Latest / Scripture Central / 1, 2, 3 John & Jude: New Testament with Lynne Wilson (Come, Follow Me)

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1, 2, 3 John & Jude: New Testament with Lynne Wilson (Come, Follow Me) · Scripture Central

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Shalom, welcome back to Scripture.
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Central to our last lesson on the Epistles this year, these
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beautiful letters of John are some of the most beautiful
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letters of all Scripture. The message that John gives us
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is the discipleship and hope all come through the principles of
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love. And then we've also got the
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little Book of Jude, and it's filled with warnings and
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exhortation. That's written by the brother of
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the Lord, the half brother of Jesus.
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You can see here on my chart if you've got online either the
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handouts, which are all available through the archives
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or through the come, follow me on bookofmormoncentral.org or
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Scripture central.org that we don't know exactly when these
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letters are written. Probably well after Pauls third
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mission when John has moved into Ephesus cause Paul served in
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Ephesus for three years as the leader and John.
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Then we're told by history, comes and establishes the church
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there and we know that he's very close to those Saints in the
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Book of Revelation. We assume that these letters of
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John are from John the Beloved because of some things that were
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said by our prophet Joseph Smith.
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However, they are unnamed epistles and 2nd and 3rd letters
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are unnamed. However, they do share the same
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style and vocabulary. So we just assume that John uses
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the word Elder instead of his name, and this should not
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surprise you. Remember, he lives in a day and
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age where you don't refer to God by his name, and in his gospel
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he never refers to himself by the name of John.
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He never refers to Mary by the name of Mary.
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You know, I just feel like this is very consistent with the John
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Inning literature not to say his name.
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In fact, if he said his name, I'd be a little more worried
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about it then otherwise In First John, this beautiful epistle is
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a poetic sermon. He's writing it to his spiritual
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children and he's building on all the themes that came from
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Christ Last Supper and then now elaborating into the Apostolic
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Church and carrying forth with that same beautiful message,
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I've got a short little outline of the five verses here.
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He begins with a prologue, just like he does in his gospel, and
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then he has a message of light, and this is chapter one through
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chapter halfway through chapter three he warns against
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Antichrist, and he asked us to become children of God.
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But the whole thing is about becoming bearers of light.
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And then his second message is on the message of love.
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That's chapter 3, verse 11 through chapter 5, verse 12.
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And that's when he talks about the need to love one another and
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to abide in God's love. And then his little conclusion
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is chapter 5, verse 13 to 21. Let's dive in now to the text.
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And starting in chapter one, verse one, make sure you look
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for these poetic parallels which we have heard, which we have
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seen with our eyes, which we have looked at with our hands
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and have touched. That's the MIV, as is the next
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statement. This we proclaim concerning the
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word of life. You know those first three
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verses have all these beautiful parallels.
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And then he turns to this message of light.
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It takes over most of the next three chapters, and he has all
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these parallels between light and darkness and sin and
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forgiveness. And I'm sure you remember those
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back not only from his prologue and his gospel, but all through
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his gospel. Remember, he introduces people
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like Nicodemus, who's in the dark.
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He comes at night, and then the woman at the well who comes at
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noon with the hour of the greatest light, and she receives
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the message, you know, this light and darkness is a constant
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theme throughout his Gospels and now in his epistles.
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And then we'll see it again. In the Book of Revelation.
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He starts out here in verse five, we declare unto you that
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God is light and in him is no darkness at all.
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I would like to talk about light for a minute.
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It's such an interesting phenomenon.
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And I have a dear friend and colleague.
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His name is Doctor Marcus Culvert.
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He's a BIOS professor at Stanford and he has spoken on
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this subject of the light that Christ is begging us to carry.
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I'd like to read to you from him.
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When I think God is light, I think light is everything.
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Light is gorgeous. It's beautiful.
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It's mysterious. We don't even know if it's a
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wave or a particle. It's probably neither.
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It's eternal. Who would dare to say whether it
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came from or where it's going? It's the fastest thing in the
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universe, 300, 1,000,000 meters per second without breaking a
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sweat. It warms us.
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It feeds us from the sun to the photosynthetic plants and the
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rest of the animal Kingdom. It comforts us, triggering
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serotonin releases and sensing by our brain cells.
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It protects us with vitamin D Our bodies have all kinds of
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ways to harvest the light, but the most spectacular is the
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ocular. Our eyes are absolutely amazing
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in what we can perceive, and yet so much of the light around us
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is completely undetectable, or only with advanced technology.
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It is completely amazing. So as we go back and see God is
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light and His message is light, let's just broaden our
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perspective much larger than what we're thinking about.
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Much larger than a light bulb or the sun, much larger than truth
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at light, It's also healing in our creation.
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There's so much to be encompassed in God is light.
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Starting now in verse six, it says if we say that we have
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fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie.
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And then moving ahead to verse 8:00 and 9:00, if we say that we
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have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not
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in us. If we confess our sins he is
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faithful and just to forgive us. Now this need for forgiveness is
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the core of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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You know he has already suffered for us.
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So daily as President Nelson has asked us repent.
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And in my life it's hourly because my thoughts sometimes
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are self-centered and and I need to repent in order to maintain
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the companionship of the Spirit, a prophet said in 2019.
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Too many people consider repentance A punishment,
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something to be avoided except the most serious circumstances.
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But this feeling of being penalized is engendered by
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Satan. He tries to block us from
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looking to Jesus Christ, who stands with open arms, hoping
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and willing to heal, forgive, and cleanse, strengthen and
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purify and sanctify us. It was a fun little study I did
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a few years ago to look at the way repentance is used in the
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Old Testament, this way of opening up, turn, unturning,
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turning about, rather than the word that we use from the Latin
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penitence, you know, just flogging yourself.
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That's not what it meant in both the Old and New Testaments, but
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that's the word that was chosen by the Latin translators.
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But as we look at the Book of Mormon, the idea of repentance
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or repenting or repent is mentioned six times more often
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than the New Testament, and the Doctrine Covenants is 3 times
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more often than the New Testament.
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This is a message for us now. It's a whole new way of
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thinking. It's not just stopping what
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we're doing wrong, it's also turning to Christ.
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It's it's our It's a law of obedience and sacrifice and
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consecration. Repentance is saying, I want to
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do it your way. I want to give up all that takes
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me away from you to be able to bow before you and become your
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servant again. Chapter 2, verse one reads in
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the NIV. My dear children, I write this
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to you so that you will not sin. Now he uses this wonderful
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little phrase of dear children or little children over and over
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and over again here. It's once in this gospel and
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it's many, many times here 7 times and this epistle.
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But in the Joseph Smith translation, chapter 2, verse
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one, he changes it. If any man sin and repent, he
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will have an advocate with a father.
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Now this word advocate we usually think of as an attorney,
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a defense attorney, and it's mentioned five times in the New
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Testament that the Greek word paraclete is most often
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translated as spirit or comforter four times in the
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Gospel. John uses this in chapters 14 to
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16 in the Last Supper. He's using this for the other
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comforter, for a role of the spirit to do your, or a role of
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the savior if it's the other comforter.
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We also find this same idea of an advocate in section 45 of the
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Doctrine Cabinet, Section 88, verse 33.
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Joseph Smith spoke on this word in the Greek word.
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Not the word advocate or advocate that we have here, but
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he's talking about it in the word as a comforter.
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And I mentioned this back at the Last Supper.
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But I'd like to remind you that this word has a very important
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meeting according to Joseph. So I'm going to read to you from
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what Joseph said, or at least what's written down from the
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scribes that were there at the meeting.
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Now what is this other Comforter?
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It is no more nor less than the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
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And even he will manifest the Father unto him, and they will
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take up their abode with him. And the visions of the heaven
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will be opened unto him. And the Lord will teach him face
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to face. And he may have a perfect
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knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God.
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This is the root of that word. So when Joseph is talking about
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the Lord is going to be our advocate.
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We are going to be to Him face to face.
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We are going to be able to receive Him, and whether that's
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on this side of the veil or the other, this was the promise
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given to the 12 at the Last Supper.
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I talked a lot more about it there in our discussion in Come
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Follow me earlier. So in first John, chapter 2,
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verse 12, he begins this beautiful triplicate look for
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the patterns of threes. He talks to the children, the
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fathers and the young men, and then he gives them counsel over
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and over again in this triplicate format.
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So verse 12 says, I am writing to you and I'll read from the
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NIV children because your sins have been forgiven on account of
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his name. Remember, we believe this very
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strongly. Children are not born in sin.
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And John says it right here in verse 12.
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And then to the fathers he says because you have known him, who
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is from the beginning. Now this is a dramatic parture
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of their culture. He's asking the fathers to love
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their children, to be kind to them.
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I have read so many documents of what parenting was like in this
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day and age. I read the writings from this
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period of time and they thought you had to beat children.
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They thought you had to never laugh with them, never play with
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them, but you just were very strict in their disciplining.
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In order for them to obey like a horse, you just beat them to to
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submission. But Christianity is different.
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And he's saying, fathers, I want you to treat them like I've
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treated you And the young man, he says, because you have
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overcome the evil one. This is such a great hope to our
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young men, to all of our youth, to all of our adults, that we
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can overcome the temptations of this world.
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And then he repeats it again, this beautiful triplet.
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I'm writing to you, children, because you know the father.
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I'm writing to you, fathers, because you know him, who's from
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the beginning. That's what he said earlier.
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And the young men, because you are strong and the word of God
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lives in you and you have overcome the evil 1.
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So look for these beautiful triplicates in the writings.
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We have another section, chapter 2 verses 15 to 17, where he
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talks about overcoming worldliness.
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Anything that is materialistically oriented for
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power or money, he's trying to get the Saints to leave it
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behind. He says love not the world,
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neither the things which are of the world.
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This is a Joe Smith translation for all in the world, that is of
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the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride
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of the life is not of the Father.
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And he's asking disciples to repel worldliness, to stop
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wasting your time on fashion and and earning more money and
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money. And once you have enough for
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your needs, spend it for the poor, give yourself to serving
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God. We next move to a section from
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verses 18 to 27, all in chapter 2 against the Antichrist.
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And he gives these warnings. He says, Dear children, this is
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the last hour. Even now many antichrists have
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come, and I'm reading from the MIV verses 18 and 19.
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But their goings showed that none of them belong to us.
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So people have left and and become to fighting against the
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Savior. But were their deeds ever with
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us? Did they ever understand?
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Were they ever immersed in the Spirit?
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No. And then continuing on in verse
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20, I'd like to read from the new King James Version.
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You have an anointing from the Holy One and you know all
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things. Now the King James uses the word
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unction instead of anointing, but that word is so important.
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Remember the word Messiah, Mashiah is anointed and and
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Christ is anointed. In the RSV they say anointed.
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In the Neb they say you are among the initiated, and in the
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Strong's Concordance there's another translation that says
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you are part of the inaugural ceremony for priests.
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And he talks about this also again in verse 17.
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So this anointing is very important, especially in light
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of this ascending to a higher order.
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We need to have this anointing to share with Christ's
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anointing. Verse 27 says the anointing you
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received from him remains in you.
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So two times this anointing has power to teach what it's
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referred to in this text of First John, I'm here just give
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you a few examples how the anointings initiated blessings.
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First of all, the anointings become protection by God, and
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that's mentioned in first chronicles, in the Psalms and in
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Doctrine cabinets 121 If you want to look at my handouts,
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they should be all attached in the archives or to my videos.
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Or else you can just look at the slides and I've got them all
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written there too. He also talks about these
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anointings and giving blessings as we are being taught from on
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high as we gain salvation. This is in Psalms chapter 20 and
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then section one O 9 of the doctrine cabinets, verse 80.
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He also talks about that we receive mercy through the
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anointing and so did Second Samuel chapter 22, verse 51 and
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Psalms 18 verse 50. I want to read from another
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wonderful biblical scholar in BYU, colleague Donald Perry.
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In his article in the Allegory of the Olive Tree, he says it
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was forbidden for souls to speak out against the anointed of the
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Lord and he's asking us to do the same.
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Now do not speak out against the anointing of the Lord.
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Chapter 2, verse 28 to chapter 3, verse three, talk about how
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children of God will become like God.
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And I want to read in the BLB translation verses one and two,
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what love the Father has given us that we should be called
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children of God, and we are and then skipping to under verse
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two, we know that when he appears we will be like him, and
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John, of course will be there, and he had will have stayed and
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served in the earth, and with those that have been worthy of
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his administration ever since the time of the Lord.
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Verse three says every man, or it meant every human at that
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time that had this hope in him purifieth himself.
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And I also love another translation.
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I don't usually like this translation for an accuracy, but
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I like the way it sounds. It's the common English version.
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This hopes makes us keep ourselves holy in this hope of
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coming into Christ encourages us to focus on becoming holy, to
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focus on never offending the spirit.
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Chapter 3, verse 4 to 10 then refers to avoiding sin.
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He starts out now in verse seven and eight with the Joseph Smith
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translation. He says again, little children,
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let no man deceive you. He doeth.
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Righteousness is righteous, and he that continue in sin is of
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the devil. OK, there's two significant
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changes here in the Joe Smith translation.
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The first one is you don't commit sin.
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You're of the devil, but you remain in sin.
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We commit sin because we're mortal, but we can repent.
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We can turn and say we're sorry. And the faster we say we're
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sorry, the better. I just feel like it's not a
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problem with messing up, it's a problem with staying in that
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state. We've got to change.
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And three times. Joseph Smith translation changes
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this word here from continuing in sin to the idea of committing
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sin. I also want to familiarize you
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with the word sin. This isn't part of the Joe Smith
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translation. This is just 27 times the New
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Testament. What does it mean and how can we
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apply it in our lives? Now let's go back to the Greek
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translation, where it's either a noun or a verb, and it means you
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missed the mark. Hence you feel guilt or sin.
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It's a fault or failure. It's an ethical sense.
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It's a sinful deed. So it's a very, very broad
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spectrum. But it's anything that takes us
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from God. It doesn't have to be large.
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It can be a thought, It can be self-centered behaviors, It can
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be putting yourself above someone else.
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Let's continue on now with the second-half of this beautiful
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first John where he talks about the message of love.
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This is the message that he heard from the beginning, that
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we should love one another. And then in verse 13 he says
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don't be surprised my brothers and sisters, I'm reading from
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the MIV. That's how you can tell because
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it's got the sisters in there and that's what it was in the
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Greek. You know if the world hates you,
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so don't be surprised if you're getting attacked by all sides.
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Don't be surprised if if people on social media have more to say
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from the antis than those of us that are trying to defend the
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faith and defend our prophet and defend our God.
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Don't be surprised Satan's working overtime.
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Just hold on, he says in verse 15.
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Again in the NIV, anyone who hates a brother or sister is a
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murderer. Now that is a powerful statement
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I think John is building from the messages that the Lord gave
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back at the Sermon on the Mount. Do you remember when he says he
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who looketh upon a woman is the same lustfully and has committed
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adultery in his mind and in his heart is already guilty of it?
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And I think this is where this is coming from.
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If we harbor hate and we can't forgive someone, and we harbor
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ideas about getting rid of them, it's it's the same as doing it.
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So don't don't go through those areas.
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Stop it. Stop it.
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We can control our thoughts and our mind.
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We can control them through repentance.
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We can control them through coming unto Christ.
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It might not be possible on our own, but we are to share our
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yoke with our Savior and with God.
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All things are possible. I believe this.
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I believe in a God of Miracles. Verse 23 I'd like to read in the
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new King James Version. This is his commandment that we
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should believe on the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love
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one another. When I think of what is the law
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of the gospel, to me, this is a synthesis of it right here.
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We have to believe in the name of our Savior and use that name
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sacredly and realize who the Savior is and what is the most
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important part of His redemption.
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It is His saving ordinance of the Atonement.
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And when we focus on that, we receive a forgiveness of our
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sins. We receive a redemption and we
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are made whole. And then we are in a position,
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once we're made whole, to go and bless other people and to love
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one another as He loved us. 1st 24 reads again in the new King
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James Version. Whoever keeps His commandments
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abides in Him and He in Him. That's capital H for the Lord,
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and by this we know. That the Lord, He capital H,
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abides in us by the Spirit whom He has given us.
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Now John had an even greater outpouring of it because he's in
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a specialized state, but we have the gift of the Holy Ghost.
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We have been blessed with the cleansing power of the Spirit.
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And if you haven't felt the Spirit, get on your knees and
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pray for it. I feel like repentance is the
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fastest way I can feel the Spirit, and I asked the Lord to
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open my mind to more ways that I can repent.
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But sometimes we live in a day and age where mental health
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takes over and you are not mentally unhealthy because of
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sin. But sometimes it blocks our
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feeling of the Spirit. It blocked it from Job.
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It blocked it sometimes from President Kimball and and Joseph
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Smith in Liberty Jail. It's going to block it from all
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of us. Even our Savior did not feel the
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Lord's love at sometimes. So even though repentance is a
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great place to start, it doesn't mean it's causal.
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If you don't feel the Spirit, just hang in there and do the
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very best you can and you will be rewarded in time.
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Before we dive into these verses, I just want to remind
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you that in the Restoration, this was one of Joseph Smith's
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favorite topics. In fact, his his nephew, the
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youngest member of the corner of the 12, George A Smith, said of
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all the topics that Joseph spoke on, you know one of his
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favorites was the gifts of the Spirit, and the one he spoke
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most often on was the seeking the gift of discernment.
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And the first thing the Lord reveals to the earliest
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sections, the Doctrine Covenants that talk about the Spirit and
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receiving it say you have to believe, you have to believe in
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your mind and in your heart, and you'll recognize the spirit of
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prophecy if you study it out, because it's going to lead to do
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good. It's going to foster love, it's
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going to foster selfless thoughts.
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And Elder Rasband taught us recently.
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It'll be the first thoughts that come to your mind, and then the
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adversary will try to talk you out of it.
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But if you're going by what logically comes second, you're
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missing the promptings that came first.
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In verse one he says many false prophets have gone out into the
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world. And then between verse one and
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verse three we have this beautiful little chiasmus here,
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and I've got it written out in the BLB translation.
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He says in verse one there are false prophets who have gone out
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into the world, Then in verse 2, but the Spirit of God is coming.
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And then in the end of verse two it says every spirit that
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confesses Jesus Christ having come into the flesh is of God
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and then it's repeated in the contrary in verse 3 every spirit
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that does not confess Jesus is not of God.
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As the caiasmus comes out, they repeat each other in the
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opposite. So verse three at the end says
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this is that of the Antichrist and then he ends and now is
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already in the world. He's referring to the
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Antichrist. So we come in with the Spirit
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and we leave with Antichrist. But they're parallel things.
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It's just beautiful. Anytime you see a lot of
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repetition, look look for a chiastic structure not only in
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the Book of Mormon but in the New Testament as well.
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Chapter 4, verses 7 through 21 now talk about loving each other
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and abiding in God's love, it reads in the NIV.
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Dear friends, let us love one another for love comes from God.
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And then skipping ahead to verse 8, whoever does not believe does
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not know God, because God is love and this whole section on
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love is saturated with this encouragement.
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I'll read verses 9 and 10 and the BSB.
23:55
This is how God's love was revealed.
23:57
Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as
24:03
the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
24:06
Now he just cannot leave this. Remember who is the only apostle
24:10
at the cross. It is John.
24:13
He believes this. He was there in Gethsemane.
24:16
He may have been sleeping for part of it, but he was there.
24:19
He even followed Jesus into Caiaphas's palace.
24:22
You know he was there. He's begging us to apply this
24:25
into our lives as an eyewitness. Verse 12 I'd like to read from
24:29
the JST. No man hath seen God at any time
24:32
except them who believe. And if we love one another, God
24:37
dwelleth in US and his love is perfected in US.
24:42
This is a very important change. But in verse 13, he's talking
24:46
now about how the Spirit can dwell in US, and I'd like to
24:49
read it from the NIV. This is how we know that we live
24:52
in him and he and us, because he's given of us his spirit, and
24:57
that great gift has been restored, you know, the Prophet
25:00
Joseph told United States President Martin Van Buren.
25:04
The difference between our church and others is the gift of
25:07
the Holy Ghost, and all else is because of this.
25:11
The priesthood, authority, the keys, everything else works
25:14
through. The gift of the Holy Ghost is
25:16
what he told Hiram in a letter written December of early
25:20
December of 1839. Continuing on to verse 16, I'd
25:24
like to read this in beautiful poetic fashion that's written
25:27
out in the NIV chapter 4. Still God is love, and whoever
25:31
lives in love lives in God and God in them.
25:36
There is No Fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear
25:41
because fear has to do with punishment.
25:43
The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
25:47
Make sure every day in your prayers you ask to feel God's
25:50
love and remember from the vision of the tree of life in
25:54
the Book of Mormon. To feel God's love, we have to
25:57
hold on to the iron rod, which is the word of God.
26:01
You know it it it's it's the scriptures.
26:03
If you want to feel loved, immerse yourself in the
26:05
scriptures. Immerse yourself in conference
26:07
reports and plead for it from our Savior and you will receive
26:12
it. Chapter 4, verse 20 also in the
26:14
NIV reads whoever claims to love God and hates his brother or
26:18
sister is a liar. Now this is very telling, isn't
26:22
it? If we can say we love God but we
26:26
have hard feelings, we need to look a little deeper in.
26:30
Chapter 5 now talks about overcoming the world, and I'd
26:33
like to read in verse two and three from the new King James
26:35
Version. When we love God, that's verse
26:38
two. And then verse three says His
26:40
commandments are not burdensome. And that is the way I feel.
26:46
His commandments are a joy, They're a blessing.
26:49
They're a gift. It's better than vitamin C when
26:52
you have a cold or vitamin D when you're when you need some
26:55
sunshine. You know, I just feel like His
26:58
commandments are blessings to us.
27:01
Chapter 5, verse 6 through 21 then turns to talk about his
27:04
testimony, his witness of the Son of God.
27:07
I'll skip around from verse 6-7 and eight.
27:09
NIV, this is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ,
27:15
for there are three that testify the spirit, the water, and the
27:20
blood. So he's not just talking about
27:23
spirit, water, and blood. Look at these things
27:24
symbolically. Who testifies we learn by our
27:29
mind and our heart. We learn through Christ's
27:32
atonement. We learn through the Spirit.
27:34
We learn through the ordinances of baptism in the cleansing.
27:37
These are beautiful verses, but I hope that you also recognize
27:41
these in their parallels. Water, blood and Spirit with our
27:45
mortal birth, our immortal birth, and then the Restoration
27:50
Scriptures that we have in Moses chapter 6.
27:54
This is the chapter where Enoch is recording Adam's words.
27:58
This is all part of the Joseph myth translation of those first
28:00
few chapters of Genesis, but I have this on my chart all
28:03
paralleled out and it's just beautiful because he's telling
28:06
us we need to receive the water. Remember, in our mortal birth,
28:09
the fetus grows in the sack of of water and then as we are
28:13
reborn in the Kingdom of God, we need to be baptized by
28:17
immersion. Adam explains this, but it's
28:19
recorded in the book of Moses, chapter 6, verse 58 to 60, that
28:23
mortals have been born into the world by water and blood and the
28:26
spirit, and to be born again into the Kingdom of heaven we
28:30
also need water and spirit and cleansed by the blood of Christ.
28:34
By the water ye keep them commandments, and by the blood
28:38
ye are sanctified. So the blood is also very
28:42
present. In mortal birth, I used to work
28:44
in in labor and delivery as a nurse, and I've had many births
28:49
myself that I know that blood is a part of that and is part of
28:52
the rebirth. It's only when we receive the
28:55
redeeming blood of our Savior that we can be cleansed and then
28:59
the spirit. Of course, when we're born, our
29:01
spirit enters into our body. Actually, before we're born,
29:03
we're told that the spirit enters the body at quickening.
29:06
This is a First Presidency letter down in from President
29:10
Joseph F Smith in 1921 that says no, no, no.
29:13
The spirit enters the body when it's still in utero.
29:16
You know, very, very early, very, very early.
29:18
The spirit enters that body. We are the literal offspring of
29:21
God as it joins our mortal body. And then at the rebirth, the
29:24
cleansing power of the spirit purifies us so that we can dwell
29:28
with God. Again, moving on now to verse 9.
29:30
I'd like to read this beautiful verse in the NIV.
29:33
We accept human testimony, but God's testimony is greater.
29:38
So he said. I'm grateful that I can testify
29:41
to you. I'm glad to be writing this
29:42
letter, but I hope you receive a witness of the Spirit.
29:46
I hope you receive God's witness and in verse 19 of this also
29:50
chapter five, he said. We know that we are children of
29:53
God and that the whole world is under the control of the evil
29:57
one and poor John and not only does he have the the vision that
30:02
we now have in the Book of Revelation, but he has to live
30:04
through all this pain and agony and that's how he ends.
30:09
That beautiful book of first John, the Second Epistle is a
30:13
lot shorter. It's just one chapter.
30:15
And Eusebius, this Christian historian, he was writing from
30:19
Caesarea. He said the church at Ephesus
30:22
was founded by Paul but John remained there till Trajan's
30:26
time. Now Trajan served from 98 till
30:29
117 AD. So this is after the Isle of
30:32
Patmos. John goes back to Ephesus.
30:34
So he was there before and after, Eusebius says.
30:38
So she is a true witness of what the apostles taught.
30:41
She would be the church at Ephesus during this time.
30:44
If we can find writings from Ephesus at this time, we can
30:47
claim them as being protected by John.
30:51
The Apostle. Iranius also wrote about this at
30:54
180 AD And he says of all the clergy who's in Asia, remember
30:59
this is the area of Turkey. John the Lord's disciple
31:03
testified that John taught the truth to them, that he remaineth
31:07
with them till Trajan's time. So we have two witnesses that
31:10
are very, very early that John was there all the way through
31:14
Trajan. Here's a brief outline of this
31:17
second epistle of John. He starts out with his greetings
31:19
for just the first three verses and then from verse 4 to 11 he
31:22
talks about walking in true doctrines and love.
31:25
And then he gives us final greeting.
31:27
But the whole message of it is not just walking, but it's your
31:30
whole thought and mind and your actions and every particle,
31:35
every cell in your bodies to be focused on love.
31:38
He says in verse one, the elder to the elect lady and her
31:41
children, whom I love in truth. Now this is very interesting.
31:46
Who is the Elder? Well, we talked about it at the
31:49
beginning. I think it's John the Beloved
31:51
because of the text and the similarities.
31:54
But who is the elect Lady? Is it Mary?
31:57
We're told that he was to take care of Mary and supposedly
32:00
according to Eusebius and others, Mary came with him.
32:03
Is it his wife? Or could the elect lady be the
32:06
church? Because he talks about the elect
32:08
Lady's sister in its context as if he was talking about
32:11
congregations. You know, in section 25, the
32:14
Doctrine Covenants, Joseph Smith refers to Emma as the Elect Lady
32:18
and then when they organize the Relief Society, he says this was
32:22
for ordained because you were called the elect lady and it
32:26
meant that you were going to be elected to this office as
32:28
president of the Relief Society. So very interesting about this.
32:33
Also the idea of the church being married to Jesus.
32:36
This idea of the bride and the bridegroom saturated the Old
32:39
Testament. God was always married to either
32:41
Jerusalem or Zion. And we have in the New Testament
32:46
similar images of the bridegroom being Jesus not only in the like
32:50
the parable of the 10 virgins, but look at the Book of
32:52
Revelation and the bride is the church and the bridegroom is
32:56
Christ. Remember, it says in chapter 19
32:59
that Christ will be able to come again as soon as the bride has
33:02
made herself ready. It's a beautiful image, isn't
33:05
it? I also want to talk about this
33:07
idea of loving and truth. John hasn't mentioned four
33:10
times. First John and 3rd John just
33:13
each mentioned it once. But it's an idea that is very
33:16
consistent here. And he says, I will tell you the
33:19
truth over 100 times in the Gospel of John and throughout
33:23
the other writings, Chapter one verse three of Second, John
33:28
begins Grace be with you, mercy and peace from God the Father
33:33
and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this is a very customary
33:36
greeting. It's used 12 times in the New
33:38
Testament. But John adds this idea of truth
33:41
and love, as I just mentioned, and it's really interesting to
33:45
see the connection of that we can feel God's love more when we
33:50
receive more of his truth. Starting now in verse 4, I'm
33:54
going to read from the BSB. I was overjoyed to find some of
33:58
you, your children walking in the truth, just as the Father
34:03
has commanded us. This is another reason why I
34:05
think the elect lady is the church, because he's saying your
34:09
children but it might have been his wife, I don't know.
34:12
But then why would it be your children?
34:13
I I. Anyway, you get the message.
34:14
It's a little tricky here, but it's a beautiful image that he's
34:18
asking us to follow in the commandments even during times
34:22
of persecution. And in verse 8 in the NIV, it
34:25
reads Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for.
34:31
You have so much effort has been gone into maintaining pure
34:35
doctrine and he's begging them not to hear the false doctrine
34:38
going on. I'm going to continue reading in
34:39
the NIV from verses 8 to verse 10.
34:42
Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teachings of
34:46
Christ does not have God. And then verse 10.
34:50
Do not take them into your house or welcome them.
34:53
He's begging them to use the gift of discernment between
34:57
those that are teaching falsehoods and those that are
35:00
teaching accurate doctrine. And I am so grateful that we
35:03
have general conference, that we have a Canon, that we have
35:06
things that we can base things on and judge things against.
35:09
And then of course we have the spirit of discernment as well.
35:13
He then closes up his letter. It's just short and sweet.
35:16
And he says in verse 12 I'm going to read from the NIV,
35:19
Continue on to 13. Instead, I hope to visit you and
35:22
talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.
35:26
And the children of your sister, who is chosen by God, send their
35:29
greetings. So he closes up the letter and
35:32
we begin the next one. The third Epistle of John is
35:35
written to a dear friend Gaius, and there are three different
35:38
people with that name in the New Testament.
35:40
I've got them all listed in my hand out, if you'd like to go
35:42
back and get it. But now, starting with the text
35:45
of this third epistle, he says the Elder, just like he did in
35:48
the second Epistle. And I'm gonna read from the MIV
35:50
to my dear friend Gaius, whom I love.
35:53
In the truth, he's going to now thank Gaius for his great
35:57
hospitality and then he's going to give some warnings not to
36:01
follow the bad example before he closes up.
36:04
So verse 2, starting in the new King James Version, he uses his
36:08
one of his favorite words, Beloved, I mentioned before,
36:10
it's mentioned 10 *. I pray that you may prosper in
36:14
all things and be in health just as your soul prospers.
36:19
I think this is so important. Sometimes our prayers are more I
36:22
need, I want rather than my soul needs, My soul wants.
36:28
May we focus on eternal things with our time, talents and
36:33
energy. Have your vacation eternally
36:35
based rather than a bucket list based.
36:38
Have your spare time. Have every minute of your day
36:42
eternally based. Chapter one.
36:44
Verse 4 says I have no greater joy than to hear that my
36:48
children walk. In truth, that's probably one of
36:50
the most well cited verses in this entire epistle.
36:53
But remember, the word walk in that day and age referred to how
36:57
you're conducting your lives. It's not just whether you're a
37:01
runner or if you're in a wheelchair that it doesn't apply
37:03
to you at talking about your life.
37:05
And then he thanks Gaius for his hospitality.
37:09
And this is in verses 5 through 8.
37:12
I want to skip ahead to verse 7 through 8 in the BSBI love this,
37:16
for they went out on behalf of the name, and that's
37:20
capitalized, accepting nothing from the Gentiles.
37:23
Therefore, we ought to support such men so that we may be
37:27
fellow workers for the truth. So in addition to thanking Gaius
37:30
for his hospitality, he's saying I want all of you to be
37:33
supporting people like Gaius, who are supporting the name of
37:38
Jesus Christ, who are supporting the name of our Savior.
37:41
He then says, I want to warn you about two people, and he said
37:45
I'm writing you because I don't know if you're seeing these, the
37:47
differences. We've got one person who's good
37:51
and one person who's bad. I'll start with verse nine in
37:54
the NIV and it goes on through verse 10 I wrote to the church.
37:57
But diophetries who loves to be first will not welcome us.
38:03
So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing,
38:07
spreading malicious nonsense about us.
38:11
Now Diopteries was an insubordinate, very ambitious
38:15
official in the church. We don't know a lot about him
38:17
except for the fact that he goes to this local congregation with
38:20
Gaius and John wants to alert him of these three problems.
38:24
Not only is he prideful, he doesn't take counsel, but he's
38:27
ignoring John's authority and he's casting out good members.
38:30
So in verse 11 he's warning Gaius.
38:32
He calls him Beloved, follow not that which is evil, And then,
38:37
skipping down a little bit, he that doeth good as of God, and
38:40
he that doeth evil hath not seen God.
38:43
And I also say, not seen a witness of God, you know has not
38:46
had that witness in his spirit, or else you have the gift of
38:48
discernment here. And now he wants to point out a
38:51
fellow member who is a good man. Demetrius Demetrius is in verse
38:56
12, and the NIV says it's well spoken of by everyone and even
39:01
by the truth itself. We also speak well of him.
39:05
Now, if you want to read more on Demetrius, his name is
39:07
mentioned. I don't know if it's the same
39:08
person, but he's mentioned in Colossians 414, Philemon 124,
39:13
Acts 1924. If we're going to think he has a
39:16
nickname, which usually happens, and possibly he's the one who's
39:20
going to carry this letter to Gaius and so he's giving him a
39:22
little bit of forewarning. He then concludes the letter in
39:25
verse 13 to 14. I had many things to write, but
39:29
I trust I shall shortly see thee and we shall speak face to face.
39:32
Peace be to thee, our friends Salute thee and greet thy
39:35
friends by name. Now isn't that interesting?
39:38
Paul used to always say greet thy friends with the holy kiss,
39:40
or Joseph changed it a little bit in the Joe Smith
39:43
translation. But I love the way he does it.
39:45
Greet thy friends by name, Learn someone's name.
39:49
The next book of Scripture is Jude, and this is a powerful
39:52
message that fits in so nicely to our day and age.
39:55
The name Jude, Yehuda or Judah is also Judas, the same Greek
40:01
versus the Hebrew. There are three different Jude's
40:04
mentioned in the New Testament, but this one is Jesus's little
40:07
half brother. He's mentioned in Matthew
40:10
chapter 14, verse 55 and Mark chapter 6, verse three.
40:14
I'd like to give you the outline of this beautiful little one
40:17
chapter book he opens with his blessing and exhortation.
40:21
And then from verses 4 to 16 he talks about crimes and
40:24
punishments, and everything here again is in triplets.
40:28
He then has three charges against the deceivers, and then
40:31
three paradigms of punishments, and then again three charges and
40:35
three prophecies and more charges and and then he gives
40:39
multiple metaphors of charges but everything here in these
40:41
triplicates. And then in verse 17 to 23 he
40:44
gives warnings and exhortations of faith and love.
40:48
Many gives a few prophecies to the wicked in verses 17 to 19.
40:53
And then he ends with a great exhortation to build faith, to
40:57
pray more, to seek the Spirit more, and his benediction.
41:01
Let's start with chapter one, verse one in the Joseph Smith
41:03
translation, Jude, a servant of God called of Jesus Christ, the
41:09
brother of James to them who are sanctified of the Father and
41:14
preserved by Jesus Christ. The title God the Father is
41:18
mentioned 29 times in the New Testament.
41:21
I think this is one of the reason why so many early
41:24
American Christians debated the idea of the Trinity.
41:28
In fact, it was the second most common topic debated over a 50
41:31
year period in the religious circles of the Second Great
41:34
Awakening because it's not biblical and it doesn't fit into
41:38
the biblical text. And so it was fought.
41:40
It was fought, But somehow it's back into behavior and of the
41:47
common vernacular again. But we do not believe that they
41:50
were one. We believe they're one in
41:52
purpose, and that the Father and the Son were separate.
41:55
And John's gospel is a beautiful example of this.
41:58
You might be confused as to why I'm not referring to this James
42:02
as James, the brother of John the Beloved.
42:05
Well, we don't have any record of them having a Judah, a James,
42:09
and a John, The place where Judah is the brother of James.
42:14
Why doesn't he call himself the brother of Jesus?
42:16
Probably out of humility, but I'm so touched that he says I
42:19
was called of Jesus Christ. Remember, James and Judah, his
42:23
little brother, did not follow him during his ministry.
42:26
So this is really powerful that they received this call
42:29
afterward. I'd like to read in verse three
42:31
from the NIV. Dear friends, although I was
42:34
very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt
42:38
compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith, he
42:43
said. I wanted to talk to you about
42:45
salvation, about the next word world, but I realize from the
42:49
Spirit that I have got to talk about you fighting for your
42:53
faith. I need more people defending the
42:55
faith. This is a time of great
42:57
persecution and the deceivers are coming in.
42:59
The apostasy is in full scope, and he's talking about these
43:04
wicked people who are perverting the way I'll read from the NIV
43:07
in verse 4, certain individuals whose condemnation was written
43:12
about long ago have secretly slipped in among you now use the
43:18
image here of These are wolves in sheep's clothing, verse 5
43:22
continues, And I'd like to read from the BSB.
43:24
Although you are fully aware of this, I want to remind you that
43:29
after Jesus had delivered his people out of the land of Egypt,
43:32
he destroyed those who did not believe.
43:35
You know, not only during the 10 plagues are they mainly
43:38
destroyed, but the whole army then is taken out.
43:40
I wanna just remind you that Jude is writing to Jewish
43:45
converts. Every example is from the Old
43:48
Testament, doesn't give any kind of Greek or Roman ideology or
43:52
messages here. Everything is going back to that
43:55
beautiful text, he says in verse 6.
43:57
Angels which kept not their first estate but left their own
44:01
habitation. He hath reserved in everlasting
44:04
chains under darkness until the judgement of that great day.
44:08
This is where we get the word first estate.
44:12
Now other translations used the other ways, but the King James
44:15
actually uses this here and this becomes a word in the
44:18
Restoration. We find it all over restoration
44:20
vocabulary. The first estate was in our pre
44:23
mortal life. We now live in our Second
44:26
Estate, and when we are resurrected, we will be living
44:30
in our third estate. And this is a beautiful
44:33
vernacular to realize the scope of the plan of salvation of our
44:38
Father in Heaven. When Joseph Smith is reading
44:41
this, he's introduced to this vocabulary and he was inspired
44:45
to talk more about it. And so we can read in one of his
44:48
sermons in Nauvoo. The spirits of the eternal world
44:51
are like the spirits in this world.
44:54
And when those who come into this world and receive
44:57
tabernacles, then died and again have risen and received glorious
45:01
bodies, they again will ascend over the spirits who have
45:04
received no bodies or kept not their first estate, like the
45:09
devil. This punishment of the devil was
45:11
that he should not have a habitation like men.
45:14
The devil's retaliation is that he comes into this world and
45:18
binds up men's bodies and occupies them himself.
45:23
This is why we need to use the gift of casting out devils.
45:27
This is a gift of the spirit that is part of given to the
45:31
Restoration. It was the first miracle that
45:33
Joseph performed in the Restoration was casting out the
45:35
devil, and we see many of them in the New Testament as well.
45:39
First seven I'd like to read in the NIV again tells a story from
45:43
the Old Testament, this one from Sodom and Gomorrah.
45:45
Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave
45:48
themselves up to sexual immorality and perversions.
45:51
They serve in this example of those who suffer the punishment
45:55
of eternal fire. Now remember, eternal is another
45:59
name for God, so it's not always, always, always being in
46:03
burning flames. It's God's cleansing, God's
46:06
purification. Do you remember back in 2004?
46:09
This is a long time to remember, but I remember this.
46:12
President Boyd K Packer was speaking in General Conference
46:14
and he said nothing happened in Sodom and Gomorrah, which
46:17
exceeds in wickedness and depravity, that which surrounds
46:21
us now. Then these things were localized
46:24
and now they are spread across the world and they are among us.
46:29
That was 2004, tragic the way we are immersed in things of
46:34
wickedness in our world. We have got to get the bride
46:38
ready, get the church ready so we can stop the calamities of
46:41
the last days. I'd like to move on to verse 9
46:43
now, where he talks about this very interesting story.
46:46
It's not in the Old Testament that we had, but remember the
46:49
Old Testament wasn't canonized until the 4th century.
46:52
They began, you know, wedding out different things, but they
46:55
didn't close the Canon and so some of this apocryphal
46:57
literature was included in their stories.
47:00
And so Jude tells us of one of these Verse 9 reads.
47:02
In the NIV, even the Archangel Michael, when he was disputing
47:07
with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to
47:11
contend him for slander, but said the Lord rebuke you.
47:15
What is this story? Michael is the premortal Adam or
47:20
Adam not in his angelic state, and he's fighting over a body.
47:25
Well, this is all very interesting because in section
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84, the Doctrine Covenants, the Open covenant, the priesthood,
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Joseph received a revelation to clarify this.
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This ancient text is called the Assumption of Moses and it talks
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about these angelic being of Michael and the devil trying to
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say I get Moses's body, he needs to die because he killed the
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Egyptian and the Archangel saying no he will be translated,
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he will not get his body. He is not going to taste death
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because he did what he was commanded to do by God and he
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has repented for all the sins he committed.
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Hence he can arise through the blood of the Lord and be
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forgiven. And we know that that is the
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case because we read about it in the Doctrine Covenants.
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Section 84. Verse 25 refers to Moses being
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translated. He did not taste death because
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he had to be on the Mount of Transfiguration to give the keys
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to not only our Savior, but to Peter, James, and John, and then
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came again in a translated state in the Kirtland Temple on Easter
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to Joseph Smith. And when those keys were
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restored in section 110 of the Doctrine Covenants, verses 10
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through 11 then go through more Old Testament stories.
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We've got stories about Cain from Genesis 4, Balaam and
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Balak. Do you remember those with the
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talking donkey in Numbers 22 in Koroth?
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Now, this story isn't quite as well known.
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It's in Numbers chapter 16, and it's when this man named Korah,
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he rebelled against Moses and he wanted to use his authority to
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instigate a rebellion against Moses.
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Jude then starts talking about Enoch, but it's a change of
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topic. He's still talking about these
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all these Old Testament examples, but now he wants to
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talk about the prophecies of punishment.
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He says in verse 14 Enoch also the 7th from Adam prophesied of
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these saying, behold, the Lord cometh with 10 thousands of his
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Saints to execute judgment. And I'm going to skip ahead to
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verse 15 here and all the ungodly deeds.
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Now the word Enoch is mentioned 11 times in the Bible, not very
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many at all. That includes this New
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Testament. Here we've got it in Genesis
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chapter four and five. And then Luke chapter 3, Hebrews
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11 and Jude chapter one. That's it.
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But we have other sources of Enoch now.
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First, Joseph Smith restored Enoch's record in the Joseph
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Smith translation of Moses, which we refer to as the Books
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of Moses chapters 6:00 and 7:00. And we also have, after Joseph
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Smith did that translation, when they dug up the Dead Sea Scrolls
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and Nagamani Scrolls, other apocalyptic literature from the
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time we find other books that are claimed to talk about Enoch.
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One of them is the Slavic Enoch, We refer to that as Second
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Enoch. And then we have a third Enoch,
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which is an apocryphal Enoch that comes out in 1873.
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So Jude is reciting words from this first Enoch, but all of
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them collaborate a little bit of the story and we see so much
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overlap with Joseph Smith. This is just a bullet exactly
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right Pearl, great price. The book of Moses is spot on.
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And then verses 17 to 19 talk about the prophecy of the
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wicked, he says. But dear friends, remember what
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the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.
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Many skips ahead to verse 18. In the last times there will be
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scoffers, and that is where we are living now.
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And now moving on to verse 20, where he gives this beautiful
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exhortation to build their faith and their prayers.
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I'll read from the NIV in 20 and 21.
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But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in the
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most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves
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in God's love as you wait for, and then it goes on to say,
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eternal life. It's not for the second Coming.
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That's I feel how I am right now.
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I need to live as if I were hoping to see the Lord's second
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coming, but even if it doesn't happen in my day and age, I will
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be hoping to see him in eternal life.
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The Book of Jude is a powerful text for our day and age.
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The Epistles are wonderful texts, and our New Testament
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closes with the apocryphal literature in the Book of
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Revelation, and I look forward to studying that with you next
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week. It is a powerful book for our
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day and age. I want to testify with Jude and
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with Paul that the gospel of Jesus Christ will bring us peace
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and love, and I leave this with you.
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In the name of our Savior. Amen.