Latest / Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ) / "Words of Life" by Hiram Kemp - Part 12

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"Words of Life" by Hiram Kemp - Part 12 · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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All right, if you have your Bible, go ahead and turn it to 2 John, 2 John.
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And that's where we'll be tonight.
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The next two classes, we'll look at 2 and 3 John, these two one-chapter letters.
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And they're, basically, they're rolling their feet in the New Testament with the rest of
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what John has had to say about what Christianity looks like and how we're supposed to go about
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living out our Christian faith.
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Before we start tonight, I just want to say something in connection with John's writings
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and how John's writings are perceived with how we do this sometimes with other people's
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teaching.
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Sometimes, a person teaches, and they get known for a certain teaching or a certain
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kind of teaching, and we typically only zero in and focus on that one aspect.
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So for example, with Jesus, there's a lot of people, they only focus in on the Sermon
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on the Mount.
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When they think about Jesus' preaching and teaching, their primary mode of emphasis is
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always maybe taking the Beatitudes or some teaching they heard from Jesus, and that's
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pretty much what they run with.
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When they think about Jesus Christ and his preaching, they typically think about the
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positive aspects of the Beatitudes and the blessed life.
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Or maybe with, like, more modern figures.
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Maybe you know the person up there on the left, Joel Osteen.
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He's a televangelist, a TV preacher out in Houston worth $100 million, and he's publicly
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professed he doesn't really preach anything negative.
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He doesn't preach anything against sin.
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Nope, he's not in the business of condemning.
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Just a watered-down, unbiblical approach to Christianity.
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And when you think about Joel, that's what you think about.
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I mean, that's what he's presented himself as.
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That's the content of his material.
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And then the man on the right is a man named Jonathan Edwards, and in 1741, he preached
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a sermon called Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.
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And it was a life-changing sermon for a lot of people during the Great Awakening.
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People were fainting as he was preaching this sermon.
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Don't faint tonight.
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We can't help you if you do.
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But people were fainting, and he's become known for that one sermon.
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If you read other writings from Jonathan Edwards, though, he had more to him than just
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this hellfire and brimstone, turn and burn-type preaching, but he's just kind of become known
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for that one sermon.
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In most circles, you say Jonathan Edwards, that sermon he preached in 1741 is what he's
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known for.
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I'm bringing all that up because when you think about John and his writing, maybe you
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kind of have that same idea.
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You think about what you know about John and maybe what you've read in books like The Gospel
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of John and in 1 John.
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And in those books, what's John's main theme?
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What is one of the things he keeps coming back to?
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We saw it in 1 John, especially.
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What's one of his major concepts?
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Love.
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Yes.
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Yeah, John keeps coming back to love.
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And maybe in your mind, when you think about John the Apostle, you think about love and
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peace and those kind of ideas, but it'd be a wrong idea to pigeonhole John like some
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people do with Jesus or maybe Jonathan Edwards and other people because John wrote The Gospel
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of John, he wrote 1 John, he wrote 2 and 3 John, and he wrote the book of Revelation.
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Several different genres, from biography to epistle to apocalyptic language.
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And John could say some things about love, but he also could hit very direct.
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And I think you're going to see that tonight.
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And if you're unfamiliar with 2 John, you might be challenged by some of the things
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John says as you get near the end of this book, especially if you just have in your
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mind a one-track mind on the kind of preacher that John was.
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So as you think about 2 John, just keep in mind, it's the same John that's written these
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other books in our New Testament, different genre, but the same gospel.
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What are the differences then between 1 and 2 John?
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1 John's five chapters, yes, John does deal with false teachers.
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But more than that, in 1 John, his idea is, I want you to make sure you maintain your
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joy and realize you have eternal life.
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In 1 John 1 and verse 4, he says, we write so that you may have your joy full.
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We write so that you might have your joy complete.
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And then in chapter 5 and verse 13, in 1 John, he says, we're writing these things so that
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you may know that you have eternal life.
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In 2 John, John's main idea is the false teachers I warned you about in the first letter, make
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sure they don't make their way into the church.
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And if you encounter these people that teach religious error, John has some specific things
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to say about what our response is supposed to be that he didn't mention in the first
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letter.
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What you'll see as you study 2 John, it's only 13 verses, second shortest book in the
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New Testament, only to the book of 3 John, or really to the book of, no, 2 John is the
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shortest, 3 John is in third, and then there's Philemon.
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But in this book, what you'll see is, John has a deep love for this congregation and
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what he's saying to them and his concern about them, and their need to be deeply invested
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in truth and our need to do the same thing.
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So tonight, let's just look at what John had to say to this congregation, to these people,
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and what it has to say to us in relation to how we should be responding to the truth that
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we find in the New Testament.
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All right, 2 John, let's start with number 1, verses 1 through 3.
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This is the foundational facts John gives us about truth.
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He says,
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Okay, so first thing, John identifies himself.
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In verse 1, John calls himself what?
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The elder.
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The elder.
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Okay, in the New Testament, elder can mean several things.
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Sometimes, this word elder, presbuteros, it can mean what?
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When you see elder, what do you typically think about?
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How do we typically use the term?
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Shepherds, the office of the eldership, and it's normally used that way in a plural form
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talking about the elders.
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Peter does this in 1 Peter 5 and verse 1, he says,
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The elders which are among you, I exhort, or I encourage.
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So sometimes, he's talking about the elders, the pastors, the shepherds of this congregation
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or congregations in the New Testament.
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What's another way, though, that the term elder is used throughout the New Testament?
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Shepherds, but what else?
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Older individuals, just referring to age, and here with John, I believe that's the use.
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Though John could have been an elder, the term is never used this way in the singular
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for one person as a title, the elder.
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Nobody ever uses it that way, so I think John's zooming out as a respected member of the Church
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of Jesus Christ as an apostle, at this point, probably the last living apostle, and he's
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calling himself the elder, and those references up there are where this term is also used
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in that same way.
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In 1 Timothy 5, 1 and 2, for example, Paul says, I want you to treat the older men, the
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elders, like your fathers, and in 1 Peter 5 and verse 5, same thing.
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So John starts, he says, the elder, which is just talking about himself in a way that
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designates his age, and then he says to the elect lady, who I love in the truth, and not
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only I, but also all those who know the truth.
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The elect lady and her children, who do you think that is?
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Yes, this is a term used for the Lord's people for a congregation.
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The elect lady deals with the congregation as a whole, and her children deals with the
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members, and John's gonna do this same thing at the end of the book.
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If you look at verse 13, the children of your elect sister greet you.
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So the idea of being elect, or a special group of people, is also used throughout the New
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Testament, always for the group.
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Ephesians 1 and verse 4, Paul says, God chose us in him, in love, before the foundation
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of the world.
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And then in Romans 8, 29 through 30, he talks about those who God foreknew, and those individuals
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that are called, and those individuals that are predestined and chosen.
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I'm saying that to say, John sets this letter up.
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This is John, an old man, writing to a congregation, who he refers to as the chosen or elect lady,
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and to all of her children, and here's what John's excited about.
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John writes to them because he says, you love the truth, and he says, I'll write to you
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who I love in truth, and not only I, but also all those who know the truth, because the
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truth that abides in us and will be with us forever.
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So truth is the major idea that runs through 2 John, and John says he loves these individuals
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in the truth, and then he says, not only him, but all those who know the truth.
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John's going to say some things about false teachers.
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If you just drop down to verse 7, he'll talk about the antichrists and false teachers,
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like he's done in other books, but more direct in 2 John.
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But before he does that, he wants to talk to them about the individuals that are on
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their team and on their side, who know and love the truth.
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That's the beautiful thing about Christianity.
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In the end, Christianity says, you and I are tied together, regardless of our differences,
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regardless of our backgrounds, because of one central reality, and the central reality
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the New Testament describes that as is because of the truth.
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In Psalm 133 in verse 1, David says, behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers
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to dwell together in unity.
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What unites Christians is our love for the truth, and we'll talk more about what the
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truth involves in a minute, but he says, to all those who love the truth, and not only
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I, but also those who know the truth.
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Here's a question.
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How do you know whether somebody loves the truth?
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Because John says, hey, I love you in truth, and I'm sending you greetings, but not only
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me, but everybody else who loves the truth.
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John's going to talk about people who don't love it, and false teachers who've gone astray,
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but how would you be able to determine if somebody loves the truth?
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I'm talking about biblical New Testament truth.
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How do you know if somebody's in that number of those in verse 1 that he says, who I love
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in truth, and not only me, but also those who know the truth?
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How would you know if somebody loves the truth?
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By their behavior.
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You have to practice the truth.
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If they practice it, John 8, 32, Jesus says, you'll know the truth, and the truth, it'll
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liberate you.
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It'll set you free.
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Okay, if you practice the truth, somebody had a hand up over here, I think.
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Joke, if you share it.
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You've got to practice it, and then you've got to preach it, proclaim it, say something
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about it.
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Ephesians 4, 15, Paul says, but speaking the truth in love.
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So if you practice it, and if you share it, then you're a person that loves the truth.
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What else?
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What else?
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If you love truth, how will we know you love truth?
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If you preach it, and teach it to other people, if you share it, what else?
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If you have a heart that seeks it.
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Yeah.
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Proverbs 23, 23, Solomon says, buy the truth, and do not sell it, and also wisdom, and understanding,
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and instruction.
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Are you a person that wants truth wherever you can find it, and willing to be corrected
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by it, and reproved by it when you don't line up?
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Anybody else?
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Here's another one, and John's going to touch on this.
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You know you love the truth if you hate and oppose error.
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You can't be for the truth and for error at the same time.
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People that love the truth are in opposition to that which is false, and that's what John's
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going to warn about.
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Look at verse 2.
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He says, because of the truth that abides with us forever, and will be with us forever.
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In what sense will the truth of the Bible, or in what sense will the truth be with us
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forever?
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What do you think John means when he says, I love you in truth?
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He's just doubling down.
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If you're writing your Bible, you might want to underline all these times John mentions
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or highlight all these times he mentions truth.
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He loves them in truth.
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There are others who know the truth.
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Then he says, because of the truth that's going to be with us forever.
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And what sense is truth going to be with us forever, and what does that mean for us?
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What was that?
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Jesus is the truth, Kim.
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I think that's right.
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John could be talking about the doctrine, and that would be true.
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That comes from Jesus, but I think he's talking about Jesus himself, the embodiment of truth.
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What did Jesus say in John 14 in verse 6?
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I'm the way and the life.
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These false teachers have some different ideas about Jesus, but John's going to say the reality,
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the ultimate truth, is going to be with us forever.
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Chuck, you have something?
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That's right.
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That's right.
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And it'll remain.
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This idea of remain and abide is a piece of John's theme throughout his writings.
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In John 15, 1 through 8, you see it in 1 John.
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John highlights it in chapter 2, verse 6, and chapter 2 in verse 14.
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If you abide and remain in the truth.
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But when John says, hey, the truth's going to be with us forever, that means two things
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practical for you and me.
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Number one, if the truth is going to be with us forever, John said this in the first century.
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Here's what that means.
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The truth, as far as Christianity is concerned, has always been here.
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So today, when you start studying the Bible, you pick up a devotional book, you see somebody
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talking about Jesus on YouTube, on TikTok.
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The truth's going to be with us forever.
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That means in Christianity, if it's new, it isn't true.
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And if it's true, it isn't new.
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It's at least 2,000 years old, because truth's always been here.
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Nobody's discovering and finding out new truth.
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If it's true, it's not new.
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John said it was going to be here.
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If you flip two pages in your Bible, maybe you'll get to Jude in the New Testament.
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And Jude 3, Jude says, contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered
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to the saints.
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So truth is going to be with us forever.
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It's not new.
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So if somebody comes up with something that they think is brand new, you just go back
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to 2 John 2 and verse 2, and he says, truth's always going to be here.
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But here's the second thing about truth being with us forever.
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John says it's going to always be here, the truth about Jesus.
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That also means there are always going to be people that want the truth.
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Don't ever think to yourself, well, nobody else is interested in the truth.
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Truth isn't going anywhere.
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Whether you and I receive it is up to us, but truth is here to stay, and it's only going
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to be dependent on us whether or not we're going to properly respond to it and let it
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shape our lives.
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But people will always be able to receive it, and the good news is people will always
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be able to understand it, and they always can.
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This idea that, hey, nobody knows the truth, I was talking to somebody recently, and this
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person was saying about Bible interpretation and Bible study, and maybe you've heard people
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say this.
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You know, everybody's got their own opinion, Hiram.
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You really can't, like, nobody can say for sure.
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We're all just kind of doing the best we can, and maybe we get some parts right, and then
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other people get some parts right, and truth is just kind of relative.
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We're just kind of hoping for the best at the end of the day.
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John says, no, the truth will be with us forever, and you can digest it, you can comprehend
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it, and you can know it.
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That was deeply important for John's audience because false teachers were coming along,
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and they were saying they had a new truth, and the only way to get it was through them.
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Look at Ephesians chapter 3.
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Hold your hand in second, John.
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Go to Ephesians 3.
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Ephesians 3, and look at verses 3 through 5.
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Paul in this passage is talking about how he received divine revelation.
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I would say this passage in Ephesians 3 is true for the entirety of the New Testament,
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by the way.
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Paul's talking about the revealed process of truth to him.
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So in Ephesians 3, in verse 3, he says, how by revelation was made known to me the mystery.
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I wrote it down in a few words, whereby when you read, you might understand my knowledge,
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which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as is now revealed to his
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holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.
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Paul received it by revelation.
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Paul wrote it down.
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Paul said, when you read, you can do what?
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Read it, would you say?
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She didn't say it.
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She mouthed it.
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I just took it out.
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Yeah, understand.
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Yeah, you can understand.
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You can know the truth.
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That's always going to be true.
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And that goes back to second John.
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Truth is going to be with us forever, and you can always know it.
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And then look at verse 3 in second John.
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He says, grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ,
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the Father's Son, in truth and in love.
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Let me just say something about Bible reading and how we ought to approach books of the
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New Testament, especially.
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When you get to the letters, this is true about the whole Bible, but when you get to
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Romans through Revelation, here's something to keep in mind.
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It's tempting to sprint past the introduction and to rush past the conclusion.
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That's typically, though, the heart of these messages.
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Normally, these authors of the New Testament, not always, but they will bookend ideas.
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They'll say something at the front and something at the back, and the stuff in the middle hold
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it together.
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Don't just sprint past that.
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You might want to do that with verse 3.
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Grace, mercy, and peace, Paul says that a lot.
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But he says grace, mercy, and peace here will be with us from who?
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From God the Father and Jesus Christ, the Father's Son.
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It's going to be tempting when John starts saying some things later to say, well, maybe,
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John, that's just your opinion.
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And when we start in maybe 10 or 15 minutes pressing some of those truths to our own personal
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lives and what this means, even about people we might know and love that differ with us
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religiously, it'll be tempting for people to say, maybe for you to even say, I'm not
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doing that.
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That doesn't apply to me.
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That's what you think.
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I don't think it works.
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See, John starts off by saying, wait a minute.
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This actually comes from God, and if you resist this, you're resisting the grace, mercy, and
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peace that comes from God the Father and Jesus Christ, His Son.
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And then at the end of verse 3, he says, in truth and in love, which is John's way of
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basically saying, if you want grace, mercy, and peace, then you've got to stay in what?
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God's truth and God's love.
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Would you agree with this?
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There's a sense in which God's grace, mercy, and peace is universal for everybody, and
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there's also a sense in which God's grace, mercy, and peace to a certain extent is only
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for Christians.
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Is that true or false?
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True or false?
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There are only two options.
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Y'all are looking at me.
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There's not a third.
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Yeah.
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Is that true or false?
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It's available.
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What sense is God's grace, mercy, and peace universal for everybody, and what sense is
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it for everybody?
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Let's deal with that first.
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It's been given.
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It's available, yes.
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He loves everybody.
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What else?
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Anybody else?
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Okay, so yeah, God's grace, mercy, and peace is available for everybody.
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It's extended to everybody, but what is John saying specifically here at the end of verse
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3 about this in truth and love?
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The only people that truly experience it and reap the benefits are those that do what?
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Accept it and hold to it in truth and in love.
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If you want God's grace, mercy, and peace, you've got to be in the truth, and I think
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this is important because sometimes we think to ourselves, okay, well, this person wasn't
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right with the Lord, but maybe, you know, afterlife somehow, God's going to extend what
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to them?
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Grace.
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Grace and?
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Where is that though?
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That's only in Christ.
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It's only in Christ to receive God's grace, mercy, and peace.
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And religious groups and systems, we've come up with all sorts of ways to put God's grace
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and mercy outside of the bounds of where the New Testament puts it.
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Hey, maybe when you die, you go to purgatory and you get a second chance.
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The Bible doesn't say that.
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Maybe somebody could be baptized on behalf of you.
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Some groups teach this.
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When you die, be baptized on behalf of the dead.
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The Bible doesn't teach that.
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God's grace, mercy, and peace that he's extending to humanity exist in this life for us to respond
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to it in truth and in love so that we can enjoy the benefits.
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Mike, go ahead.
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It's endless.
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Grace, mercy, like you say, Paul mentions this to Timothy and Titus.
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Sometimes we look at it together, but actually it's something that involves one or the other.
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Grace of God brings mercy, peace with God.
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That's right.
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Yeah.
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And Paul does this in Romans 5, 1 and 2.
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Paul does this whole breaking down, right?
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We're justified by grace.
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We stand in this faith and we have peace with God, the father.
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So that's exactly right.
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There is this sort of, I guess you can call it this stair stepping of ideas that they
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are all strung together.
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After John lays the foundation for truth though, he talks about walking in truth and love.
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So he has this introduction.
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Now let's read verses four through six.
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He says, I rejoice greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth just as
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we were commanded by the father.
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And now I ask you, dear lady, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but
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one we have from the beginning that we love one another.
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And this is love that we walk according to his commandments.
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And this is the commandment just as you have heard from the beginning.
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So you should walk in it.
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What does that sound like?
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Before I even click a slide, what does second John four through six sound like?
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Hasn't changed.
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What was somebody going to say?
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Sounds a lot like first John to me.
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Sounds a lot like what John has already been saying about loving one another.
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Maybe that's what Kevin's talking about.
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This hasn't changed.
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Second John says in verse four, I greatly, I rejoice greatly to find some of your children
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doing what?
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Walking in the truth.
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In the Bible, what does it mean to walk in something?
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You see this a lot in scripture.
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So it goes all the way back to the first book of the Bible.
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Genesis 5, 24, Enoch's the first person.
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It says, in Enoch, walk with God.
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And then you get to the next chapter, Genesis six and verse nine, Noah walked with God and
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was righteous in his generation.
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And this is 17 in verse one, Abraham's told walk before God and be blameless or perfect
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and complete.
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When the Bible talks about somebody walking in something, what does that normally mean?
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Their lifestyle Levi to live according to something following the rules.
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In this case, John says, I'm happy to find some of your children walking in the truth
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just as we were commanded by the father.
20:35
How do you walk in the truth?
20:36
You practice it.
20:37
You do exactly what God wants you to do.
20:39
Ephesians five and verse one is another one of these passages.
20:42
Paul says, walk as children of light, behave like God's people, but maybe something you
20:47
miss in verse four.
20:48
If you go over it quickly, John says, I rejoice greatly to find what some, what does that
20:55
mean?
20:56
Everybody wasn't on board.
20:58
Everybody wasn't.
20:59
John says, I rejoice greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth.
21:03
Who are the children, by the way, in this passage and second, John, who are the children?
21:08
What is this representative of members of the church?
21:11
Okay.
21:12
I know people put this on cards when people graduate and that's great for your children,
21:16
but that's not what John's talking about here, though it applies here.
21:19
John's talking about members of the congregation.
21:20
He writes this letter to the elect lady, this congregation may be in Ephesus and he says,
21:25
Hey, I'm glad some of the members there are walking in the truth.
21:27
What does that mean?
21:28
Some of the others were doing it.
21:29
How did it happen to him?
21:30
Some of the others has started walking according to what false teaching.
21:36
Maybe the false teachers John warned about in first John had infiltrated the ranks.
21:40
If you go back to first John, look at first John two, 18 and 19, somebody read that first
21:45
John two, 18 and 19 quickly.
21:48
All right, so here in first John, John says, Hey, they're false teachers that have gone
22:03
out.
22:04
By the time you get to second John, John says, Hey, I'm glad that some of you are walking
22:06
in the truth, but not everybody is.
22:08
So here's my question.
22:09
How does this happen?
22:11
You can think about this from several vantage points and answer it however you want within
22:15
the room of what we're talking about, right?
22:17
How does it happen that certain people in a congregation here in the same sermon read
22:21
the same first John, same gospel of John, Paul's letters.
22:24
How do some people hear the very same thing in a congregation?
22:29
Sometimes this happens in a home, in a family with children.
22:32
What would be the reasons that people could all hear the same thing and everybody doesn't
22:36
get on board, but you have some walking according to the truth and some not.
22:40
How does that happen?
22:42
We like to do our things our own way.
22:44
We want to be free agents.
22:45
God has made us free will agents and free moral individuals.
22:48
And so sometimes we just, we want to do our own thing.
22:51
When Samuel approached Saul in first Samuel 15, he says, Hey, why didn't you do the sacrifice
22:56
when I came?
22:57
Why did you wait?
22:58
Saul says the people scattered and I forced myself, Saul just wanted to do what Saul wanted
23:02
to do.
23:03
And sometimes we're like that.
23:04
What else?
23:05
Why do some people hear the same thing and respond differently?
23:07
Why does John say some, wouldn't it be great if John would have said, I rejoice that all
23:11
my children, every member of this congregation is walking according to the truth.
23:14
Why doesn't that happen?
23:16
Sometimes we want to do our own thing.
23:17
What else?
23:20
Sometimes we don't like what we hear.
23:22
Sometimes we don't like the truth.
23:23
We think if I don't like it, then I'm not going to do what I'm not going to comply with
23:28
it.
23:29
I'll just do my own thing.
23:30
Any other reasons?
23:31
Just don't spend enough time.
23:34
Okay.
23:35
Yeah.
23:36
Maybe we're ignorant.
23:37
We don't know the truth.
23:38
And so we go along with whatever sounds nice.
23:39
Joey, sometimes it's outside influences.
23:45
And John says these individuals went out and he's going to talk about influence towards
23:48
the end of this book.
23:49
And it's going to be important for us to see what he means.
23:51
But sometimes it's outside influences, Kim.
23:56
Yeah.
24:01
Some people only want positivity.
24:02
They don't want to do the hard things.
24:04
All that we've said is true and it's important because sometimes when things don't go our
24:08
way and when people in a congregation or in a family don't do right, we might think it's
24:12
a lot of things, but John's writing in the first century and he's saying some of these
24:15
people aren't walking, walking according to the truth.
24:17
John seems to know this church well as possible.
24:19
He preached here, had a great influence on them.
24:22
And not all of these folks are walking according to the truth.
24:24
And that's not always the fault of the church or the parents or individuals that were involved
24:28
in their life.
24:29
Sometimes it's because of our own hearts.
24:31
Jesus told the parable in Luke eight and the parable of the soils.
24:34
You remember that?
24:35
And he talks about these different heart conditions.
24:37
The good news about Luke eight though, is your heart condition can change.
24:41
You can go from thorny or rocky soil to the good soil or the good ground.
24:44
But some people hear the same message and it doesn't change them.
24:48
Some obey and some don't because of heart conditions.
24:51
Sometimes it is free will.
24:52
Jesus says, whoever wills, let them come.
24:54
Revelation 22, 17.
24:56
And then sometimes it's just people wanting to do their own thing.
24:59
Like Tom said, and like Kim mentioned, Jesus had 12 disciples.
25:03
What kind of leader do you think Jesus was?
25:04
This is easy.
25:05
Say the best.
25:06
Yeah, the best.
25:07
That's right.
25:08
And he says, hey, I've chosen you 12.
25:09
And one of you is a devil, John six and verse 70.
25:12
Why did Judas go astray?
25:14
You could say prophecy, that would be partially true.
25:16
But at the heart of it, you know why Judas went astray?
25:18
It's simple.
25:20
He wanted to.
25:21
He wanted to.
25:22
He had the best teacher.
25:23
He had the best example.
25:24
He couldn't say, hey, I saw this hypocrisy.
25:26
Not in his teacher, not in his mentor.
25:28
He chose to.
25:30
Sometimes that's what people do.
25:31
And so John says, I'm rejoicing greatly that some of your children are walking according
25:36
to the truth.
25:37
And the reality is, kudos to those that continue.
25:40
They didn't go along with the crowd.
25:41
And then he repeats this command in verse five.
25:43
Now I ask you, dear lady, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but one
25:46
we have from the beginning that we love one another.
25:49
This is love that we walk according to his commandments.
25:51
This is the commandment.
25:52
Just as you heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.
25:54
Okay.
25:55
You've heard this a bunch.
25:56
Love one another.
25:58
First John, first John two, seven through 11, John 13, John 15.
26:02
What else can we say about loving one another?
26:04
Probably not much.
26:05
So here's my question.
26:06
Why does John keep saying this?
26:15
Okay.
26:16
Yeah.
26:17
So you can be a billboard to the world.
26:18
If you love other people, God says, this is a primary way by this.
26:21
All people are going to know you're my disciples.
26:24
For sure.
26:31
So Jesus says, do it.
26:33
Everybody's going to know you're my disciple.
26:34
If you love one another, John 13, 34 and 35.
26:38
But John told me that in John 13, 34 and 35, then he said it in John 15, 12, and then in
26:43
John 15, 17, and then in first John two, seven through 11, and then in first John four, seven
26:48
and eight.
26:49
First John four, 19 through 21 is still begging the question.
26:53
Why?
26:54
What was that?
26:58
He thought it was important.
27:00
It's hard.
27:01
Pause.
27:02
We're going to come back to that.
27:03
Kim, go ahead.
27:06
Yeah.
27:10
So that's the next question.
27:12
What makes loving one another hard?
27:15
Tell the truth.
27:16
We talked about truth.
27:17
Don't lie.
27:18
Okay.
27:19
What makes loving one another hard?
27:20
Because the Bible keeps commanding this.
27:21
Love one another.
27:22
Love one another.
27:23
I'm not writing you anything new.
27:24
Love each other.
27:25
What makes this challenging?
27:28
People are people.
27:29
It's challenging because of humanity.
27:31
People are people, and guess what?
27:34
You be the people, too.
27:35
It's not just other people.
27:36
It's also you.
27:37
We sometimes think everybody's difficult.
27:39
Well, guess what?
27:41
You're difficult, and so am I.
27:43
So yeah, one of the reasons why is because people are challenging.
27:46
What else?
27:47
What did you say, Tom?
27:48
Sorry.
27:50
People be forgetting.
27:51
This is another...
27:52
No, I'm joking.
27:53
Okay.
27:54
So sometimes it's hard because people are people.
27:56
Why else?
27:57
Love takes sacrifice.
28:00
Who do we want to put first?
28:03
We typically want to put ourselves first, and this is why Jesus says a new commandment.
28:06
Well, the Old Testament's filled with commands to love God, love neighbor, Deuteronomy 6,
28:11
4, and 5, Leviticus 19, 18.
28:13
What's new about Jesus' way?
28:15
What's new about Jesus' way is nobody had ever shown sacrificial love to that degree,
28:19
and we need to be reminded that's our ultimate example.
28:22
It's hard.
28:23
People are complicated.
28:24
Love involves sacrifice.
28:25
What else challenges us to love one another like the New Testament says?
28:30
I think it's because we fail to see the New Testament is telling us to love each other,
28:33
and as much as it should be reciprocal, we're commanded to love other people even when it's
28:37
not.
28:39
Everything God commands you to do, you can do even if nobody else in the world cooperates
28:43
with you.
28:45
When everybody else cooperates, it's great.
28:46
When your spouse cooperates, your kids, your neighbors, your coworkers, it's great.
28:50
But there's not anything in the Bible that God commands you that you have to have cooperation
28:54
with other people to carry out.
28:56
And so when other people aren't loving, the Bible still tells you to love.
28:59
Well, they don't love me.
29:00
Even if they're an enemy, God covers all the bases.
29:02
You got to love them.
29:03
And we're tempted to stop short because people aren't responding to us the way we want.
29:07
It's not being reciprocated.
29:08
But the New Testament presses us and says, even in the face of all of that, you still
29:13
have to do what God wants you to do.
29:14
And that's true about every one of us in every realm of life.
29:17
Nobody's going to be able to stand before God and say, God, you know, I really would
29:20
have.
29:21
But they did.
29:22
And you and I should be glad that it's that way, that what God wants from me, I love it
29:25
when you cooperate with me.
29:27
But it's really not tied to what you do.
29:28
No matter what you do, how you respond or fail to, I can please God.
29:32
And so John's saying love one another.
29:34
You might be hearing that and thinking, yeah, somebody ought to love me.
29:37
That's the wrong way to read this.
29:38
You need to be thinking, OK, who can I must I love as a result?
29:42
I think John says this a lot because a lot of what John deals with is false teaching.
29:47
And I think it's tempting when you deal with false teaching a lot to become hardened and
29:51
everything.
29:52
You're like a hammer and everything's a nail.
29:54
You just kind of get ultra conservative, ultra sensitive.
29:58
And we got to make sure we don't let any false teaching in.
30:00
And John said in the midst of all of that, don't forget to love like God wants you to
30:04
love one another.
30:05
It's not a new commandment.
30:06
It's an old one.
30:07
And then in verse six, he says, this is the love that we walk according to his commandments.
30:11
And this is the commandment, just as you heard from the beginning.
30:14
So you should walk in it.
30:15
This is important.
30:16
Kevin said there's nothing new.
30:17
That's right.
30:18
Sometimes in our Christianity, we want to go deeper.
30:21
We should go deeper, but we also shouldn't leave these elementary principles behind.
30:26
John keeps saying, I told you this already.
30:27
I told you this from the beginning.
30:29
Do you remember what you were taught when you were baptized into Jesus Christ for the
30:33
forgiveness of sins?
30:35
You must never graduate from that.
30:37
You might go deeper and learn more things, but you always have got to be bringing those
30:40
basic principles with you.
30:42
I'm a sinner.
30:43
Jesus died for my sins.
30:44
I'm saved by God's grace through faith, and he wants me to be faithful until the end.
30:48
John keeps saying, remember, we told you this at the beginning.
30:51
Whatever else you put on top of that in your years of Christian growth and service, they
30:54
must never be replaced with those things.
30:57
You've got to stick and hold fast to the truth that's already been given.
31:00
And that's why I have Hebrews 5, 11 through chapter six in verse three up there, because
31:04
the Hebrew writer says, yes, go on to spiritual maturity, but that never means leave the basics.
31:09
And maybe some of us have read the Bible a long time, and you might be thinking to
31:12
yourself, all right, I get it already.
31:14
Let's move on from the love part, and you're the person that needs to hear it twice.
31:18
Because we think to ourselves, this is very basic.
31:20
I know what this is all about.
31:21
Let's get on to the hard stuff, and here's what we miss.
31:24
This really is the hard stuff.
31:26
It's not just learning a bunch of verses and quoting a bunch of scripture and coming to
31:30
church all the time.
31:31
It's actually and actively loving other people, and I forget who said it, but oh, yeah, Miller.
31:36
He keeps repeating it because it's important.
31:39
As Chuck mentioned, you're never going to get past this.
31:41
Everything in Christianity funnels through this, and here's the thing.
31:45
When you start feeling yourself becoming indifferent and sluggish in your Christianity,
31:49
just kind of blah, the first thing that normally went was your love.
31:52
It wasn't your Bible reading.
31:53
It wasn't your prayer.
31:54
You stopped loving God, and you stopped loving people.
31:57
You cannot apostatize.
31:59
You can't fall away.
32:00
You can't drift.
32:01
You can't even slow up unless that's true of you first.
32:04
And if you think about the times you've been in spiritual ruts, that's at the top
32:08
of the list.
32:09
You lost love.
32:11
What does Jesus tell the church at Ephesus in Ephesians 2 and verse 5?
32:14
Repent because you've left your what?
32:17
If you read it, he says a lot of other stuff, but the first thing is,
32:20
if you stop loving God and you stop loving other Christians, it's a done deal for
32:25
whatever else might happen.
32:26
Love one another.
32:27
You know why Greg said tonight, why'd you come?
32:29
And I was thinking, well, I got multiple reasons.
32:31
I kind of work here and, you know, there's some other stuff, but here's the thing.
32:36
If you love one another, sometimes you don't want to come here,
32:39
but other people are dependent on me.
32:42
Sometimes you don't want to pray, but there are some people dependent
32:45
on your prayers that can't pray for themselves, and they won't be prayed
32:47
for unless you do it.
32:48
See, this love one another fuels, yes, your relationship with other people,
32:52
but also your faithfulness to God.
32:54
All right, now let's get to what I would consider the hard part.
32:57
Chuck, go ahead.
32:57
Yes, for sure.
33:08
Yes, right.
33:12
Yeah, I have 2 John 9 through 11 up there.
33:14
It should be 8 through 11.
33:15
So, let's read 8 through 11.
33:16
We got 10 minutes.
33:17
We've got a couple of verses.
33:18
We'll be done in time, maybe early, okay?
33:21
Watch for yourselves.
33:22
Look at verse 8.
33:22
So, after he tells them to love one another, it's really verse 7.
33:25
Excuse me, 7 through 11 should be up there.
33:27
For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who don't confess the coming
33:30
of Jesus Christ in the flesh.
33:32
Such a one is a deceiver and the antichrist.
33:34
Watch yourselves so you don't lose what we've worked for, but win a full reward.
33:38
Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does
33:41
not have God.
33:42
Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
33:45
If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him
33:49
into your house or give him any greeting for whoever greets him takes part
33:52
in his wicked work.
33:53
So, after John says what he mentioned previously about loving each other,
33:56
excuse me, he comes back to this idea in verse 7, many deceivers have gone
34:00
out into the world.
34:01
That goes back to 1 John.
34:02
What did he call the deceivers in 1 John?
34:04
The anti-what?
34:06
Antichrist.
34:07
He comes back to this.
34:08
Look at verse 7.
34:09
Help me with this in verse 7.
34:11
How do you know in verse 7, just stay in second John, look at verse 7,
34:14
how do you know these individuals are the antichrist here?
34:17
What does he say is true about them that makes them the antichrist?
34:22
They do not confess what?
34:26
Jesus came in the flesh as a human being.
34:29
For them, that's because there was this false idea of Gnosticism that said Jesus
34:33
didn't come in the flesh.
34:34
But this verse makes confession important.
34:36
And maybe when you think about a plan of salvation, confession is the one you
34:39
probably sprint past.
34:40
You got to believe.
34:41
If you know somebody that's not a believer, you come with a lot of evidence,
34:44
it's important to bring them to faith.
34:45
That's great.
34:46
You've got to repent.
34:47
Probably the hardest thing a person does to become a Christian,
34:50
change their mind, change their behavior.
34:52
And then we kind of jump past confession, they're going to do that,
34:55
and then you got to be what?
34:56
In water.
34:57
But not so fast.
34:58
In the 1st century, confession was a big deal.
35:01
In Romans 10, 9, and 10, Paul says,
35:03
for what the heart, one believes and is justified, and what the mouth,
35:06
confession, is made unto salvation.
35:09
Jesus confessed that he was the Son of God and it brought him death in Mark 14,
35:13
61 through 64.
35:15
When we confess, it brings us life.
35:17
Paul calls it in 1 Timothy 6, 11 through 15, the good confession.
35:21
And in the 1st century, people were intimidated.
35:23
They didn't want to say these words physically.
35:25
Jesus is Lord or the Son of God.
35:27
I believe Jesus came in the flesh.
35:29
And John says, people that are hesitant to do that, they're the antichrist.
35:32
Today, why would a person be afraid or ashamed to confess that same thing?
35:35
That Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, why might a person be hesitant to do that?
35:41
It might be because we want to be perceived by other people as being smart
35:44
or intelligent.
35:45
We don't want to be made fun of or mocked for believing in something like a man
35:50
named Jesus died and was buried and rose the third day.
35:53
And so, it could be helpful to say something like, hey, I believe in Jesus.
35:56
I believe in some Christian concepts.
35:58
But to say verbally, I don't just believe in the ideas of Christianity,
36:02
but actually in the person of Christ, he says, if you don't say that,
36:05
you're not saved and you might be along the same lines of the antichrist.
36:09
In verse 8, John warns, watch therefore about these false teachers so that you
36:13
don't lose what we've worked for, but win a full reward.
36:16
John says, watch so you don't lose what you work for, which means it's possible
36:19
to lose your what?
36:21
It's possible to lose your salvation and lose your reward.
36:24
We don't earn our salvation by doing good works, but people that do good works,
36:29
the Bible says that God's laying up treasure for them.
36:31
And if you allow somebody to take you away from the truth, John says,
36:35
you'll lose everything you work for.
36:36
You'll lose all of your good deeds.
36:38
Well, how do you make sure you don't do that?
36:39
Here we are in 2 John 9 through 11.
36:42
Everyone who goes on ahead and doesn't abide in the teaching of Christ doesn't
36:45
have God.
36:46
Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
36:49
John says there are some people that go on ahead.
36:51
Here's my question.
36:52
How might you do that?
36:53
How does a person go on ahead?
36:55
Because John says when you do that, you don't have the Father or the Son.
36:59
If you go on ahead of the doctrine of Christ, how is it possible to do that and
37:02
lose the Father and the Son?
37:05
These false teachers were doing it because they wouldn't confess that Jesus
37:08
came in the flesh.
37:09
Today, how does somebody go out in front of the gospel or out in front of the
37:13
doctrine of Christ and lose the Father and the Son?
37:18
How do you do that?
37:21
Add to the Word.
37:22
That's what I was thinking about, Ms. Rhonda.
37:23
Yeah, you might add to the Word.
37:25
You might put things in the Bible that God never put in the Bible.
37:28
What's another way to go on ahead?
37:30
Take things out.
37:32
You are going beyond the doctrine of Christ if you make Christianity harder than
37:36
Jesus made it.
37:37
If you start just adding in extra stuff, John says, see, you've gone on ahead.
37:40
And if you go on ahead, you leave Christ behind.
37:43
If you don't take his teaching, you can't have Christ or God.
37:45
If you take things out that God put in, he says, you can't have him either.
37:50
You've got to say and stick with exactly what he says.
37:52
Paul says in Colossians 3.17, whatever you do in word or in deed,
37:57
do all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
37:59
Don't go on ahead.
38:00
Everybody got that?
38:02
But that's not all that John says is your responsibility.
38:04
In verse 10, he says, if anybody comes to you and doesn't bring this teaching,
38:08
that means John's teaching, the sound teaching of the New Testament,
38:11
don't receive them into your house or give them any greeting.
38:15
This doesn't mean you can't have anybody over for dinner that doesn't believe the
38:18
same thing you do, okay?
38:20
But in the 1st century, hospitality toward traveling preachers was a big deal.
38:25
In Acts 16, when Paul and Silas and Timothy go to Philippi after they convert
38:30
Lydia, in Acts 16 and verse 15, she says, if you've judged me faithful,
38:33
stay at my house.
38:35
When Jesus sent the disciples on the limited commission in Matthew 10,
38:38
12, and 13, he says, hey, in any house you go, if they receive you,
38:42
salute that house and they'll receive a reward.
38:44
If they don't, shake the dust off of your feet and go in the other direction.
38:48
Hospitality was a way of saying in the 1st century, I'm with you,
38:52
I approve of your teaching, I accept you.
38:54
It was a way of helping the truth.
38:55
Look at 3 John.
38:56
We'll just kind of go to this even though this will come up next week.
38:59
Look at 3 John and look at verse 5, and this is what John says Gaius was doing
39:05
with his relationship toward people that were teaching the truth.
39:08
Beloved, it's a faithful thing in all your efforts for these brothers,
39:10
strangers as they are, who testify to your love before the church.
39:14
You do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God.
39:17
That's how you're supposed to support people that teach and preach the truth.
39:20
But in 2 John, John says, if somebody comes to you and they don't bring the truth
39:24
of the gospel, don't receive them into your house and don't even give them
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a friendly greeting.
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Why not?
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Don't encourage them.
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But look at verse 11.
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Yes, don't encourage them is exactly right.
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But what does John say happens to you if you do that?
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Okay, you share in their evil deeds.
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And they don't have who?
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Christ or God.
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And if you share in their evil deeds, guess what happens to you?
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You lose Christ and God.
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Practically, how might we violate this passage?
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Here's where I want you to think.
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How might we be people?
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You say, hey, we preach the truth here.
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We've got New Testament baptism, plan of salvation, Lord's Supper every first day
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of the week, no band, no instrumental music.
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How might a Christian, though, be guilty of, John says, some people go ahead,
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some people are progressive.
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That's what this word actually means, by the way.
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It means to run out in front.
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And some people, they read the New Testament and they're like, hey,
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that's not good enough for me.
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I want to go out in front.
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I either want to make it harder and add in things that God didn't forbid or I want
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to lose things that God says you've got to do.
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You might be thinking, I'd never do that.
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John says some people do.
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And you must never receive them into your house or give them a friendly greeting.
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That was in the first century.
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That was the way you approved of a teacher.
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I'm talking about in 2026, though, how might we do that?
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I've had people ask me this before.
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They'll say, you know, Hiram, this person is not a Christian.
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And they go to a denominational church and they don't believe what the New
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Testament teaches, but so-and-so is getting baptized.
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And people have asked me, like, my friend wants me to go and I want to go
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and be supportive.
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Here's the question, though.
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If they're not teaching what the New Testament teaches, a person must do in
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order to be saved.
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If they have in their mind that all you have to do is believe and then you're
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saved and then this baptismal ceremony is just an outward show of inward grace,
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what does my presence at the baptism imply?
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What does it suggest?
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You endorse it.
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You agree with it.
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You go along with it.
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You think, well, I mean, this is just some, you know, this religious group is having
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this program and these are my friends or, I mean, it gets more personal.
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If it's your family members or grandkids, and you might just be thinking,
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well, I don't really believe it.
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But this passage says you've got to be discerning.
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And I'm sure there's some judgment calls in this and how everybody works it out,
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but there also is some just clear delineated truth that you can't get past.
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And John says, do not do anything that would imply to a false teacher that you
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endorse what they're doing if it doesn't go along with the truth.
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And that means you and I sometimes have to be...
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Imagine if one of these false teachers came to your house and they wanted
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entrance in, what would you have to do?
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You'd have to turn them away.
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And when they left, John says, don't even give them a what?
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Don't throw up your hand, don't even give them a greeting.
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Because if you do, you partake of all the evil they're going to do when they leave
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and when they teach religious error.
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This doesn't mean not to be kind to people that disagree with us religiously.
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It doesn't mean we can't engage them and learn what they teach.
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Here's what I'm telling you.
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Whatever would be implied endorsement, you and I can't do it without losing God
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in the process and our relationship with Jesus Christ.
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Go to Romans 1 quickly.
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We've got, like, three minutes.
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That's right.
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That's right.
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This passage, though, 1 John 4, Chuck, is right.
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This passage, I think, it definitely goes along with it.
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It's actually putting that testing into practice, though.
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After you test them and find them false, then what do you do?
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And that's what I'm talking about.
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2 John 9 through 11 is about, hey, what do you do when all is said and done?
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So, for example, if you look at Romans 1, 18 beginning, he says,
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the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
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of man, and he lists a lot of things that are ungodly behavior.
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What's the last thing, though, in verse 32?
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What does he say?
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Who knowing the judgment of God that those that do these things are worthy
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of death, they not only do it, but what?
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Some, the old King James says, has pleasure in those that do them.
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Newer translations talk about giving approval to people that practice
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these things.
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The Bible is concerned not only with our behavior.
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Hey, don't you ever do anything false.
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It's also concerned with, don't you ever support anybody that's
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doing the wrong thing.
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Don't you ever just go along with it and give them the impression that,
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hey, I'm okay with it.
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John says, if you do, you become a partaker of their evil deeds.
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All right, I'm going to read the last two verses just so we can get through it.
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I know that was the second veil.
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2 John 12 and 13, he says, I have much to write to you.
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I'd rather not use paper and ink.
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Instead, I hope to come and talk face-to-face so our joy may be complete.
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The children of your elect sister greet you.
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John's saying they're all false teachers, but the last verse in this book,
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there are also people on your side.
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There are other faithful congregations and God's people, and he says, hey,
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they send a greeting, and John can't wait to see them face-to-face.
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If you think about 2 John 9 through 11, and you start feeling uneasy about it,
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and you think, hmm, I wonder how that applies, and I don't know if I would be
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willing to do that, or do I have to resist people and go along,
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just remember where we started.
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According to John, grace, mercy, and peace are given to people that stand
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in God's truth and God's love, and we can't always make everybody happy.
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But if we're lovers of truth, John says, some things you've got to resist,
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and not only must you not practice it, you must never give endorsement
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to those that do.
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All right, thanks for a good Bible class.
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Appreciate your attention tonight.