"Words of Life" by Hiram Kemp - Part 12

All right, if you have your Bible, go ahead and turn it to 2 John, 2 John.

And that's where we'll be tonight.

The next two classes, we'll look at 2 and 3 John, these two one-chapter letters.

And they're, basically, they're rolling their feet in the New Testament with the rest of

what John has had to say about what Christianity looks like and how we're supposed to go about

living out our Christian faith.

Before we start tonight, I just want to say something in connection with John's writings

and how John's writings are perceived with how we do this sometimes with other people's

teaching.

Sometimes, a person teaches, and they get known for a certain teaching or a certain

kind of teaching, and we typically only zero in and focus on that one aspect.

So for example, with Jesus, there's a lot of people, they only focus in on the Sermon

on the Mount.

When they think about Jesus' preaching and teaching, their primary mode of emphasis is

always maybe taking the Beatitudes or some teaching they heard from Jesus, and that's

pretty much what they run with.

When they think about Jesus Christ and his preaching, they typically think about the

positive aspects of the Beatitudes and the blessed life.

Or maybe with, like, more modern figures.

Maybe you know the person up there on the left, Joel Osteen.

He's a televangelist, a TV preacher out in Houston worth $100 million, and he's publicly

professed he doesn't really preach anything negative.

He doesn't preach anything against sin.

Nope, he's not in the business of condemning.

Just a watered-down, unbiblical approach to Christianity.

And when you think about Joel, that's what you think about.

I mean, that's what he's presented himself as.

That's the content of his material.

And then the man on the right is a man named Jonathan Edwards, and in 1741, he preached

a sermon called Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

And it was a life-changing sermon for a lot of people during the Great Awakening.

People were fainting as he was preaching this sermon.

Don't faint tonight.

We can't help you if you do.

But people were fainting, and he's become known for that one sermon.

If you read other writings from Jonathan Edwards, though, he had more to him than just

this hellfire and brimstone, turn and burn-type preaching, but he's just kind of become known

for that one sermon.

In most circles, you say Jonathan Edwards, that sermon he preached in 1741 is what he's

known for.

I'm bringing all that up because when you think about John and his writing, maybe you

kind of have that same idea.

You think about what you know about John and maybe what you've read in books like The Gospel

of John and in 1 John.

And in those books, what's John's main theme?

What is one of the things he keeps coming back to?

We saw it in 1 John, especially.

What's one of his major concepts?

Love.

Yes.

Yeah, John keeps coming back to love.

And maybe in your mind, when you think about John the Apostle, you think about love and

peace and those kind of ideas, but it'd be a wrong idea to pigeonhole John like some

people do with Jesus or maybe Jonathan Edwards and other people because John wrote The Gospel

of John, he wrote 1 John, he wrote 2 and 3 John, and he wrote the book of Revelation.

Several different genres, from biography to epistle to apocalyptic language.

And John could say some things about love, but he also could hit very direct.

And I think you're going to see that tonight.

And if you're unfamiliar with 2 John, you might be challenged by some of the things

John says as you get near the end of this book, especially if you just have in your

mind a one-track mind on the kind of preacher that John was.

So as you think about 2 John, just keep in mind, it's the same John that's written these

other books in our New Testament, different genre, but the same gospel.

What are the differences then between 1 and 2 John?

1 John's five chapters, yes, John does deal with false teachers.

But more than that, in 1 John, his idea is, I want you to make sure you maintain your

joy and realize you have eternal life.

In 1 John 1 and verse 4, he says, we write so that you may have your joy full.

We write so that you might have your joy complete.

And then in chapter 5 and verse 13, in 1 John, he says, we're writing these things so that

you may know that you have eternal life.

In 2 John, John's main idea is the false teachers I warned you about in the first letter, make

sure they don't make their way into the church.

And if you encounter these people that teach religious error, John has some specific things

to say about what our response is supposed to be that he didn't mention in the first

letter.

What you'll see as you study 2 John, it's only 13 verses, second shortest book in the

New Testament, only to the book of 3 John, or really to the book of, no, 2 John is the

shortest, 3 John is in third, and then there's Philemon.

But in this book, what you'll see is, John has a deep love for this congregation and

what he's saying to them and his concern about them, and their need to be deeply invested

in truth and our need to do the same thing.

So tonight, let's just look at what John had to say to this congregation, to these people,

and what it has to say to us in relation to how we should be responding to the truth that

we find in the New Testament.

All right, 2 John, let's start with number 1, verses 1 through 3.

This is the foundational facts John gives us about truth.

He says,

Okay, so first thing, John identifies himself.

In verse 1, John calls himself what?

The elder.

The elder.

Okay, in the New Testament, elder can mean several things.

Sometimes, this word elder, presbuteros, it can mean what?

When you see elder, what do you typically think about?

How do we typically use the term?

Shepherds, the office of the eldership, and it's normally used that way in a plural form

talking about the elders.

Peter does this in 1 Peter 5 and verse 1, he says,

The elders which are among you, I exhort, or I encourage.

So sometimes, he's talking about the elders, the pastors, the shepherds of this congregation

or congregations in the New Testament.

What's another way, though, that the term elder is used throughout the New Testament?

Shepherds, but what else?

Older individuals, just referring to age, and here with John, I believe that's the use.

Though John could have been an elder, the term is never used this way in the singular

for one person as a title, the elder.

Nobody ever uses it that way, so I think John's zooming out as a respected member of the Church

of Jesus Christ as an apostle, at this point, probably the last living apostle, and he's

calling himself the elder, and those references up there are where this term is also used

in that same way.

In 1 Timothy 5, 1 and 2, for example, Paul says, I want you to treat the older men, the

elders, like your fathers, and in 1 Peter 5 and verse 5, same thing.

So John starts, he says, the elder, which is just talking about himself in a way that

designates his age, and then he says to the elect lady, who I love in the truth, and not

only I, but also all those who know the truth.

The elect lady and her children, who do you think that is?

Yes, this is a term used for the Lord's people for a congregation.

The elect lady deals with the congregation as a whole, and her children deals with the

members, and John's gonna do this same thing at the end of the book.

If you look at verse 13, the children of your elect sister greet you.

So the idea of being elect, or a special group of people, is also used throughout the New

Testament, always for the group.

Ephesians 1 and verse 4, Paul says, God chose us in him, in love, before the foundation

of the world.

And then in Romans 8, 29 through 30, he talks about those who God foreknew, and those individuals

that are called, and those individuals that are predestined and chosen.

I'm saying that to say, John sets this letter up.

This is John, an old man, writing to a congregation, who he refers to as the chosen or elect lady,

and to all of her children, and here's what John's excited about.

John writes to them because he says, you love the truth, and he says, I'll write to you

who I love in truth, and not only I, but also all those who know the truth, because the

truth that abides in us and will be with us forever.

So truth is the major idea that runs through 2 John, and John says he loves these individuals

in the truth, and then he says, not only him, but all those who know the truth.

John's going to say some things about false teachers.

If you just drop down to verse 7, he'll talk about the antichrists and false teachers,

like he's done in other books, but more direct in 2 John.

But before he does that, he wants to talk to them about the individuals that are on

their team and on their side, who know and love the truth.

That's the beautiful thing about Christianity.

In the end, Christianity says, you and I are tied together, regardless of our differences,

regardless of our backgrounds, because of one central reality, and the central reality

the New Testament describes that as is because of the truth.

In Psalm 133 in verse 1, David says, behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers

to dwell together in unity.

What unites Christians is our love for the truth, and we'll talk more about what the

truth involves in a minute, but he says, to all those who love the truth, and not only

I, but also those who know the truth.

Here's a question.

How do you know whether somebody loves the truth?

Because John says, hey, I love you in truth, and I'm sending you greetings, but not only

me, but everybody else who loves the truth.

John's going to talk about people who don't love it, and false teachers who've gone astray,

but how would you be able to determine if somebody loves the truth?

I'm talking about biblical New Testament truth.

How do you know if somebody's in that number of those in verse 1 that he says, who I love

in truth, and not only me, but also those who know the truth?

How would you know if somebody loves the truth?

By their behavior.

You have to practice the truth.

If they practice it, John 8, 32, Jesus says, you'll know the truth, and the truth, it'll

liberate you.

It'll set you free.

Okay, if you practice the truth, somebody had a hand up over here, I think.

Joke, if you share it.

You've got to practice it, and then you've got to preach it, proclaim it, say something

about it.

Ephesians 4, 15, Paul says, but speaking the truth in love.

So if you practice it, and if you share it, then you're a person that loves the truth.

What else?

What else?

If you love truth, how will we know you love truth?

If you preach it, and teach it to other people, if you share it, what else?

If you have a heart that seeks it.

Yeah.

Proverbs 23, 23, Solomon says, buy the truth, and do not sell it, and also wisdom, and understanding,

and instruction.

Are you a person that wants truth wherever you can find it, and willing to be corrected

by it, and reproved by it when you don't line up?

Anybody else?

Here's another one, and John's going to touch on this.

You know you love the truth if you hate and oppose error.

You can't be for the truth and for error at the same time.

People that love the truth are in opposition to that which is false, and that's what John's

going to warn about.

Look at verse 2.

He says, because of the truth that abides with us forever, and will be with us forever.

In what sense will the truth of the Bible, or in what sense will the truth be with us

forever?

What do you think John means when he says, I love you in truth?

He's just doubling down.

If you're writing your Bible, you might want to underline all these times John mentions

or highlight all these times he mentions truth.

He loves them in truth.

There are others who know the truth.

Then he says, because of the truth that's going to be with us forever.

And what sense is truth going to be with us forever, and what does that mean for us?

What was that?

Jesus is the truth, Kim.

I think that's right.

John could be talking about the doctrine, and that would be true.

That comes from Jesus, but I think he's talking about Jesus himself, the embodiment of truth.

What did Jesus say in John 14 in verse 6?

I'm the way and the life.

These false teachers have some different ideas about Jesus, but John's going to say the reality,

the ultimate truth, is going to be with us forever.

Chuck, you have something?

That's right.

That's right.

And it'll remain.

This idea of remain and abide is a piece of John's theme throughout his writings.

In John 15, 1 through 8, you see it in 1 John.

John highlights it in chapter 2, verse 6, and chapter 2 in verse 14.

If you abide and remain in the truth.

But when John says, hey, the truth's going to be with us forever, that means two things

practical for you and me.

Number one, if the truth is going to be with us forever, John said this in the first century.

Here's what that means.

The truth, as far as Christianity is concerned, has always been here.

So today, when you start studying the Bible, you pick up a devotional book, you see somebody

talking about Jesus on YouTube, on TikTok.

The truth's going to be with us forever.

That means in Christianity, if it's new, it isn't true.

And if it's true, it isn't new.

It's at least 2,000 years old, because truth's always been here.

Nobody's discovering and finding out new truth.

If it's true, it's not new.

John said it was going to be here.

If you flip two pages in your Bible, maybe you'll get to Jude in the New Testament.

And Jude 3, Jude says, contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered

to the saints.

So truth is going to be with us forever.

It's not new.

So if somebody comes up with something that they think is brand new, you just go back

to 2 John 2 and verse 2, and he says, truth's always going to be here.

But here's the second thing about truth being with us forever.

John says it's going to always be here, the truth about Jesus.

That also means there are always going to be people that want the truth.

Don't ever think to yourself, well, nobody else is interested in the truth.

Truth isn't going anywhere.

Whether you and I receive it is up to us, but truth is here to stay, and it's only going

to be dependent on us whether or not we're going to properly respond to it and let it

shape our lives.

But people will always be able to receive it, and the good news is people will always

be able to understand it, and they always can.

This idea that, hey, nobody knows the truth, I was talking to somebody recently, and this

person was saying about Bible interpretation and Bible study, and maybe you've heard people

say this.

You know, everybody's got their own opinion, Hiram.

You really can't, like, nobody can say for sure.

We're all just kind of doing the best we can, and maybe we get some parts right, and then

other people get some parts right, and truth is just kind of relative.

We're just kind of hoping for the best at the end of the day.

John says, no, the truth will be with us forever, and you can digest it, you can comprehend

it, and you can know it.

That was deeply important for John's audience because false teachers were coming along,

and they were saying they had a new truth, and the only way to get it was through them.

Look at Ephesians chapter 3.

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

Hold your hand in second, John.

Go to Ephesians 3.

Ephesians 3, and look at verses 3 through 5.

Paul in this passage is talking about how he received divine revelation.

I would say this passage in Ephesians 3 is true for the entirety of the New Testament,

by the way.

Paul's talking about the revealed process of truth to him.

So in Ephesians 3, in verse 3, he says, how by revelation was made known to me the mystery.

I wrote it down in a few words, whereby when you read, you might understand my knowledge,

which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as is now revealed to his

holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.

Paul received it by revelation.

Paul wrote it down.

Paul said, when you read, you can do what?

Read it, would you say?

She didn't say it.

She mouthed it.

I just took it out.

Yeah, understand.

Yeah, you can understand.

You can know the truth.

That's always going to be true.

And that goes back to second John.

Truth is going to be with us forever, and you can always know it.

And then look at verse 3 in second John.

He says, grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ,

the Father's Son, in truth and in love.

Let me just say something about Bible reading and how we ought to approach books of the

New Testament, especially.

When you get to the letters, this is true about the whole Bible, but when you get to

Romans through Revelation, here's something to keep in mind.

It's tempting to sprint past the introduction and to rush past the conclusion.

That's typically, though, the heart of these messages.

Normally, these authors of the New Testament, not always, but they will bookend ideas.

They'll say something at the front and something at the back, and the stuff in the middle hold

it together.

Don't just sprint past that.

You might want to do that with verse 3.

Grace, mercy, and peace, Paul says that a lot.

But he says grace, mercy, and peace here will be with us from who?

From God the Father and Jesus Christ, the Father's Son.

It's going to be tempting when John starts saying some things later to say, well, maybe,

John, that's just your opinion.

And when we start in maybe 10 or 15 minutes pressing some of those truths to our own personal

lives and what this means, even about people we might know and love that differ with us

religiously, it'll be tempting for people to say, maybe for you to even say, I'm not

doing that.

That doesn't apply to me.

That's what you think.

I don't think it works.

See, John starts off by saying, wait a minute.

This actually comes from God, and if you resist this, you're resisting the grace, mercy, and

peace that comes from God the Father and Jesus Christ, His Son.

And then at the end of verse 3, he says, in truth and in love, which is John's way of

basically saying, if you want grace, mercy, and peace, then you've got to stay in what?

God's truth and God's love.

Would you agree with this?

There's a sense in which God's grace, mercy, and peace is universal for everybody, and

there's also a sense in which God's grace, mercy, and peace to a certain extent is only

for Christians.

Is that true or false?

True or false?

There are only two options.

Y'all are looking at me.

There's not a third.

Yeah.

Is that true or false?

It's available.

What sense is God's grace, mercy, and peace universal for everybody, and what sense is

it for everybody?

Let's deal with that first.

It's been given.

It's available, yes.

He loves everybody.

What else?

Anybody else?

Okay, so yeah, God's grace, mercy, and peace is available for everybody.

It's extended to everybody, but what is John saying specifically here at the end of verse

3 about this in truth and love?

The only people that truly experience it and reap the benefits are those that do what?

Accept it and hold to it in truth and in love.

If you want God's grace, mercy, and peace, you've got to be in the truth, and I think

this is important because sometimes we think to ourselves, okay, well, this person wasn't

right with the Lord, but maybe, you know, afterlife somehow, God's going to extend what

to them?

Grace.

Grace and?

Where is that though?

That's only in Christ.

It's only in Christ to receive God's grace, mercy, and peace.

And religious groups and systems, we've come up with all sorts of ways to put God's grace

and mercy outside of the bounds of where the New Testament puts it.

Hey, maybe when you die, you go to purgatory and you get a second chance.

The Bible doesn't say that.

Maybe somebody could be baptized on behalf of you.

Some groups teach this.

When you die, be baptized on behalf of the dead.

The Bible doesn't teach that.

God's grace, mercy, and peace that he's extending to humanity exist in this life for us to respond

to it in truth and in love so that we can enjoy the benefits.

Mike, go ahead.

It's endless.

Grace, mercy, like you say, Paul mentions this to Timothy and Titus.

Sometimes we look at it together, but actually it's something that involves one or the other.

Grace of God brings mercy, peace with God.

That's right.

Yeah.

And Paul does this in Romans 5, 1 and 2.

Paul does this whole breaking down, right?

We're justified by grace.

We stand in this faith and we have peace with God, the father.

So that's exactly right.

There is this sort of, I guess you can call it this stair stepping of ideas that they

are all strung together.

After John lays the foundation for truth though, he talks about walking in truth and love.

So he has this introduction.

Now let's read verses four through six.

He says, I rejoice greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth just as

we were commanded by the father.

And now I ask you, dear lady, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but

one we have from the beginning that we love one another.

And this is love that we walk according to his commandments.

And this is the commandment just as you have heard from the beginning.

So you should walk in it.

What does that sound like?

Before I even click a slide, what does second John four through six sound like?

Hasn't changed.

What was somebody going to say?

Sounds a lot like first John to me.

Sounds a lot like what John has already been saying about loving one another.

Maybe that's what Kevin's talking about.

This hasn't changed.

Second John says in verse four, I greatly, I rejoice greatly to find some of your children

doing what?

Walking in the truth.

In the Bible, what does it mean to walk in something?

You see this a lot in scripture.

So it goes all the way back to the first book of the Bible.

Genesis 5, 24, Enoch's the first person.

It says, in Enoch, walk with God.

And then you get to the next chapter, Genesis six and verse nine, Noah walked with God and

was righteous in his generation.

And this is 17 in verse one, Abraham's told walk before God and be blameless or perfect

and complete.

When the Bible talks about somebody walking in something, what does that normally mean?

Their lifestyle Levi to live according to something following the rules.

In this case, John says, I'm happy to find some of your children walking in the truth

just as we were commanded by the father.

How do you walk in the truth?

You practice it.

You do exactly what God wants you to do.

Ephesians five and verse one is another one of these passages.

Paul says, walk as children of light, behave like God's people, but maybe something you

miss in verse four.

If you go over it quickly, John says, I rejoice greatly to find what some, what does that

mean?

Everybody wasn't on board.

Everybody wasn't.

John says, I rejoice greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth.

Who are the children, by the way, in this passage and second, John, who are the children?

What is this representative of members of the church?

Okay.

I know people put this on cards when people graduate and that's great for your children,

but that's not what John's talking about here, though it applies here.

John's talking about members of the congregation.

He writes this letter to the elect lady, this congregation may be in Ephesus and he says,

Hey, I'm glad some of the members there are walking in the truth.

What does that mean?

Some of the others were doing it.

How did it happen to him?

Some of the others has started walking according to what false teaching.

Maybe the false teachers John warned about in first John had infiltrated the ranks.

If you go back to first John, look at first John two, 18 and 19, somebody read that first

John two, 18 and 19 quickly.

All right, so here in first John, John says, Hey, they're false teachers that have gone

out.

By the time you get to second John, John says, Hey, I'm glad that some of you are walking

in the truth, but not everybody is.

So here's my question.

How does this happen?

You can think about this from several vantage points and answer it however you want within

the room of what we're talking about, right?

How does it happen that certain people in a congregation here in the same sermon read

the same first John, same gospel of John, Paul's letters.

How do some people hear the very same thing in a congregation?

Sometimes this happens in a home, in a family with children.

What would be the reasons that people could all hear the same thing and everybody doesn't

get on board, but you have some walking according to the truth and some not.

How does that happen?

We like to do our things our own way.

We want to be free agents.

God has made us free will agents and free moral individuals.

And so sometimes we just, we want to do our own thing.

When Samuel approached Saul in first Samuel 15, he says, Hey, why didn't you do the sacrifice

when I came?

Why did you wait?

Saul says the people scattered and I forced myself, Saul just wanted to do what Saul wanted

to do.

And sometimes we're like that.

What else?

Why do some people hear the same thing and respond differently?

Why does John say some, wouldn't it be great if John would have said, I rejoice that all

my children, every member of this congregation is walking according to the truth.

Why doesn't that happen?

Sometimes we want to do our own thing.

What else?

Sometimes we don't like what we hear.

Sometimes we don't like the truth.

We think if I don't like it, then I'm not going to do what I'm not going to comply with

it.

I'll just do my own thing.

Any other reasons?

Just don't spend enough time.

Okay.

Yeah.

Maybe we're ignorant.

We don't know the truth.

And so we go along with whatever sounds nice.

Joey, sometimes it's outside influences.

And John says these individuals went out and he's going to talk about influence towards

the end of this book.

And it's going to be important for us to see what he means.

But sometimes it's outside influences, Kim.

Yeah.

Some people only want positivity.

They don't want to do the hard things.

All that we've said is true and it's important because sometimes when things don't go our

way and when people in a congregation or in a family don't do right, we might think it's

a lot of things, but John's writing in the first century and he's saying some of these

people aren't walking, walking according to the truth.

John seems to know this church well as possible.

He preached here, had a great influence on them.

And not all of these folks are walking according to the truth.

And that's not always the fault of the church or the parents or individuals that were involved

in their life.

Sometimes it's because of our own hearts.

Jesus told the parable in Luke eight and the parable of the soils.

You remember that?

And he talks about these different heart conditions.

The good news about Luke eight though, is your heart condition can change.

You can go from thorny or rocky soil to the good soil or the good ground.

But some people hear the same message and it doesn't change them.

Some obey and some don't because of heart conditions.

Sometimes it is free will.

Jesus says, whoever wills, let them come.

Revelation 22, 17.

And then sometimes it's just people wanting to do their own thing.

Like Tom said, and like Kim mentioned, Jesus had 12 disciples.

What kind of leader do you think Jesus was?

This is easy.

Say the best.

Yeah, the best.

That's right.

And he says, hey, I've chosen you 12.

And one of you is a devil, John six and verse 70.

Why did Judas go astray?

You could say prophecy, that would be partially true.

But at the heart of it, you know why Judas went astray?

It's simple.

He wanted to.

He wanted to.

He had the best teacher.

He had the best example.

He couldn't say, hey, I saw this hypocrisy.

Not in his teacher, not in his mentor.

He chose to.

Sometimes that's what people do.

And so John says, I'm rejoicing greatly that some of your children are walking according

to the truth.

And the reality is, kudos to those that continue.

They didn't go along with the crowd.

And then he repeats this command in verse five.

Now I ask you, dear lady, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but one

we have from the beginning that we love one another.

This is love that we walk according to his commandments.

This is the commandment.

Just as you heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.

Okay.

You've heard this a bunch.

Love one another.

First John, first John two, seven through 11, John 13, John 15.

What else can we say about loving one another?

Probably not much.

So here's my question.

Why does John keep saying this?

Okay.

Yeah.

So you can be a billboard to the world.

If you love other people, God says, this is a primary way by this.

All people are going to know you're my disciples.

For sure.

So Jesus says, do it.

Everybody's going to know you're my disciple.

If you love one another, John 13, 34 and 35.

But John told me that in John 13, 34 and 35, then he said it in John 15, 12, and then in

John 15, 17, and then in first John two, seven through 11, and then in first John four, seven

and eight.

First John four, 19 through 21 is still begging the question.

Why?

What was that?

He thought it was important.

It's hard.

Pause.

We're going to come back to that.

Kim, go ahead.

Yeah.

So that's the next question.

What makes loving one another hard?

Tell the truth.

We talked about truth.

Don't lie.

Okay.

What makes loving one another hard?

Because the Bible keeps commanding this.

Love one another.

Love one another.

I'm not writing you anything new.

Love each other.

What makes this challenging?

People are people.

It's challenging because of humanity.

People are people, and guess what?

You be the people, too.

It's not just other people.

It's also you.

We sometimes think everybody's difficult.

Well, guess what?

You're difficult, and so am I.

So yeah, one of the reasons why is because people are challenging.

What else?

What did you say, Tom?

Sorry.

People be forgetting.

This is another...

No, I'm joking.

Okay.

So sometimes it's hard because people are people.

Why else?

Love takes sacrifice.

Who do we want to put first?

We typically want to put ourselves first, and this is why Jesus says a new commandment.

Well, the Old Testament's filled with commands to love God, love neighbor, Deuteronomy 6,

4, and 5, Leviticus 19, 18.

What's new about Jesus' way?

What's new about Jesus' way is nobody had ever shown sacrificial love to that degree,

and we need to be reminded that's our ultimate example.

It's hard.

People are complicated.

Love involves sacrifice.

What else challenges us to love one another like the New Testament says?

I think it's because we fail to see the New Testament is telling us to love each other,

and as much as it should be reciprocal, we're commanded to love other people even when it's

not.

Everything God commands you to do, you can do even if nobody else in the world cooperates

with you.

When everybody else cooperates, it's great.

When your spouse cooperates, your kids, your neighbors, your coworkers, it's great.

But there's not anything in the Bible that God commands you that you have to have cooperation

with other people to carry out.

And so when other people aren't loving, the Bible still tells you to love.

Well, they don't love me.

Even if they're an enemy, God covers all the bases.

You got to love them.

And we're tempted to stop short because people aren't responding to us the way we want.

It's not being reciprocated.

But the New Testament presses us and says, even in the face of all of that, you still

have to do what God wants you to do.

And that's true about every one of us in every realm of life.

Nobody's going to be able to stand before God and say, God, you know, I really would

have.

But they did.

And you and I should be glad that it's that way, that what God wants from me, I love it

when you cooperate with me.

But it's really not tied to what you do.

No matter what you do, how you respond or fail to, I can please God.

And so John's saying love one another.

You might be hearing that and thinking, yeah, somebody ought to love me.

That's the wrong way to read this.

You need to be thinking, OK, who can I must I love as a result?

I think John says this a lot because a lot of what John deals with is false teaching.

And I think it's tempting when you deal with false teaching a lot to become hardened and

everything.

You're like a hammer and everything's a nail.

You just kind of get ultra conservative, ultra sensitive.

And we got to make sure we don't let any false teaching in.

And John said in the midst of all of that, don't forget to love like God wants you to

love one another.

It's not a new commandment.

It's an old one.

And then in verse six, he says, this is the love that we walk according to his commandments.

And this is the commandment, just as you heard from the beginning.

So you should walk in it.

This is important.

Kevin said there's nothing new.

That's right.

Sometimes in our Christianity, we want to go deeper.

We should go deeper, but we also shouldn't leave these elementary principles behind.

John keeps saying, I told you this already.

I told you this from the beginning.

Do you remember what you were taught when you were baptized into Jesus Christ for the

forgiveness of sins?

You must never graduate from that.

You might go deeper and learn more things, but you always have got to be bringing those

basic principles with you.

I'm a sinner.

Jesus died for my sins.

I'm saved by God's grace through faith, and he wants me to be faithful until the end.

John keeps saying, remember, we told you this at the beginning.

Whatever else you put on top of that in your years of Christian growth and service, they

must never be replaced with those things.

You've got to stick and hold fast to the truth that's already been given.

And that's why I have Hebrews 5, 11 through chapter six in verse three up there, because

the Hebrew writer says, yes, go on to spiritual maturity, but that never means leave the basics.

And maybe some of us have read the Bible a long time, and you might be thinking to

yourself, all right, I get it already.

Let's move on from the love part, and you're the person that needs to hear it twice.

Because we think to ourselves, this is very basic.

I know what this is all about.

Let's get on to the hard stuff, and here's what we miss.

This really is the hard stuff.

It's not just learning a bunch of verses and quoting a bunch of scripture and coming to

church all the time.

It's actually and actively loving other people, and I forget who said it, but oh, yeah, Miller.

He keeps repeating it because it's important.

As Chuck mentioned, you're never going to get past this.

Everything in Christianity funnels through this, and here's the thing.

When you start feeling yourself becoming indifferent and sluggish in your Christianity,

just kind of blah, the first thing that normally went was your love.

It wasn't your Bible reading.

It wasn't your prayer.

You stopped loving God, and you stopped loving people.

You cannot apostatize.

You can't fall away.

You can't drift.

You can't even slow up unless that's true of you first.

And if you think about the times you've been in spiritual ruts, that's at the top

of the list.

You lost love.

What does Jesus tell the church at Ephesus in Ephesians 2 and verse 5?

Repent because you've left your what?

If you read it, he says a lot of other stuff, but the first thing is,

if you stop loving God and you stop loving other Christians, it's a done deal for

whatever else might happen.

Love one another.

You know why Greg said tonight, why'd you come?

And I was thinking, well, I got multiple reasons.

I kind of work here and, you know, there's some other stuff, but here's the thing.

If you love one another, sometimes you don't want to come here,

but other people are dependent on me.

Sometimes you don't want to pray, but there are some people dependent

on your prayers that can't pray for themselves, and they won't be prayed

for unless you do it.

See, this love one another fuels, yes, your relationship with other people,

but also your faithfulness to God.

All right, now let's get to what I would consider the hard part.

Chuck, go ahead.

Yes, for sure.

Yes, right.

Yeah, I have 2 John 9 through 11 up there.

It should be 8 through 11.

So, let's read 8 through 11.

We got 10 minutes.

We've got a couple of verses.

We'll be done in time, maybe early, okay?

Watch for yourselves.

Look at verse 8.

So, after he tells them to love one another, it's really verse 7.

Excuse me, 7 through 11 should be up there.

For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who don't confess the coming

of Jesus Christ in the flesh.

Such a one is a deceiver and the antichrist.

Watch yourselves so you don't lose what we've worked for, but win a full reward.

Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does

not have God.

Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.

If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him

into your house or give him any greeting for whoever greets him takes part

in his wicked work.

So, after John says what he mentioned previously about loving each other,

excuse me, he comes back to this idea in verse 7, many deceivers have gone

out into the world.

That goes back to 1 John.

What did he call the deceivers in 1 John?

The anti-what?

Antichrist.

He comes back to this.

Look at verse 7.

Help me with this in verse 7.

How do you know in verse 7, just stay in second John, look at verse 7,

how do you know these individuals are the antichrist here?

What does he say is true about them that makes them the antichrist?

They do not confess what?

Jesus came in the flesh as a human being.

For them, that's because there was this false idea of Gnosticism that said Jesus

didn't come in the flesh.

But this verse makes confession important.

And maybe when you think about a plan of salvation, confession is the one you

probably sprint past.

You got to believe.

If you know somebody that's not a believer, you come with a lot of evidence,

it's important to bring them to faith.

That's great.

You've got to repent.

Probably the hardest thing a person does to become a Christian,

change their mind, change their behavior.

And then we kind of jump past confession, they're going to do that,

and then you got to be what?

In water.

But not so fast.

In the 1st century, confession was a big deal.

In Romans 10, 9, and 10, Paul says,

for what the heart, one believes and is justified, and what the mouth,

confession, is made unto salvation.

Jesus confessed that he was the Son of God and it brought him death in Mark 14,

61 through 64.

When we confess, it brings us life.

Paul calls it in 1 Timothy 6, 11 through 15, the good confession.

And in the 1st century, people were intimidated.

They didn't want to say these words physically.

Jesus is Lord or the Son of God.

I believe Jesus came in the flesh.

And John says, people that are hesitant to do that, they're the antichrist.

Today, why would a person be afraid or ashamed to confess that same thing?

That Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, why might a person be hesitant to do that?

It might be because we want to be perceived by other people as being smart

or intelligent.

We don't want to be made fun of or mocked for believing in something like a man

named Jesus died and was buried and rose the third day.

And so, it could be helpful to say something like, hey, I believe in Jesus.

I believe in some Christian concepts.

But to say verbally, I don't just believe in the ideas of Christianity,

but actually in the person of Christ, he says, if you don't say that,

you're not saved and you might be along the same lines of the antichrist.

In verse 8, John warns, watch therefore about these false teachers so that you

don't lose what we've worked for, but win a full reward.

John says, watch so you don't lose what you work for, which means it's possible

to lose your what?

It's possible to lose your salvation and lose your reward.

We don't earn our salvation by doing good works, but people that do good works,

the Bible says that God's laying up treasure for them.

And if you allow somebody to take you away from the truth, John says,

you'll lose everything you work for.

You'll lose all of your good deeds.

Well, how do you make sure you don't do that?

Here we are in 2 John 9 through 11.

Everyone who goes on ahead and doesn't abide in the teaching of Christ doesn't

have God.

Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.

John says there are some people that go on ahead.

Here's my question.

How might you do that?

How does a person go on ahead?

Because John says when you do that, you don't have the Father or the Son.

If you go on ahead of the doctrine of Christ, how is it possible to do that and

lose the Father and the Son?

These false teachers were doing it because they wouldn't confess that Jesus

came in the flesh.

Today, how does somebody go out in front of the gospel or out in front of the

doctrine of Christ and lose the Father and the Son?

How do you do that?

Add to the Word.

That's what I was thinking about, Ms. Rhonda.

Yeah, you might add to the Word.

You might put things in the Bible that God never put in the Bible.

What's another way to go on ahead?

Take things out.

You are going beyond the doctrine of Christ if you make Christianity harder than

Jesus made it.

If you start just adding in extra stuff, John says, see, you've gone on ahead.

And if you go on ahead, you leave Christ behind.

If you don't take his teaching, you can't have Christ or God.

If you take things out that God put in, he says, you can't have him either.

You've got to say and stick with exactly what he says.

Paul says in Colossians 3.17, whatever you do in word or in deed,

do all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Don't go on ahead.

Everybody got that?

But that's not all that John says is your responsibility.

In verse 10, he says, if anybody comes to you and doesn't bring this teaching,

that means John's teaching, the sound teaching of the New Testament,

don't receive them into your house or give them any greeting.

This doesn't mean you can't have anybody over for dinner that doesn't believe the

same thing you do, okay?

But in the 1st century, hospitality toward traveling preachers was a big deal.

In Acts 16, when Paul and Silas and Timothy go to Philippi after they convert

Lydia, in Acts 16 and verse 15, she says, if you've judged me faithful,

stay at my house.

When Jesus sent the disciples on the limited commission in Matthew 10,

12, and 13, he says, hey, in any house you go, if they receive you,

salute that house and they'll receive a reward.

If they don't, shake the dust off of your feet and go in the other direction.

Hospitality was a way of saying in the 1st century, I'm with you,

I approve of your teaching, I accept you.

It was a way of helping the truth.

Look at 3 John.

We'll just kind of go to this even though this will come up next week.

Look at 3 John and look at verse 5, and this is what John says Gaius was doing

with his relationship toward people that were teaching the truth.

Beloved, it's a faithful thing in all your efforts for these brothers,

strangers as they are, who testify to your love before the church.

You do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God.

That's how you're supposed to support people that teach and preach the truth.

But in 2 John, John says, if somebody comes to you and they don't bring the truth

of the gospel, don't receive them into your house and don't even give them

a friendly greeting.

Why not?

Don't encourage them.

But look at verse 11.

Yes, don't encourage them is exactly right.

But what does John say happens to you if you do that?

Okay, you share in their evil deeds.

And they don't have who?

Christ or God.

And if you share in their evil deeds, guess what happens to you?

You lose Christ and God.

Practically, how might we violate this passage?

Here's where I want you to think.

How might we be people?

You say, hey, we preach the truth here.

We've got New Testament baptism, plan of salvation, Lord's Supper every first day

of the week, no band, no instrumental music.

How might a Christian, though, be guilty of, John says, some people go ahead,

some people are progressive.

That's what this word actually means, by the way.

It means to run out in front.

And some people, they read the New Testament and they're like, hey,

that's not good enough for me.

I want to go out in front.

I either want to make it harder and add in things that God didn't forbid or I want

to lose things that God says you've got to do.

You might be thinking, I'd never do that.

John says some people do.

And you must never receive them into your house or give them a friendly greeting.

That was in the first century.

That was the way you approved of a teacher.

I'm talking about in 2026, though, how might we do that?

I've had people ask me this before.

They'll say, you know, Hiram, this person is not a Christian.

And they go to a denominational church and they don't believe what the New

Testament teaches, but so-and-so is getting baptized.

And people have asked me, like, my friend wants me to go and I want to go

and be supportive.

Here's the question, though.

If they're not teaching what the New Testament teaches, a person must do in

order to be saved.

If they have in their mind that all you have to do is believe and then you're

saved and then this baptismal ceremony is just an outward show of inward grace,

what does my presence at the baptism imply?

What does it suggest?

You endorse it.

You agree with it.

You go along with it.

You think, well, I mean, this is just some, you know, this religious group is having

this program and these are my friends or, I mean, it gets more personal.

If it's your family members or grandkids, and you might just be thinking,

well, I don't really believe it.

But this passage says you've got to be discerning.

And I'm sure there's some judgment calls in this and how everybody works it out,

but there also is some just clear delineated truth that you can't get past.

And John says, do not do anything that would imply to a false teacher that you

endorse what they're doing if it doesn't go along with the truth.

And that means you and I sometimes have to be...

Imagine if one of these false teachers came to your house and they wanted

entrance in, what would you have to do?

You'd have to turn them away.

And when they left, John says, don't even give them a what?

Don't throw up your hand, don't even give them a greeting.

Because if you do, you partake of all the evil they're going to do when they leave

and when they teach religious error.

This doesn't mean not to be kind to people that disagree with us religiously.

It doesn't mean we can't engage them and learn what they teach.

Here's what I'm telling you.

Whatever would be implied endorsement, you and I can't do it without losing God

in the process and our relationship with Jesus Christ.

Go to Romans 1 quickly.

We've got, like, three minutes.

That's right.

That's right.

This passage, though, 1 John 4, Chuck, is right.

This passage, I think, it definitely goes along with it.

It's actually putting that testing into practice, though.

After you test them and find them false, then what do you do?

And that's what I'm talking about.

2 John 9 through 11 is about, hey, what do you do when all is said and done?

So, for example, if you look at Romans 1, 18 beginning, he says,

the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness

of man, and he lists a lot of things that are ungodly behavior.

What's the last thing, though, in verse 32?

What does he say?

Who knowing the judgment of God that those that do these things are worthy

of death, they not only do it, but what?

Some, the old King James says, has pleasure in those that do them.

Newer translations talk about giving approval to people that practice

these things.

The Bible is concerned not only with our behavior.

Hey, don't you ever do anything false.

It's also concerned with, don't you ever support anybody that's

doing the wrong thing.

Don't you ever just go along with it and give them the impression that,

hey, I'm okay with it.

John says, if you do, you become a partaker of their evil deeds.

All right, I'm going to read the last two verses just so we can get through it.

I know that was the second veil.

2 John 12 and 13, he says, I have much to write to you.

I'd rather not use paper and ink.

Instead, I hope to come and talk face-to-face so our joy may be complete.

The children of your elect sister greet you.

John's saying they're all false teachers, but the last verse in this book,

there are also people on your side.

There are other faithful congregations and God's people, and he says, hey,

they send a greeting, and John can't wait to see them face-to-face.

If you think about 2 John 9 through 11, and you start feeling uneasy about it,

and you think, hmm, I wonder how that applies, and I don't know if I would be

willing to do that, or do I have to resist people and go along,

just remember where we started.

According to John, grace, mercy, and peace are given to people that stand

in God's truth and God's love, and we can't always make everybody happy.

But if we're lovers of truth, John says, some things you've got to resist,

and not only must you not practice it, you must never give endorsement

to those that do.

All right, thanks for a good Bible class.

Appreciate your attention tonight.