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Truth The Boundary of Love and the Test of Loyalty (2 John 5–8) John MacArthur · THE BELIEVER'S CHURCH | Let’s Build Our Faith Together

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Speaker 1: Second John is our study tonight, Second John, this little
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Speaker 1: epistle of 13 verses and brief ones at that, just
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Speaker 1: occupying really a portion of one page in all of
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Speaker 1: Holy Scripture. And yet, inspired by the Holy Spirit for
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Speaker 1: our instruction and edification, it brings to us wondrous, wondrous
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Speaker 1: blessing when we understand the glory of its message. As
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Speaker 1: you know from prior studies, I've titled this little look
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Speaker 1: at the epistle of 2 John, Living in the Truth.
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Speaker 1: In the first four verses, the word truth appears five times.
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Speaker 1: Thus we are introduced immediately to the theme of this letter.
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Speaker 1: It is about the truth. It is about loving in truth,
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Speaker 1: about knowing truth. about upholding the truth, living for the
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Speaker 1: sake of the truth, walking in the truth. It's about
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Speaker 1: the truth. And it would be impossible really to overemphasize
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Speaker 1: the importance of divine truth. God is the God of truth.
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ is the truth. Scripture says He is full
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Speaker 1: of grace and truth. The Holy Spirit is called the
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Speaker 1: Spirit of truth. The Scripture is called the Word of Truth.
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Speaker 1: Believers are said to worship God in truth, to serve
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Speaker 1: Him in truth, to worship Him in truth, to walk
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Speaker 1: before Him in truth, to speak the truth, obey the truth,
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Speaker 1: arm yourselves with the truth, battle with the truth, love
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Speaker 1: the truth, guard the truth. The church, of course, is
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Speaker 1: the pillar and support of the truth. We live in
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Speaker 1: a world of lies. The whole of humanity is in
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Speaker 1: a thick, black, dark cloud of deception and cannot see
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Speaker 1: the truth of God. Believers, on the other hand, those
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Speaker 1: of us who know God live in the light of
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Speaker 1: the truth. The truth characterizes us because the truth is
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Speaker 1: so essential to spiritual life, so necessary for salvation, sanctification.
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Speaker 1: because it is so critical to the effectiveness of our
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Speaker 1: testimony and because Scripture repeatedly warns about deception and warns
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Speaker 1: about deceivers and calls for us to protect the truth passionately,
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Speaker 1: we need to give great attention to the truth. We
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Speaker 1: are to guard the truth. We are to uphold the truth.
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Speaker 1: We are to defend the truth. And we are to
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Speaker 1: proclaim the truth. In this brief letter... The Apostle John
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Speaker 1: writes to an unnamed lady, the elder John to the
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Speaker 1: chosen lady and her children, an unnamed lady, unnamed family.
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Speaker 1: And the purpose is clearly to call her and all
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Speaker 1: who read to live in the truth. This also, by
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Speaker 1: the way, is the theme of 3 John. And when
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Speaker 1: we get to 3 John, we're going to see how
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Speaker 1: the truth also prevails in that second letter. As noted
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Speaker 1: in our last study, the immediate reason for the letter
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Speaker 1: was the invasion of false teachers into the homes of well-intentioned,
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Speaker 1: hospitable believers who were not discerning. They had been told
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Speaker 1: that they were to love those who were in Christ,
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Speaker 1: that they were to open their homes to those who
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Speaker 1: represented Christ and preached Christ and traveled around as missionaries
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Speaker 1: for the gospel. And so they were then vulnerable to
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Speaker 1: false teachers who claimed the name of Christ but really
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Speaker 1: were of anti-Christ, who said they represented Christ but really
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Speaker 1: represented Satan. They played on their love, they played on
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Speaker 1: their hospitality. False teachers came embedding themselves in the homes
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Speaker 1: of true believers who were not discerning and from that
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Speaker 1: vantage point in the home, they began to disturb the
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Speaker 1: confidences of the believers there. And then to extend that
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Speaker 1: disturbing infiltration to the church of which those believers were
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Speaker 1: a part, endeavoring to undermine the truth and teach their
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Speaker 1: damning lies. This letter is basically a warning about that ploy.
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Speaker 1: It's a warning about that strategy. It's a warning about
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Speaker 1: being loving and hospitable toward those who say they belong
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Speaker 1: to Christ but not being discriminating and thus allowing into
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Speaker 1: your life and into your home and into your church
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Speaker 1: those who say they belong to Christ. but belong to Antichrist.
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Speaker 1: And the only way you're going to be able to
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Speaker 1: distinguish that is when you know the truth. Truth then
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Speaker 1: is at the basis of our fellowship. We love and
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Speaker 1: demonstrate Christian hospitality to those who are truly of the truth.
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Speaker 1: Truth is the basis of our fellowship. Truth is also
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Speaker 1: the basis of our separation. We join with those who
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Speaker 1: are in the truth. We separate from those who are
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Speaker 1: outside the truth. Now in the opening verses, as I said,
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Speaker 1: the direction of the letter is set by the five
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Speaker 1: uses of the Greek word aletheia which means truth. And
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Speaker 1: we looked at verses 1 to 4 in our last
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Speaker 1: study and titled it, Living in the Truth. All our
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Speaker 1: life as believers has lived in the truth. We are
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Speaker 1: saved by an understanding of the truth. We are sanctified
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Speaker 1: by the truth. The only way to be saved is
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Speaker 1: to come to the knowledge of the truth. The only
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Speaker 1: way to be sanctified is by Thy Word, Thy Word
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Speaker 1: is truth. All our lives are lived in the sphere
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Speaker 1: of divine truth. And we saw last time that the
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Speaker 1: truth unites us in verse 1, the truth indwells us
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Speaker 1: in verse 2, the truth blesses us in verse 3,
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Speaker 1: and the truth controls us in verse 4. Our whole
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Speaker 1: existence is in the sphere of the truth. So we
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Speaker 1: begin by looking at this concept of living in the truth.
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Speaker 1: That's where we live. Now that brings us to a
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Speaker 1: second and intimately related reality. We not only live in
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Speaker 1: the truth, we love in the truth. We love in
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Speaker 1: the truth. While we are living in the truth, there
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Speaker 1: is no excuse for being so devoted to the truth
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Speaker 1: as to be unloving. John is not saying here that
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Speaker 1: you're supposed to become so critical and so analytical and
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Speaker 1: so discerning and so skeptical that the truth literally overpowers
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Speaker 1: your responsibility to love. Rather, he says, truth is always
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Speaker 1: upheld in perfect balance with love. Notice verse 5,' And
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Speaker 1: now I ask you, lady, not as writing to you
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Speaker 1: a new commandment, but the one which we have had
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Speaker 1: from the beginning, that we love one another.' John wants
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Speaker 1: to make it very clear that while we live in
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Speaker 1: the truth, we also live in love and truth and
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Speaker 1: love are in perfect balance. We do not use the
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Speaker 1: truth as a way to be unloving, inhospitable, unkind, unmerciful, ungracious.
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Speaker 1: It's the opposite. The truth is always held in love.
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Speaker 1: The purest kind of truth embraces love because love is
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Speaker 1: a part of that truth. Now let's look at verse
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Speaker 1: 5 for a minute and just dig a little deeper.
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Speaker 1: And now, this is a logical link with verse 4,
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Speaker 1: since we are united in the truth, since we are
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Speaker 1: indwelt with the truth, since we are blessed by the truth,
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Speaker 1: since we are controlled by the truth, and now then,
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Speaker 1: I ask you, lady, not as writing to you a
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Speaker 1: new commandment but the one which we've had from the
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Speaker 1: beginning that we love one another. Part of the truth
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Speaker 1: is to love one another. If we're indwelt by the truth,
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Speaker 1: blessed by the truth, controlled by the truth, part of
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Speaker 1: the truth is we love one another. This is a
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Speaker 1: command of Scripture. Loving is part of the truth. John
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Speaker 1: knows that the people of the truth will not resist
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Speaker 1: his request to love. So he simply says, I ask you, lady,
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Speaker 1: this is a request consistent with living in the truth.
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Speaker 1: This is a request consistent with being blessed by the truth.
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Speaker 1: And this is not something new, not as writing to
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Speaker 1: you a new commandment, but the one which we have
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Speaker 1: had from the beginning that we love one another. John says,
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Speaker 1: I'm just reiterating what you already know. This is very
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Speaker 1: important because in a moment we're going to see John
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Speaker 1: calls for discrimination. He calls for measure of skepticism. He
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Speaker 1: calls for being analytical. He calls for not just accepting
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Speaker 1: everybody who says they're in Christ, everybody who says they
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Speaker 1: represent the gospel. But before he gets into that skeptical
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Speaker 1: category here, he wants to reinforce the fact that I'm
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Speaker 1: not telling you something you don't already know. This is
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Speaker 1: not a new commandment. This is the one we have
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Speaker 1: had from the beginning that we love one another. And
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Speaker 1: what he means by the beginning here is the beginning
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Speaker 1: of your life in Christ. You knew this from the
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Speaker 1: very go. You had been called into a fellowship marked
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Speaker 1: by love. We are to love one another. Talking here
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Speaker 1: about other believers, we're to open our hearts sacrificially to
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Speaker 1: one another, to embrace them, and that certainly includes hospitality
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Speaker 1: along with a lot of other things. This is an
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Speaker 1: echo of what John said in 1 John 2, and
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Speaker 1: I want you to turn back to 1 John 2
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Speaker 1: because here you have a more full explanation of what
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Speaker 1: he means by what he says. It's almost a direct parallel,
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Speaker 1: 1 John 2...7. Beloved, in 2 John He said, I
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Speaker 1: ask you, lady, here it's directed to beloved, the church
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Speaker 1: to which He writes. I am not writing a new
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Speaker 1: commandment to you. I'm not telling you something new, but
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Speaker 1: an old commandment which you've had from the beginning. The
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Speaker 1: old commandment is the Word which you have heard. On
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Speaker 1: the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to
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Speaker 1: you which is true in Him and in you because
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Speaker 1: the darkness is passing away and the true light is
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Speaker 1: already shining. The one who says he's in the light
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Speaker 1: and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.
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Speaker 1: The one who loves his brother abides in the light
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Speaker 1: and there's no cause for stumbling in him. But the
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Speaker 1: one who hates his brother is in the darkness and
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Speaker 1: walks in darkness and doesn't know where he's going because
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Speaker 1: the darkness has blinded his eyes. He says if you're
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Speaker 1: a part of the truth, if you belong to God,
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Speaker 1: if you are in the light, you love your brother.
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Speaker 1: And this is not a new commandment, this is an
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Speaker 1: old commandment which you have had from the beginning. In fact,
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Speaker 1: it's an old commandment which you heard probably before you
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Speaker 1: even were converted. John, as you know, became known as
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Speaker 1: the apostle of love but he once was the son
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Speaker 1: of thunder. He wanted to call down fire from heaven
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Speaker 1: and incinerate a village that rejected the disciples and their Lord.
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Speaker 1: Luke tells us about that in his gospel. But he
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Speaker 1: became a man of love. He's known then as the
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Speaker 1: apostle of love. And here John says, I'm not writing
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Speaker 1: a new commandment to you. It's the same thing exactly
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Speaker 1: he said in 2 John, I'm not writing a new commandment, kainos,
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Speaker 1: new in quality. I'm not telling you something you don't know,
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Speaker 1: doesn't mean new in time, means new in essential character.
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Speaker 1: I'm not asking you to love as if it's something
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Speaker 1: brand new. This is something old, he says in verse 7.
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Speaker 1: It's an old commandment which you had from the beginning,
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Speaker 1: and again he means there the beginning of your spiritual life.
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Speaker 1: You learned from the very outset as a Christian that
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Speaker 1: you were called unto the body of Christ and you're
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Speaker 1: to love one another. This is an old commandment. In fact,
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Speaker 1: he repeats at the end of verse 17. the Old Commandment,
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Speaker 1: not an Old Commandment only which you heard from the
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Speaker 1: beginning of your spiritual experience in Christ, but it's the
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Speaker 1: Old Commandment, the Word which you have heard. You probably
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Speaker 1: heard it all your life if you were raised in Judaism.
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Speaker 1: In fact, when you look at the Old Testament, some
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Speaker 1: people would say, well, the Old Testament's not about love,
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Speaker 1: it's about law. Do you understand what the Law was?
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Speaker 1: The Law is nothing but a summary of love. That's right.
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Speaker 1: The law is simply a summary of how to love.
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Speaker 1: The Old Testament in Deuteronomy 6, 5 said, love the
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Speaker 1: Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
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Speaker 1: The Old Testament in Leviticus 19, 18 said, love your
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Speaker 1: neighbor as yourself. Jesus repeats that in Matthew 22 and
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Speaker 1: says the first commandment is to love the Lord your
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Speaker 1: God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. The
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Speaker 1: second is like unto it, love your neighbor as yourself.
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Speaker 1: And in this is the fulfilling of the whole law.
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Speaker 1: The Ten Commandments, which is the summation of the Law,
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Speaker 1: are divided into two parts. The first half has to
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Speaker 1: do with how you love God. The second half has
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Speaker 1: to do with how you love each other. That's why
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Speaker 1: Paul in Romans 13, 8 to 10 says, love is
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Speaker 1: the fulfilling of the Law. If you love God, you're
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Speaker 1: not going to take His name in vain. If you
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Speaker 1: love God, you're not going to have an idol in
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Speaker 1: His place. If you love God, you're going to respond
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Speaker 1: to whatever it is that He asks you to do.
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Speaker 1: If you love God, you're going to give Him the
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Speaker 1: appropriate honor. And on the other hand, if you love others,
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Speaker 1: you're not going to kill them, you're not going to
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Speaker 1: covet what they possess, you're not going to lie against them.
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Speaker 1: You see, all the commandments are are simply ways to
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Speaker 1: define how you love God, the first part of the commandments,
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Speaker 1: and then how you love each other. The message of
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Speaker 1: love then is embedded in the Old Testament. It's all
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Speaker 1: about loving God and loving each other. And so John
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Speaker 1: in 1 John chapter 2 says, I'm not writing you
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Speaker 1: something brand new when I call you to love each other.
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Speaker 1: When I say that the defining mark of a true
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Speaker 1: believer is that he loves his brother and the defining
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Speaker 1: mark of a non-believer is that he hates his brother,
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Speaker 1: this isn't anything new. You've always known, not only from
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Speaker 1: the beginning of your salvation, but way back that old
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Speaker 1: commandment to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul,
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Speaker 1: mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself. John says,
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Speaker 1: I'm not inventing something new, I'm not innovating as the
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Speaker 1: heretics always do. This is just something you've heard from
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Speaker 1: the very start. And yet, look at verse 8, on
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Speaker 1: the other hand, he says, this is really good, on
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Speaker 1: the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you.
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Speaker 1: You can't have it both ways, John. You just said
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Speaker 1: you weren't writing a new commandment, kainos, new in quality,
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Speaker 1: and now you say, on the other hand, I am
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Speaker 1: writing a new commandment to you. You're saying the opposite
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Speaker 1: of what you just said. How can this be? Well,
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Speaker 1: John explains it. While the command itself is old, from
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Speaker 1: the beginning of your salvation you knew you were to
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Speaker 1: love each other, and even before that, the old commandment
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Speaker 1: is part of the Word which you heard all your
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Speaker 1: life if you were raised to understand the Old Testament.
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Speaker 1: So in that sense, loving each other is not new.
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Speaker 1: But in another sense, I am writing a new commandment
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Speaker 1: to you. And here's why. First of all, He says
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Speaker 1: in verse 8, which is true in Him. What do
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Speaker 1: you mean by that, John? I mean this, never have
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Speaker 1: you seen what love really looks like the way you
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Speaker 1: now see it in Jesus Christ. God has never been
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Speaker 1: a man before. You've never had the opportunity to have
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Speaker 1: such a perfect model of love. John 13, having loved
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Speaker 1: His own which were in the world, it says of Jesus,
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Speaker 1: He loved them unto perfection. The disciples saw what perfect
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Speaker 1: love looked like. They saw the perfection of God's love
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Speaker 1: for them in the incarnation and the self-emptying and the
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Speaker 1: condescension of Jesus described in Philippians chapter 2. where He
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Speaker 1: empties Himself and takes on the form of a man
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Speaker 1: in order that He might die on the cross for
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Speaker 1: the sake of those He loved. And so while the
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Speaker 1: command to love isn't new, there's a newness in its demonstration.
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Speaker 1: You've never seen love like this which is true in Him.
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Speaker 1: You've never seen love like you've seen it exhibited in Jesus,
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Speaker 1: and of course these people living around the end of
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Speaker 1: the first century and the period between 90 and 95
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Speaker 1: of that first century. They would by then have had
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Speaker 1: the record of the gospels, at least Matthew, Mark, and
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Speaker 1: Luke for certain. And the love of Jesus manifest through
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Speaker 1: the record of His life and through the other epistles
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Speaker 1: that had been written to comment on His love. They
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Speaker 1: would have seen God's love manifest. They would have seen
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Speaker 1: the perfect example of love. You remember in the upper
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Speaker 1: room in John 13, Jesus said to His disciples, you're
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Speaker 1: to love one another as I have... what?... loved you. And so
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Speaker 1: there is a trueness in love that we've never seen.
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Speaker 1: So while the commandment to love isn't new, it's very old,
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Speaker 1: on the other hand, there's a newness to it because
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Speaker 1: it's true in Him in a way that's never been
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Speaker 1: seen before. And then he adds something else. It's not
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Speaker 1: only true in him, but it's true in you. What
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Speaker 1: does that mean? What that means is there is not
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Speaker 1: only a new understanding of love because of what you
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Speaker 1: see in Christ, but there's a new understanding of love
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Speaker 1: because of what the Holy Spirit is doing in you.
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Speaker 1: Romans 5...5, the love of Christ is shed abroad in
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Speaker 1: our hearts. This is new. The fruit of the Spirit is,
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Speaker 1: what's the first one? Love. You now have a new
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Speaker 1: comprehension of love, not only by the example of Christ
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Speaker 1: but by the indwelling of the Spirit. The work of
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Speaker 1: new covenant grace has granted to the believer the gift
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Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit. And with the coming of the
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Speaker 1: Holy Spirit comes an experience and a comprehension. of love
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Speaker 1: heretofore not experienced, not known in that degree of fullness.
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Speaker 1: We have... to Philippians... listen to rather Ephesians 3. We are
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Speaker 1: able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
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Speaker 1: and length and height and depth and to know the
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Speaker 1: love of Christ which surpasses knowledge. It's not a new
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Speaker 1: command to love, but there's a newness to it in
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Speaker 1: the comprehension that we have by the example of Christ,
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Speaker 1: the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who grants us this
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Speaker 1: love in a measure never before experienced. That's why Jesus
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Speaker 1: can say, you're the love of the way I've loved
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Speaker 1: you and I'll put My Spirit in you and His
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Speaker 1: fruit will be love. 1 Thessalonians, I think one of
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Speaker 1: the really rich statements of the New Testament, 1 Thessalonians
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Speaker 1: 4 and 9, as to the love of the brethren,
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Speaker 1: you have no need for anyone to write you, for
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Speaker 1: you yourselves are taught by God to love one another.
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Speaker 1: What a statement. You don't need a lecture on love,
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Speaker 1: you're taught by God to do it. That's why John
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Speaker 1: can say on the one hand it's not new, on
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Speaker 1: the other hand it is new. There's a dimension of
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Speaker 1: it that's never been seen before, lived out in the
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Speaker 1: example of Christ, a dimension that's never been experienced before,
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Speaker 1: that love planted in you by the indwelling of the
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Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. You are taught of God on the inside
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Speaker 1: to love. There's a third reason why this love, though old,
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Speaker 1: has a newness. First of all, it is true in
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Speaker 1: Christ in a way that it's never been. Then it
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Speaker 1: is true in us in a way that it's never been.
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Speaker 1: And then he adds, because the darkness is passing away
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Speaker 1: and the true light is already shining. And John adds
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Speaker 1: this really remarkable statement. He says, the darkness is passing
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Speaker 1: away and the true light is already shining. The true
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Speaker 1: light is Jesus Christ. And He has manifested His glory.
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Speaker 1: The glory of His kingdom, in a sense you could
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Speaker 1: say He's inaugurated the kingdom of light which for those
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Speaker 1: of us who believe has dispelled the darkness. His kingdom
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Speaker 1: is light, as you remember light referring to spiritual life.
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Speaker 1: His kingdom is also love. His kingdom is marked by,
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Speaker 1: stamped by, characterized by light and love. In the arrival
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Speaker 1: of Messiah the first time, the Kingdom was inaugurated and
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Speaker 1: the light began to dispel the darkness. And so, John says,
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Speaker 1: the darkness is passing away, present tense, paragetai, the long-awaited
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Speaker 1: age of salvation has come. The present age is passing away.
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Speaker 1: And so we live in the overlap. The darkness is
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Speaker 1: still here but the light... shining. Old Testament saints didn't
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Speaker 1: have that experience. So we are living in the overlap
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Speaker 1: of the coming Kingdom and the passing darkness. We are
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Speaker 1: already Kingdom citizens, are we not? We already belong to
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Speaker 1: the future. We belong to heaven. We are citizens of
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Speaker 1: the age to come. We are citizens of the world
23:19
Speaker 1: to come. We have been, according to Galatians 1...4, delivered
23:24
Speaker 1: out of this present evil age. We are now blessed
23:30
Speaker 1: with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. And so we
23:35
Speaker 1: literally have a new way to experience spiritual reality as
23:40
Speaker 1: we begin to feel the realities of the coming glory
23:44
Speaker 1: in the kingdom. The old commandment to love is not new,
23:50
Speaker 1: but there is a newness to it, a newness because
23:53
Speaker 1: we see the truth of that love exhibited in Christ,
23:56
Speaker 1: because we experience the truth of that love planted in
24:00
Speaker 1: us by the Spirit and because we live in the
24:03
Speaker 1: overlap and we are already tasting, as it were, of
24:06
Speaker 1: the powers of the age to come. We belong to
24:12
Speaker 1: the Kingdom of God, not the Kingdom of this world.
24:16
Speaker 1: We belong to Christ who gave to love the perfect manifestation.
24:21
Speaker 1: We are indwelt by the Holy Spirit who enables us
24:24
Speaker 1: to love in a way unknown. before this wonderful gift.
24:34
Speaker 1: So love is an old command but it's also new.
24:38
Speaker 1: For us, it literally becomes a way of life. We
24:47
Speaker 1: love one another. Let's go back then to 2 John.
24:55
Speaker 1: And this is love, verse 6. He says, we love
25:00
Speaker 1: one another. It's not a new commandment. It's the one
25:04
Speaker 1: we had from the beginning of our salvation but it
25:06
Speaker 1: has newness to it. And this is love, that we
25:12
Speaker 1: walk according to His commandments. Let me tell you what
25:16
Speaker 1: that means, very simple. I said it already. The commandments
25:21
Speaker 1: of God are simply the manifestations and the definitions of
25:26
Speaker 1: how you love. Every command in Scripture. that tells you
25:30
Speaker 1: how to honor God. Every command that is directly connected
25:35
Speaker 1: to the relationship between a believer and God is an
25:38
Speaker 1: expression of love to God when obeyed. Every command that
25:43
Speaker 1: defines how you interact with other people is simply a
25:48
Speaker 1: definition and an expression of how you love those people.
25:52
Speaker 1: That's why Paul in Romans 13 says, love is the
25:54
Speaker 1: fulfilling of the whole law. I don't need a sign
25:59
Speaker 1: in my house, don't beat your children, don't beat your wife.
26:03
Speaker 1: I love my children, I love my wife, that precludes
26:06
Speaker 1: the Law. Love is the fulfilling of that Law. I
26:10
Speaker 1: don't need signs to tell me not to mistreat people.
26:14
Speaker 1: The signs really won't do any good if I don't
26:16
Speaker 1: love those people. When you look at all of God's
26:20
Speaker 1: Law and you sum it up. first of all in
26:25
Speaker 1: the Ten Commandments and then the two commandments, it's about
26:28
Speaker 1: loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength
26:30
Speaker 1: and loving others as yourself. And so he says in
26:35
Speaker 1: verse 6, this is love that we walk according to
26:39
Speaker 1: His commandments. As we are obedient to the Word of
26:44
Speaker 1: God and the will of God, it shows up in
26:47
Speaker 1: how we love. All the commandments that relate to my
26:51
Speaker 1: honoring God, when obeyed. demonstrate my love for Him. All
26:56
Speaker 1: the commandments related to my action and interaction with others
27:02
Speaker 1: reflect my love and when obeyed, demonstrate that I love them.
27:07
Speaker 1: This is love that we walk according to His commandments.
27:10
Speaker 1: There's no antinomianism here. There's no escape from obedience in love.
27:22
Speaker 1: You can only love in the truth. That's where we're
27:25
Speaker 1: going with this second point. We love in the truth.
27:31
Speaker 1: That is to say, our love is defined by our
27:34
Speaker 1: obedience to Scripture. And then John adds in verse 6
27:39
Speaker 1: in his sort of inimitable way, reaffirming, reasserting and restating
27:44
Speaker 1: his point, this is the commandment, just as you have
27:49
Speaker 1: heard from the beginning. that you should walk in it.
27:53
Speaker 1: How do you love as a way of life? You
27:56
Speaker 1: love in the truth. You love in the truth. You
28:01
Speaker 1: obey everything the truth says about God. You obey everything
28:05
Speaker 1: the truth says in your relationship to others and thus
28:08
Speaker 1: you love God and you love others. It's not about sentimentality.
28:14
Speaker 1: We are to walk according to His commandments. And then
28:20
Speaker 1: He repeats it, this is the commandment, just as you've
28:23
Speaker 1: heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. You've
28:25
Speaker 1: known this since the time of your conversion. We live
28:29
Speaker 1: according to God's truth and so we love according to
28:32
Speaker 1: God's truth. In 1 John 5, whoever believes... That Jesus,
28:40
Speaker 1: verse 1, is the Christ, is born of God, and
28:42
Speaker 1: whoever loves the Father loves the child born of the Father.
28:48
Speaker 1: By this we know that we love the children of
28:50
Speaker 1: God when we love God and observe His... what?... His commandments. This
28:56
Speaker 1: is not about sentimentality. This is not about emotion. This
28:58
Speaker 1: is about obedience. When I am obedient to those commandments
29:04
Speaker 1: that relate to God, I'm loving God. When I'm obedient
29:07
Speaker 1: to those commandments that relate to others, I'm loving others.
29:10
Speaker 1: Verse 3, 1 John 5, this is the love of
29:14
Speaker 1: God that we keep His commandments and His commandments are
29:17
Speaker 1: not burdensome. We love by being obedient. I hope you
29:23
Speaker 1: understand that point. So again I say, we're not talking
29:26
Speaker 1: about some sentimentality here, in fact in Ephesians It says,
29:33
Speaker 1: walk in love as Christ also loved. How did Christ love?
29:38
Speaker 1: By being perfectly obedient to His Father, by being perfectly
29:43
Speaker 1: loving toward us to provide what we needed and offering
29:46
Speaker 1: Himself as a sacrifice for sin. So we live in
29:51
Speaker 1: the truth and we love in connection with the truth.
29:54
Speaker 1: You cannot really love someone if you set the truth aside.
30:00
Speaker 1: No true love between Christians can be marked by sin
30:06
Speaker 1: and disobedience to the truth of God. Living in the
30:10
Speaker 1: truth encompasses loving according to the truth, which means that
30:16
Speaker 1: our love is best expressed when we obey the Word
30:20
Speaker 1: of God, all that is directed between us and Him
30:24
Speaker 1: and us and each other. I have to love you
30:27
Speaker 1: in the way the Bible defines that love. And that
30:30
Speaker 1: means that if I love you and you stumble, I'll
30:33
Speaker 1: come and pick you up. That means if I love
30:35
Speaker 1: you and you sin, I'll come and confront you. That
30:38
Speaker 1: means if I love you and you have need, I'll
30:40
Speaker 1: come and meet that need. If I love you and
30:43
Speaker 1: you're grieving, I'll come and comfort you. If I love
30:46
Speaker 1: you and you're ignorant, I'll come and instruct you. If
30:49
Speaker 1: I love you and you're disobedient, I'll come and correct
30:52
Speaker 1: you because that's what Scripture calls me to do, all
30:55
Speaker 1: the one another's that are part of obedience. Living in
31:01
Speaker 1: the truth then encompasses loving in the truth. And that
31:05
Speaker 1: brings us to a third principle. I hate to leave
31:08
Speaker 1: that one but I don't want to get too bogged
31:10
Speaker 1: down there. So I want to give you one more.
31:13
Speaker 1: Loving in the truth demands being loyal to the truth.
31:16
Speaker 1: You can't live in the truth and you can't love
31:19
Speaker 1: in the truth if you're not loyal to the truth.
31:23
Speaker 1: And now we get down to the heart of the
31:25
Speaker 1: matter in this letter, verses 7 and 8. Here John,
31:31
Speaker 1: who has already set limits on our loving, and the
31:34
Speaker 1: limits on our loving are set by the Scripture, you
31:39
Speaker 1: can't say you're loving someone when you treat them sinfully
31:43
Speaker 1: or when you engage in sinful attitudes or sinful tolerances
31:47
Speaker 1: or sinful compromises with them. You can only truly love
31:52
Speaker 1: in absolute obedience to the Word of God. You must
31:54
Speaker 1: know the Word of God then in order to love
31:56
Speaker 1: God according to His revelation and to love each other
31:59
Speaker 1: according to His revelation. You have then to be loyal
32:02
Speaker 1: to the truth. You cannot live and love in the
32:07
Speaker 1: truth unless you're loyal to the truth. And here John
32:12
Speaker 1: sets some very careful limits. Verse 7, for many deceivers
32:20
Speaker 1: have gone out into the world. Those who do not
32:24
Speaker 1: acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, this is
32:28
Speaker 1: the deceiver and the antichrist, watch yourselves that you might
32:33
Speaker 1: not lose what we have accomplished but that you may
32:35
Speaker 1: receive a full reward. You are seriously warned. You cannot
32:44
Speaker 1: love deceivers. You cannot love antichrists. If you're going to
32:53
Speaker 1: live and love in the truth, that is in obedience
32:57
Speaker 1: to God's commandments, since Christian love is fixed as to
33:02
Speaker 1: its definition in the truth of Scripture, you cannot then
33:09
Speaker 1: embrace those who are against that Scripture or truth will
33:15
Speaker 1: be quickly lost. We know that. Oh, do we know that.
33:21
Speaker 1: We've seen it in the seminaries of our nation through
33:24
Speaker 1: its history. We've seen it in the Christian colleges. We've
33:27
Speaker 1: seen it in churches and denominations how this unbiblical love,
33:32
Speaker 1: this love without truth starts to wrap up liars and
33:37
Speaker 1: deceivers and antichrists and embrace them and then the truth
33:42
Speaker 1: is lost. And many deceivers have gone out into the world.
33:49
Speaker 1: The New Testament, of course, is full of warnings. About them,
33:53
Speaker 1: I'm certain that you are very much aware of all
33:56
Speaker 1: of those warnings and I don't need to go over
33:59
Speaker 1: all of them. There are just too many to cover
34:02
Speaker 1: them all. Jesus said, for example, in Matthew 24, 24,'
34:08
Speaker 1: For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show
34:12
Speaker 1: great signs and wonders so as to mislead, if possible,
34:16
Speaker 1: even the elect. Behold, I've told you in advance.' False Christs, anti-Christs,
34:22
Speaker 1: those who oppose Christ, those who replace Christ, they're going
34:25
Speaker 1: to be all over everywhere. I've told you in advance,
34:30
Speaker 1: I warn you, don't be suckered in by those who
34:35
Speaker 1: claim to belong to Christ. And again in Mark 13,
34:40
Speaker 1: to make sure we don't miss it, the same account
34:42
Speaker 1: is given. The false Christ, false prophets will arise, show
34:45
Speaker 1: signs and wonders in order if possible to lead the
34:47
Speaker 1: elect astray. Take heed, behold, I have told you everything
34:51
Speaker 1: in advance. Don't be stupid, don't be unwitting, don't be unwary.
34:57
Speaker 1: 1 Timothy chapter 4 tells us, the Spirit says in
35:04
Speaker 1: these latter times, some will fall away from the faith,
35:06
Speaker 1: paying attention to deceitful spirits, doctrines of demons. By means
35:10
Speaker 1: of the hypocrisy of liars, they're going to be liars
35:14
Speaker 1: with seducing spirits, driving them, making up demon doctrine that
35:18
Speaker 1: sounds like Christianity. People are going to pay attention to them.
35:22
Speaker 1: They're going to fall away from the faith. The truth
35:27
Speaker 1: to them is lost. 1 John 4, 1, believe not
35:30
Speaker 1: every spirit. Don't accept everybody that comes along and says
35:38
Speaker 1: they represent Christ. Test the spirits to see whether they're
35:40
Speaker 1: from God because many false prophets have gone out into
35:43
Speaker 1: the world. By this you know the Spirit of God.
35:46
Speaker 1: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in
35:48
Speaker 1: the flesh is from God. And every spirit that doesn't
35:52
Speaker 1: confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit
35:55
Speaker 1: of the Antichrist of which you've heard that it is
35:57
Speaker 1: coming and now it is already in the world. I mean,
36:01
Speaker 1: you just have to be alert. That little epistle, verse 3,
36:07
Speaker 1: earnestly contend for the faith once for all delivered to
36:10
Speaker 1: the saints. Why? Verse 4, for certain persons have crept
36:12
Speaker 1: in unnoticed, unwitting Christians embraced them and they turned the
36:19
Speaker 1: grace of our God into licentiousness and they deny our
36:22
Speaker 1: only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 11, he says,
36:26
Speaker 1: woe to them. They've gone the way of Cain for pay,
36:31
Speaker 1: they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam They
36:33
Speaker 1: perished in the rebellion of Korah. He calls them hidden
36:36
Speaker 1: reefs in your love feast. They sneak into the Christian environment.
36:41
Speaker 1: They sneak into the church. They show up in the
36:43
Speaker 1: love feast and they're like reefs under the surface that
36:45
Speaker 1: sink the ship. They are clouds without water, promise, promise, promise,
36:51
Speaker 1: and no rain. They're carried along by winds. They're autumn
36:55
Speaker 1: trees without fruit. doubly dead, uprooted, wild waves of the
37:01
Speaker 1: sea casting up their own shame like foam, wandering stars
37:05
Speaker 1: for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever. Pretty
37:08
Speaker 1: strong language for false teachers. Verse 16, they are grumblers,
37:13
Speaker 1: finding fault, following after their own lusts. They speak arrogantly,
37:17
Speaker 1: flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage. Beware
37:22
Speaker 1: of them. In 2 Peter chapter 2, the whole entire chapter,
37:26
Speaker 1: I'm not even going to read it. It's just a
37:28
Speaker 1: complete chapter from verse 1 all the way down to
37:30
Speaker 1: verse 22 that describes these false teachers and their characteristics. Again,
37:37
Speaker 1: we are reminded, verse 13, they are stains and blemishes,
37:43
Speaker 1: reveling in their deceptions as they carouse with you. They
37:48
Speaker 1: infiltrate the church. Christianity, they have eyes full of adultery
37:55
Speaker 1: and they never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having
37:58
Speaker 1: a heart trained in greed, accursed children. Again, they follow
38:01
Speaker 1: the way of Balaam who loved the wages of unrighteousness.
38:04
Speaker 1: Verse 17, springs without water, mists driven by a storm
38:09
Speaker 1: for whom the black darkness has been reserved. They speak
38:12
Speaker 1: arrogant words of vanity, enticing by fleshly desires and sensuality
38:16
Speaker 1: and so forth. These are the false teachers. You're aware
38:20
Speaker 1: of them, they're all over the place. I'm not talking
38:23
Speaker 1: about the Buddhists and the Hindus and the non-Christian religionists.
38:27
Speaker 1: I'm talking about those who are false Christs and false
38:30
Speaker 1: prophets and false teachers within the church, many deceivers. We're
38:35
Speaker 1: not deceived by the Buddhist theology. We're not deceived by
38:38
Speaker 1: the theology of another religion. It is the claim to
38:43
Speaker 1: belong to Christ that is when Satan appears as an
38:45
Speaker 1: angel of light. Second Corinthians 11, and His ministers appear
38:49
Speaker 1: as angels of light that the deception takes place. And
38:52
Speaker 1: so John says if you're going to live in the
38:55
Speaker 1: truth and love in the truth, you have to be
38:56
Speaker 1: loyal to the truth. You can't live it and love
39:00
Speaker 1: that way unless you're loyal to it. There are many deceivers, planos,
39:04
Speaker 1: from which we get the word planet, meaning a wanderer.
39:11
Speaker 1: These pretenders to Christ are deadly. They go everywhere in
39:16
Speaker 1: the world, he says. Everywhere the gospel goes, everywhere the
39:21
Speaker 1: truth goes, they go, many deceivers have gone out into
39:24
Speaker 1: the world. World here simply means into the realm of
39:28
Speaker 1: human life. They go everywhere in the world where they
39:32
Speaker 1: can corrupt the gospel, everywhere they can pollute the church.
39:35
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, everywhere the gospel has ever gone, they
39:37
Speaker 1: have gone. Everybody from the Mormons to the Roman Catholic
39:42
Speaker 1: system to the cults and all the bizarre forms of
39:47
Speaker 1: Christianity down to the current signs and wonders and supposed
39:52
Speaker 1: miracle movements and they're everywhere. Everywhere the truth goes, Satan
39:58
Speaker 1: sends them. They preach their other gospel. And so in
40:06
Speaker 1: defining them in verse 7, he says, they are those
40:11
Speaker 1: who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh.
40:14
Speaker 1: This is the deceiver and the antichrist. And I just
40:18
Speaker 1: read you that from 1 John 4, 1 and 2.
40:21
Speaker 1: Whoever denies that Jesus has come in the flesh is
40:23
Speaker 1: an antichrist. Now there are a number of ways to
40:26
Speaker 1: deny the gospel. You could undermine the gospel by denying
40:30
Speaker 1: salvation by faith. You could say Jesus is truly man.
40:33
Speaker 1: You could not deny that He came in the flesh
40:35
Speaker 1: and still undermine the gospel. You could undermine the gospel
40:38
Speaker 1: by denying God is a trinity. You could deny the
40:40
Speaker 1: gospel by denying Jesus was God. You could deny the
40:44
Speaker 1: gospel by denying salvation by faith alone and making up
40:46
Speaker 1: a salvation by works. There are a number of ways
40:51
Speaker 1: you could deny the gospel. I was sitting here in
40:54
Speaker 1: the church, I told you some years ago with the
40:56
Speaker 1: leaders of the religion department of Brigham Young University, the
41:00
Speaker 1: Mormon leaders, the ones who are responsible for all the
41:04
Speaker 1: training of their students at BYU and are responsible for
41:09
Speaker 1: writing books on the Mormon theology. They wanted to meet
41:13
Speaker 1: with me for a day because they had so much
41:15
Speaker 1: in common with me. And so they came. And I
41:19
Speaker 1: enjoyed the discussion very much and my heart went out
41:22
Speaker 1: to these two very fine men. And they said, you know,
41:26
Speaker 1: we use your book, The Gospel According to Jesus, as
41:28
Speaker 1: a textbook at BYU. And I was so stunned, I
41:32
Speaker 1: thought to myself, what did I leave out? I've got
41:35
Speaker 1: to go back and edit that book. Are you kidding?
41:40
Speaker 1: Well they said, we're very, very concerned because there isn't
41:43
Speaker 1: a love for Christ and there isn't a submission to
41:45
Speaker 1: His lordship among our students. And so we found that
41:48
Speaker 1: book helpful. And so that launched our discussion and they said,
41:53
Speaker 1: we just came down to talk to you and ask
41:55
Speaker 1: you if you'd come to BYU and speak to our
41:57
Speaker 1: students and our faculty because we feel like, you know,
42:01
Speaker 1: we have so much in common. And so I wanted
42:04
Speaker 1: to further the discussion to point out that we actually
42:07
Speaker 1: didn't have anything in common. And by the time the
42:09
Speaker 1: discussion was over at the end of the day, I
42:12
Speaker 1: said to them, I think we understand each other better now.
42:15
Speaker 1: You do not believe God is a Trinity, therefore you
42:17
Speaker 1: have another God. You do not believe Jesus is God,
42:20
Speaker 1: therefore you have another Christ. And you do not believe
42:22
Speaker 1: salvation is by grace alone, therefore you have another gospel.
42:25
Speaker 1: We have nothing in common. We have nothing in common.
42:30
Speaker 1: Another God, another Christ, another gospel. Well they said, could
42:35
Speaker 1: we continue to dialogue? And I said, of course. But
42:38
Speaker 1: my purpose is evangelistic. I want to convert you to
42:43
Speaker 1: the truth. And if you want to submit to that,
42:46
Speaker 1: have at it. I'll keep it coming as long as
42:48
Speaker 1: you're interested, and I have. I don't know what to
42:52
Speaker 1: do other than to pray that the scales will come
42:54
Speaker 1: off their eyes and they will see the deception, but
42:57
Speaker 1: one thing I wanted to be certain of when they
43:00
Speaker 1: left is Their Christ was not the Christ of Scripture.
43:04
Speaker 1: Their God was not the God of Scripture, and their
43:06
Speaker 1: gospel was not the gospel of Scripture. They actually said
43:09
Speaker 1: to me, we believe in salvation by grace, by grace.
43:16
Speaker 1: And I said, well, you don't need to kind of
43:18
Speaker 1: describe that for me because I know enough about Mormon
43:20
Speaker 1: theology to know that you've got to work. I said,
43:24
Speaker 1: if I wanted to get to heaven, what would I
43:25
Speaker 1: need to do? What would I need to do? They said,
43:28
Speaker 1: you have to be baptized with some some baptism, some
43:32
Speaker 1: special sort of secretive baptism, join the Mormon church and
43:37
Speaker 1: you have to have a pattern of righteous conduct in
43:40
Speaker 1: your life and then you can be saved. And I said,
43:45
Speaker 1: that sounds an awful lot like salvation by works, not
43:48
Speaker 1: by grace. To which they responded, no, God is gracious
43:52
Speaker 1: enough to let you work your way to heaven. It's
43:58
Speaker 1: hard to win that argument. But if you have a
44:01
Speaker 1: wrong view of God and a wrong view of Christ,
44:03
Speaker 1: if your Christology or your theology or your gospel is distorted,
44:08
Speaker 1: you don't have the truth. And here, in this particular case,
44:13
Speaker 1: there was a heresy confronting these people, John references it
44:17
Speaker 1: also in 1 John, in which there were some denying
44:21
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ coming in the flesh. And so in 1 John,
44:27
Speaker 1: John is very concerned about Christology, about the doctrine of Christ.
44:34
Speaker 1: In chapter 1 verse 3, he identifies Jesus Christ as
44:38
Speaker 1: the Son of God. In chapter 2, he identifies Jesus
44:43
Speaker 1: Christ as an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
44:47
Speaker 1: In chapter 3 verse 23, the name of the Son
44:51
Speaker 1: of God is Jesus Christ and again he affirms that
44:55
Speaker 1: Christ is the Son of God. This is important to him.
45:01
Speaker 1: In chapter 4 verse 15, whoever confesses that Jesus is
45:05
Speaker 1: the Son of God, God abides in him and he
45:08
Speaker 1: in God. Chapter 5 down in verse 13, these things
45:12
Speaker 1: I have written to you who believe in the name
45:13
Speaker 1: of the Son of God in order that you may
45:16
Speaker 1: know that you have eternal life. And verse 20, we
45:20
Speaker 1: know that the Son of God has come. and has
45:22
Speaker 1: given us understanding in order that we might know Him
45:25
Speaker 1: who is true and we are in Him who is true,
45:27
Speaker 1: in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God
45:29
Speaker 1: in eternal life. And so John goes back in each
45:32
Speaker 1: of the chapters of his first epistle to affirm this Christology,
45:37
Speaker 1: even in 2 John, notice verse 3, in this benediction, grace,
45:41
Speaker 1: mercy and peace be with us from God the Father
45:44
Speaker 1: and from Jesus Christ the Son of the Father. You
45:49
Speaker 1: know that someone is of the Spirit of God. when
45:51
Speaker 1: they confess the true Christ as revealed in Scripture, that
45:56
Speaker 1: He is God in the flesh, the God-man, fully divine,
46:03
Speaker 1: fully human. The confession is that the Jehovah of the
46:07
Speaker 1: Old Testament in the person of the Son became incarnate
46:11
Speaker 1: in human flesh as the promised Messiah. Any denial of
46:15
Speaker 1: that is anti-Christ-like. deception. Any denial of that is demonic.
46:22
Speaker 1: Anybody who says Jesus is not God, or anybody who
46:26
Speaker 1: says Jesus is not God in the flesh, anybody who
46:32
Speaker 1: tampers with the biblical Christology is a heretic. This particular heresy,
46:39
Speaker 1: a sort of Corinthian heresy as it's known, has been
46:43
Speaker 1: called docetism, d-o-c-e-t-i-s-m. From the Greek verb dakeo, d-o-k-e-o, dakeo
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Speaker 1: means to seem to appear... to seem to appear. And there
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Speaker 1: was a philosophical idea that the Logos Spirit, the divine
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Speaker 1: Spirit didn't really become a man, He just seemed to
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Speaker 1: appear as a man. He was sort of a phantom Christ,
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Speaker 1: a sort of visionary Christ. It was really an illusion.
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Speaker 1: This was born out of ancient philosophical dualism. In philosophical dualism,
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Speaker 1: the viewpoint was that matter is evil and spirit is good.
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Speaker 1: And the good spirit, the good logos spirit, the divine
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Speaker 1: spirit could never become one with human flesh because it
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Speaker 1: would then become evil since matter is evil and spirit
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Speaker 1: is good. So He simply appeared to be in the
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Speaker 1: flesh but could not take upon flesh. Dualism was a
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Speaker 1: convenient form of antinomianism. It was a convenient way to
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Speaker 1: dispossess yourself of any responsibility for sin because if you
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Speaker 1: believed that, you would say, well, my spirit is good,
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Speaker 1: my body is bad, what am I going to do
47:55
Speaker 1: about my bad body? I can't help it. Don't hold
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Speaker 1: me responsible. My spirit is good, my body is bad,
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Speaker 1: all matter is bad, all that is flesh is bad,
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Speaker 1: nothing I can do about it. And on the basis
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Speaker 1: of that, you could live any way you want without
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Speaker 1: any culpability. Philosophy is always a convenient ploy for sin,
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Speaker 1: you know that. This is a devastating heresy, however, to
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Speaker 1: say that Jesus did not come in the flesh, to
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Speaker 1: say He only appeared to be a man, is to
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Speaker 1: say the Bible lied, is to say He was not
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Speaker 1: truly born of a virgin and born in Bethlehem, is
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Speaker 1: to say He did not live a sinless life, fully
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Speaker 1: God and fully man, is to say that He could
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Speaker 1: not die as a substitute for man because He wasn't man.
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Speaker 1: It is to say that the Son of God was
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Speaker 1: not nailed to a cross, He was only a phantom
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Speaker 1: or an illusion. It is to say then that He
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Speaker 1: could not rise from the dead. It is to undo everything... everything.
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Speaker 1: He had to be God in order to conquer death
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Speaker 1: and sin. He had to be man in order to
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Speaker 1: substitute for the sinner. Any tampering with gospel truth is unacceptable.
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Speaker 1: In this case, calling Jesus humanity an illusion strikes a
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Speaker 1: blow at the heart of the gospel saying Christ is
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Speaker 1: not the God-man, therefore He cannot be the substitute for sinners.
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Speaker 1: Anybody who comes up with this or any other deviation
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Speaker 1: from the gospel, verse 7 says, this is the deceiver
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Speaker 1: and the antichrist. Deceiver in relation to man, antichrist in
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Speaker 1: relation to the Lord. Again, 1 John chapter 2, you
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Speaker 1: do remember 1 John chapter 2 has so much to
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Speaker 1: say about this. Verse 18, it is the last hour,
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Speaker 1: just as you heard that Antichrist is coming, even now
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Speaker 1: many Antichrists have arisen. They're all over the place. Antichrists
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Speaker 1: are everywhere. Verse 22 again, who is the liar but
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Speaker 1: the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This
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Speaker 1: is the Antichrist, the one who denies the Father and
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Speaker 1: the Son. Whoever denies the Son doesn't have the Father.
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Speaker 1: The one who confesses the Son has the Father also.
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Speaker 1: Verse 26 he says, I'm writing these things to you
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Speaker 1: concerning those who are trying to deceive you. What they
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Speaker 1: said was that others said that the Spirit, the Christ
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Speaker 1: Spirit came down for a little while and settled on
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Speaker 1: the man Jesus, maybe from His baptism to His cross,
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Speaker 1: and then left to go away. But never did God
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Speaker 1: become flesh. And so, in a sense, the false teachers
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Speaker 1: have just flatly denied the faith. And then they've gone
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Speaker 1: on to deceive the faithful. And so John is saying here, look,
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Speaker 1: verse 8, watch yourselves. You cannot love indiscriminately. You cannot
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Speaker 1: embrace everybody in the name of Christ. When I was
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Speaker 1: on the television with Larry King, that priest kept saying,
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Speaker 1: my Jesus loves everybody. I love everybody. Then you're a
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Speaker 1: part of antichrist. You can't love like that. That is
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Speaker 1: not the love of Christ. It is not indiscriminate. Watch yourselves. Blepite,
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Speaker 1: watch out for yourselves. You have to protect yourself and
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Speaker 1: the church, be vigilant, suspicious, discerning, on guard because what
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Speaker 1: is at stake is so important. You, he says, watch
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Speaker 1: yourselves that you might not lose what we've accomplished. You're
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Speaker 1: going to go spiritually backward. You're going to go in reverse.
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Speaker 1: It's like Galatians, having begun in the spirit, are you
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Speaker 1: now perfected by the flesh? You started so well, who
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Speaker 1: has confused you? You get sucked up in all of
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Speaker 1: this and you go the wrong direction. Second Corinthians chapter
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Speaker 1: 11 verse 2, I'm jealous for you with a godly jealousy.
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Speaker 1: I betrothed you to one husband. that to Christ I
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Speaker 1: might present you as a pure virgin. Look, I brought
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Speaker 1: you to Christ and when you finally meet Him, I
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Speaker 1: want you to arrive as a pure virgin, not having
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Speaker 1: committed adultery with some others. But I'm afraid, verse 3,
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Speaker 1: lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your
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Speaker 1: minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity
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Speaker 1: of devotion to Christ. I'm worried about you. You started
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Speaker 1: well but you're being led astray if one comes and
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Speaker 1: preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached. Or you
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Speaker 1: receive a different spirit which you've not received and a
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Speaker 1: different gospel which you've not accepted. You seem to bear
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Speaker 1: this beautifully. You just roll over. I am worried about you.
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Speaker 1: This isn't a popular thing to say and I'm accused
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Speaker 1: all the time of being unloving. narrow-minded, belligerent. When it
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Speaker 1: comes to the truth, I'm all of those things and more.
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Speaker 1: What else can I be? My guardianship is a stewardship
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Speaker 1: given to me by God. I look at the church
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Speaker 1: today and I remember the legacy of the faithful teaching
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Speaker 1: of the true gospel that has been passed down purely
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Speaker 1: by its protectors and its preachers through the centuries at
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Speaker 1: great cost of time, energy, devotion, study, meditation, discussion, sacrifice
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Speaker 1: and even death. And knowing the great heritage, the preservation
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Speaker 1: of the gospel is extremely painful to me to watch self-styled, proud,
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Speaker 1: false teachers for the sake of money and self-promotion corrupt
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Speaker 1: the glorious message of the gospel and lead so-called Christians
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Speaker 1: into deception and then get angry at anybody who wants
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Speaker 1: to hold them to the test of the truth. Let
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Speaker 1: them be angry all they want. That changes absolutely nothing... nothing.
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Speaker 1: I stand where John stood. John had labored in this
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Speaker 1: lady's life and knew of the faith of her children
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Speaker 1: and wanted to see the full fruit of that labor.
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Speaker 1: And so he says in verse 8, I'm afraid that
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Speaker 1: if you don't start being vigilant about who you love
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Speaker 1: and who you let in your house and who you
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Speaker 1: expose yourself to, that you might lose what we labored
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Speaker 1: so hard to accomplish. You're going to go in reverse
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Speaker 1: and you're going to undo what's been done in terms
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Speaker 1: of your spiritual development. And not only that, I'm concerned
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Speaker 1: that you may receive a full reward. If you start
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Speaker 1: going in reverse, you're not only going to lose here,
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Speaker 1: but you're going to forfeit your eternal reward. You're going
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Speaker 1: to lessen the reward. It's as if God's going to
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Speaker 1: take away what He's already planned to give you. You
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Speaker 1: were going so well, who led you astray? I espoused
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Speaker 1: you to Christ and now you suck up anything and
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Speaker 1: you roll over and receive it beautifully. Another gospel, another spirit,
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Speaker 1: another Jesus. John had labored in this lady's life. He
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Speaker 1: wanted to see the full fruit of that labor. He
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Speaker 1: wanted to see the truth in her life advancing in
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Speaker 1: her and her children and everybody they influenced and the church.
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Speaker 1: And so He put limits on her love. And then
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Speaker 1: He wanted her to receive a full reward, the full mistas, pay,
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Speaker 1: the full wages of service to Christ. There's so much
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Speaker 1: in the Bible about our eternal reward all over Scripture.
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Speaker 1: The warning is that if you're not loyal to the truth,
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Speaker 1: you'll undo the work of God in your life in
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Speaker 1: some ways and the work of faithful pastors and shepherds.
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Speaker 1: Not only that, you will forfeit the complete eternal reward
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Speaker 1: that you're on the way to receiving So there's a
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Speaker 1: high price to pay in time, going backwards spiritually, and
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Speaker 1: a high price to pay in eternity, forfeiting your eternal reward.
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Speaker 1: In Colossians 2.18, Paul accuses false teachers of defrauding you
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Speaker 1: of your prize. What a statement, defrauding you of your prize.
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Speaker 1: I don't want anything to do with false teachers. I
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Speaker 1: don't want them undoing the work God has done. I
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Speaker 1: don't want them tampering with the sanctifying process. I want
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Speaker 1: to continue to grow in grace and in the knowledge
56:31
Speaker 1: of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And I also
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Speaker 1: don't want to give up what God has prepared to
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Speaker 1: give to me. From the Lord, Colossians 3.24, you'll receive
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Speaker 1: the reward of the inheritance. I want to receive the
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Speaker 1: full reward of inheritance for faithfulness. I cannot then love
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Speaker 1: those who are deceivers. I cannot love those who are antichrists.
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Speaker 1: no matter how they demand that I do that. And
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Speaker 1: that has been the big cry of the false teachers
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Speaker 1: for the last twenty years. You have to love us,
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Speaker 1: the church has to be marked by love, we need
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Speaker 1: to love everybody, and this inscriminate love has just literally
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Speaker 1: sucked them in on a sort of evangelical welcome wagon
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Speaker 1: to embrace them in the church. They will always demand
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Speaker 1: to be loved. If you hear somebody demanding that you
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Speaker 1: love them and not that you Examine them, write it down,
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Speaker 1: you're probably dealing with a false prophet. If somebody comes
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Speaker 1: along and says, you have no right to condemn what
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Speaker 1: I teach, you have no right to touch the anointed,
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Speaker 1: you have no right to criticize me or disagree with me,
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Speaker 1: you're called to love me, mark it down, it's a
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Speaker 1: false teacher. Psalm 119, 104, from thy precepts I get understanding.
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Speaker 1: Therefore I hate every false way. From Thy precepts I
57:55
Speaker 1: get understanding, therefore I hate every false way. It's impossible
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Speaker 1: not to if you understand the truth. Verse 128, I
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Speaker 1: esteem right all Your precepts concerning everything. I take the
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Speaker 1: Bible at face value, I hate every false way. And
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Speaker 1: he repeats it again. If you love the truth, you
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Speaker 1: hate every false way. And this is part of that zeal,
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Speaker 1: that love-hate attitude. Psalm 139.21,' Do not I hate those
58:30
Speaker 1: who hate Thee, O Lord? And do I not loathe
58:33
Speaker 1: those who rise up against Thee? I hate them with
58:35
Speaker 1: the utmost hatred, they have become My enemies.' And so
58:41
Speaker 1: is the call to be loyal to the truth. We
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Speaker 1: cannot love the false teachers in the Christian church. We
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Speaker 1: can have more tolerance for Jews and Muslims and Buddhists
58:52
Speaker 1: and Hindus than apostate, heretical, so-called Christian teachers. So we
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Speaker 1: live in the truth, we love in the truth, we're
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Speaker 1: loyal to the truth, and that limits our love. And
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Speaker 1: the issue is always is the truth. This is so
59:08
Speaker 1: important in a day when preaching in churches is contentless,
59:12
Speaker 1: theologically infantile, insipid, void of profound truth, built on shallow,
59:18
Speaker 1: worldly music, never deeper than the surface. Christian doctrine is
59:23
Speaker 1: not taken seriously or even known by churchgoers. It's often
59:27
Speaker 1: mocked and resented. It is relentlessly assaulted by false teachers
59:32
Speaker 1: so that disinterest and ignorance prevail in the church. Many
59:35
Speaker 1: cannot explain what they believe. They've swapped popularity for theology.
59:41
Speaker 1: And without the truth as a foundation, the church cannot
59:43
Speaker 1: protect itself. It is infiltrated by all the false teachers
59:48
Speaker 1: who are stealing the eternal reward of true believers and
59:51
Speaker 1: sending them in a reverse direction. They're having a field
59:55
Speaker 1: day today. Church members become increasingly content with ignorance and
1:00:00
Speaker 1: emotional experience. Unable to discern error, casual about bad theology,
1:00:06
Speaker 1: the truth is lost in the name of tolerance and love,
1:00:09
Speaker 1: trying to be relevant, the church becomes absolutely irrelevant. Conviction
1:00:13
Speaker 1: disappears and with it courage is gone and credibility is
1:00:16
Speaker 1: out the window. Os Guinness in his book says, so-called
1:00:20
Speaker 1: believers become kissing Judases who pretend to embrace Jesus even
1:00:24
Speaker 1: as they betray Him. He's quoting Kierkegaard, the philosopher of
1:00:28
Speaker 1: all people. And so we have to be loyal to
1:00:33
Speaker 1: the truth. The truth moves ahead only in the hands
1:00:35
Speaker 1: of those who passionately hate error. Well, I've said enough.
1:00:42
Speaker 1: Let's pray. Father, this has been such an important thing
1:00:45
Speaker 1: in my own heart to discharge this message tonight. Thank
1:00:48
Speaker 1: You for helping me to do that and seal it
1:00:51
Speaker 1: to all our hearts, we pray in Your Son's name. Amen.
1:00:56
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