Living the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth

When I was a young boy, I was enamored by certain television programs that came on TV.

I loved to watch Perry Mason. I loved to watch Matlock.

I loved then and I loved today watching Law and Order.

Now, I can tell some of you have liked those programs, too. And some of you

are scratching your head and saying, what in the world is he talking about?

Well, there's a new program called Bull. and all these programs have something in common.

They're a courtroom drama where lawyers play out a case and they proceed to

bring up witnesses to testify.

And if you have watched the programs, often when the witness is called to testify,

they come and they stand and they raise their right hand and they make a promise.

They are asked, do you promise to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing

but the truth so help you God.

And their response is, I do.

Well, I want to take that same thought this morning, and the intent of my message

this morning is living the truth and nothing but the truth.

Living the truth and nothing but the truth. And it comes out of 2 John chapter 4.

And if you haven't turned to your Bibles already, as Dave read, please do that.

I see you use the New International Version, and I use the English Standard

Version, so it is close but not exactly similar.

As you turn to 2 John 4, remember, don't turn to the Gospel of John,

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, but

go to 1, 2 John, and 3 John, and John also wrote the book of Revelation.

So we have a lot of the New Testament, like Paul wrote the majority of the New

Testament, but John writes the second most about any of the writers.

The Gospel of John, 1, 2, and 3 John, and the book of Revelation.

Now, John was writing about 60 years after the death, burial,

resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, which took place in around 30 AD.

So when we see 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John especially, we're seeing John,

an elderly disciple who was one of Jesus' 12 disciples.

He's the one who stood at the cross, and Jesus said when he was dying upon the

cross, John, you take care of my what? My mother.

It's that John who's writing these verses to us today. And he's writing again 60 years, about 90 AD.

And we get a glimpse into what was happening in the early church and what was

happening then as much as it's happening as well today.

Now, as we go through 2 John today, at the conclusion of my message,

I'm going to ask you to do something very different, but very meaningful.

Like they do in a courtroom scene, I'm going to encourage all of us to stand

and to raise our right hand and to take a vow to make a promise.

And on that slide, we have these words.

Do you, with God's help, promise to live the truth, the whole truth,

and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

I will ask you this morning, do you promise with God's help to live the truth,

the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God.

Now, in order to take that oath, in order to make that promise,

we need to understand then, what do we mean by to live the truth? What does that mean?

And 2 John helps us. Again, let us just look at verses 1 through 4.

Five times in verses 1 through 4, John uses the word truth. It's interesting

that in his gospel account, gospel of John, He uses the word truth 21 times.

It's a fabulous word that John uses. The truth, not a truth, but the truth.

The truth, notice what he says, the elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth.

And not only I, but also all who know the truth, because of the truth that abides

in us and will be with us forever.

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ

the Father's Son in truth and love.

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

just as we were commanded by the Father.

So here in the first verse, the word elder, it was a position as oftentimes

churches even today have a deacon or an elder.

John was an elder in probably the church in Ephesus. That was his title.

That was his position when he was writing these last books that we have in the

Bible in terms of their age, around 90 AD.

He was an elder. He had a position of authority, of responsibility.

And he writes to the elect lady. Now, throughout the centuries,

there's been a question, who is this elect lady with her children?

There were some saying that John was talking to a particular lady and her family

that he knew, mispositioned as an elder.

And there are others who see it as a figurative designation for a local church

and those who attended that local church.

I take the latter view. I believe that John has in mind the local church.

It's what John talks about. He uses this phrase many, many times,

some of your children. Go back to 1 John, just a page or two back.

1 John 2, verse 1. My little children, I'm writing these things to you. Verse 18.

1 John 2:1

Children, it is the last hour. Verse 28.

And now little children, in verse 2, abide in him. We have in chapter 3,

verse 1 and 2, see what kind of love the Father has given to us,

that we should be called the children of God.

Verse 3, beloved, we are God's children. And then he ends his book in chapter

5, verse 21, little children, keep yourselves from idols.

So I believe that John is not writing to a particular lady, but to a church

of believers, like here at the Free Methodist Church in Richland Center.

He's writing this letter so that like them back in 90 AD,

we today in 2018 AD would understand what the truth is, that we are to make

a promise to live by, that we make a promise to place our faith upon.

2 John chapter 4, I mean 3 John chapter 4, he says the same thing.

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

So verse 4 of 2 John and verse 4 of 3 John almost say the same thing.

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

Now, parents or grandparents, let me ask you, doesn't it bring you great joy

in your hearts when your children leave the nest?

No. Some of you are saying, yes, I'm saying no. But let me finish.

Doesn't it bring you great joy when your children leave the nest and when they

go off on their own, you see and hear that they are living responsible lives

and that they are providing for themselves and conducting themselves in an honorable way?

Doesn't that bring you great joy, great excitement and appreciation?

Kind of confirms the way you brought them up, doesn't it? You raised them right.

And they're out there as adults now living lives that are responsible and honorable. That's how John felt.

I mean, these children he had led to the Lord himself through his preaching,

through his discipleship, through his one-on-one contact with him.

And he was glad to hear that the children he had brought to Christ in the faith,

they were living lives that were responsible and were pleasing to the Lord Jesus

Christ. So what does it mean then?

How do we define what John was saying when he said he was glad to hear his children

were walking in the truth? Verse 6 of our text.

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

This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so you should walk in it.

Of course, you may know that John oftentimes talked about the great commandment.

Jesus said this, All people will know that you are my disciples if you have what?

Love one towards another. This is the commandment that Jesus expressed, that Jesus lived out.

So John certainly references that, that one of the commandments that you and

I hear in this body of Christ as we leave this place at home,

school, work, and play, We ought to be loving others as Christ loved us.

My thought is that love is more than an emotion.

Love is always in motion. Love is always looking for ways to help,

to encourage, to watch out for the next person at home, school, work, and play.

But you notice that John didn't leave us just that one commandment.

He gave the commandments, that we are walking in the commandments,

that we are obeying the commandments.

That's what God is wanting us to do. Walking in the truth is defined as walking

according to his commandments, living in obedience to God's word.

1 Peter 1, verses 14 and 15 says this, As obedient children,

1 Peter 1:14

do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.

But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.

In all your conduct, in all your conduct. things you say, things you think,

things you do, the way you respond, the way you react.

Be holy as God is holy.

Now, this is important. This wasn't easy then, and it isn't easy today.

Obedience. If I asked you if there's any one thing that you as parents or grandparents

would like the most from your kids and grandkids, you probably would say,

what I would like is for them to obey. Wouldn't that make life simple?

They had no temper tantrums. They had no sassy talk back. They just simply obeyed.

That would make life wonderful, wouldn't it?

That's the same one iota that God is expecting of us, to walk in obedience to

his commands, to walk in the truth of obeying his commands day by day.

Praise God he forgives us like a mom and a dad and a grandparent do when we fail to do that.

But that's the basic instruction God gives to us that he wants us to be obedient children.

That was hard then, and it's hard today. Why? Verse 7 of our text.

Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming

of Jesus Christ in the flesh.

Such a one is the deceiver and the Antichrist. There are many deceivers and

liars 60 years after the ascension of Christ who were twisting a truth.

Lied about the truth, didn't want anything to do with the truth,

and they led Christian believers astray.

What a warning that John says, watch out. There are many deceivers.

They were anti-Christ. They were against Christ. They were against what Christ did.

They were against what Christ taught. But they were anti-Christ,

and many believers were being led astray.

So he says in verse 8, watch out.

Puts up a stop sign and yield right away. Watch out.

Watch yourselves so that you may not lose what we have worked for,

but may win a fobie war. Watch out.

And today in our world, we need to watch out for people who are anti-Christ,

who are anti-the Bible, who are anti-being moral, who are anti-being believers

in what God has taught us to do.

That's the world that your children and your grandchildren and you and I live in today.

A world that wants to lead us astray, to lead us away from the truths of God's word.

Watch out, he says. He gives some instruction in verses 10 and 11.

He says, if anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching to obey the

commands of Christ, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting.

For whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.

People traveled in Bible days. These anti-Christ teachers traveled and looked

for a place to stay overnight, have accommodations, be fed breakfast,

and maybe provided food to take on their way.

And John is saying, hey, be careful.

Don't entertain. Don't take into your home overnight and provide for those who

teach anti-Christ principles.

Now, that's different than when I say when you and I have come to our door,

Or those that come by too and say, I'm elders of the Latter-day Saints,

or they come and give you Watchtower magazine.

This doesn't mean you can't be kind to them and gracious to them.

Be careful you know the Word of God.

Be very careful that you can talk with them the Word of God.

The Bible says that's important.

But John is being aware here, don't come in, have them come into your house,

stay overnight, provide for them. because it only kind of helps them continue

to propagate their anti-Christ message.

So I think it's important to discern that. Sometimes pastors teach us that when

there's a knock on the door, shun those people.

No, if you're strong in the Word of God, share the Word of God.

I always share John 3.16.

That's the gospel in a nutshell. For God, the greatest lover,

so loved to the greatest degree, the world, the greatest company,

that he gave the greatest act, his only begotten Son, the greatest person,

that whosoever the greatest invitation should believe in him with the greatest simplicity,

should not the greatest promise, but the greatest difference,

have with the greatest certainty what a great promise again.

Everlasting life, another reward or gift that God gives to us.

Stay with them on John 3.16.

They want to take you to other parts of the scripture where you say,

hey, let's come back to John 3.16.

Well, just don't take them into your home and accommodate them overnight. Don't give them money.

Don't give them food to go on their way. That only encourages them in their anti-Christ message.

Watch out, John says. Now I want to repeat this statement again today.

It wasn't easy then, and it isn't easy today, for Christian believers to live

lives in obedience to God's word.

As there were voices back then, there are voices today who call us to live another

way, calling for Christians and our culture as a whole to surrender their biblical values,

Have you noticed over the years how our culture has drastically redefined or

tried to eliminate what is truth?

Some of you, like I, who are in our 70s, some are older, some are younger.

But for those of us who are in our 70s and older, we've seen the decline of

the moral culture in America.

For those who are younger today, like your kids and your grandkids,

it's kind of normal for them today.

They haven't seen the decline. They're living in that decline.

They're already there. They see that.

But we've seen it happen along the way. Talk about the Ten Commandments.

Over the years, the absolute truths of the Ten Commandments,

efforts have been made to make them illegal to post the Ten Commandments in public buildings.

We live in an age of situational ethics and secular humanism where each person

decides for themselves what is truth. All truth is relative.

The motto is, as long as I don't get hurt, it's okay.

We've thrown out the absolutes.

We've thrown out the word of God. The motto is, as long as I don't get hurt,

it's okay. It's like the book of Judges closed.

Everybody was doing that which is right in their own eyes.

Were getting closer and closer, if not there today. Everyone is doing that which

is right in their own eyes.

In the 1950s, when I went to public elementary school, our teachers would have

a stand and give the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flags.

And then we would quote the golden rule, do unto others as you'd have them do unto you.

And then the teacher would have a word of prayer, often quoting the Lord's Prayer,

our father who art in heaven how many remember those days how many were in a

classroom like that several of you how many wish we still had that kind of classroom today you know,

we've taken God out of the school and we have let guns in.

We've taken God out of the school, and we've let guns in.

The whole moral fabric of our country that begins when you are a student in

school, at the knee of a mom and dad, at the lap of a grandparent,

teaching them the truths of God's Word, sometimes has gone out the window.

Today, we can't even say a prayer aloud in the school setting.

Oftentimes, we can't even use the word Christmas anymore. At a Florida university

classroom, a class of college students were asked to take out a paper,

an 8 1⁄2 by 11 piece of paper, and on the one side write the name Jesus.

And then they were asked to place that on the floor, step out of their desk,

and stomp on that paper with Jesus' name and grind it into the floor.

One student out of 200 in that class stood up and said, Professor,

I'm sorry. I can't do that.

Jesus means a lot to me, and I won't disgrace his name in that way.

He was suspended from school because of his stand for Christ that day.

That's the kind of world that your kids and grandparents are in today,

a world that wants to squash the name of Jesus in college, in their peer group, on TV,

in the theater watching a movie.

That's the world we live in today, a world today.

Since 1973, 59 million children in the womb of their mother have been murdered in the United States.

59 million children in the womb of their mother have been murdered.

Last year, 3,700 abortions per day were performed in America.

3,700 children. That's less than the year before because the right-to-life people

have been getting the message across.

It would be interesting if it happens with the president announcing who his

person is he wants to serve as in the Supreme Court.

Already you hear the scuttlebutt, already you hear the news about people saying,

hey, we don't want a person who's pro-life.

We want a person in that category.

You just watch the news.

Isn't it interesting that when a murderer or a drunk driver kills a woman who's

pregnant with a baby, They're charged with the killing of what? Two people.

But when you abort a child today, it's just a glob.

It's just a fetus. It's not a person. Something wrong. Something wrong.

Throughout the Bible, God tells us that life begins at conception.

Psalm 139, verses 13 through 18, teaches how life is sacred to God.

Psalms 139:13–18

Today, many states allow for same-sex marriages.

The Bible teaches us from the beginning in Genesis chapter 2 and affirmed by

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

Jesus in Matthew 19 that marriage is to be between a man and a woman.

I officiate a lot of weddings today, and I officiate at a wedding where it's

a Christian husband to be and a Christian wife to be.

And as I greet the guests who have come, I will say we're here today privileged

to be a part of a Christian wedding of a man and a woman who are being united

in their love to show the love of Christ.

We live in a culture today where we support same-sex marriages in many states.

I want to tell you yesterday that as far as I know, God hasn't changed his mind

and nobody has changed God's mind on the subject.

And that's the truth. That's the truth. So when it comes to abortion,

it comes to same-sex marriages, it comes to Ten Commandments,

it comes to evaluating the truths of God's word from cover to cover.

Our culture today seems to be losing it. Now, this is even sadder today.

Various polls are taken by telephone and on the street interviews from people

who attend church like you are today.

You know what's happened in the last 10 years?

Churchgoers today in America, every year the percentage goes up of churchgoers

who approve of abortion, who approve of same-sex marriages.

Every year, the last 10 years, now more than 50% of churchgoers believe in abortion.

Now today, more than 40% of churchgoers believe in same-sex marriages. What's happened?

We've left the truth. We've turned our eyes and our ears off to the truth of God's word.

When your kids and grandkids from home from college and school and high school,

and they talk about their opinion regarding same-sex marriage and about abortion,

etc., you say, hey, thank you for sharing that with me.

But mom and dad will want you to know. Your grandparents will want you to know.

We believe in the truths taught in God's word. We believe that in God's eyes, life begins in the womb.

We believe that God wants marriages to be between a man and a woman.

Be courteous, but stand up for the truth as moms and dads.

Stand up for the truth as grandparents today. Yeah, listen to your kids.

Say thank you for sharing that, but bring them back to absolute truths of God's word.

Now, you're saying to me this morning, it's interesting to see the nonverbal

response on your faces and the way some of you are talking to others and not

even paying attention yet. I think you are.

There's probably some of you here this morning that really believe Borson's okay.

Some of you here that believe, hey, they want to get married?

Stephen and Sam, let them get married. Alice and Jan, let them get married.

But I'm calling you back to the truth today. And you're going to take an oath

in just a moment that you want to live the truth.

The whole truth and nothing but the truth to help you god so what's the problem with throwing out,

the absolutes they're tossed in the bible there's another illustration some

college guys went out to a busy intersection and they unbolted the octagon red

stop sign from the intersection,

because they wanted to put it in their dorm room and so they went out in the stealth of night,

took that sign off and put it in the dorm room.

That same night, a family vacationing coming through that town went through

that intersection not knowing there had been a stop sign there.

And a semi-truck came and smashed them, killing a mom and a dad and the four kids.

You see what happens when we remove absolutes? There are consequences.

There are consequences when we remove the absolutes of God's word.

That's what's so bad when we throw out the baby with the bathwater.

That's what's so bad when we listen to the voices of our culture today and we

buy into what they're saying.

We buy into the moral code of our culture today.

Just as John rejoiced in Christian believers walking and living in the truth,

so we need then to call ourselves back to living the truth of God's word.

We need to be reminded of Jesus who is the truth and who has given us truth

lived by. John 1, verse 14.

John 1:14

Read these two verses with me, please.

And the word became what? Flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory.

Glory is of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John went on to say in John 14, 6, Jesus said to him, I am what?

The way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus is not just a truth. He is the truth. He came to give us the truth.

In fact, Jesus said in that same passage in John chapter 14,

John 14 · chapter mention

you might remember Jesus was having his last meal with his disciples before

he was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane and crucified.

And he said to them, I'm going and leave you, fellas. And he saw how their hearts

became sullen and wondering and curious. What do you mean, Jesus?

So Jesus comforted them with these words he said I'm going to prepare a place

for you so that where I am there you may be also,

and if these things were not so I would have told you,

you see Jesus does not lie this book in your hands this morning this book that

sits on your shelf at home this book you look at during the day during the week

this book is not fake news folks this is good news.

This is good news. This is the truth of how we are to live in our world today. Amen?

This is the truth that we are living the world today.

Jesus, until Jesus comes again, he's given us the Holy Spirit to teach us and

remind us of what is true. The Holy Spirit indwells every believer.

And Jesus said in John 16, when the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you

into all the truth, where he will not speak on his own authority.

But whatever he hears, he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

So the Holy Spirit uses the word of God. And as Jesus said in John 17,

17, sanctify them in the truth.

Your word is truth. There's the roadmap.

There it is for us. If we are to take this oath this morning and make a promise

that we'll live the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth,

then let us take the Bible seriously.

Psalm 119, verse 105. Let's say this verse together. It might be a verse you

Psalms 119:105

learn in Bible school this coming week.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

In this darkened world of ours where we throw out the absolutes,

God's word is there to be like a lantern, like a flashlight,

a light onto our feet to help us know where to walk.

When Eileen moved into her new apartment across the street from where we live

in Sparta, you know the first thing she did?

She put a nightlight in every room she put a nightlight in all the hallway why

so when she walked at nighttime she wouldn't trip and fall my friends here it

is here's the light here's the lamp,

to live by in our darkened world today i'm going to ask you to at least stand this morning.

You may not be at a point where you can raise your right hand and say this oath

this morning, and I respect that.

I hope that you'll struggle with it, think it through, meditate upon it,

think about the words you've given today.

Maybe you've already accepted the cultural norms of abortion and same-sex marriage,

and you say, Hey, boy, pastor, thank you.

Boy, God's Spirit's reminding me, I need to come back to the truth.

I need to stand up for the truth. God bless you this morning.

Some of you are already there. you're hanging on to the truth and you want so

much to live out that truth, to share that truth, to see your children and grandchildren,

to live out that truth, I bless you as well.

This morning, if you're at a place, I ask you to raise your right hand.

And I want you to respond to this.

Do you, with God's help, promise to live the truth, the whole truth,

and nothing but the truth, so help you, God?

I didn't hear you, church family. I didn't hear you, church family.

Lord, you've heard the I do's now today. And I pray that our hearts would be

convinced it's wrong to throw out, to take off, to stop signs of your word because

there are consequences that happen and happen in people's lives.

We want to be people who live the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

So I thank you for that commitment today, for that recommitment,

even for those who are struggling with, this is what I want to do,

that your spirit would bear witness with their spirit to work through that struggle

and come back to the truth of your word. I pray this in Jesus' name.