Latest / Scripture Central / #49 Scripture Central Come Follow Me Insights (Nov 27 - Dec 3) 1–3 John; Jude

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#49 Scripture Central Come Follow Me Insights (Nov 27 - Dec 3) 1–3 John; Jude · Scripture Central

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Hello everyone. Thanks for listening to Come
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Follow Me Insights with Taylor and Tyler presented by Scripture
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Central. We use a lot of visuals in our
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videos, so if you want to see the visuals, we invite you to
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find us on YouTube. Thanks for listening and enjoy.
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I'm Taylor and I'm Tyler. This is Scripture.
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Central's Come, Follow me insights today.
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The three epistles of John and the Epistle of Jude.
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This lesson is a real treat these these epistles from John
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the this first one especially it's it's a gem in the
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scriptural Canon. In fact one of these chapters in
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here chapter 4. It's it's on my my short list at
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the beginning of my scriptures. I I have a list that says on a
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bad day read and then I have 7 chapters of scripture that for
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me just really feed my soul. Well first John chapter 4
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happens to be one of those chapters on this list so I'm
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excited and and chapter one through 5 all of them, that this
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is a a powerful powerful epistle from one of the Savior's closest
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apostles the the beloved Apostle John.
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In fact, there's there's some incredible connections that
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you're going to find as you study first, John, between what
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you read here and what you read in his gospel, especially the
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last few chapters. So John 13 through 17, a lot of
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those same themes, they're going to get picked up here and spoken
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of in, in powerful ways. So this is a this is an
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incredible week that we get to study.
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So two major themes you could look for is how God is defined
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as the God of love. And the God of light and you you
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find those with the markers of this is the message.
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So in your own scriptures if if you were to mark verse five of
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chapter one this then is the message it says which you have
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heard of him that God is light. And then you can cross reference
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verse five with chapter 3, verse 11 where he uses that same
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marker indicator by saying for this is the message that you
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heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
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And then all of chapter 4 is about God being love.
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So the two messages, the takeaways, as Taylor pointed
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out, is how God is light and God is love.
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And this whole study that we're going to make today is building
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that case. And you're going to see as you
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jump in that there is also an opposite to light.
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It's called darkness. And he's going to talk about it
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in here. And there's an opposite to love.
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And he's going to show those as well.
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When scriptures do this all the time, they'll set light and
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dark, good and evil right next to each other because it
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enhances your your ability to discern the difference between
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the two and to be able to make that judgement of how we want to
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now live our life and react and respond.
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So as we jump in, there are a lot of questions that are going
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to be answered. For for people in our day who
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are struggling with various trials, setbacks, temptations,
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oppositions that if you will, bring those struggles to the
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forefront of your mind and ask the Lord to help you get
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principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ more clearly
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understood, to help you deal with those struggles, those
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opposition. This is this is one of those
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books where it's it's low hanging fruit.
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It's very easy to to try that exercise.
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Let's begin in verse one, that which was from the beginning,
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which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
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we have looked upon and our hands have handled, of the word
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of life. I was actually thinking about
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these two themes. If you combine these two things,
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light. And love equals that last word
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there, life. And notice how John is tying
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into how the Gospel of John begins as well.
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They use this word beginning like Genesis and it's all
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centered on Jesus Christ. Even the creation was centered
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on the great Jehovah, the premortal Jesus who infuses the
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world with light and love, which brings life.
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It's a beautiful summation, Taylor.
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In fact, you'll notice in his verse one here how it correlates
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to John chapter one. Verse one in the beginning was
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the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and
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he opens up his first general epistle, referring back to Jesus
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Christ as the Word, and in this case, the Word of life.
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That's powerful. And he's showing you the basis
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for his testimony, for his Apostolic witness.
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He's not saying, I I have a good feeling about Jesus Christ and
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his role or of his mission. He's telling you, look, the
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things that we're sharing, we've heard them, we've seen them with
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our eyes. We've looked upon them.
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Our hands have handled him the word of life.
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We have interacted with him in very tactile ways, and that's
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powerful This, this. He's not saying trust in our
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faith, he's saying trust in our special witness.
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You can have faith in God because of things that we have
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experienced. It's very different level.
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So he's heard, seen, touched, He could have included.
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I've also tasted. And when you partake of the
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sacrament you are getting a regular witness of God's love.
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So. The only one we don't have is
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the smelly. So now you go to verse 2.
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For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear
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witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the
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Father, and was manifested unto us.
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He's alluding here to it. Among all of the things that you
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could apply this to, one of the key elements is the
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resurrection, the eternal nature of Christ's existence.
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In the resurrected form, we His life was manifested unto us.
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We've seen it, we bear witness. Verse three.
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That which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that
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ye also may have fellowship with us.
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And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son,
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Jesus Christ. Now here is a very important
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aspect of of Scripture study is to recognize that the point of
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Scripture isn't just to teach us about the existence of God or
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the existence of Christ. That's wonderful, It's necessary
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to know that. But it's not sufficient.
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As if God has nothing better to do than just exist.
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That is not the the end game here.
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The end purpose of scriptures and a prophetic witness is to
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bear testimony not only of God's existence, but to show us God's
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attributes. Why not?
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So that we can treat it as if deity is in a museum and we're
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passing through the museum and admiring all of God's goodness
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and grandeur and glory, but so that we can know how we can
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become more like them. And in in this case, there's
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there's a beautiful talk that comes to mind.
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Sister Wendy Watson Nielsen, President Nielsen's wife in that
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fireside that President and Sister Nielsen did back in May
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15th of 2022. I love this, she says.
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Tonight I would like to talk with you about one question, one
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question that can change your life.
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This one question can increase your confidence, decrease your
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anxiety, motivate you, lift your mood and your sights, Increase
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your productivity, Increase your focus, focus and clarity of
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thinking help you resist temptation.
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Let me just pause there. It's a long list of amazing
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promises, but you'll notice what Sister Nelson is doing there.
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She's not prepping us to learn about God's existence and
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stopping there. She's prepping us in ways that
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we can all become more like him, but first we need to recognize
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who he is and what he's like, and then motivated and become
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motivated to become more like him.
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So after this long list of things that this one question is
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going to do for us, she says. This one question can bring you
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joy, comfort, love and peace. Now, some of you like I, when I
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watched this fireside a couple times, multiple times, that I
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love this technique, she set us up.
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And then she didn't tell us what the question was for quite a
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while. And it's not until significantly
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into the talk that she finally gives the question and here it
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is. Her audience on that day was the
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young adults of the church, she says.
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Here's the question. What would a holy young adult
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do? And you can fill in the blank
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with what would a holy youth or child or adult or grandma or
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grandpa or father or mother or whatever role you have, Whatever
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calling you have, you could fill in the blank with what would a
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holy blank do. That's what Scripture is is
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doing, is it's helping us recognize who we have the
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capacity to become because of what we do.
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And so as we go through this, I would invite you to keep Sister
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Nelson's inspired question at the forefront of your mind, with
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your own roles filling in the blank.
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What would a holy blank do so that we're not just reading
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words on a page, we're actually reading a handbook for how to
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know how to become more like the word of life?
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This ties in exactly to what John was trying to message as
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well. Look at what he says in verse
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four. And these things write we unto
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you why? We don't write just because we
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have lots of free time and we really like to create beautiful
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literature. Why are we writing that?
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Your joy may be full, and it ties into all these things we've
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been talking about. Remember, the purpose of
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Scripture is not to overwhelm you, not to feel you make you
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feel less than not to confuse you.
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Those things sometimes happen. The purpose is when we fixate on
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Jesus Christ, that he is love and light and life.
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It helps us when we act on those truths, when we know them to
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have joy, which I before we jump into this next set of of verses.
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Here the thought comes that often when we aren't feeling
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joy, when our joy is not full, when we're struggling, when we
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feel dark and gloomy, it, It's often, not always, but it's
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often an instance or a situation where our arrows are turned
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inward. For instance, if I go to church
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this Sunday and I say, what can the Bishop do for me?
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What can the Relief Society president do for me?
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What can so and so do for me? How can the speakers bless me?
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How can the music bless me? Those are they're they're not
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bad questions, but they're all turned inward.
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What? What would happen if instead of
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thinking, what am I going to get out of church this Sunday?
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What difference would it make if I said how am I going to bless
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other people when I go to church this Sunday?
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Who can I find to shine light into the dark corners of their
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life? Who can I find that probably
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needs love and to feel the love of God today?
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It can be the speakers can be the the least prepared, the
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lessons can be the most halting ever.
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And it's OK because what am I going to get out of that
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experience? It's not things I take from
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people. It's light and love that I give
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to people, and it's going to be an edifying worship experience
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for me this Sunday. And I'm not.
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I'm not an object waiting to be acted upon as Elder Bednar
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always refers to. I'm actually an agent saying I
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want to be more like the Savior Jesus Christ.
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And he went into situations looking for ways to love God and
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love others. And if I do that more, my arrows
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are turned heavenward and outward.
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I am going to have my joy be full more often than if I go in
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waiting to be acted upon by some inspired people to to make me
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feel the light and the love of God.
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Versus seeking to enact the light and love.
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In fact, John then builds on this.
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He says in verse 5, which we've referenced already.
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This, then, is the message which we have heard of him, and
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declare unto you. That God is light and in Him is
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no darkness at all. Now notice this little word
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here, then second word of the verse.
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He's building on what he said before.
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We want to help you experience joy.
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Therefore, or then this is the message we're going to witness
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and teach you about light and love, so that as you know who
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Jesus is, you can enact that and share it with others.
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And thus. Feel the joy.
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So now he he's going to expand on that with examples set in
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couplet format using if but if, we could say if then or else.
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So he gives. He starts in verse six with a a
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bad example. If so, this is a conditional
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statement. It's not it's not a prophecy.
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It's not a guarantee, it's a condition.
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If we say that we have fellowship with him and yet we
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walk in the darkness, then we lie and we do not the truth.
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So by adding the little word then between darkness and we it,
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it becomes this if, then this, this logical flow.
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If if we're actually walking in darkness, but we say we have
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fellowship with Him, then we're lying and we do not the truth,
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but so here's the opposite. But if again, here's a
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condition. We walk in the light as he is in
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the light. Now add the word, then.
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Then we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus
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Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
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That is a powerful invitation. And we're not walking in random
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light made by electricity. We're walking in the light, the
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light that He's introduced us to, which is God.
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God is light. We're we're walking in the light
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of the Lord. And you you see the promise
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there that he can cleanse us from all sin.
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And then in the next one, if we say that we have no sin, we
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deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
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Once again, you could add the word Then.
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If we say that we have no sin, then we deceive ourselves and
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the truth is not in us, because that doesn't fit for anybody
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except for Christ. In verse nine you could say.
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But if we confess our sins, then he is faithful and just to
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forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
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unrighteousness. And you've often said this.
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How much is all that would be 100%.
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And then in this particular case he actually sandwiches that good
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example between the bad example and another bad example to to
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repeat this idea. So.
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So chapter 10 or sorry verse 10 is very similar to verse 8.
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If ye if we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and
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his word is not in US. Which means no life.
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No light, no love, because he is the word.
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So can you see John pleading with us?
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Can you at least begin? So Sister Nelson's question,
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What would a holy fill in the blank disciple do?
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One of the first things that a holy disciple of Jesus Christ
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would do is acknowledge the fact that we have sin, that we aren't
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perfect, that we need the Savior, and then look at what
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John does now in chapter 2, verse one.
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My little children, I I love this, this.
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It's this familial approach to John talking to his audience in
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the 1st century. And I'll just speak for myself.
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Selfishly. I like putting myself in John's
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audience, and I like picturing John, the beloved apostle of
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Jesus Christ, speaking directly to me.
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Little old Tyler Griffin. Fill in the blank with your name
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and seeing myself as one of his little children in in this
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symbolically adoptive sense. Yeah, the sense of stewardship.
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We have this word also in the word Bishop.
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The Greek word is EPI scopos, one who overseas and.
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It's almost like this loving father and mother who oversee
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the raising of their children in a place of love and light and
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protection. That's what God expects in
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families. And coming from John, I love
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this idea of the Episcopal, this one who sees here's John talking
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to his audience back then as well as to today saying, look, I
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know you're struggling with some things and it's OK acknowledge
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that. Sin not and if any man sin, we
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have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
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righteous. Now notice this subtle change
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that Joseph Smith made in verse one, he said.
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But if any man sin and repent, we have an advocate with the
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Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
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So why can John speak in such definitive ways and and with
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such faith in the hope? Verse two, he Speaking of Christ
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the righteous. He is the propitiation for our
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sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole
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world. It's kind of a bit of a complex
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word. Propitiation is not a word we
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typically use. I don't typically use that word
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in English, but in the the Latin it means going forward and
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onward and onward. And it makes me think about how
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Jesus is always pressing forward as our faithful leader, guiding
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us. So no matter what we might
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suffer, he is always ahead of us, preparing the way that we
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can overcome any kind of soiling that has happened on the path
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that he can cleanse us from step to step, grace to grace.
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It's powerful when you when you take that example, propitiation
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is going before a step by step grace for grace.
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If you look at these next verses, they contain all of
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these faithful actions, these these light filled, love filled
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works that Christ has shown us how to do verse 3.
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Hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments.
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Are are you recognizing this? Sounds an awful lot like the
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teachings in John chapter 13 through 17.
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Again, if you love me. Keep my commandments, which is a
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phrase that's repeated in a variant throughout the Book of
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Mormon in particular, where it says if you keep my
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commandments, you shall prosper in the land.
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And it turns out the word Prop. And prosper both actually share
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a same common root word in Latin about moving forward, and it's
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interesting. The word prosper in the original
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sense, in the Hebrew, means to have God's spirit with you or to
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have His presence with you. So this is all tied in that if
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you want to be cleansed in your sins, be in God's presence and
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you're invited into His presence when you choose Him by keeping
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His commandments. It's all very.
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Powerful and very quite simple. It is simple and and the Savior
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Jesus Christ showed us that example.
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Look at verse five. Who so keepeth his word in Him,
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verily, is the love of God perfected.
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Hereby know we that we are in Him.
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He that saith He abideth in him ought himself also so to walk
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even as he walked. So this idea of if you love me,
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keep my commandments. But that's not just with
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reference to us being a disciple of Christ.
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That's us trying to be like the Savior who showed us what that
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looks like. Because how many times do we get
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him going to the Father, saying, what would thou have me to do
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that will I do he Jesus Christ, the only perfect person, whoever
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lived, He is always going to the Father to find out what God
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wanted him to do, and that's what he did.
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So now you see that that's the path he followed.
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So now we strive to just follow his example, not just in what
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he's saying, but in what he did. So what would a holy Disciple of
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Christ do? A Holy disciple of Jesus Christ
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would do all of these things that are listed in in the
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scriptures, these good attributes that are simply a
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reflection of Christ's light and love.
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From verse four He started with He that saith, verse six He that
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saith. Now we jump down to verse nine,
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He that saith. So you can see how John is
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setting up these these analogies.
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There are different people who say this and people who say this
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and people who say this. Verse 9 is he that saith he is
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in the light and hateth his brother is in darkness even
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until now. Why?
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Because God is love and God is light not just for you but for
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the whole world. Remember verse 2?
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The ending part of verse two was not only for your sins but for
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the whole world. God is love and God is light for
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everybody who's willing to turn to him.
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And if you're having a difficulty with with a neighbor
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or with a loved one, or with an associate, and you say, I love
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God and I hate that person, he's saying, no, that doesn't work.
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Verse 10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light,
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and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
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So the opposite of verse 10, he that loveth his brother is now
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found in verse 11, but he that hateth his brother is in
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darkness. Did you catch that?
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If you hate your brother, you're in darkness.
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The two opposites of what God is, what we're striving to
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become, we we actually experience the opposites here.
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We walk in darkness. We know not wither.
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We go because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
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And then he finishes this with verse 12.
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I write unto you, little children, because your sins are
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forgiven you for his name's sake.
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Your sins aren't forgiven you because you're so good, or
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because you've worked so hard. Your sins are forgiven you for
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his name's sake. And notice again, he said little
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children. He's reminding us of of our
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capacity to grow up in the gospel.
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But at this phase he's he's referring to little children.
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And you'll see it. Little children and young men in
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verse 13. You'll see little children in
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verse 18. You'll see little children in
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verse 28. He He keeps reminding us that
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there's a lot of room for growth, development, maturation
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when it comes to to our discipleship and our growing up
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as children of God, Children of the Light, children of Love.
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In Greek, there's a word called pedagogy and it's related to and
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that means to teach. And the word paida is a child,
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and the word pedagogy comes from the same word for a child.
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In fact, our word PED like say a pedestrian is somebody who walks
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by their feet because. The word for child and teaching
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a child all have to do with feet.
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Like they're people at your feet, they're younger.
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And the point here is that we are like little children being
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LED in the pedagogy of Jesus Christ, who is the great teacher
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and any one of us who've been asked to serve in the role of a
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teacher or a minister or a father or mother uncle.
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And anybody who is in a position of influence for little
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children, people who are at the feet, our job is to raise them
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in the pedagogy of Jesus Christ, which is what we see John doing
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here. Now that's not to assume that
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that we're starting from Ground Zero.
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And and he makes that very clear in verse 21.
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I have not written unto you because you know not the truth,
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but because you know it and that no lie is of the truth to me.
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There are a lot of ways to interpret that verse, but one of
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the ways that I see John talking to us is not to say I'm going to
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assume that you don't know anything.
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In fact, he's speaking saying I'm going to assume that you
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know this. I'm just going to remind you and
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try to motivate you to do the very things that you already
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know you need to do so often when we go to church, we don't
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need to be taught what to do. So often we need to find
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inspiration, motivation, to act, to do those things that we know
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we ought to do, and to not do those things that we know we
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shouldn't do, and to strive to become more like the Savior
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through those experiences. So let's conclude this chapter
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with 28 and 29 and now little children.
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Abide in him, remain with him, that when he shall appear, we
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may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his
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coming. If ye know that he is righteous,
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ye know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him.
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Don't you love this, this feeling of Jesus Christ being
29:49
willing to take us as little children unto himself when you,
29:56
when you read the scripture accounts of Jesus saying, Suffer
30:00
the little children to come unto me instead of just thinking of
30:03
these little little kids, picture yourself in John's
30:09
context here as you and me being little children.
30:14
And the Saviour is willing to adopt us, to become the symbolic
30:20
father of our spiritual rebirth, to give us new life, to put his
30:25
name upon us, because that's what fathers do.
30:28
They give their name to their offspring.
30:30
That we literally become in this symbolic way the offspring of
30:36
Christ, that that we allow him to become our adoptive spiritual
30:42
rebirth father. Because then we have this
30:45
capacity to become like him. And he opens chapter three with
30:50
behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us,
30:54
that we should be called the sons of God.
30:57
Or the children of God. Therefore, the world knoweth us
31:01
not because it knew him. Not again.
31:05
Our arrows aren't turned horizontally in this context,
31:09
looking for our identity. They're turned heavenward.
31:13
We're accountable to God, not the world.
31:17
We we want to help the world. We'll we'll work in this world.
31:21
We live in the world, but we're accountable to our Father.
31:26
And verse two, says, Beloved. Now are we the sons of God, and
31:33
it does not yet appear what we shall be.
31:35
But we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for
31:39
we shall see him as he is. In my mind, I can see this
31:44
beautiful analogy of a little child who when a little baby's
31:48
first born, you can say I can see elements of his mother or he
31:55
he might have some traits of his father in him.
31:57
But let's be honest, most little babies don't look very much like
32:01
their parents yet. But as they grow and mature and
32:06
develop, all of a sudden some people say, wow, you look just
32:11
like your mother, you look just like your father.
32:14
Think about this. If we grow up as disciples of
32:20
Jesus Christ, we follow him in this pedagogy, sort of a way on
32:24
that path. When he appears, we will see him
32:30
and we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
32:35
It's this beautiful progression that is offered in the gospel of
32:40
Jesus Christ. So if you are getting
32:42
discouraged because you're recognizing your flaws or your
32:46
imperfections, or you're recognizing flaws and
32:50
imperfections in leaders of the church or of your ward or in
32:54
your family or in your friendship circles, instead of
32:59
assuming there's there's no hope, Picture a little child
33:04
growing up as you recognize, oh, there's some flaws, there's some
33:09
weaknesses, there's some things that need to be worked on.
33:13
What do we do? We work on them.
33:15
We grow. We progress.
33:17
We mature. And increasingly, over time, not
33:22
just us, but everybody has this opportunity to become more like
33:28
him, so that when we do see him, we will be like him.
33:32
And verse three says, And every man that hath this hope in him
33:36
purifies himself, even as he or Christ is pure.
33:42
He's the source of this growth and development.
33:45
This isn't something you and I have to do in isolation.
33:49
The the scripture isn't. Be therefore perfect, and then
33:52
come unto me. It's come unto me and be
33:56
perfected in Christ. That's where you get that growth
34:00
and development. So we've been talking about the
34:04
light of Jesus Christ. John makes his transition in
34:08
verse 11 to the love. Of Jesus Christ.
34:12
And he says, for this is a message that we heard from the
34:15
beginning, that we should love one another.
34:18
And of course, Jesus fully modeled this for us, so he's
34:24
going to show us how do you actually exercise that agency in
34:32
a way that will help you grow up in the not just the light, but
34:37
now also the love of God? Look at verse 17.
34:41
Whoso hath this world's good and seeth his brother have need and
34:46
shutteth up the his bowels of compassion from him.
34:50
How dwelleth the love of God in him?
34:54
So, so he's making this comparison.
34:55
God who has all things, this abundance of of all things in
35:01
his hand, and he gives them to his children, those of us who
35:06
have so much less. And now he's comparing it to us
35:10
in an earthly perspective, Some who have so much.
35:14
And if they shut up those those possessions and don't give them
35:20
out, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
35:24
We're not becoming more like God if we turn our arrows inward.
35:30
What can I get? What can I benefit from in this
35:35
world, or from this relationship, or from this
35:37
church, or from this organization?
35:40
Whatever it may be, We we pull these things in.
35:43
Look at verse 18, my little children, let us not love in
35:48
Word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
35:53
Joseph Smith made a small adjustment in verse 18, neither
35:56
in tongue only. So it's not just, oh, we're
36:00
going to talk nice about this, but, he says, but in deed and in
36:06
truth. What I've thought about recently
36:09
is, should I be defining myself as a Christian or a follower
36:14
Jesus Christ, or should I live in such a way that other people
36:18
define me that way? And it's an interesting small
36:23
nuance that I realized actually, I should be living in such a way
36:27
that. Other people would define me
36:29
that way instead of me simply just verbalizing.
36:32
I'm a Christian, I'm a follower of Jesus.
36:34
Now we do need to declare those things, but I think the
36:38
invitation here is let our way of living be the message that's
36:44
powerful. So look at this fun little play
36:48
on words in verse 17 and 18. In 17 you get the need listed.
36:57
Somebody is lacking in something that you have in abundance.
37:04
Well then you jump down to verse 18 and he uses this word in deed
37:13
and in truth. So how do we fill the need?
37:18
Through good deeds? Through the giving of ourselves.
37:23
It's not just giving money, it's not just giving food.
37:27
Those are important and we need to keep doing those.
37:29
But it's in giving of our very life.
37:34
And you'll notice if you want your love to increase for
37:37
somebody, probably the the worst thing you can do is to withhold
37:44
your your life giving substance and all of these things that God
37:48
has blessed you with that would not help your love increase.
37:52
If you want love to increase, you generally sacrifice for
37:57
people. The greater the sacrifice, the
38:00
greater your capacity to love that person becomes you.
38:05
Look at Jesus Christ as the perfect example.
38:07
He sacrificed everything at infinite levels and how much
38:12
does he love us? Infinitely.
38:16
So if you're really struggling with somebody in a relationship,
38:20
instead of focusing on what that person's doing poorly or doing
38:25
inappropriately, or how they're hurting you, what if you prayed
38:30
and asked God to inspire you in ways that you could serve,
38:35
indeed that person, and sacrifice things for them?
38:42
Watch what happens to your capacity to now love that
38:47
person. What?
38:48
What happens to that capacity and how do you now see them as
38:54
you serve them? You're going to tap into more of
38:57
what God feels for that person as well, which is love, and he
39:02
wants to feel that person just like you with light.
39:05
And that brings us into chapter 4, which is one of my favorite
39:09
all time chapters of any scripture showing the attribute
39:13
of God's love. Because if you want somebody who
39:16
loved indeed, and everything that he did, everything that he
39:20
says, it's it begins and ends with with God.
39:26
Let's jump right into verse 2. Hereby know ye the Spirit of
39:30
God. Every spirit that confesseth
39:32
that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God.
39:36
And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in
39:39
the flesh, is not of God, And this is that spirit of
39:44
Antichrist or not being for Jesus.
39:47
Where have you have heard that you should come?
39:49
And even now already this anti Christian is in the world, this
39:54
Antichrist, which for some of you you're probably confused by.
39:57
Wait a minute, I I don't understand what we just heard or
40:00
what we just read there. So near the end of the 1st
40:03
century you have this doctrine, It's a heretic doctrine that has
40:07
begun to come into the Christian Church.
40:09
It's going to take off in the second and third centuries, but
40:13
it begins in that late 1st century in John's audience here.
40:17
And it's the doctrine of Dosatism, this idea that Jesus
40:21
Christ never fully experienced mortality.
40:25
He was never in fleshed. He never had a body like you and
40:30
I have a body. Yeah, the word dosatism comes
40:33
from the word to seem. It just seemed like he was a
40:37
fleshy body, but actually was a mirage.
40:39
He was just a spirit and that. As you can see, John is making a
40:44
strong claim if you only think that Jesus just seemed to be a
40:48
fleshy human, but really was only just a spirit.
40:51
That's a very, very troubling doctrine, and it's Antichrist in
40:56
the sense that you aren't fully understanding the true identity
41:00
of Jesus. If you don't know the full
41:02
identity of Jesus, you can't adopt Jesus in your life.
41:06
And so you can see how this, this is a an example of where
41:11
the Greek philosophy has now made its way into many of the
41:17
members of the church in in these early times.
41:20
And they're wrestling with this. They're saying because the Greek
41:22
philosophy is the body is is bad, it's evil.
41:26
The the real thing is what you know, Gnosis.
41:29
It's it's about your knowledge and it's about your experiences
41:33
of of mental ascent. And so the flesh is bad and
41:38
therefore we can't have God taking on something that is so
41:42
bad as our flesh. So they've now changed the truth
41:46
to match their philosophy. The role of prophets is to help
41:52
us avoid that kind of doctrinal drift, to adopt the philosophies
41:56
of the world where we say, you know, it's popular opinion that
42:00
XYZ is, is the way things are. So we're going to now pull that
42:05
in and we're going to change the gospel to match the world's view
42:11
or the world's philosophy in this case.
42:14
And so here's John pushing back very hard against that, that
42:18
doctrine saying, no, Jesus did indeed come.
42:22
He did become like us, and he was still a God of light and a
42:27
God of love. And he can help us in our
42:30
infirmities. He knows how to succor us.
42:32
And now you get into the meat of this incredible doctrine, If
42:39
again, you can make up your own list of scriptures that that
42:42
resonate with your soul. But for me, when I'm struggling,
42:46
when I feel inadequate, when I feel weak, I love turning to
42:50
John Four and starting in verse 7 and reading through the end.
42:54
Just reading it slowly and letting sometimes it's it's a
42:57
powerful experience to just let scriptures wash over your soul.
43:02
Listen to verse 7. Beloved, let us love one
43:06
another, for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of
43:11
God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
43:16
God. For God is love.
43:21
You'll notice the difference between these two statements.
43:26
God is love versus God loves. One is a verb with the noun.
43:38
So God loves. This is something God does, but
43:43
this is something that God is. So you'll notice that the
43:48
attributes of God are more than just actions.
43:52
Their attributes, their their characteristics.
43:54
They're his traits. It's who he is.
43:56
It's part of him. And I want to be more like him.
44:01
So how do I do that? I do that by exercising my faith
44:06
in Christ to the point where I do the action, the verb form.
44:13
I love God. I love people not as the end
44:18
goal, but that is the end goal. This is the means whereby I get
44:23
to that. So I do the things that I read
44:27
in the scriptures so that I can become more like what God is.
44:33
Look at the power of verse 10 and 11 here in his love.
44:37
Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to
44:42
be the propitiation for our sins.
44:44
Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
44:50
It's that it's that comparison of picture the little brand new
44:54
newborn baby. Mom and dad hold that little
44:58
infant and they just love that little child.
45:02
And you'll notice that that little child doesn't say thank
45:07
you mom for all that you did to give me life.
45:10
Thank you dad for for helping to support this process.
45:14
The baby does nothing but absorb the love that mom and dad give
45:20
to that child. And then as that child grows,
45:24
that child is experiencing, experiencing an inflow of love
45:31
until it gets to a stage or an age, a capacity where it can
45:36
start to reflect some of that love, where it can actually
45:39
start to mirror some of those loving expressions that that he
45:47
or she has been receiving up to this point.
45:50
And the older, more mature that child becomes, the greater his
45:55
or her capacity becomes to love other people because they've
46:02
experienced it. Look at verse 19.
46:06
We love Him because he first loved us.
46:13
We have faith in Him because he first had faith in us.
46:18
We we learn how to follow Him because He first showed us what
46:23
it means to follow God. So now that we've gone to verse
46:26
19, let's go back and pick up a few more verses before that
46:30
point to to fill in this blank. Look at verse 13.
46:35
Hereby know we that we dwell in Him and He and us, because He
46:40
hath given us of His Spirit, this dwelling in Him and Him in
46:47
us. This is a a re echo from what
46:52
the Savior taught His apostles in the Last Supper and in the
46:55
intercessory prayer in in John 17.
46:58
Specifically, look at verse 14 And we have seen and do testify
47:04
that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
47:10
Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God,
47:13
dwelleth God, dwelleth in him, and he in God that oneness, that
47:19
dwelling in and with and among These are themes that John
47:24
taught very beautifully in his in his gospel.
47:27
And then one of my favorite sections here of this incredible
47:31
chapter, verse 17 and 18 herein, is our love made perfect.
47:37
That we may have boldness in the Day of Judgement.
47:41
Because as he is, so are we in this world.
47:46
He's saying he wants us to have boldness.
47:49
He doesn't want us to go into the judgement.
47:51
Like the man in the parable of the talents who goes in fearful
47:56
and saying you're mean, you're a vengeful God and you're going to
47:59
smite me down. He wants us to go in with
48:01
boldness, not because of who we are, but because of who Christ
48:05
is and who Christ has helped us to become, That we don't go in
48:10
alone to the presence of the Father.
48:12
We go in with Christ as our advocate, the one who God sent
48:17
because God loves us. God doesn't want to punish us.
48:20
He wants to save us, and the way he appointed to save us is
48:25
through His perfect Son. So we can go in with boldness,
48:30
not brashness, not pride, not haughtiness, but with boldness.
48:36
And that boldness is rooted in Christ.
48:39
And then this beautiful line. There is No Fear in love.
48:44
You don't need to go into the judgement experience filled with
48:47
fear, because there is No Fear in love.
48:50
But perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment.
48:56
He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
49:00
And then that that line that we've already used.
49:03
We love him because he first loved us.
49:07
Can you, in your mind's eye, picture that judgment experience
49:11
as a court filled with love rather than a court filled with
49:17
hatred and darkness and anger and frustration at how imperfect
49:22
we are? Let's not have the focus be on
49:25
our struggles. Let's have the focus be on
49:28
Christ's perfection and that will help fill us with God's
49:32
love and make us more capable of then exercising that love until
49:38
that day when we don't have to think about it anymore.
49:42
It just becomes a spiritual reflex for us to love others
49:48
because we have become more of that attribute that God has
49:53
given to us. So we move into verses one and
49:55
two. In fact, I'll just go right to
49:56
verse 2. By this we know that we love the
49:59
children of God when we love God.
50:03
And keep His commandments. For this is the love of God that
50:07
we keep His commandments, and his commandments are not
50:09
grievous. Isn't it fascinating that he he
50:13
finishes talking? I don't know how many times here
50:16
he's repeated this idea of if you really love me, then keep my
50:19
commandments that that idea keeps coming up.
50:22
And then what commandment does he mention?
50:25
Verse five? He who is he that overcometh the
50:28
world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God.
50:32
This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ,
50:36
not by water only, but by water and blood.
50:39
And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the
50:42
Spirit is truth. It's this command to believe in
50:45
God, have faith in him, and connect with him in a covenant
50:50
relationship. And how does that begin?
50:52
In baptism. And you see this beautifully
50:57
taught in the Pearl of Great Price in the Book of Moses,
51:01
where Enoch talks about the three elements that are required
51:05
to be able to be born into this life, water, blood, and the
51:09
Spirit. And then he says those same
51:12
three elements are required to be born again, to be, to
51:16
experience that spiritual rebirth, water, blood, and the
51:20
Spirit. You get the the baptism, the
51:23
confirmation of the Holy Ghost, all made possible by the blood
51:28
of the Lamb. As a an interesting caveat, in
51:34
chapter 5 you get this fascinating set of two verses 7
51:40
and eight that contain what is known as the Johannine comma.
51:46
You can look this up. You can Google this, the
51:49
Johannine comma. If you Google the phrase
51:52
Johannine comma, you will find that it is one of the most
51:56
widely recognized examples of an editorial insertion that we have
52:03
in the Bible. Now this is fascinating.
52:07
We're sharing this not not because it's good trivia, but
52:12
because it's actually significant theologically,
52:16
doctrinally speaking. Here's the the quick background.
52:21
Erasmus was the the person who was tasked with writing the
52:29
manuscripts that are going to be used by the King James
52:32
translators for making what we have here are KJV, King James
52:37
version of the Bible and he's he has done 2 additions.
52:43
Well, there's a group of people who come to Erasmus and say you
52:47
need to put in something that's more direct about the Trinity.
52:53
And so they had identified verse 7:00 and 8:00 as the location to
52:57
add this little insert this insertion.
53:01
Clarifications and Erasmus says I am not going to put it in
53:06
unless I see a Greek text with those words.
53:10
Well, shortly thereafter they show up at his door with a
53:15
manuscript. The ink was still probably
53:18
drying on it. A Greek manuscript with these
53:21
words, and so Erasmus puts it into his third edition, which
53:26
then makes its way into the King James Version of the Bible.
53:31
Now theologically speaking, this is significant.
53:35
So in verse 7, notice how it reads, for there are three that
53:41
bear record and after the word record.
53:44
You could put a little open parenthesis because this is what
53:48
begins the insertion that didn't exist in the 1st and 2nd edition
53:53
of the Textus Receptus or any of the older Greek manuscripts.
54:00
These words didn't appear in heaven, the Father, the Word,
54:05
and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one and there are
54:08
three that bear witness in earth.
54:10
Close parenthesis. So most of verse 7 and the 1st 1
54:16
1/2 lines of verse eight are all added into this third edition.
54:22
But they didn't exist. So the way that the older Greek
54:25
manuscripts read it says for there are three that bear
54:28
record, the Spirit and the water and the blood.
54:30
And these three agree in one, which is beautiful doctrine
54:35
combined with what? Enoch's vision shares that the
54:39
water, the blood and the spirit are the three elements that are
54:42
appointed for being necessary for human life to begin, as well
54:48
as same three elements for spiritual life to be to begin to
54:54
be born again. But with the insertion it
54:57
becomes this very Trinitarian feeling that says, for there are
55:02
three that bear record in Heaven, the Father, the Word,
55:05
and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one, and there are
55:07
three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit and the water
55:10
and the blood. And these three agree in one.
55:12
So this phrase that we have in the end of verse 7 and these
55:15
three are one, is the most Trinitarian verse we have in
55:19
scripture. Now look, we all know that the
55:21
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are unified in one.
55:25
But you can also understand that about 600 years ago, 500 years
55:29
ago, there were people who had the motivation to have
55:33
clarifying Scripture that would back up their specific way of
55:38
understanding what that unity meant.
55:41
And it's important for us to remember that we're what we're
55:43
not trying to do is to separate the Godhead.
55:47
Because never does Jesus in Scripture say I and my father
55:51
are separate. He never once says that.
55:54
But he also never says I and my father are the same, or he
55:58
doesn't try to confuse us theologically or doctrinally.
56:03
And I love that John's the one who gives us the intercessory
56:08
prayer. And it's as clear as any
56:11
scripture I can find anywhere in John 17 where he says, verse 21,
56:16
that they all may be one. As thou Father art in me, and I
56:23
in thee, that they also may be one in us, so the Savior is
56:30
emphasizing the unity and the oneness of the Godhead and of us
56:37
with with the Godhead, as well as with each other, not trying
56:41
to separate us. We might conclude here that on
56:44
this topic, there are things in the scriptures that sometimes
56:48
are not 100% clear, and sometimes people speculate to
56:53
try to make sense of things that they don't understand.
56:56
When it comes to understanding God and the doctrine of God, we
57:00
might just exercise some caution when we are speculating.
57:04
About doctrine or the nature of God, and let prophets do their
57:09
work to reveal things. It's the purpose of Scripture.
57:12
And we're not trying to say that ancient past theologians and
57:16
philosophers were just bad people.
57:18
They did speculate they wanted to understand the nature of God
57:23
better, and so they spent a lot of time thinking and writing but
57:25
speculating without any evidence about what it means to be one.
57:29
And they came up with these different doctrines.
57:32
And again, there's a reason they got to that point, but it wasn't
57:36
that. It came from divine revelation.
57:37
We have Jesus speaking in John 17 about what unity means, and I
57:44
get this for some people that wasn't totally clear.
57:47
But that shouldn't be a license to go speculate about doctrine
57:51
and invent new doctrine. Which now brings us to the
57:56
Second Epistle of John and and the Third epistle.
58:02
These are one chapter each. They're very short.
58:05
The summation of Second John is pretty simple.
58:09
He's once again pushing back very firmly against the doctrine
58:14
of the dosatists who were insisting that Jesus couldn't
58:19
have possibly lived in a in a body of flesh and bones and
58:23
blood, that it just appeared that he did.
58:26
Again, that was philosophy driving doctrine versus doctrine
58:33
informing philosophy and theology.
58:36
Yeah, so it's always important that we get things right.
58:38
Let's start with doctrine and principles and let that inform
58:41
our thinking. Which if you stop and think
58:44
about this, there there have been many instances in the past
58:48
where people have have taught things, philosophies, ideas,
58:56
made predictions and they might feel passionately about these.
59:02
They might be completely behind it and devoted to it and would
59:05
be willing to give their life for it.
59:08
Isn't that interesting. Level of conviction doesn't
59:12
change the truth. Level of of effort that you put
59:16
into a cause doesn't dictate what is right and what is wrong.
59:21
Many of the the bad deeds that have been done in the history of
59:24
the world have been done by people who believed with vigor
59:29
and vim in the 'cause that they were pushing forward.
59:32
And it's not always the right 'cause.
59:34
Hence the need to stay rooted in Christ through the appointed
59:39
means that Christ has established, which is his
59:42
prophets. So look at verse one, the Elder
59:48
unto the elect lady and her children.
59:52
The elect lady is usually a symbol for the church and her
59:56
children, the offspring. Think about this spiritual
59:59
rebirth in a spiritual rebirth setting.
1:00:03
If the elect lady is the church and her offspring her children,
1:00:08
that's us. We'll think about Christ, the
1:00:11
Groom, His bride, the Church symbolically, and we are born
1:00:16
again. Into that beautiful
1:00:19
relationship. So somebody who says I'm going
1:00:23
to connect with Christ, but I don't need the church, is
1:00:27
totally discounting what the Savior himself and His apostles
1:00:31
have taught us about the need for the church that Christ has
1:00:37
taken to himself. And it's through the Church that
1:00:40
we are spiritually reborn into Christ's covenant connection,
1:00:46
that relationship that he offers us as our adoptive Father.
1:00:51
It's through the church that we're baptized into the mother,
1:00:55
that it's that beautiful relationship between the Savior
1:01:00
and his church that we find that family feeling of being able to
1:01:06
be nurtured, to be forgiven, to be taught, to grow up, to
1:01:10
mature, to be on that covenant path.
1:01:13
So it's not just a fancy organization that man made or
1:01:18
invented. It's an organization that Christ
1:01:21
established. The word ekklesia in Greek means
1:01:25
to call out, and that is the source of the word for church in
1:01:30
the New Testament. God calls us out into a new
1:01:34
organization, a new family. There is an institution.
1:01:37
It is called the Church, and if you want to be part of God's
1:01:40
family, it means an invitation to join his call, to listen to
1:01:46
His call, and to join that community of those who've been
1:01:48
called out from the world to be in this new family, this new
1:01:53
organization. So the the Dosatis Doctrine is
1:01:58
mentioned very directly, very clearly in verse 7.
1:02:02
For many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not
1:02:06
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.
1:02:09
This is a deceiver and an Antichrist.
1:02:13
Again, the phrase Antichrist here is referring to messaging
1:02:17
something incorrect about Jesus. If Christ is this, and you
1:02:23
define it's him separately, your being against Christ, you're not
1:02:27
defining him clearly and appropriately.
1:02:32
Which now brings us to the third Epistle of John.
1:02:34
This one's fascinating on a couple of levels.
1:02:38
Look at verse that this has, this incredible verse four.
1:02:43
I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in
1:02:49
truth. That's that is such a powerful
1:02:54
sentiment for any who have who have been a parent or who have
1:02:59
been a leader and have have infused your life, given your
1:03:04
life to helping somebody grow and then to see them of their
1:03:09
own free will and choice walking in the truth, walking on that
1:03:14
covenant path, There is no greater joy than to see that
1:03:20
happening. We'll stop and think about this.
1:03:23
Where is it that Jesus says my joy is full?
1:03:28
It's when he's with the Nephites and the Lamanites and they bring
1:03:31
their children and they're looking to him with love, with
1:03:35
reverence, with worship, and he weeps with their children.
1:03:40
He says My joy is full. So stop and think about We have
1:03:46
no greater joy than to hear that our children walk in truth.
1:03:48
Well, Jesus with his adoptive children, spiritually speaking,
1:03:53
He showed us how his joy was full.
1:03:56
Now, as we work with people, it's not for them to know how we
1:04:03
are keeping the commandments or how smart we are.
1:04:06
Everything we're doing with them is to try to infuse them with
1:04:09
knowledge and inspiration and motivation and connection with
1:04:13
God, so that they can independent independently from
1:04:17
us, Walk in the light, and in the love of Christ they can walk
1:04:21
in the truth. It ties right back into this
1:04:25
thesis statement he has and John.
1:04:28
The first epistle of John, chapter one, verse four we
1:04:30
mentioned earlier and these things right we unto you that
1:04:35
your joy may be full. So it's interesting and maybe
1:04:39
some time has gone on and John is now seeing that people have
1:04:43
taken seriously this initial letter he wrote where they did
1:04:46
enact the light and the love. They believed that they tried to
1:04:49
be more like God and then they see that he sees This did lead
1:04:53
to the them becoming like Jesus. That brings joy.
1:04:59
Now in the second part of the third Epistle of John we see the
1:05:04
the very clear signs of the coming apostasy into that early
1:05:12
Christian Church. So verse nine, he says, I wrote
1:05:16
unto the church. But Diotrophes who loved, who
1:05:20
loveth to have the pre eminence among them, receiveth us not.
1:05:26
So there's a local leader in a congregation by the name of
1:05:30
Diatrophes, who is not allowing the apostles to come into that
1:05:35
congregation, and who is rejecting letters and words and
1:05:39
teachings from the apostles? Why?
1:05:42
Because he loveth to have the pre eminence among them so he
1:05:47
would receive us receiveth us not.
1:05:50
You can picture your your local Bishop or state president or
1:05:53
branch president saying hey, we got word that one or two of the
1:05:57
apostles is going to likely be coming to our our branch or our
1:06:02
ward or our stake this Sunday. We need the elders quorum to bar
1:06:06
the parking lot and make sure that he can't get in and make
1:06:08
sure we bar the doors. We can't have him or them coming
1:06:13
in because they're going to lead you astray.
1:06:16
That's what's happening. And here's John the Apostle
1:06:19
saying we're being we're being shut out from the Saints by
1:06:23
these local leaders. And that's how the apostasy
1:06:30
takes place, is not from external pressure.
1:06:33
Because we saw all kinds of external pressure from multiple
1:06:37
emperors and Caesar's in Rome who are trying to just abuse and
1:06:42
torment and torture these Christians to try to get rid of
1:06:46
it. And it just seemed to make the
1:06:48
Church grow stronger. The real apostasy got underway
1:06:54
because of internal false doctrines, false teachers, false
1:06:59
Christs, people who from within are leading people astray.
1:07:04
Hence the need to stay connected with the Lord through his
1:07:09
prophets and through the proper channel of of that of those keys
1:07:15
of the priesthood and those revelatory lines that the Lord
1:07:20
Himself set up. These are not man made, they're
1:07:23
set up by the Lord. This still happens today.
1:07:27
I don't think we see people closing church doors, but you
1:07:30
may have people in positions of influence who just ignore the
1:07:36
words that the prophets have to offer, or set up ways that their
1:07:41
own personal message gets out. While not actually forefronting
1:07:47
the words of God's chosen leaders, which ultimately is God
1:07:50
Himself. So this happens today and we
1:07:52
just have to be careful and thoughtful.
1:07:54
We are in a world full of information.
1:07:57
It's always important to understand where are we getting
1:08:00
our information from? Is it true?
1:08:02
Is it relevant? And is it coming from sources
1:08:06
that God himself would approve of?
1:08:08
That's a really good reminder. Taylor is that that was an issue
1:08:13
diotrophes and what he's doing is an issue in the 1st century
1:08:16
for a congregation of Saints. But what you're saying here is
1:08:21
we need to remember that you and I, if we're not careful, can be
1:08:25
a diotrophes to our self and to people around us where maybe we
1:08:32
don't even recognize it at times.
1:08:33
Where we choose not to let the Lord's chosen witnesses, his his
1:08:42
appointed servants have influence in our lives because
1:08:47
we tune our ears to other people in the world.
1:08:52
So this story of diotrophes is not a 2000 year old only
1:08:58
experience it it. It is alive and well today,
1:09:02
unfortunately at big as well as very localized levels if we're
1:09:07
not careful. So the invitation that John
1:09:11
would then probably be giving us today would be summarized here
1:09:16
in verse 10. Wherefore if I come, I remember
1:09:19
his deeds which he doeth, pratting against us with
1:09:22
malicious words and not content therewith.
1:09:25
Neither doth he himself received the brethren and forbiddeth them
1:09:30
that would and casteth them out of the Church.
1:09:33
So it's that invitation to say don't be a diotrophes for
1:09:37
yourself, but also be careful that you don't shut the door on
1:09:42
the prophets teachings from your loved ones and from the people
1:09:46
that you have a stewardship over as a as a a shepherd in whatever
1:09:52
calling you may have been given or.
1:09:54
Casting out people who are trying to listen to the words of
1:09:57
the prophets, it's just really a disaster.
1:10:01
Which now brings us to the the General Epistle of Jude, Another
1:10:05
widely believed to be 1/2 brother of Jesus, which would
1:10:10
make him a brother of James. So Jude's general epistle is
1:10:16
interesting because especially in the place that it comes in
1:10:20
our Bible, it's it's as if it's a counterweight or a
1:10:26
countermeasure to make sure people don't swing a pendulum
1:10:30
too far to one side. We just got through talking
1:10:35
about how God is love and how God is filled with this love.
1:10:39
Well, Jude now comes on the scene, and in his general
1:10:42
epistle, he's speaking to a group of people who apparently
1:10:48
believe that God is filled with so much love, and is love to the
1:10:53
degree where he has 100% tolerance for sin for
1:10:58
wrongdoing. Everything.
1:11:00
It's actually when people use the word freedom.
1:11:03
Now there are some countries in the world where that this word
1:11:06
becomes almost a religious term like freedom, and freedom is
1:11:10
important. Jesus wants to give us freedom
1:11:12
and has made it possible of freedom.
1:11:15
But freedom doesn't mean without constraints, with no boundaries.
1:11:19
Like if my body was totally free, if I had no boundaries, I
1:11:23
actually couldn't even be a body because my particles would just
1:11:26
flow out everywhere. And it turns out, to be fully
1:11:29
free means to be constrained by divine law.
1:11:34
And so there is a misunderstanding that the love
1:11:37
and freedom that Jesus offers us, which is liberating, isn't.
1:11:41
Oh, I no longer have any responsibilities to myself, any
1:11:46
need to be disciplined to God. I don't need to be a disciple.
1:11:49
I can do whatever. And God gave me a blank check to
1:11:52
be whatever I want and do whatever I want without
1:11:54
consequences. And and sometimes, if we're not
1:11:57
careful, we'll fall into this trap of saying, well, well, God
1:12:00
loves everybody. That's true.
1:12:02
God does love everybody. And because he loves everybody,
1:12:06
what does he do? He gives us laws.
1:12:09
He gave his son. He gives us these commandments,
1:12:13
which are invitations. They're not stifling law, rules
1:12:19
and regulations. Commandments are an invitation
1:12:22
to become more like God, And Christ showed us that keeping
1:12:27
commandments is actually a delight.
1:12:29
It's a pleasure. It's that's where we find our
1:12:32
great joy. That's actually where we truly
1:12:34
discover love and freedom, exactly.
1:12:39
And in the book of Jude, he's showing what happens when a
1:12:43
group of people take that doctrine and ignore the other
1:12:48
attributes of God and say, well, because God loves me, He's going
1:12:53
to forgive me anyway. And so I can do whatever I want
1:12:56
and become whatever I want and he's going to save me.
1:13:00
Brothers and sisters, salvation is not about just a destination.
1:13:05
True salvation is to have complete freedom to act in all
1:13:12
of the appropriate ways which comes with those bounds, those
1:13:15
boundaries that are eternally set.
1:13:18
And God teaches us those through His commandments and through the
1:13:23
example of His Son. Well now in the book of Jude,
1:13:26
what you're going to see is look at verse four.
1:13:29
There are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old
1:13:33
ordained to this condemnation, ungodly manning, turning the
1:13:38
grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the
1:13:42
only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
1:13:46
So there are people who are coming in using the infinite
1:13:49
atonement of Jesus Christ, God's goodness, God's light, God's
1:13:52
love to preach this doctrine that you can now live a
1:13:56
lascivious life. You can do whatever you want to
1:13:59
do, turn all those arrows inward on what's in it for me?
1:14:03
What can I get out of this, rather than turning them to How
1:14:06
can I love God? How can I love my fellow men and
1:14:09
women more? And then he gives example after
1:14:13
example of people who lived that doctrine and got destroyed.
1:14:20
Suffered serious consequences. Yeah, you can read all those
1:14:25
stories for yourself, but they are in Jude's time.
1:14:28
The Jewish listeners at this time would have been very
1:14:31
familiar with these stories out of the Old Testament.
1:14:34
Yeah, so you get you get verse 5, the people in Egypt who are
1:14:37
destroyed. Verse 6, the angels who kept not
1:14:40
their first estate who are destroyed.
1:14:42
Verse 7. Sodom and Gomorrah.
1:14:45
These people who defiled themselves, they got destroyed.
1:14:49
And so it's this invitation to us to not not try to separate
1:14:55
God's attributes out into separate beings, but to let God,
1:15:01
in all of His light and love and mercy and grace, also be the God
1:15:09
of justice and the God of judgement that He is.
1:15:12
Because otherwise His mercy and his love don't have the same
1:15:16
power. They don't have the same value
1:15:18
as if He is exactly who He is. All of these attributes coming
1:15:24
together, and quite frankly, the power here is that's who we're
1:15:30
trying to become like. So it doesn't mean you stop
1:15:35
loving somebody if they don't do what they're supposed to do.
1:15:40
You always love them, but you may not necessarily be able to
1:15:44
trust them. You may not be able to give them
1:15:48
more stewardship to to oversee because you can't trust them.
1:15:55
So God has given us these things.
1:15:57
We don't need to be afraid of him.
1:15:59
Perfect love casteth out all fear.
1:16:01
That is not the motivating factor that Jude's trying to
1:16:04
portray. He's trying to correct a false
1:16:07
doctrine that has started to spread in the early church that
1:16:11
God loves me so much I can I can enjoy the the works of the flesh
1:16:16
and then afterwards he'll save me.
1:16:20
That is not truth and that won't lead to ultimate joy and
1:16:24
ultimate happiness. He concludes his letter with, I
1:16:29
think, something quite uplifting, where he invites
1:16:31
people to think about the temple as a metaphor for the community
1:16:35
of Jesus and. This is something that has been
1:16:39
a Clarion column on modern day prophets, highlighted by
1:16:44
President Hunter many years ago in the 1990s, but continue
1:16:47
today. We see this explosion of growth
1:16:50
in terms of the building of temples, which is a symbol that
1:16:53
the community of God is growing, strengthening and expanding, and
1:16:57
we are invited to model our lives to have a template or a
1:17:01
pattern. Pattern after our lives should
1:17:04
be patterned after God, and temples are templates or
1:17:07
patterns for how we can be aligned to God.
1:17:12
Powerful. So let's finish with verse 25.
1:17:15
To the only wise God, our Savior be Glory and majesty, dominion
1:17:23
and power, both now and ever. Amen.
1:17:28
It's a powerful closure, this, this giving God the glory.
1:17:33
It's the arrows are turned heavenward and outward, not
1:17:37
inward. So, as we conclude, we want to
1:17:40
come back to Sister Wendy Watson Nielsen's inspiring question,
1:17:46
and the invitation that we would give from her would be, think
1:17:52
about this, this week. What would a Holy Disciple of
1:17:58
Christ do in in whatever setting, whatever situation you
1:18:04
find yourself in? Just ask yourself that question.
1:18:07
And based on our our discussion from John and Jude of the
1:18:12
attributes of who God is, answer that question.
1:18:16
What would a holy disciple of Christ do?
1:18:20
And may the Lord bless us in those efforts to grow up in that
1:18:27
gospel analogy of being an adoptive son or daughter of
1:18:32
Jesus Christ. Taking on his attributes and
1:18:35
find joy in that journey of discipleship is our prayer for
1:18:40
all of us. In the name of Jesus Christ.
1:18:42
Amen. Know that you're loved.
1:18:45
And spread light and goodness.