But test the spirits to see whether they are from god. Discern them. Discern these men because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Many have gone out into the world just like he warns in 2nd john 7.

By this you have you know the spirit of god. Every spirit that confesses that jesus christ has come in the flesh incarnated is from god. And every spirit that does not confess jesus is not from god. This is the spirit of the antichrist of which you have heard that it is coming.

And now it is already in the world. That's the spirit. The false spirit and teaching that is was spreading then and now then and now you are from god. Verse 4. You are from god little children and have overcome them because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.

The devil and his antichrist they are from the world the antichrist. Therefore they speak as from the world and the world hears them. We are from god. However the one who knows god hears us. The one who is not from god does not hear us from this.

We know the spirit of truth and the spirit of air. The spirit of truth and the spirit of air. And on and on. It goes just like 2nd john 7. For many deceivers have gone out into the world. Those who do not acknowledge jesus christ as coming in the flesh.

This is the deceiver and the antichrist beloved be warned. You have been warned the bible old testament new testament christ. The apostles repeatedly warned this is what the church is called to do. Warn against these men and against these teachings that oppose christ.

I encourage you strongly encourage you to listen to these sermons that i preached on these passages. There's numerous uh it's it's incredible just how deep this goes on these on these chapters in 1st john chapter 2 chapter 4 and on apostolic admonitions against antichrist identifying antichrist confessing christ and denying antichrist all of these things and more again you you probably have heard this before.

I've heard these objections countless countless times oh but this is no longer applicable for us today. We don't need to do this today. We don't need to be so offensive you know preaching should not be about tearing others down right we should be building people up not tearing others down.

And yet those who believe and say these things are going against god they are going against god. They are going against christ the god man. They are going against scripture. They are going against the biblical call to be a biblical elder and pastor and teacher they are going against biblical preaching and teaching.

They are deceived. They are deceived. This was the teaching and preaching of the prophets of old, of Christ himself. They constantly warned against the false prophets, the false teachers, the false pastors.

And who did Christ himself frequently, almost in every sermon that he preached, who was he constantly warning against, right? Who was he warning against? Scribes, Pharisees, teachers of the law, vipers, dogs, and wolves, and by name, and to their face even, right?

Paul’s Warning Against False Circumcision

You have the Apostles, which I've already quoted numerous times. Philippians 3. Beware of the dogs, Paul says. Beware of the evil workers. Beware of the mutilation, the false circumcision. For we are the circumcision who worship in the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh.

Remember, beloved, who did Paul the Apostle wish would emasculate themselves? Talk about being offensive. He wished in a letter, that is now the Bible, that these Judaizers who preached a false Antichrist gospel to cut their manhood off.

My, oh my, how far we're moved. How far many of us and many churches have removed ourselves from the Scriptures. And this is not something that is unclear. This is one of the clearest teachings in Scripture that you will find.

Unequivocally clear. This was the teaching of and preaching of the early church. The early church leaders, Ignatius of Antioch, Irenaeus, Hippolytus, and many others, wrote against these errors in the early second century, against Marcion, against heretics, on constantly.

And docetism was condemned at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. Many of these early church councils were to condemn heretics and heresies, Arianism, and so on. This was the teaching and preaching of the Protestant Reformers.

Tyndale and the Necessity of Preaching Against Antichrist

Also, because it's biblical, beloved. I love this example by William Tyndale. The English Reformer that God used to translate the Bible in English. And who was eventually betrayed and burned at the stake at the behest of King Henry VIII and the Pope.

Antichrist. Both of them. He preached these words of power. Take a look at what these men said. Compare it to the kind of preaching that we hear today, beloved. He said, it is impossible to preach Christ except thou preach against Antichrist.

You cannot do one without the other. That is to say, them which with their false doctrine and violence of sword, and forced to quench or to suppress the true doctrine of Christ. And as thou canst heal no disease except thou begin at the root.

Root cause. Even so, canst thou preach against no mischief except thou begin at the bishops of Rome. Wow. These men saw the error in their day and they preached against it. It was the false Church of Rome.

The Antichrist Church of Rome, which is still with us. And that's why our confessions say that the papacy, the Pope, the office of the Pope is Antichrist. Do you hear this kind of preaching today, beloved?

How popular is it? How common is it to preach like this? And yet this is the very DNA of the faithful Church all throughout the ages. From its inception on. The early Church medieval times, reformer times, early modern to the modern day.

That is what we must understand. Very important to understand this. Public service announcement. You cannot truly preach Christ without also preaching against Antichrist. Antichrists and their false teaching and teachers and deceptions.

Why? Because they cause confusion by sounding like us. So if you don't refute them, people will get confused and they will think that they are sound or that they are one of us when they are not. So you cannot build God's people up with the truth unless you also tear down the lies of deceivers.

Much like even the kings of the Old Testament, the good ones anyway, who tore down the idols, right? You have to tear them down. The idols cannot coexist with God. Idols of statues or idols of the mind.

They cannot coexist. The false God of the Philistines was beheaded and the hands cut off because God doesn't tolerate idols and heresy and false teaching. Neither should we. You cannot then build God's people up with the truth unless you also tear down these lies.

You cannot encourage one another in love unless you also warn against those who hate and oppose the truth. Just as Janice and Jambers opposed Moses back in the day, so these men now, in their times and now, also oppose the truth.

Men of depraved mind, disqualified in regard to the faith. But they will not make further progress for their folly will be obvious to all, just as theirs was also.". 2nd Timothy 3 8 and 9. I mean, it is everywhere, but it is so neglected, denied, and rejected for God's people to embrace these things, to do these things, to preach these things, and to warn against these things.

You cannot preach or understand, even begin to understand, the whole purpose, the whole plan, the whole counsel, the whole Word of God, unless you also preach the biblical doctrine of Antichrist and Antichrist.

Plural. That's what the Bible teaches. It doesn't just teach you about Christ. It teaches you, it equips you to understand the doctrine, with the doctrine of Antichrist, to warn us of these deceptions that were there back then and are here with us now.

Men of depraved mind, men who claim to be one of us, they claim to be of us, but they are not, beloved. I hope, I hope we take these things to heart, because this is what's going, this is what will get us through in the joy of our assurance, and not rob us of our joy, and of our love, and of the truth.

You have to have these things as well. You have to guard, we have to guard ourselves against these lies in order to be able to retain Christian love and joy. That's the irony of all this, from those who deny that we need to do these things, beloved.

Prayer for Discernment, Courage, and Faithfulness

I hope we really take these things to heart as we continue to take heed to the Apostles' warnings in this letter. Also, let us bow then with a word of prayer. Our precious Lord and Heavenly Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for being the God of truth.

And as the God of truth, Lord, we understand that you are a faithless God, and that you hate lies and errors and falsehoods, and that you have made it our mission, our duty, to reject, to oppose men, these men, who oppose the truth, who oppose you, Lord, as your word has clearly shown us and teaches us.

Help us, Father, to not fall prey to cowardice and compromise, which are two of the biggest threats that plague our people in our churches today. Help us to stand fast and to stand strong in this last and evil day, full of Antichrist deceptions and deceivers.

Lord, help us to equip us with the truth, Lord, with love, with true love, which true love warns against these false teachings that are damnable heresies and lead to hellfire and damnation. Father, help us to have a sound mind against these things, Lord, to do both end, to not become imbalanced, but to be both end of the truth and against the lies that oppose you, Lord.