Truth, Hope And Love

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God, we thank you for this day that you've given us. We thank you for your just abundant blessings in our lives father We thank you for your son
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Jesus Christ that he did come in the flesh father that he came and he he lived a perfect life and died a death in our place and Rescued us from our sin slavery to sin father.
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We just pray that How you bless this morning bless our time together our fellowship our worship and song and in giving and in Hearing and preaching of the word father.
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May you be glorified in all of it and In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Good morning
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It's my bookmark laude to made me yesterday. It's an apple tree So I thought that was cute remembers
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Reminds you that uh Adam sinned with eating fruit and I think that was her purpose but anyway
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Today we're gonna be teaching from 2nd John so if you want to just turn there now and get ready and I was thinking this week.
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I was really having a tough time coming up with a passage to to teach on and I Was actually mulling around the passage that pastor
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Mike is preaching on today the Colossians passage, so I'm glad I didn't pick that one Because that would have been bad but You know,
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I can remember when I used to teach I grew up in a Pentecostal Church and I used to fret and worry About you'd wait for that that earthquake or whirlwind or still small voice and you preach what
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I'm gonna preach you're waiting for a new revelation and You know as if the the next
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Great Awakening just hinged on me on your message that morning, you know and and It's so freeing, you know, you just open the
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Bible and you believe that God, you know You say God I'm gonna preach on this give me understanding.
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I have your Holy Spirit. Just help me Be faithful to the text. So I you know, I just it's a freeing thought so It's good that I could just say hey second
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John, you know Let's let's teach on that. I've never I Chose it for a few reasons.
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First of all, it's God's Word and I think it's valuable and as we know all scriptures God breathe God breathe it's profitable for teaching for reproof for correction as it says in Second Timothy, so this is scripture.
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It's here God's in his Providence handed it down to us Many times
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I think I wrote pastor Steve last night. I've never given it more than a cursory reading I've never really just gotten into it.
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And I think we were honest with ourselves. We look at these smaller books You know Philemon and second John third John and we're kind of like small book small truth, you know, it's whatever
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I don't I don't need that book maybe but I you know as in Philemon it's talking about the sovereignty of God and salvation and the
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Providence of God and our circumstances and how he brought this master -enslaved he reconciled back together and used
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Paul's imprisonment to save the the one there so In the same way second
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John deals with some big truths it deals with You know the nature of Christ his deity
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It deals with the nature of Christian love the truths of the gospel that we believe and it deals with all these things
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It's only I think it said like 260 some Greek words in this letter, but it deals with some big
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Things so I think it's important that we study it You know even some commentaries I consulted
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I read this quote in one of them That he was talking about there's not a lot of external support out there saying, you know, who wrote this definitively
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All this sort of thing and he said what external support is there for the second and third epistles of John? Due to their brevity and relatively minor importance in the context of the
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New Testament We are not surprised that the evidence is somewhat meager In fact, we stand amazed that in the
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Providence of God these short letters are extant and are incorporated in the canon so that's one of our commentators who surprised that we even have this letter that it's even in here, but Again, like Philemon, I think there's some big doctrines in here and things that are important that we teach and work through Joe second
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John, I never given much thought like I said never given it more than a cursory reading But I think it's good to study. I enjoyed my study of this.
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I thought it was great Fascinating book and so we're gonna dive into it and also it's a whole book.
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So in my short time my short Teaching career, I've preached through Philemon and now it's gonna be second
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John. So I'm catching up John MacArthur. I'm gaining on you. That's two so You know
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Anyway, let's get into some background. The letter was written at the end of the first century It's probably around 90 to 95
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AD they're not sure but It's probably written in quick succession this and third John that closely related
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The church had spread it had grown it had been dispersed from from Israel due to the destruction of Jerusalem and whatnot but this the church is spreading
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Europe Asia parts of Africa and As it spread as it grew is getting facing new challenges false doctrine false teachers entering the church
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Also some background the Roman Empire was continuing to grow. It hadn't even reached its height of How big it would get?
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That wouldn't happen until early in the second century And so as the Empire grew, you know, the systems of roads grew the the relative peace that they enjoyed in the
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Roman Empire Was also there and there's a common language that united most of the the
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Empire And so it's often used people haven't say that that those factors, you know The road system the peace the common language that all contributed to the spread of the gospel and that's all very very true
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You probably often heard that But it also made it easier for the false teachers, too It was easy for them to travel around and spread their lies and spread their deceptions and this book deals with some of that that You know, these false teachers were in the church they're arising out of the church, you know, they're going out into the world it says
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So while God used these road system everything to propagate his truth and his gospel It was also being used by the false teachers to spread their their lies
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At the time the second John was written Some different ideas were coming on the scenes Gnosticism some early forms of it
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Was coming on the scenes. I Just want to ask based on your knowledge, you know, think first John and and what what are some of the the new thoughts?
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The new false teachings that were coming on the scene at this time. What were people teaching again think first John what? You may have any ideas
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All right. Oh Pastor Steve has an idea Exactly Jesus did not come in the flesh.
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He only appeared that way They denied that Jesus is the Christ They said that Jesus there's this whole, you know platonic dualism, you know good and evil, you know flesh is
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Matter is evil in the spirit world. That's that's good and so you have
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Jesus who was just some son of Joseph and Mary born in the flesh and that this mystical
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Christ being this divine thing descended upon him and That they were separate the separate entities they denied
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The deity of Jesus Christ the man the the humanity and deity of Jesus Christ being combined in one
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Being one person. So that was one of the couple of the Heresies that they were spreading
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Jesus did not come in the flesh This Jesus that we did have was not the
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Christ was not the Messiah was not the Son of God was not sent from God Rather this this
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Christ thing descended upon him They also denied like I said,
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Jesus is the Son of God and that again he did not come in human form So those are some of the the heresies that they were throwing about at this time and in this book of 2nd
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John It's not like John just threw words in there willy -nilly. He had a purpose for the words
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He had a purpose for the phraseology the phrases that he used There was a purpose in all of it and it was come to combat some of the ideas of the false teachers
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In the in this environment of relative peace ease of travel common language they grew up a culture
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It's a lot different than our own, you know, it's very People can move from one place to the other relatively easily
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I'm only going to mention this because it deals with the issue of hospitality here Men going to people going from one place to the other they would have to stay in inns and inns were not the best places
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At this time they're kind of places of ill repute They're often just glorified brothels, you know
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And so a true Christian wouldn't necessarily want to just want to stay there, you know They wouldn't want to be in these places
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So hospitality was very important in in the sense of inviting people in your home letting them stay in your home
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Be fed and have a place to sleep. And so the Christian culture had to adapt in this greater culture
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So that's one of the things dealt with here is hospitality Hospitality is important today.
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Just at this time was magnified the importance of it Christians They would be traveling they would welcome missionaries they would welcome itinerant preachers into their homes and What could also happen is that this could be exploited these false teachers these deceivers going about they could exploit the people and say
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We're gonna go and get a free meal and a nice bed And we're gonna go and use that as a base to spread our lies and spread our deceptions and spread our false teachings all right, so That's the context in which
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John second John was written in which he was dealing with so it deals with hospitality, it's definitely not a
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Doctrinal treatise it's very much a letter as we're gonna see but again those words there they have a purpose
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They have an objective and we're gonna see that so Let's read the text. Does anyone want to read this morning?
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Stand up nice and tall shout it out Bruce knew I could count on Bruce Good whole thing fired out nice and loud
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Stop for just a second Bruce Anyone want to wager guess what what what's important so far?
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What what stands out in the first four verses? truth Truth he's mentioned truth five times in four verses at least in the
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ESV. Go ahead Bruce So That's that's the letter you see it's very much a letter greeting conclusion body deals with several subjects
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So it's a letter he's writing to it's debatable who's writing to but anyway, we'll talk about that in a second
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It's it's addressed from the elder to dress from the elder No name and let me just say that I have no doubt who wrote this
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But I just want to see if we can lead you into some questions and get you thinking about the passage What does this term mean
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Why does he use this manner of greeting what what is the word elder Conjure up in your mind.
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Why does he address himself as the elder? authority, he's an authoritative person and Good anything else you guys think oh you think he's only addressing himself as elder.
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Why is that? And how come you sure it's who we think it is must have been known right let's move
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Yeah, it's probably John John the Apostle he was well -known if I write a letter my wife say hey, babe
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How's everything going? I'm traveling Your love I Don't need to identify myself.
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Hopefully she knows who it's from right Hopefully she gets it that you know, I'm writing to her.
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So he's probably well known He didn't feel the need to explicitly identify himself in the letter. They hopefully knew who was coming from What else can we learn from this term elder anyone have any all right elder have
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Representing the church he was probably we have we have qualifications for our elders, right? So he's probably an upstanding person probably lived he met the qualification for other
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He's probably also an older person someone who can not only exert authority because of his position but also because of his age and his wisdom and So we can learn those things from that Was he an elder of the church?
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He was writing to Probably not. So he had not only authority over whatever church he was in but that one as well and MacArthur he also points out that You know based on verses 4 through 6
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He had a strong personal eyewitness testimony to the life of Jesus It says here as I rejoice greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth
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You're commanded by the Father and now I ask you dearly to not as though I were writing you a new commandment
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But the one we had from the beginning that we love one another and this is love that we walk according to his commandments
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This is the commandment just as you have heard from the beginning so that you should walk in it Sounds like first John.
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It sounds like first John where John saying I was with Jesus. I touched him. I saw him with my eyes I heard him with my ears.
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This is the commandment I received and so This all points to again, I had no doubt of it
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But I want to see we lead you to an answer that this is the Apostle John. This is him I mean, he's he's exercising an apostolic authority
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But why didn't he identify himself? Why don't you just say hey, it's Apostle John just like the
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Apostle Didn't have to They obviously knew so Commentary ready yet.
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It says he had no need to assert his apostleship That was common knowledge and he could appeal to them in a more tender fashion
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He was writing this very loving pastoral exhortation And so that's what this is.
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I mean you see several not only commands but exhortations to To walk in the commandments to walk in in in obedience to God and to his commandments
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So he didn't have to then we get to though the phrase that gets a little dicey to the elect lady to the elect lady
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What are some ideas you guys have who do you think there's all sorts of crazy ideas who he's right who he's writing to but What are your thoughts?
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What do you guys think to a church? That's one of the the ideas and The bride of Christ.
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Okay, and that's a very popular notion that this is right, those are the very popular notions that it was either a lady or who in her house there met a church or It was just to a general letter to a church and he was using some sort of figurative language the lady
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But there's been all sorts of stuff thrown out there that this was Mary the mother of Jesus apparently some sort of tradition that she lived in this area of Asia that he was writing to and from and That John, you know, he was told to care for Jesus his mother.
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And so he's writing to the elect lady Crazy notion I doubt it highly it was
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Martha that that lady means Mistress and Aramaic and that's where we get the name Martha.
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So he's writing to Martha Again, I doubt it Some people say the church universal
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Some woman named elect a Curia Curia because those are the Greek words. I hope I said those right
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I'm not Greek student but elect a Curia Some people say that that that was her name as in mrs. Elect lady.
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Like this were the pilgrims progress, you know judge hate good or worldly wise men that this is some allegory but doubtful
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Some woman named electa so John would be saying kind of hey lady electa Which would be kind of silly because in verse 13, it says the children of your like elect sister greet you so apparently her sister was named electa too, so those are all these notions, but really, they're not really plausible and So the two that we're dealing with it was some lady and John refers to as that elect lady and we say lady today.
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It's kind of a term of What do you mean by we say she's a nice lady she's a
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Refined noble So it's probably a person of importance Maybe she had money prominence or noble birth or something like that Based on the text she had
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Children if we go with this option that it's a lady It's a lady who was called before the foundation of the world elect this elect woman.
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She tried many children because it says You know, some of your children are walking in the truth and some
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You know are not So this is the plainest reading in the text. I really thought it was the second option all week
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I'm studying I said he's writing to a church, but John MacArthur kind of read something last night It kind of changed my mind.
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So my notes are all messed up at this point, but plainest reading in the text That John knew this woman.
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This is the plainest reading It's just some lady probably a widow because he otherwise probably right into the husband probably a widow
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This lady had a solid profession of faith. She was elect. She she was saved probably had a house church and Also second
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John it closely mirrors third John. They're probably written close together in succession
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The elder second John is addressed the elder to the elect lady and her children whom I love in truth
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Third John the elder to the beloved Gaius whom I love in truth Pretty similar he identifies the guy in the second one the first one
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Maybe didn't feel the need to You know knew who he's writing to she knew who is she's getting the letter from and he didn't feel the need to but I don't
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See why he would change Right to directly to Gaius and one and then write some allegorical good
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Mm -hmm Could have been could have been you know, so we really don't know
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But again, I had a different idea all week and MacArthur kind of got me last I read that and he's like true Why would he?
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Address this letter one way in third John, but this letter he's like, oh, I'll be all mystical and allegorical or you know
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Use some code words the elect lady means the church That's the second thing. It could be a personification of the church either way
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I don't think it changes what John's trying to teach here what John's trying to tell them This letter probably would have been read aloud to the church and all these things would have been learned by the church at large.
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So I it could be personification of church church at the Bride of Christ church is called.
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It's it's a female word and right, which means
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Means Lord. Yep, so there could be this
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Right, but on the other hand, they're saying well curious is
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Lord. That's our Savior. This is the Bride of Christ Curia They're married see yeah, it could be they they could use any other cam so Some people think that that may be because of persecution or John was just trying to be poetic or whatever
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He said to the this church the elect lady Some people think that John's language of love here in verses 1 & 2 verses 5 were not entirely appropriate if he's addressing an individual woman
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But I think he's addressing a family so That's not exactly the case Whatever so it could be again our two options
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This is just this is a woman probably a widow noble birth or talking about a church at large
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So enough background enough preliminary matters Let's get into the text the body of what he's writing to them and I stopped
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Bruce for a second the first word that popped out was Alright, what's another word we recognize there?
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What other what else was prominent in the first first half of the letter? Love truth love and what was the last one piggy?
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Walk which signifies You're walking in truth here, it's obedience right so truth love obedience is dealing with those three things and John emphasizes these repeats them several times and he has a purpose for that Continuing on in verse 1 the elder to the elect lady and the children whom
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I love in truth The ideas of love and truth are very much interwoven in the in these first few verses
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First of all, what what is truth? What's he referring to? What's he talking about truth this truth?
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The word okay the Word of God. What else could be? The gospel
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It's truth. You received Christ came and gave you the good news of the gospel He personified the good news of the gospel came as God in flesh and he's talking about that truth about God who
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God is truth about salvation Truth about what it means to live a holy life.
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It's truth the truth of the Bible and So John he says he loves this particular church or this particular family and these people he says he loves them in truth
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So what what do you guys think of that expression love in truth? He loves them in truth That was an excellent response real love cannot be separated from real truth
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All right, any notion of? We think of love common notions of love it all has to do with feelings and sentimentality
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Just these mushy ideas of poppy love compatibility just even just physical love
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They all have their basis in the feelings of a person John saying I love you in truth I love you in truth and Contrary to popular notions that love is blind.
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Love is is Unconditional and all that he's saying now there are conditions for love in this body
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There are conditions and it is the truth. We share this truth. That's what binds us together That's what gives us unity and this truth like again, it says in 1st
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John John saw it with his eyes He heard it with his ears. He touched The embodiment of truth and that was
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Jesus Christ. He saw you know God This was objective to him. It wasn't just some oh your truth my truth every objective truth.
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It's Verifiable truth they saw this Jesus. He walked among them. He did wonders
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He was truth He was truth embodied. You know and Pilate said what is truth? Standing right in front of him.
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That's a song. I once heard so True love finds its basis in in truth the truth of God's Word.
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It's not sentimentality These truths are verifiable God sent his son in the flesh. He's born of a virgin.
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He lived a perfect life He did wonders and miracles. He ministered to people he died on the cross.
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He rose again. He ascended into heaven They saw it they were there. It's truth. And he says
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I love you in truth. This is what binds us together. He's elected us Into salvation God's adopted us to his family.
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We're that's the basis of our love. Is this truth of the gospel? Just to have a quote here from Danny Aiken.
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He said in the absence of truth True love is not present True love is not present.
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If if your love is based on anything besides the truth of God's Word, that's that's not true Love that's not love as the
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Bible tells us love is MacArthur also said truth must always guide the exercise of love love must stand the test of truth
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The main lesson of this book is that truth determines the bounds of love But it's not unconditional truth determines our bounds of love and as a consequence of unity
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Therefore truth must exist before love can unite for truth generates love So John says
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I love you in truth. And again, this is objective truth.
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This is to this Like I said, all these words are here for a reason This is to counteract the the false teachers that were going about saying
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Jesus did not come in the flesh He said yes, he did. I saw it. This is the truth. It's objective He heard
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Christ teach. He saw him with his eyes. He touched him with his hands. He walked with him He saw he was an eyewitness to this truth.
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And he says you you guys are saying This that and the other thing while I'm telling you this is the truth and this is what binds us together
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Continuing on 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 it abides in us and will be with us forever
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So what's important here? All who love the truth
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He says not only I love you in this way, but all who love the truth. They love you in this way All who love the truth. It's a common bond.
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We have that's why we you know can welcome people here Maybe a Sammy Williams or a missionary or something and and there's that bond of unity in the truth
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We don't see this guy, but every few years, but there's that warmth and unity and around God's Word around the common truth that we share.
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It's a living truth This verse is also telling us and it informs the basis of our love and unity and fellowship.
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It also Tells us that truth is eternal. It'll be with us forever the same objective truths that bind us together here on earth
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Hey, that's that's our basis for unity for all eternity Christ came and he died for us. So that's eternal truth and And Again this is directly against what the what the deceivers were saying that Jesus did not come in the flesh
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So they were coming in they were destroying the unity of the church With their lives with their deception saying he didn't come in the flesh
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There's no basis for your faith for your love for this unity. I'll tell you a different way. I'll tell you more enlightened way
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I'll tell you a more progressive way and And That's not the not the case
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So again another quote from Danny Aiken truth mattered to John if deception and error slip into a fellowship
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The results are always tragic and devastating The reason for this commitment to the truth is that the truth has seized them as a permanent and abiding reality
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So it was important that they maintain their unity and truth and love Moving on verse 3 grace mercy and peace will be with us from God the
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Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son in truth and love This is kind of a unique reading compared to the other epistles.
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What is the common greeting if you think of Paul's epistles? How did he always address? Grace to you in peace from God our
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Father and Lord Jesus Christ. What what's different about what John is saying? He adds in mercy right
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Peggy he adds in mercy so that's different and Paul when he was greeting What else is different?
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Grace to you in peace from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ. What was that? It's kind of a a wish a
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Prayer a blessing saying I I wish to you grace and peace from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ What's different about what
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John says? What is he saying? It's an affirmation it's fact it's fact so that Okay, grace mercy and peace will be with us from God the
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Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son in truth and love It's an affirmation of what they have Not just a wish or a hope or a prayer for them that grace would remain with them that peace would remain with them
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But he's stating a fact here. We are united in truth and In this grace and mercy and peace will be with us and and these words they don't have any you know by grace he means the undeserved
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Unmerited favor of God and in salvation and mercy is what does mercy speak to?
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God's compassion God's pity God's Willingness and readiness to forgive sin and in peace.
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I think he's talking about a Romans 5 type peace We were once enemies of God, but through Christ propitiatory sacrifice
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We now have peace and friendship with God Christ bore the wrath of God we have peace with him.
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And so this is Again, objective statement of truth. We have grace with mercy and we have peace with God our
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Father And the Lord Jesus Christ Christ the Father's Son again not thrown in there willy -nilly
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Christ the Father's Son You know Christ and the Father are one and he was just want to throw that out there
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So all you all you false teachers that maybe you're in the midst Getting ready to emerge you're hearing this letter read
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God our Father Jesus Christ his son That's where our grace and truth is his based
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So again in the context of this letter, that's it's a very important phrase that he sticks in there
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We know that the false teachers they're denying Christ's divinity they're denying that he had come in the flesh and Here he's saying
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Jesus Christ the human and divine in one the Son of God Grace mercy and peace we receive from God the
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Father. We also receive from God the Son So he's emphasizing the equality of Father and Son the full divinity of Jesus Christ He's counteracting just one more time the these truths are these deceptions that the defaults teachers are thrown out there
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Continuing on we're still in verse 3 he finishes up verse 3 by saying in truth and love Earlier John made clear that the truth it forms the basis for our love
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Here he kind of puts them on the same plane he mentions truth and love in this greeting and it kind of further defines
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Kind of their relationship and I'm just gonna read another quote so much good stuff. I read as it's overwhelmed
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This is from John Stott says so the Christian fellowship Should be marked equally by true love and truth and we are to avoid extremism
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Which pursues either at the expense of the other our love grows soft if it is not strengthened by truth
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And our truth hard if it is not softened by love scripture commands us both to love each other in the truth and to hold the truth in love
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Thought that was a good quote so How do you get that in there? Moving on verse 4.
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I rejoice greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth just as we were commanded by the Father So John like many
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New Testament Epistles he begins with a word of encouragement He found joy and he saw these people how he saw them how he heard about them who knows
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People probably come in and going maybe the elect sister often got word Of what was going on?
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So he found joy of seeing them walking in the truth and we already kind of discussed it But what does it mean to walk in truth?
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Obedience What else can I mean walking in truth? We confess the truth.
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We believe the truth. We obey the truth It's we have faith and obedience in Jesus Christ, it's a way of life it marks our life
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They're walking in the truth. This truth changed them. It transformed them and they walk in it. They obey God Lou you got your
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Greek dictionary or your Greek Bible. You're making me nervous He's shredding the
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Greek anyway So these people they were walking in the truth these children some of them were walking in the truth and they were obeying their
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Father this is they were being obedient All right moving on verse 5 and 6 and now
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I ask you dear leader Not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning that we love one another
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Verse 6 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
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Walk in it So what does John mean from the beginning? Mentioned it twice from the beginning.
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We had these truths from the beginning. We had these commandments from the beginning. What does he mean? Yeah, I mean you hear so many echoes of all
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John's other writings I Can't even conceive how someone can be so Deceived in their own heart to think that this is not the
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Apostle John Writing to us. You just hear the echoes throughout the letter In the beginning was the
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Word of Word was with God. This is the eternal Word of God from the beginning Truth doesn't change where to God stands forever
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You know, and this is the Jesus he walked with he knew so there's a sense it's from the beginning a sense in the law where That was one of the great great commandments, right?
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Love the Lord you got with all your heart. So mine strength Love your neighbor as yourself all the way back in Leviticus 19 love your neighbor as yourself and Also this
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Jesus who was with God in the beginning John also walked with him in the beginning as the as the church was becoming the church as Jesus was starting his ministry
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He was there. He was there from the beginning and Jesus always gave that command that command was a standing command love your neighbor as yourself, and so There's a few ways you can take that but it doesn't matter.
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The command is from the beginning The command is from the beginning that we are to love our neighbors were to love other people
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You know like one commentator says here John seems to be referring to the origin of the Christian faith itself and bought in the person of Jesus Christ Could be that again could be you know, he's in the beginning.
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They knew what it meant that this truth is it's an eternal truth John used the concept of walking two more times in these verses walking means that we are beating to God as a way of life
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Love our love to God. This is a common theme in John's writing love to God Our love is expressed in our obedience to him.
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So that's a very common thing that he's always referring to In his writings, so we're gonna return to verse 5 and 6 in just a bit
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I'm gonna refer back to that but that's what that that we get from those those two verses Verse 7 and this is really getting to the crux of the matter what he's really trying to address with this
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Church, this lady this people Verse 7 for many deceivers have gone out into the world
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Those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh such a one is the deceiver and the
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Antichrist John calls the false teachers deceivers. They deceive they lead people astray.
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They create division in churches. They cause confusion That break the bond of unity the bond of peace that they have
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The the unity they have in the word and the truth of Jesus Christ who he was objectively what he came to do
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So that's what these deceivers are doing. They undermine the truth and as a result they undermine love and unity in the body
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It says gone out into the world what was that guy it was remind you of again This is just an echo from what
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John has said previously. They've gone out into the world What verse do we think of in a previous? 1st
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John they went on up out from us, but they were not of us For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us
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But they went out that it might be complained that they were not of us These guys are liars. They're deceivers and They're growing up right in the midst of the believers
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Which is a scary thought and they knew the confession of the church. They knew that Jesus Christ they confessed
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Jesus Christ came in the flesh Jesus Christ came in bodily He He was born of a virgin.
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He lived a life. He died on the cross to save sinners. He was resurrected He ascended he came in the flesh Those things were never separated but they knew that confession and they blatantly contradicted it and that makes them truly
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The verse says that what does that make them? Antichrist they were antichrist
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They were completely denying what Christ had taught them Completely denying who Christ was what he claimed to be what they knew him to be and they said he's no no, you don't want to believe that and Lou's gonna have to check me on this one.
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The verb is whereas an Previous when John addressed this He said that I think in 1st
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John there's a verse where he says that Jesus Christ has not come in the flesh here He says that Jesus Christ Not coming that he has not confessed the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh he uses a different verb form which is
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I believe a present participle not a grammar major, but present participle, so it's kind of an ongoing action and Again, he was addressing this heresy of these false teachers
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Where they were saying that this this Christ came upon Jesus and it probably left him when he died And there's this dualistic nature of Christ that he was just a man and this divine entity who had come upon him
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And so just pay close attention. I took this quote as well in this case. The present tense is altogether timeless
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In quotation altogether timeless. The incarnation is not only an event in history
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It is an abiding truth Jesus did not become the Christ or the son at his baptism or ceased to be the
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Christ or the son before his death Jesus was the Christ come in the flesh the two natures manhood and Godhead were united already at the at his birth never to be divided the combination of the perfect and the present tense is emphasizes this permanent union of natures in the one person
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John was leaving clear who Jesus is. He is the Christ. He is the Son of God for all time for all eternity
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This is Jesus and he wanted his readers to understand that so that they when these deceivers would come they could actively
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Combat what they were teaching They're saying Jesus isn't the Christ. Yes. He is that he didn't come in the flesh.
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Yes, he did and Here's why and this is what we've learned Like I said, we go back to verse 5 and 6 in in verse 5 and 6 he said some
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Rather verse 4 rather. He said some of your children They're walking in the truth some of them here.
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We see many deceivers have gone on in the world Some of your children are walking but many deceivers have gone out and so it just kind of brings home
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How serious is the battle for truth? How important is it that we hold fast to the truth? because there are many deceivers that are just Ready to emerge and ready to go out and spread lies and deceive people and disrupt the unity of the church
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Some are walking in faith, but many have gone out and so verse 8 watch yourselves that you may not lose what you have worked for but win a full reward
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Watch out and this is command. It's a serious warning It's the same thing that Jesus said in Mark 13 where he said false
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Christ and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders to lead astray if possible the elect in Mark, it's translated be on guard in the
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SV be on guard be ready to combat their error with the truth Verse 9 everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have
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God What do you guys think this mean God goes on ahead? Anyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching.
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What do you think he's saying there? It's literally means to go ahead to go too far to run ahead
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Ezra exactly, so That's what it literally means figuratively.
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It came to mean Someone who again was progressive. I mentioned her progressive or advancing their thinking in light and thinkers.
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They'd gone ahead They they they'd gone ahead of of that. They're they're on to a new thing
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So John, maybe there's a tone of sarcasm sarcasm there Maybe there's some mocking or whatever, but he's saying yeah, you went on ahead, but guess what?
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You left Jesus behind and and and you thought You know you thought in your light and thinking you could just deny the divinity of Christ Well, I'm telling you if you don't have
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Christ, you don't have the father. You've gone on ahead and you've lost you've left behind the father And so he was just telling you look
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This is not enlightenment. This is not progression You guys have gone back you've returned to darkness and and it's a deadly regression this is deadly error
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So you've gone on ahead, but if you don't want Christ if you don't if you won't have Christ you won't have the father either
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And so they could they thought they could deny Christ still have God but John reminded them that you know No one comes to the Father except through the
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Son And one more thing is I said, we're gonna go back to verses five and six There's something else very important in the context of this letter
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What is different about what John teaches and what the deceivers teach it's not new
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It's not news nothing novel here. This is the command from the beginning I'm not giving you guys anything new and that doesn't mean
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John was against progress and John was against thinking and John was against Any of the anti intellectual nothing like that, but he's saying we need to abide in this truth.
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This truth is firm This truth is where we need to remain and they're coming with these new enlightened things
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But I'm saying we need to abide in the commandments That have their origin in God and his son
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Jesus Christ So that's what John was saying there and he says whoever abides in This teaching has both the father and the son
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John 5 37 30 I'll just read it quickly and the father who sent me has himself borne witness about me his voice
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You have never heard his form you have never seen and you do not have his word abiding in you For you do not believe the one whom he has sent that's
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Jesus speaking He says you don't have the word because you don't believe in the one he sent. I'm his son
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You don't believe in me and you don't have him either If you believe the son's teaching and walk in it you have both the father and the son and so I'll take that Any day over being enlightened and knowing more to possess the father and the son is much better than than being
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Enlightened or being worldly wise or whatever these false teachers these deceivers thought they were If you reject the son you reject the father who sent him and just a quick note that You know
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John wants to make clear to that belief is just assent to some ideas is not what he's going for He's telling you to walk in his commands walk in love obey
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God That's the true mark of a disciple someone who's truly following Christ. It's not enough to say
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I believe those things You need to walk in the love he was talking about you need to walk in the obedience He was talking about so it's not enough just to assent to certain truths
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He was telling us that we had to Also, love as Christ loved be obedient those things
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Wrapping up verse 10 and 11 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
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John says that if a preacher came and did not teach Jesus Christ is coming in the flesh Jesus Christ is the
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Son of God that they were not even to receive them in their house So does this mean we should be just completely?
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Shun every false teacher and anyone who's falling into false teaching we should be unloving Does it mean we should never sit down with that Jehovah's Witness who denies the deity of Christ?
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Have them in and preach the gospel to him. Is that what John is saying? See, what's he saying here, right?
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And then go go back to the background that we're talking about What what context is he saying in this? In this in that that's excellent
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Peggy she she she was trying to walk in love this elect lady She was trying to walk in love, but she wasn't discerning shit
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She wasn't being discriminating based on the truth and that that's a good point. But remember the context to of These traveling missionaries these traveling preachers.
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They needed a place to stay that was the lifeblood of their ministry And so he's not saying just don't love them be unloving
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Never preach the gospel never try to turn them from the air of their way and have no contact with them And that's it.
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He was saying do not support their ministry in any way Do not give them a base for their operations Do not let them use you to spread their lies in their deceptions and to disrupt the church and in no way support these people
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Yep Well, there comes a point there comes a point where we're throwing our pearls before the pigs
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So there comes a point where we separate that's enough this guy will have none of it you're done we have no fellowship
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There's no not that we had fellowship, but we have no contact We're not gonna even talk anymore.
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I'm wasting my time and Pam a good word a strong word, you know, we have many people
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That was my next question. So you read you were probably reading my notes Yeah, so in these days hot
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Hospitallion inviting it we don't have preachers coming through our towns looking for a place to stay, you know Looking to stay in our house very often.
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That's not that's not really too applicable today So what other ways today do we see this in Pam mentioned that?
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You see men that without naming names you see men trying to springboard off the credibility of others
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Godly men who preach the truth and other men coming along and trying to springboard off of their credibility That's what
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Pam said and that's a good point. And that's one way where it's applicable Does anybody else have an idea where maybe this is applicable today?
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so he was saying that that that this was directed a woman and Perhaps she was being easily deceived
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She'd be easily deceived or manipulated She figured she had to be maybe submissive to these men coming through town and offer them hospitality and whatnot
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Maybe they were playing on her being a woman right don't receive him and so That that is probably very likely that he was saying you're a woman, you know
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You need to be more discerning don't don't just because they come and and it's important that there was a confession
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He says those who do not just go back one second If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching do not receive in their house in the previous verse
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It talks about if he does not confess So they had a confession there was a way you knew this guy was a false teacher
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If he did not confess Jesus coming in flesh did not confess Jesus as the Son of God Jesus as Lord you were not to Accept him so the church had their confession confessional truth they knew it
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Another story, but I'll leave that we're running out of time So again, he's not saying we should treat unbelievers of false teachers unlovingly or in no way try to turn them from their error
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Again, there comes a point where that's enough You know even Paul told us to separate you and Jesus said don't throw your pearls before pigs
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They're like dogs going back to their barn, but don't Leave him alone, but if a man comes and you can preach the gospel to him try to turn him from his way sure
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But don't give him a base. Don't give him support Don't give him a base so he can go out and spread his lies and disrupt the church and deceive people the word greeting here in verses 10 and 11 greet and greeting it
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Essentially means something like God bless the King James says do not bid them. God speed don't bid them
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God bless don't give them any support. Don't give them any credence or blessing upon their ministry have nothing to do with it advancing that ministry of theirs ministry and In quotes because it's just false teaching
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Twelve and thirteen wrapping up 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 like sister greets you
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So here John is just lovingly as he opened with a loving greeting he's kind of bookend in the letter in love
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The letter was short, but it said all he needed to say and he's saying I want to see you face to face.
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I love you guys. I want to I want to be there I want to share with you and share fellowship. Here's what you need to know right now. I hope to come
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As soon as I can I won't make any Plain comments about Facebook or anything else. So we'll just leave that he says
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I want to see you face to face That's the true fellowship is to be united in the body.
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Sorry in the body and And to have true unity and true fellowship some
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Done. Does anyone have any questions? Anything I didn't cover some of you guys have studied it.
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I had not before Anything I missed and you wanted to bring up as I was talking
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All right. Go ahead. So Carol's come to the conclusion that this was a woman
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So not the personification of a church, okay, so Carol is coming conclusion feels it that he was addressing a woman
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These false teachers are probably trying to exploit their womanhood and And saying, you know, you need to let me in your home, you know,
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I'm a man. I'm doing God's work maybe exploiting that so it's a good point and Again, John MacArthur convinced me at about 11 o 'clock last night
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As I was finishing preparation, so all my notes for that section were kind of Moot I just kind of yeah, you know
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Why would he address third John to a person and second John kind of being I don't know poetic or mystical or?
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Speaking in code who knows? So yeah, very likely. It's talking about anyone else have all right.
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I hope you guys enjoyed Going through that. I enjoyed studying it was fun. So Again we think small book small truth, but I think there's some big stuff there and I think we can take a lot from that in application as far as standing for the truth and Knowing what we believe and being ready to contradict
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Those who are being able to confront those who would contradict the truth.
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So in love, of course truth in love All right. Let's pray
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Lord God, we thank you for the day that you've given us father We thank you that you Are a
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God of truth and you're a God of love and we thank you for your son that you sent Oh God, and that we have
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I witness testimony days coming God and we can be sure This is your son that he came and he died on the cross for us father
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We just pray that you bless the day before us bless pastor Mike's preaching God. We're happy to have him back father
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We thank you for bringing him back safely. We pray that you use him This morning mightily father open our ears to hear your word and to be transformed father and help us to rest in you this week
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Rest in your sovereignty sovereignty God. You don't worry about what the Dow Jones did and you have all that in your hand father
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We thank you that you are sovereign loving Good God, and that you don't leave us
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Leave us in confusion You don't leave us to worry father But you give us something to put our trust in our faith and father again bless our day before us in Christ name