1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,520 Hello, and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast, 2 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:06,480 where we are proclaiming the truth to the world. 3 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:09,720 My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to 4 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:10,480 this podcast. 5 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:14,680 I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen 6 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:16,080 you in the word of God. 7 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:17,560 Now, come along. 8 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:21,440 Let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today. 9 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:26,280 All right, we're going to go ahead and start our Bible study here 10 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:26,800 this evening. 11 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:30,470 If you have your Bibles, turn with me to the book of Second John. 12 00:00:31,270 --> 00:00:35,070 If you don't know where that is, there's an old joke, it's after 13 00:00:35,070 --> 00:00:35,670 first John. 14 00:00:35,830 --> 00:00:37,310 So I guess you got to know where first John is. 15 00:00:37,310 --> 00:00:39,990 And over second John is second John. 16 00:00:40,070 --> 00:00:44,070 It's a really big book, not really 13 verses. 17 00:00:44,070 --> 00:00:44,990 13 verses. 18 00:00:44,990 --> 00:00:46,710 A very, very short book of the Bible. 19 00:00:47,430 --> 00:00:50,110 But just because the book is short doesn't mean that it's not 20 00:00:50,110 --> 00:00:50,390 important. 21 00:00:50,470 --> 00:00:51,910 Obviously, we know that there. 22 00:00:53,030 --> 00:00:55,630 There are a lot of truths that we can glean from every book of the 23 00:00:55,630 --> 00:00:55,910 Bible. 24 00:00:55,910 --> 00:00:59,650 And here, Even in these 13 verses, we can take a lot with us. 25 00:01:00,130 --> 00:01:03,170 And when we were studying First John, I hope that you can remember 26 00:01:03,170 --> 00:01:04,450 the main thought. 27 00:01:04,450 --> 00:01:07,530 The main thought in First John was really one word, the word fellowship. 28 00:01:07,530 --> 00:01:10,730 The Greek word is koinonia, but it's the idea of fellowship. 29 00:01:10,730 --> 00:01:12,450 And remember, First John, he was saying this. 30 00:01:12,850 --> 00:01:15,570 You have to start with faith to have fellowship with God. 31 00:01:15,570 --> 00:01:19,370 And fellowship with God then grows through the outpouring of fellowship 32 00:01:19,370 --> 00:01:21,770 with others and obedience to God. 33 00:01:21,770 --> 00:01:25,010 And that obedience to God meant to serve others and to love 34 00:01:25,010 --> 00:01:25,330 others. 35 00:01:25,940 --> 00:01:29,300 And so there's that equation of, look, if I love God, I will love 36 00:01:29,300 --> 00:01:29,620 others. 37 00:01:30,020 --> 00:01:33,180 If I don't love others, there is a problem with my love for the 38 00:01:33,180 --> 00:01:33,540 Lord. 39 00:01:34,100 --> 00:01:35,420 And so that's First John. 40 00:01:35,420 --> 00:01:38,100 And it speaks of the confidence that we can have in knowing 41 00:01:38,100 --> 00:01:40,620 God, in a personal relationship with him. 42 00:01:40,620 --> 00:01:43,580 And so, Second John, does that have an overall thought? 43 00:01:43,580 --> 00:01:45,300 And I would say yes, it does. 44 00:01:45,300 --> 00:01:48,100 As we read through this and as we study this, we're going to see, 45 00:01:48,100 --> 00:01:49,340 really, there's. 46 00:01:49,340 --> 00:01:49,940 There's two. 47 00:01:49,940 --> 00:01:52,820 Two words that I think that we can sit on and. 48 00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:55,200 And rest in, and that is truth and love. 49 00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:59,640 So we know that the Bible tells us to proclaim the truth, to 50 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:00,400 live the truth. 51 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:04,560 The Bible also tells us to live with love and to treat others 52 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:05,200 with love. 53 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:10,240 And sometimes what we can do within our Christian walk is to either 54 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:14,800 overemphasize one and then underemphasize the other, or just 55 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:18,360 forget about one or totally neglect the other. 56 00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:20,240 And so what we're Seeing here in two, John is. 57 00:02:21,100 --> 00:02:23,420 The Lord is speaking through the Apostle John. 58 00:02:23,820 --> 00:02:27,420 And there's a lot of debate on who he is writing this letter to. 59 00:02:28,140 --> 00:02:31,420 Because as, as you well know, the Bible isn't necessarily written 60 00:02:31,980 --> 00:02:33,980 to us as the immediate hearers. 61 00:02:33,980 --> 00:02:34,180 Right? 62 00:02:34,180 --> 00:02:36,140 I wasn't there 2,000 years ago. 63 00:02:36,140 --> 00:02:38,980 So there's an immediate hearer of the book of the Bible. 64 00:02:38,980 --> 00:02:42,700 Now, the Bible is written for us and by extension to us. 65 00:02:42,860 --> 00:02:45,660 But we have to understand context when we go back to Scripture. 66 00:02:45,660 --> 00:02:48,200 So who is the Apostle John writing to? 67 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:52,080 Well, verse one tells us that he is writing unto the elect lady 68 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:53,280 and her children. 69 00:02:54,160 --> 00:02:57,520 Now, some scholars debate on who this elect lady is. 70 00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:02,080 Some scholars believe that this is a specific lady in a church 71 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:06,720 that is basically not the pastor of the church, but hosting 72 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:08,160 the church within her house. 73 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:11,280 Because as, as you well know, back then, at that time, they didn't 74 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:14,520 have great big cathedrals and they weren't meeting in mega churches 75 00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:15,000 back then. 76 00:03:15,000 --> 00:03:16,800 The church was meeting in homes. 77 00:03:16,880 --> 00:03:17,920 That's how it went. 78 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:21,040 And so in this case, there are some commentators that would believe 79 00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:25,200 that this is a specific lady, a saved lady there with her children, 80 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:28,440 and the people of that church were meeting in her home, and she 81 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:30,120 was to address this to the church. 82 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:32,080 She was to give this to the people of the church. 83 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:35,560 Other people, other commentators believe that this was 84 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:39,170 written to the church with basically a code word like the lady 85 00:03:39,170 --> 00:03:39,850 is the church. 86 00:03:39,850 --> 00:03:42,970 And so there, there are two interpretations of that, but either 87 00:03:42,970 --> 00:03:47,170 interpretation for both of those paths would have the same application 88 00:03:47,170 --> 00:03:48,810 when we talk about what we're talking about. 89 00:03:49,130 --> 00:03:51,050 And so we don't need to spend a lot of time on that. 90 00:03:51,050 --> 00:03:53,970 If you want to know my personal take on it, I personally 91 00:03:53,970 --> 00:03:57,210 believe that it's a specific lady there in her home. 92 00:03:57,370 --> 00:03:59,890 But again, I, I don't necessarily want to get caught up 93 00:03:59,890 --> 00:04:00,850 in the weeds and all that. 94 00:04:00,850 --> 00:04:02,250 All I want us to say is this. 95 00:04:02,570 --> 00:04:03,930 What is he talking about here? 96 00:04:03,930 --> 00:04:06,290 What, what's he going to be addressing these people? 97 00:04:06,290 --> 00:04:09,090 And he says, the elder unto the elect lady and her children, 98 00:04:09,090 --> 00:04:10,650 whom I love in the truth. 99 00:04:10,650 --> 00:04:12,370 And so he speaks of his love. 100 00:04:12,370 --> 00:04:14,530 He professes his love to them. 101 00:04:14,530 --> 00:04:16,410 And, and I want you to see those three words. 102 00:04:16,410 --> 00:04:20,170 After he says he loves them, he says, whom I love. 103 00:04:20,250 --> 00:04:25,970 In the truth, anytime we see love, we, we see, biblically speaking, 104 00:04:25,970 --> 00:04:29,250 within the context of our faith, we see love that's always 105 00:04:29,250 --> 00:04:30,330 married with truth. 106 00:04:31,130 --> 00:04:33,450 And, and so what we can see here in this case, he says, I love 107 00:04:33,450 --> 00:04:34,210 you in the truth. 108 00:04:34,210 --> 00:04:35,570 I love you in the truth of God. 109 00:04:35,570 --> 00:04:38,340 That's why As a pastor, I can get up in front of the church and 110 00:04:38,340 --> 00:04:39,500 say, I love you. 111 00:04:39,580 --> 00:04:41,220 And you say, well, you don't know me. 112 00:04:41,220 --> 00:04:41,860 You don't love me. 113 00:04:41,860 --> 00:04:44,020 Well, I love you because I love you in the truth. 114 00:04:44,020 --> 00:04:46,620 And the truth of God is that we are to love our neighbors. 115 00:04:46,940 --> 00:04:48,660 We are to love those that God loves. 116 00:04:48,660 --> 00:04:49,540 And so what does he say here? 117 00:04:49,540 --> 00:04:53,260 He says, this lady who I'm writing to and her children in this 118 00:04:53,260 --> 00:04:57,580 congregation, I love them in the truth, and not I only, but also 119 00:04:57,580 --> 00:04:59,260 all they that have known the truth. 120 00:04:59,260 --> 00:05:00,500 And so what does he say here? 121 00:05:00,500 --> 00:05:03,940 He says, those people who follow the truth of God, the way, 122 00:05:03,940 --> 00:05:07,780 the truth and the life, those that follow Jesus recognize the testimony 123 00:05:07,780 --> 00:05:10,620 of this lady, of her children and of the church. 124 00:05:10,620 --> 00:05:12,500 And so the writer of the book is John. 125 00:05:12,500 --> 00:05:15,660 He identifies himself as the elder, and that speaks to his spiritual 126 00:05:15,660 --> 00:05:17,180 authority as an apostle. 127 00:05:17,500 --> 00:05:21,180 And as he writes this, he implies that, hey, look, I know you, 128 00:05:21,180 --> 00:05:23,980 and I love you, and all of those that have met you love you. 129 00:05:24,460 --> 00:05:28,540 And so if this is an individual Christian, he is commending 130 00:05:28,620 --> 00:05:31,940 her testimony along with the testimony of her children and by 131 00:05:31,940 --> 00:05:34,460 way of extension, those that are meeting within her home. 132 00:05:35,500 --> 00:05:39,500 And so whether or not it's a symbol or a literal interpretation 133 00:05:39,500 --> 00:05:43,100 of who this lady is, he's speaking of the testimony from this 134 00:05:43,340 --> 00:05:43,980 verse here. 135 00:05:43,980 --> 00:05:46,180 So he says in verse two, for the truth's sake. 136 00:05:46,180 --> 00:05:48,660 Again, you're seeing how many references the truth. 137 00:05:48,660 --> 00:05:51,540 Just in these first two verses, he's referencing truth. 138 00:05:51,540 --> 00:05:55,220 Now he's going to get to what he believes the truth is. 139 00:05:55,220 --> 00:05:58,300 And I think all of us would know he's speaking of God and God's 140 00:05:58,300 --> 00:05:58,620 Word. 141 00:05:59,140 --> 00:06:01,860 And so he says, for the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us 142 00:06:02,180 --> 00:06:04,020 and shall be with us forever. 143 00:06:04,020 --> 00:06:07,460 And so he's speaking here to this understanding that as a believer, 144 00:06:07,460 --> 00:06:08,580 we have the truth. 145 00:06:09,140 --> 00:06:12,100 We know the Bible says that Jesus is the way, the truth, and 146 00:06:12,100 --> 00:06:12,580 the life. 147 00:06:13,140 --> 00:06:14,699 Sanctify them by thy truth. 148 00:06:14,699 --> 00:06:17,140 John 17:17, thy word is truth. 149 00:06:17,140 --> 00:06:20,940 And so when he's referencing truth here, he's speaking specifically 150 00:06:20,940 --> 00:06:24,180 to this understanding of believing in Jesus and believing 151 00:06:24,180 --> 00:06:24,980 in His Word. 152 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:28,280 And so he says, for the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us 153 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:30,160 and shall be with us forever. 154 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:33,480 And there's so much that we could take there in the context of 155 00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:34,120 our faith. 156 00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:36,360 One, the truth lives within us. 157 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:39,200 When we believe in Jesus Christ, we have the Holy Spirit indwelling 158 00:06:39,200 --> 00:06:39,480 us. 159 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:42,240 And we know that the Holy Spirit guides us and leads us to 160 00:06:42,240 --> 00:06:42,840 all truth. 161 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:47,200 But also we see the eternality of God's presence with us when he 162 00:06:47,200 --> 00:06:49,480 says, and it shall be with us forever. 163 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:50,680 The truth does not change. 164 00:06:51,270 --> 00:06:51,950 That's what he's saying here. 165 00:06:51,950 --> 00:06:55,990 He says, the truth just doesn't change because of your circumstances. 166 00:06:56,870 --> 00:06:59,670 The truth doesn't change if your culture changes. 167 00:06:59,830 --> 00:07:03,070 The truth doesn't change if you're in a house, church, or a church 168 00:07:03,070 --> 00:07:04,430 with a building in town. 169 00:07:04,430 --> 00:07:09,750 The church isn't based upon a truth that morphs and evolves over 170 00:07:09,910 --> 00:07:10,550 centuries. 171 00:07:10,630 --> 00:07:11,790 The truth is the truth. 172 00:07:11,790 --> 00:07:13,350 The truth will be true forever. 173 00:07:14,390 --> 00:07:16,190 The Bible says, sanctify them by thy truth. 174 00:07:16,190 --> 00:07:16,910 Thy word is truth. 175 00:07:16,910 --> 00:07:20,920 Other passages of scripture say this, that the flower withereth, 176 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:23,240 the grass fadeth, or it's the other way around. 177 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:25,800 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of God 178 00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:26,680 stands forever. 179 00:07:27,320 --> 00:07:30,000 And so when we're talking about the church and when we're talking 180 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:32,440 about what we do within the church, and we're talking about what 181 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:35,760 we teach within the church and how we live within the church, the 182 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:37,400 question would be, what? 183 00:07:37,560 --> 00:07:38,440 What's the truth? 184 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:39,720 What are we living by? 185 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:40,440 And. 186 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:42,800 And again, in our world today, there's a lot of people that will 187 00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:44,200 say, well, my truth is this. 188 00:07:45,130 --> 00:07:45,370 That's. 189 00:07:45,370 --> 00:07:46,610 That's a red flag, okay? 190 00:07:46,610 --> 00:07:50,330 Be very, very cautious of when someone says, well, because of my 191 00:07:50,330 --> 00:07:52,170 experiences, this is my truth. 192 00:07:52,890 --> 00:07:54,650 Well, they could be meaning the right thing. 193 00:07:54,650 --> 00:07:57,690 But many times when people say my truth, they say this basically, 194 00:07:58,010 --> 00:08:00,569 well, this is what I believe to be true, but you might believe 195 00:08:00,569 --> 00:08:02,170 something else, and we could both be right. 196 00:08:03,050 --> 00:08:04,170 Well, that's. 197 00:08:04,170 --> 00:08:05,650 That's not objective truth. 198 00:08:05,650 --> 00:08:07,450 And the Bible says that there is an objective. 199 00:08:07,850 --> 00:08:09,330 And so what does he say here in verse 2? 200 00:08:09,330 --> 00:08:12,340 He says, for the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us and shall be 201 00:08:12,340 --> 00:08:13,340 with us forever. 202 00:08:14,780 --> 00:08:16,620 So the truth is forever. 203 00:08:16,620 --> 00:08:20,620 And we who have the truth as believers will stand in that forever. 204 00:08:21,180 --> 00:08:25,740 And so many people today think that truth changes from generation 205 00:08:25,740 --> 00:08:26,699 to generation, from. 206 00:08:26,699 --> 00:08:28,300 From stage to stage. 207 00:08:28,300 --> 00:08:32,380 But the Bible tells us, and the Bible professes that the truth 208 00:08:32,380 --> 00:08:33,420 will be with us forever. 209 00:08:33,420 --> 00:08:34,380 And it does not change. 210 00:08:34,620 --> 00:08:37,260 The Bible says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, 211 00:08:37,260 --> 00:08:37,980 and forever. 212 00:08:38,500 --> 00:08:39,780 And so what is he starting with here? 213 00:08:39,780 --> 00:08:42,420 He's starting with this fact that he loves her, and he loves her 214 00:08:42,580 --> 00:08:44,820 in the simple fact that there is this con. 215 00:08:44,820 --> 00:08:45,220 This. 216 00:08:45,300 --> 00:08:48,620 This whole idea of unity that comes with the truth of God living 217 00:08:48,620 --> 00:08:49,060 within them. 218 00:08:49,060 --> 00:08:51,860 It's the same principle that we find in the book of Ephesians. 219 00:08:51,860 --> 00:08:55,540 One Lord, one baptism, one faith, one spirit. 220 00:08:55,620 --> 00:08:59,300 And so he's talking about this unity that can be found in the truth. 221 00:08:59,940 --> 00:09:00,260 So. 222 00:09:00,260 --> 00:09:04,150 So really, true biblical love can only come through having the 223 00:09:04,150 --> 00:09:07,310 truth within our minds and within our hearts and living out 224 00:09:07,310 --> 00:09:08,070 that truth in our life. 225 00:09:08,070 --> 00:09:10,910 So first John is connected, right to second John, because remember, 226 00:09:10,910 --> 00:09:13,150 first John talked about loving God and loving others. 227 00:09:13,390 --> 00:09:16,990 Well, that's only good if that's based in truth. 228 00:09:17,550 --> 00:09:20,190 Because if I say I love you, but I don't love you in truth, and 229 00:09:20,190 --> 00:09:22,270 my truth might change and your truth might change. 230 00:09:22,510 --> 00:09:24,310 There's no standard of righteousness. 231 00:09:24,310 --> 00:09:25,790 There's no standard of holiness. 232 00:09:26,030 --> 00:09:28,070 There's no standard of objective truth. 233 00:09:28,070 --> 00:09:29,630 And so that's what he's talking about here. 234 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:31,560 He's basing this all in the truth. 235 00:09:31,560 --> 00:09:34,000 Now you say, why is he so focused on the truth here? 236 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:36,960 Well, you're going to understand by way of context that 237 00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:39,640 he's going to get down here and he's going to warn her that there 238 00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:42,720 are people that are slipping into the churches that are trying 239 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:44,080 to teach false doctrine. 240 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:47,440 So he says, be aware of the truth and stand in the truth. 241 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:47,680 Why? 242 00:09:47,680 --> 00:09:50,400 Because that's what you're going to need to stand for here as 243 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:50,880 a church. 244 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:54,680 And so he goes on to say, verse 3, Grace be with you, mercy 245 00:09:54,680 --> 00:09:58,990 and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the 246 00:09:58,990 --> 00:10:01,630 Son of the Father, in truth and love. 247 00:10:02,990 --> 00:10:05,990 So there's so much here in these first three verses about truth 248 00:10:05,990 --> 00:10:07,230 and love, truth and love. 249 00:10:07,390 --> 00:10:10,030 Here he just gives a salutation and greeting. 250 00:10:10,110 --> 00:10:13,670 He presents basically the standard greeting that we see in 251 00:10:13,670 --> 00:10:18,030 many of the New Testament letters dealing with mercy and peace 252 00:10:18,030 --> 00:10:18,710 and grace. 253 00:10:18,710 --> 00:10:21,830 And I think that's a good example for us to greet each other 254 00:10:21,830 --> 00:10:22,030 with. 255 00:10:22,030 --> 00:10:25,000 I think we should greet each other with not just by word, grace, 256 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:28,920 peace and mercy, but also by action, grace, peace and mercy. 257 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:32,320 And if we greeted people truly with grace, not just by what we say, 258 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:36,080 but with what we do, a lot of the greetings and the interactions 259 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:37,640 that we have with other people would be different. 260 00:10:39,560 --> 00:10:42,920 Often sometimes I think that when we think about grace and mercy 261 00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:45,960 and peace, we think about not standing firm in the truth. 262 00:10:46,360 --> 00:10:47,040 Because if I. 263 00:10:47,040 --> 00:10:48,920 If I came up to you and said, well, I'm going to have grace with 264 00:10:48,920 --> 00:10:51,540 somebody, I'm going to have patience with someone, I'm going 265 00:10:51,540 --> 00:10:53,380 to have peace with someone, I'm going to have mercy with someone, 266 00:10:53,620 --> 00:10:56,180 someone might be tempted to think, well, we might overlook the 267 00:10:56,180 --> 00:10:59,540 truth then, because you can't be gracious and truthful at the same 268 00:10:59,540 --> 00:11:00,180 time, right? 269 00:11:00,580 --> 00:11:02,180 Well, the Bible says that we can be. 270 00:11:02,340 --> 00:11:04,540 The Bible says that we can have truth and love, we can have 271 00:11:04,540 --> 00:11:06,180 grace and truth at the same time. 272 00:11:06,180 --> 00:11:08,660 And so he says it here in verse number three. 273 00:11:08,660 --> 00:11:14,140 He says, hey, we are here greeting you on behalf of God the 274 00:11:14,140 --> 00:11:17,590 Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, the 275 00:11:18,060 --> 00:11:19,980 in truth and love. 276 00:11:20,220 --> 00:11:23,100 The emphasis here is that we do everything in love, but we also 277 00:11:23,100 --> 00:11:24,220 do everything in truth. 278 00:11:24,540 --> 00:11:28,460 I want to take you back to another verse that again, parallels 279 00:11:28,460 --> 00:11:30,700 this thought back in the Gospel of John. 280 00:11:30,700 --> 00:11:35,500 And I hope that you've seen how much the Gospel of John parallels 281 00:11:35,660 --> 00:11:38,060 first John, and you're going to see how it parallels second John 282 00:11:38,380 --> 00:11:39,260 and third John. 283 00:11:39,580 --> 00:11:40,900 Now, why would that be the case? 284 00:11:40,900 --> 00:11:42,860 Well, two reasons. 285 00:11:42,940 --> 00:11:47,240 One, same spirit is inspiring the same human author. 286 00:11:47,560 --> 00:11:49,880 And so obviously there's going to be similarities. 287 00:11:49,880 --> 00:11:54,600 And so back in the Gospel of John, Gospel of John, chapter one, 288 00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:58,720 I want you to see with me another reference to Jesus, as it 289 00:11:58,720 --> 00:11:59,959 says in verse 14. 290 00:11:59,960 --> 00:12:05,120 And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld 291 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:08,480 his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. 292 00:12:08,480 --> 00:12:09,520 He's referencing Jesus. 293 00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:10,120 We know that. 294 00:12:10,950 --> 00:12:13,270 Full of grace and truth. 295 00:12:14,470 --> 00:12:19,910 So the emphasis here is that Jesus, in his earthly ministry and 296 00:12:19,910 --> 00:12:25,150 in his character, he is full of grace and truth. 297 00:12:25,150 --> 00:12:29,430 So it is possible for us as Christians to be full of grace, but 298 00:12:29,430 --> 00:12:31,590 at the same time be full of truth. 299 00:12:32,310 --> 00:12:35,230 And oftentimes we have different people that struggle with 300 00:12:35,230 --> 00:12:35,910 both of those things. 301 00:12:36,300 --> 00:12:39,860 Sometimes we have people who err on the side of grace and are 302 00:12:39,860 --> 00:12:41,740 not ever willing to call out truth. 303 00:12:41,980 --> 00:12:42,340 Right. 304 00:12:42,340 --> 00:12:45,900 Well, I want to be so gracious to this person, so I'm going to stumble 305 00:12:45,900 --> 00:12:48,380 all over myself to accommodate that person. 306 00:12:48,380 --> 00:12:50,500 But at the same time, I'm never going to tell them the truth 307 00:12:50,500 --> 00:12:53,580 about their life and about what they believe and about what 308 00:12:53,580 --> 00:12:54,540 the word of God says. 309 00:12:54,940 --> 00:12:59,100 And so we can, in the guise of grace, overlook truth. 310 00:12:59,980 --> 00:13:03,160 But at the same time, there's many, many people that struggle with 311 00:13:03,160 --> 00:13:04,720 grace, but they're all about truth. 312 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:05,400 And they're gonna. 313 00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:06,720 They're not gonna hold anything back. 314 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:07,800 And there's gonna be. 315 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:09,600 There's gonna be no grace in their speech. 316 00:13:09,600 --> 00:13:11,200 There's gonna be no tactfulness. 317 00:13:11,280 --> 00:13:13,600 It's all gonna be condemning and saying, well, you're wrong. 318 00:13:13,680 --> 00:13:16,720 You messed up, so this is your problem, and this is where you need 319 00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:17,200 to get better. 320 00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:17,920 And. 321 00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:21,520 And so again, the Bible says that it's not always just about truth, 322 00:13:21,520 --> 00:13:23,360 void of love and grace. 323 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:26,920 And so it's marrying the two together with an appropriate nature, 324 00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:29,280 just as Jesus did with grace and truth. 325 00:13:29,530 --> 00:13:32,570 Jesus never compromised truth in his teachings. 326 00:13:32,810 --> 00:13:37,530 There was never a time where Jesus overlooked sin and a Lot of 327 00:13:37,530 --> 00:13:38,210 people think that he did. 328 00:13:38,210 --> 00:13:39,570 A lot of people go back to those stories. 329 00:13:39,570 --> 00:13:42,290 Jesus never told someone to just keep going and living their 330 00:13:42,290 --> 00:13:43,410 life the same way they were living. 331 00:13:43,410 --> 00:13:45,050 He was always go and sin no more. 332 00:13:45,289 --> 00:13:46,970 It was always pointing someone to truth. 333 00:13:46,970 --> 00:13:49,690 Think about his interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well. 334 00:13:50,810 --> 00:13:51,490 There it was. 335 00:13:51,490 --> 00:13:54,170 It was a calling out truth, but doing it in love. 336 00:13:55,540 --> 00:13:59,420 And so Jesus never compromised grace, but he never compromised truth. 337 00:13:59,420 --> 00:14:02,060 And I think as Christians, if we follow his example, we can do 338 00:14:02,060 --> 00:14:02,500 the same. 339 00:14:03,380 --> 00:14:04,100 And so when. 340 00:14:04,100 --> 00:14:06,980 When we have a person that says, well, you know what? 341 00:14:07,780 --> 00:14:10,620 This is what I'm dealing with, and this is my struggle, and this 342 00:14:10,620 --> 00:14:11,860 is what I'm thinking. 343 00:14:12,900 --> 00:14:17,380 We can, in love and in grace, still tell the truth. 344 00:14:17,380 --> 00:14:19,300 And so he's going to explain how we do that. 345 00:14:19,300 --> 00:14:23,200 Because there is a time and a place where truth is going to overflow 346 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:26,760 and get to a place in our life where we might need to separate ourselves 347 00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:29,240 from someone so we can still have grace and love, but separate 348 00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:31,560 ourselves from what they're doing, what they're saying, what 349 00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:32,160 they're teaching. 350 00:14:32,160 --> 00:14:34,320 And that's what he talks about here in this passage. 351 00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:39,920 And so John writes verse after verse with these two favorite topics. 352 00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:42,320 Grace or love and truth. 353 00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:43,360 Love and truth. 354 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:45,800 And so let's go to verse number four. 355 00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:46,240 He says this. 356 00:14:46,240 --> 00:14:50,690 I rejoice greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth. 357 00:14:50,690 --> 00:14:56,250 And so it's John's joy that he sees this lady's children walking 358 00:14:56,250 --> 00:14:57,370 in the truth of God. 359 00:14:57,770 --> 00:15:00,890 Now, again, the analogy could be that he's happy that the whole 360 00:15:00,890 --> 00:15:02,810 church there is walking in the truth. 361 00:15:02,890 --> 00:15:07,410 But nonetheless, there's joy in this elder, the spiritual leader, 362 00:15:07,410 --> 00:15:09,370 seeing people follow in the truth of God. 363 00:15:09,370 --> 00:15:12,410 And no doubt this woman was passing along the truth to her children. 364 00:15:12,890 --> 00:15:15,930 And that's a model for all of us to pass along the truth. 365 00:15:15,930 --> 00:15:16,150 And. 366 00:15:16,220 --> 00:15:19,420 And so that our children can walk in truth, so that young Christians 367 00:15:19,420 --> 00:15:21,660 can walk in truth, so that all of us can walk in truth. 368 00:15:22,220 --> 00:15:26,900 So he says it, it brings me great joy to see the children walking 369 00:15:26,900 --> 00:15:31,540 in truth as we have received a commandment of the Father from the 370 00:15:31,540 --> 00:15:31,820 Father. 371 00:15:31,820 --> 00:15:36,260 And so he is reminding her of the commandment that was mentioned 372 00:15:36,260 --> 00:15:37,180 by the Lord. 373 00:15:37,180 --> 00:15:41,020 And so this is John's pastoral heart coming in and saying, hey, 374 00:15:41,020 --> 00:15:44,730 it brings me great joy to see those who I care about walking in 375 00:15:44,730 --> 00:15:45,170 truth. 376 00:15:45,650 --> 00:15:50,410 And I can tell you that brings me to see a Christian growing. 377 00:15:50,410 --> 00:15:53,570 There's nothing in the world that brings me more joy than to see 378 00:15:53,570 --> 00:15:56,050 someone walking and changing in the truth of God. 379 00:15:56,610 --> 00:15:59,770 I mean, I. I can tell you that one of the things that gets me up 380 00:15:59,770 --> 00:16:02,970 in the morning is thinking about how people can be changed by 381 00:16:02,970 --> 00:16:05,810 the power of the truth of God, by the power of the Spirit. 382 00:16:06,370 --> 00:16:09,630 People that we thought would never be changed are now serving 383 00:16:09,630 --> 00:16:11,950 God and being in ministry. 384 00:16:12,430 --> 00:16:14,710 When someone comes up to me, just not too long ago, someone came 385 00:16:14,710 --> 00:16:18,270 up to me, and I was praying for a specific ministry to be started, 386 00:16:19,390 --> 00:16:21,910 but I didn't know who to ask, and I was too afraid to ask because 387 00:16:21,910 --> 00:16:23,750 I didn't know who would ever want to deal with something like 388 00:16:23,750 --> 00:16:24,030 this. 389 00:16:24,910 --> 00:16:27,590 And a dear brother walks up to me and he goes, hey, I've been really 390 00:16:27,590 --> 00:16:30,270 praying about something, really thinking about this. 391 00:16:30,590 --> 00:16:33,670 And I didn't tell him what I was praying about, but obviously 392 00:16:33,670 --> 00:16:34,070 God did. 393 00:16:34,070 --> 00:16:36,230 And he walked up and he says, I've been really wanting to get involved 394 00:16:36,230 --> 00:16:36,710 with this thing. 395 00:16:36,710 --> 00:16:38,500 And I'm like, there is no way. 396 00:16:38,740 --> 00:16:40,340 That was just an amazing thing to see that. 397 00:16:40,340 --> 00:16:41,580 I was so excited in that moment. 398 00:16:41,580 --> 00:16:43,060 I was leaping for joy inside. 399 00:16:43,060 --> 00:16:44,340 I was like, this is amazing. 400 00:16:44,340 --> 00:16:45,340 God's working in your heart. 401 00:16:45,340 --> 00:16:46,980 And so that type of joy. 402 00:16:46,980 --> 00:16:48,780 And I think we could stay there for a long time. 403 00:16:48,780 --> 00:16:51,660 But that type of joy is the type of joy that all of us should 404 00:16:51,660 --> 00:16:54,340 be having when we see other people walking in the truth of God, 405 00:16:55,300 --> 00:16:57,740 sometimes in our flesh, it's judgmental. 406 00:16:57,740 --> 00:16:59,780 Well, really, they're probably not consistent. 407 00:17:00,260 --> 00:17:02,500 Really, they're probably just putting on a show to other people. 408 00:17:03,230 --> 00:17:04,590 That should not be our first take. 409 00:17:04,670 --> 00:17:07,230 Our first take should be joy when other people are walking in 410 00:17:07,230 --> 00:17:08,030 the truth of God. 411 00:17:08,350 --> 00:17:09,510 And that's what we see here. 412 00:17:09,510 --> 00:17:12,310 He says, so, hey, I'm joyful that your children are walking in 413 00:17:12,310 --> 00:17:12,830 the truth. 414 00:17:13,310 --> 00:17:15,310 And then he says something further here, very interesting. 415 00:17:15,310 --> 00:17:20,630 He says, as we have received a commandment from the Father, what 416 00:17:20,630 --> 00:17:20,910 is this? 417 00:17:20,910 --> 00:17:21,910 Well, what is this commandment? 418 00:17:21,910 --> 00:17:24,430 Well, he says exactly what this commandment is in verse five. 419 00:17:24,430 --> 00:17:28,150 And now I beseech the lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment 420 00:17:28,150 --> 00:17:32,840 unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love 421 00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:33,720 one another. 422 00:17:34,360 --> 00:17:39,440 He brings it back to, if I'm following the truth of God, it will 423 00:17:39,440 --> 00:17:41,320 be manifested by loving one another. 424 00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:45,720 So he says, hey, I am excited to see your children walking in truth 425 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:48,000 as they receive the commandment of God. 426 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:49,520 And what is that commandment of God? 427 00:17:49,520 --> 00:17:50,360 To love one another? 428 00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:51,080 That's that. 429 00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:55,000 That's that commandment that was given, I mean, among many other 430 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:55,640 commandments. 431 00:17:56,470 --> 00:18:00,270 But we know that the greatest commandment in Matthew says this, 432 00:18:00,270 --> 00:18:03,190 to love God with everything and to love our neighbor as ourselves. 433 00:18:03,510 --> 00:18:05,830 And so he says, hey, I've called you to love one another. 434 00:18:05,910 --> 00:18:12,510 So the proof of God working in my life is a desire to love other 435 00:18:12,510 --> 00:18:12,990 believers. 436 00:18:12,990 --> 00:18:14,630 And that's what he says here in this case. 437 00:18:15,910 --> 00:18:17,510 And so he goes a little bit further. 438 00:18:18,470 --> 00:18:20,630 He says, I beseech the lady. 439 00:18:21,440 --> 00:18:22,600 Now what does that beseech mean? 440 00:18:22,600 --> 00:18:23,760 He means, I beg you. 441 00:18:24,320 --> 00:18:25,040 He says, don't. 442 00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:26,960 Don't forget about this commandment. 443 00:18:26,960 --> 00:18:28,000 Don't forget about this. 444 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:30,840 Even though I see people walking in the truth, even though 445 00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:34,120 I see your children walking in truth, don't be tempted to forget 446 00:18:34,120 --> 00:18:36,000 about this commandment of loving one another. 447 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:40,320 And so John knew that even though there were people walking 448 00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:42,840 in the truth, they needed to be reminded why? 449 00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:45,640 Because as humans, we always can fall back into the trap. 450 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:48,080 I mean, just because I love my neighbor yesterday, that doesn't 451 00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:49,280 mean I'm going to love my neighbor today. 452 00:18:50,690 --> 00:18:53,730 And so what he's saying here is this, be vigilant. 453 00:18:54,210 --> 00:18:58,130 Be aware that we all can slip back into the flesh and not follow 454 00:18:58,530 --> 00:18:59,890 God's commandment in this. 455 00:19:01,250 --> 00:19:04,210 And so, because it's so essential, we have to repeat this 456 00:19:04,210 --> 00:19:06,050 over and over again to love one another. 457 00:19:06,450 --> 00:19:07,490 To love one another. 458 00:19:08,130 --> 00:19:09,890 But again, he says it in truth. 459 00:19:10,450 --> 00:19:15,770 And so the proof or the manifestation of our love for God 460 00:19:15,770 --> 00:19:19,410 and our obedience to God should, should and will be measured 461 00:19:19,410 --> 00:19:20,890 by how we love one another. 462 00:19:21,130 --> 00:19:23,450 You want to know what Jesus says about that? 463 00:19:23,450 --> 00:19:25,210 You can go back to John, chapter 13. 464 00:19:25,290 --> 00:19:27,890 Again, another reference back to the Gospel of John. 465 00:19:27,890 --> 00:19:29,690 John, chapter 13, verse 35. 466 00:19:29,850 --> 00:19:33,690 This is Jesus speaking to his followers in his earthly ministry. 467 00:19:33,850 --> 00:19:36,250 And he tells them something very interesting here. 468 00:19:37,130 --> 00:19:42,250 He says, by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples. 469 00:19:42,250 --> 00:19:42,910 He says, you are. 470 00:19:42,980 --> 00:19:47,700 You want people to know that you are my disciples if you have 471 00:19:47,700 --> 00:19:49,220 love, one to another. 472 00:19:50,820 --> 00:19:55,460 And so if we want the world to notice a difference in who we follow, 473 00:19:55,860 --> 00:19:59,059 if we want the world to know that we are truly disciples. 474 00:19:59,059 --> 00:20:02,100 And by the way, all that word disciple really means is a follower, 475 00:20:02,100 --> 00:20:02,740 a learner. 476 00:20:03,540 --> 00:20:06,940 If we want people to know that we are disciples of Jesus Christ, 477 00:20:06,940 --> 00:20:08,100 what does he say to do? 478 00:20:08,670 --> 00:20:10,430 Well, make sure you're in church every single Sunday. 479 00:20:10,430 --> 00:20:12,030 Well, that is a good thing. 480 00:20:12,590 --> 00:20:16,910 Okay, but he says very clearly that we could be in church and still 481 00:20:16,910 --> 00:20:19,070 not prove to other people that we are his disciples. 482 00:20:20,030 --> 00:20:20,430 We. 483 00:20:20,510 --> 00:20:24,709 We could still, we could be serving in a ministry, but not do 484 00:20:24,709 --> 00:20:27,470 what he says to prove to other people that we are his disciples. 485 00:20:27,550 --> 00:20:29,430 So here it is not Pastor Josh's words. 486 00:20:29,430 --> 00:20:30,590 This is Jesus's words. 487 00:20:30,750 --> 00:20:35,480 He says, you Prove to other people that you are my disciples. 488 00:20:35,560 --> 00:20:38,200 How, if you love one another. 489 00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:42,360 And so that's the same thing that he mentions in First John. 490 00:20:42,440 --> 00:20:45,080 First John, chapter 4, verses 20 and 21. 491 00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:49,400 And so he says in verse 5 to this lady, you're doing a great job. 492 00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:50,200 I commend you. 493 00:20:50,200 --> 00:20:51,480 You have a great testimony. 494 00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:55,800 But don't forget to follow what God has commanded us to do. 495 00:20:56,680 --> 00:20:57,280 Verse 6. 496 00:20:57,280 --> 00:20:58,680 And he says, and this is love. 497 00:21:00,690 --> 00:21:03,210 So he says, look, follow the commandment, by the way. 498 00:21:03,210 --> 00:21:04,490 This is the commandment, by the way. 499 00:21:04,490 --> 00:21:06,050 This is how you follow the commandment. 500 00:21:06,850 --> 00:21:08,450 You know, there's a lot of times in. 501 00:21:08,450 --> 00:21:10,530 In my life that I've heard people get up and say, you need to 502 00:21:10,530 --> 00:21:11,330 be a good Christian. 503 00:21:11,970 --> 00:21:13,250 You need to follow God. 504 00:21:14,050 --> 00:21:15,290 You need to obey his Word. 505 00:21:15,290 --> 00:21:16,610 But what does that look like? 506 00:21:17,090 --> 00:21:18,490 Well, that's what John is doing here. 507 00:21:18,490 --> 00:21:19,610 John is painting a picture. 508 00:21:19,610 --> 00:21:21,650 He says, you need to follow the commandment. 509 00:21:21,730 --> 00:21:23,170 And this is what the commandment is. 510 00:21:23,170 --> 00:21:26,370 He's very specific, and then he's very specific about how it looks 511 00:21:26,370 --> 00:21:27,330 to follow that commandment. 512 00:21:27,330 --> 00:21:27,690 Verse 6. 513 00:21:27,690 --> 00:21:32,700 And he says, and this is love that we walk after his commandments. 514 00:21:33,180 --> 00:21:36,700 This is the commandment that, as ye have heard from the beginning, 515 00:21:36,700 --> 00:21:37,700 you should walk in it. 516 00:21:37,700 --> 00:21:38,420 So what does he say here? 517 00:21:38,420 --> 00:21:42,940 He says this to show love for other people. 518 00:21:42,940 --> 00:21:45,259 It doesn't mean you just have to, like, look at them in a different 519 00:21:45,259 --> 00:21:45,660 way. 520 00:21:46,140 --> 00:21:49,020 The way you love other people is by loving him more. 521 00:21:49,100 --> 00:21:50,860 And the way that you love him as. 522 00:21:50,860 --> 00:21:51,060 As. 523 00:21:51,060 --> 00:21:51,820 What does it say? 524 00:21:51,900 --> 00:21:54,700 It says that this commandment that ye have heard from the beginning, 525 00:21:54,700 --> 00:21:55,980 you should walk in it. 526 00:21:56,420 --> 00:21:56,900 Verse 6. 527 00:21:56,900 --> 00:21:59,940 And this is love that we walk after his commandments. 528 00:22:00,180 --> 00:22:01,460 So we love God. 529 00:22:01,460 --> 00:22:03,940 The way we prove our love to God is by loving him. 530 00:22:04,180 --> 00:22:06,620 And by loving him, we will love others. 531 00:22:06,620 --> 00:22:08,340 And so essentially, it's this. 532 00:22:08,820 --> 00:22:12,020 Loving others is not something that we just have to try harder in. 533 00:22:12,420 --> 00:22:16,740 It's loving God so much that it's the natural outpour that we 534 00:22:16,740 --> 00:22:17,300 love others. 535 00:22:18,340 --> 00:22:19,220 And so it's this. 536 00:22:19,460 --> 00:22:23,190 If I'm sitting in front of the church and I'm looking out at individuals 537 00:22:23,190 --> 00:22:24,390 and I say, you know what? 538 00:22:24,390 --> 00:22:28,190 And I'm not saying this, okay, this is completely hypothetical, 539 00:22:28,270 --> 00:22:29,190 but I am a heart. 540 00:22:29,190 --> 00:22:31,950 I have a hard time loving other Christians. 541 00:22:32,830 --> 00:22:35,310 I have a hard time loving you because of X, Y, Z. 542 00:22:35,950 --> 00:22:36,550 Well, that's. 543 00:22:36,550 --> 00:22:36,910 That's. 544 00:22:36,910 --> 00:22:37,510 That's normal. 545 00:22:37,510 --> 00:22:38,430 That's in our flesh. 546 00:22:38,510 --> 00:22:41,230 We don't like to love people that aren't necessarily loving us. 547 00:22:41,310 --> 00:22:43,950 And I'm not saying that that might be the case for You. 548 00:22:44,190 --> 00:22:47,550 But for me, sometimes the struggle is I. I have a hard time 549 00:22:47,550 --> 00:22:50,070 loving somebody because of whatever reason. 550 00:22:50,230 --> 00:22:53,910 Now I don't just look out there and go, well, man, I just really 551 00:22:53,910 --> 00:22:56,910 need to try harder to avoid the thing that annoys me. 552 00:22:56,910 --> 00:22:59,590 Or I need to maybe just wake up on the other side of the bed. 553 00:22:59,590 --> 00:23:02,230 Or maybe I just need to wake up and read my Bible more because 554 00:23:02,230 --> 00:23:03,590 I just can't love these people. 555 00:23:03,990 --> 00:23:06,110 Well, biblically speaking, what does he say here to do? 556 00:23:06,110 --> 00:23:10,710 He says, if you want to love other people and walk in that path, 557 00:23:10,710 --> 00:23:11,270 what do you do? 558 00:23:11,270 --> 00:23:14,170 You just turn to God and love him more and more. 559 00:23:14,240 --> 00:23:18,120 And as you love him more, the natural outpour will be that I want 560 00:23:18,120 --> 00:23:18,840 to obey him. 561 00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:20,160 And what does he tell me to do? 562 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:20,880 To love others. 563 00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:24,920 And so my obedience is proof of my love for him and my love for 564 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:26,280 people is proof that I love him. 565 00:23:26,280 --> 00:23:27,800 And so there's that connection piece there. 566 00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:30,600 And I think so many times, for me, it's this, well, I gotta just 567 00:23:30,600 --> 00:23:33,440 try to find a way to get around the struggle that I'm having 568 00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:34,240 loving this person. 569 00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:38,960 And so counterintuitively, it's not about looking at that person 570 00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:39,440 more. 571 00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:39,700 It's. 572 00:23:39,770 --> 00:23:43,730 It's about looking to God more and be able to drive that love forward 573 00:23:43,730 --> 00:23:46,050 for that person because you're loving that person because you love 574 00:23:46,050 --> 00:23:46,410 God. 575 00:23:46,970 --> 00:23:48,490 And that's exactly what he says here. 576 00:23:48,490 --> 00:23:51,730 He says, so if you're ever tempted not to love somebody, don't 577 00:23:51,730 --> 00:23:54,010 look at them and try to paint them in a better picture. 578 00:23:54,010 --> 00:23:55,930 Like, well, maybe this or maybe that. 579 00:23:55,930 --> 00:23:57,210 Like, love God more. 580 00:23:57,290 --> 00:24:00,970 If you love God more, the desire will be to love that individual 581 00:24:00,970 --> 00:24:01,450 in Christ. 582 00:24:01,770 --> 00:24:06,850 Now again, the naysayer might say, well, then what if there's a 583 00:24:06,850 --> 00:24:08,370 person who is against God's word? 584 00:24:08,370 --> 00:24:09,460 What if there's a person who is. 585 00:24:09,610 --> 00:24:11,690 Who is opposing me and opposing my ministry? 586 00:24:11,690 --> 00:24:15,130 Well, he's going to get there in verse number six because he said. 587 00:24:15,130 --> 00:24:17,530 Or verse number seven, because at the end of verse number six, he 588 00:24:17,530 --> 00:24:19,690 says, hey, you've heard this commandment before. 589 00:24:19,770 --> 00:24:20,770 Walk in this truth. 590 00:24:20,770 --> 00:24:22,010 Walk in God's commandments. 591 00:24:22,010 --> 00:24:22,650 Obey him. 592 00:24:22,730 --> 00:24:26,250 You, you know the verse John 14:15, if you love me, keep my commandments. 593 00:24:26,810 --> 00:24:28,330 And so the idea here is this. 594 00:24:28,570 --> 00:24:31,610 If I love God, it's not a burden to obey him. 595 00:24:32,970 --> 00:24:38,550 It's only a burden to obey God when I don't have strong love for 596 00:24:38,550 --> 00:24:38,830 him. 597 00:24:39,150 --> 00:24:42,550 That agape love, that, that, that choice love, that love that 598 00:24:42,550 --> 00:24:47,390 desires to have a selfless sacrifice and not a selfish desire. 599 00:24:48,270 --> 00:24:49,190 So that's what he says. 600 00:24:49,190 --> 00:24:49,950 There in verse six. 601 00:24:49,950 --> 00:24:52,470 So now what happens if there's going to be people that sneak in? 602 00:24:52,470 --> 00:24:56,910 He's warning this church to be aware of what is coming. 603 00:24:56,910 --> 00:25:00,670 He says verse seven, for many deceivers are entered into the world. 604 00:25:03,000 --> 00:25:05,400 So it kind of seems weird that he would put that in there. 605 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:09,640 He just gets done telling her love, people and truth. 606 00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:11,880 But again, remember that word true. 607 00:25:12,360 --> 00:25:15,000 Because he says when there are people that are against the truth, 608 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:16,760 we are not obligated to love them. 609 00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:22,000 Now I know that many people say, well, isn't, isn't, isn't Jesus's 610 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:23,040 teaching love our enemies? 611 00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:26,400 Well, of course we love our enemies, but we love our enemies 612 00:25:26,400 --> 00:25:28,060 by truth, right? 613 00:25:28,380 --> 00:25:31,820 We don't love our enemies by condoning and accepting their wrong. 614 00:25:32,620 --> 00:25:34,700 What we do is we love them in truth. 615 00:25:34,700 --> 00:25:36,940 And so it says in verse seven, for many deceivers are entered into 616 00:25:36,940 --> 00:25:40,780 the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. 617 00:25:41,980 --> 00:25:44,580 And so he says, there's going to be some people that are going 618 00:25:44,580 --> 00:25:48,700 to come in and try to deceive you away from thinking about the 619 00:25:48,700 --> 00:25:50,060 truth, believing the truth. 620 00:25:50,220 --> 00:25:53,610 And so we see in this specific context the false teachers are, are 621 00:25:53,610 --> 00:25:55,850 someone who is teaching a different Jesus. 622 00:25:56,170 --> 00:25:58,410 They're teaching a Jesus incorrectly. 623 00:25:58,570 --> 00:26:03,130 And in, in this specific example, it's those who don't confess 624 00:26:03,130 --> 00:26:05,370 that Jesus is actually come in the flesh. 625 00:26:05,370 --> 00:26:07,610 We just read John, chapter 1, verse 14. 626 00:26:08,410 --> 00:26:10,530 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. 627 00:26:10,530 --> 00:26:14,370 And so the prevailing false teaching was something called Gnosticism. 628 00:26:14,370 --> 00:26:17,370 And I don't want to go down that rabbit trail too far, but if 629 00:26:17,370 --> 00:26:19,840 you want to know more about Gnosticism, you can look it up, or 630 00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:20,880 I could talk to you about it. 631 00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:24,000 But essentially at the core element of Gnosticism is that there's 632 00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:27,960 the secret knowledge that the average person cannot understand. 633 00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:31,200 And you have to be illuminated, you have to be changed. 634 00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:34,600 And when you understand this higher knowledge, you'll know that 635 00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:36,680 Jesus was not a man in the flesh. 636 00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:40,840 Jesus was actually just a supernatural creation of God that 637 00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:44,200 came and was visibly there, but not necessarily physically there. 638 00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:47,160 And that was supposed to be the secret knowledge that only the 639 00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:48,120 Gnostics had. 640 00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:51,920 And so that was actually spreading inside of the churches 641 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:52,560 at the time. 642 00:26:53,120 --> 00:26:55,680 And there were many Christians who were being deceived by that. 643 00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:58,680 So the warning was this, there are going to be people who preach 644 00:26:58,680 --> 00:26:59,520 a different Jesus. 645 00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:01,440 In this case, that he did not come in the flesh. 646 00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:06,240 He says this, these people that teach Jesus wrong, in this case 647 00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:08,480 preaching that Jesus did not come in the flesh. 648 00:27:09,120 --> 00:27:14,480 These people are, as it says here, a Deceiver and an Antichrist. 649 00:27:15,540 --> 00:27:17,700 Very interesting to think about when he says that, because 650 00:27:17,700 --> 00:27:20,900 he says, he says there's going to be false teachers who are coming. 651 00:27:21,220 --> 00:27:25,380 And those false teachers are not just, hey, they're a little dangerous. 652 00:27:25,380 --> 00:27:26,420 Just watch out for them. 653 00:27:26,420 --> 00:27:30,180 He says, no, they are deceiving you and they are Antichrist. 654 00:27:30,180 --> 00:27:30,819 Meaning this. 655 00:27:30,820 --> 00:27:31,820 They're against God. 656 00:27:31,820 --> 00:27:32,060 They're. 657 00:27:32,060 --> 00:27:35,700 They're opposing Jesus in every single way. 658 00:27:37,060 --> 00:27:40,580 And so John has in mind the deceiver of his day. 659 00:27:40,580 --> 00:27:43,340 But I think all of us can take in mind the deceivers of our day. 660 00:27:43,340 --> 00:27:46,230 And ultimately the source of all the deception is Satan, right? 661 00:27:46,230 --> 00:27:47,110 He's the great deceiver. 662 00:27:47,110 --> 00:27:48,830 He's the father of all these lies. 663 00:27:49,150 --> 00:27:53,590 And so in this case, we know that we have to be aware, even as 664 00:27:53,590 --> 00:27:56,870 we're dealing with love and truth, we have to deal with false 665 00:27:56,870 --> 00:27:57,950 teaching within the church. 666 00:27:57,950 --> 00:27:59,550 We have to be so on guard for that. 667 00:27:59,789 --> 00:28:03,190 And in the advent of technology today, we are living in 668 00:28:03,190 --> 00:28:06,870 that season as the Bible says, that we are always ever learning, 669 00:28:06,870 --> 00:28:08,430 but never coming to the truth. 670 00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:13,520 And, and so we are in a society today that you can be, if 671 00:28:13,520 --> 00:28:17,480 you want to be, you can be bombarded with a bunch of different, 672 00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:21,240 what we would call truths, people's truths. 673 00:28:21,800 --> 00:28:25,359 But I would be very cautious, and I hope that you're very cautious 674 00:28:25,359 --> 00:28:27,880 when it comes to the intake of any teaching. 675 00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:31,440 And the first test, as we talked about in First John, the first 676 00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:33,800 test is what is their teaching about Jesus? 677 00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:36,880 There are many other tests that follow that, but I would say 678 00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:39,800 that the very first test that you can match someone up to to see 679 00:28:40,130 --> 00:28:42,930 if they're a deceiver is what do they preach about Jesus Christ? 680 00:28:43,810 --> 00:28:45,970 And in this case, he says that is the test. 681 00:28:46,690 --> 00:28:50,850 And if they're not preaching the right Jesus, if they're not preaching 682 00:28:50,850 --> 00:28:54,450 Jesus as the word of God presents Jesus, they are a deceiver 683 00:28:54,530 --> 00:28:55,970 and an Antichrist. 684 00:28:57,570 --> 00:29:02,370 So in this case, John is warning the church against false 685 00:29:02,370 --> 00:29:06,890 teaching, specifically in the context of who, who Jesus is and 686 00:29:06,890 --> 00:29:07,690 what he has done. 687 00:29:08,730 --> 00:29:10,210 They have the spirit of the Antichrist. 688 00:29:10,210 --> 00:29:12,930 It's already been mentioned in, in First John, Chapter 2, he 689 00:29:12,930 --> 00:29:13,850 mentioned that already. 690 00:29:14,570 --> 00:29:18,370 Now, this isn't necessarily the Antichrist, and that's something 691 00:29:18,370 --> 00:29:19,610 for another day that we can study. 692 00:29:19,610 --> 00:29:22,210 But what he says is that the spirit of Antichrist has always been 693 00:29:22,210 --> 00:29:25,090 here and all the spirit of Antichrist is just something that's 694 00:29:25,090 --> 00:29:25,930 against Jesus. 695 00:29:26,970 --> 00:29:29,970 Now, I, I can't sit up here and tell you all the different teachings 696 00:29:29,970 --> 00:29:32,650 that are Antichrist, but what I can say is this. 697 00:29:33,090 --> 00:29:35,130 If it's not the authentic version. 698 00:29:35,130 --> 00:29:36,650 It is Antichrist. 699 00:29:36,650 --> 00:29:40,250 It is a falsification of the truth of Jesus. 700 00:29:40,250 --> 00:29:43,490 So there are a lot of people out there that will teach about Jesus. 701 00:29:43,650 --> 00:29:47,090 Paul even warns, but they're teaching a different Jesus, not the 702 00:29:47,090 --> 00:29:47,970 Jesus of the Bible. 703 00:29:49,010 --> 00:29:50,610 And, and so I caution you about that. 704 00:29:50,610 --> 00:29:52,890 Just because someone says the name of Jesus, that doesn't mean 705 00:29:52,890 --> 00:29:54,130 that they're preaching Jesus. 706 00:29:54,370 --> 00:29:56,850 Just because it's portrayed like the Jesus that we understand, 707 00:29:57,490 --> 00:30:01,530 it's, it's not if it's not the one that's mentioned in Scripture. 708 00:30:01,530 --> 00:30:04,690 So I had to be very careful about this because this is actually 709 00:30:04,770 --> 00:30:08,530 one of my, like, everyone has their soapboxes that they want to 710 00:30:08,530 --> 00:30:09,650 stand on, right? 711 00:30:09,970 --> 00:30:10,930 We all have those. 712 00:30:11,730 --> 00:30:16,770 And you know, some of our soapboxes are everyone's soapbox 713 00:30:16,770 --> 00:30:18,250 is, is important to them. 714 00:30:18,250 --> 00:30:18,610 Right. 715 00:30:18,850 --> 00:30:20,450 But I think I can justify this one. 716 00:30:20,450 --> 00:30:20,730 Right? 717 00:30:20,730 --> 00:30:23,090 I, I think that it's, it's one of my pet peeves. 718 00:30:23,090 --> 00:30:27,010 When someone comes up and teaches something that it sounds 719 00:30:27,010 --> 00:30:29,730 Christian adjacent, it sounds good. 720 00:30:29,730 --> 00:30:33,810 There's some morality there, there's some religious feeling there. 721 00:30:34,210 --> 00:30:37,410 There's actually maybe even a spiritual experience that happens, 722 00:30:37,970 --> 00:30:40,730 or at least an emotional experience that can be tied to a 723 00:30:40,730 --> 00:30:41,490 spiritual experience. 724 00:30:42,370 --> 00:30:45,410 But if you get to the core of it, if you get to the specifics of 725 00:30:45,410 --> 00:30:47,810 it, there isn't the truth of Jesus Christ in that. 726 00:30:48,850 --> 00:30:51,820 And the Bible actually says, please, please, please hear me out. 727 00:30:51,900 --> 00:30:56,220 The Bible actually says to test all spirits, to test every single 728 00:30:56,300 --> 00:30:57,980 spiritual experience that you have. 729 00:30:58,060 --> 00:30:58,380 Why? 730 00:30:58,380 --> 00:31:01,620 Because the Bible says that there can be other spiritual experiences 731 00:31:01,620 --> 00:31:03,100 that are not coming from God. 732 00:31:03,580 --> 00:31:05,260 And so we have to be so careful about that. 733 00:31:05,260 --> 00:31:08,300 And that's why a lot, I, I, I will get a lot of flack because a 734 00:31:08,300 --> 00:31:10,620 lot of people think that I preach against emotions. 735 00:31:10,860 --> 00:31:12,220 I don't preach against emotions. 736 00:31:12,220 --> 00:31:12,940 I have emotions. 737 00:31:12,940 --> 00:31:16,100 I cry with my children when we watch little kitty movies and the 738 00:31:16,100 --> 00:31:18,760 little, you know, animal falls down and it's hurt. 739 00:31:18,760 --> 00:31:20,080 I get, I have emotions. 740 00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:21,520 Emotions are a good thing. 741 00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:22,800 Biblically speaking. 742 00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:24,720 Emotions are given by God. 743 00:31:24,960 --> 00:31:28,240 But the Bible never says that emotion should drive our truth. 744 00:31:28,240 --> 00:31:28,960 It's the other way around. 745 00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:30,480 Our truth should drive our emotions. 746 00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:34,600 And if we wrap everything up in our Christian life and our spiritual 747 00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:39,360 experience to an emotion, there could be a much easier path 748 00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:41,680 to deception if we're wrapped up in emotion. 749 00:31:42,730 --> 00:31:45,210 Because a deceiver can be very emotive. 750 00:31:45,530 --> 00:31:48,330 It can really appeal to our senses. 751 00:31:48,890 --> 00:31:50,570 And so what I would tell you is this. 752 00:31:51,130 --> 00:31:53,890 There could be a moment in which you feel like something is 753 00:31:53,890 --> 00:31:58,369 good sometimes, if we watch a pastor online and he's animated. 754 00:31:58,369 --> 00:31:59,650 There's nothing wrong with being animated. 755 00:31:59,650 --> 00:32:04,810 But animation and conviction and confidence does not equate competency 756 00:32:04,890 --> 00:32:06,330 in the truth of God's word. 757 00:32:06,650 --> 00:32:10,520 So the only test is not, wow, he tells really great stories, or. 758 00:32:10,520 --> 00:32:11,840 Or he's very entertaining. 759 00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:16,400 The only test is we go back to the Word of God, and if it does not 760 00:32:16,400 --> 00:32:19,360 align with the word of God, it could be a great message. 761 00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:22,840 When it comes to being a motivation, but a motive. 762 00:32:22,840 --> 00:32:27,200 The Bible does not say that pastors and preachers should be motivational 763 00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:27,840 speakers. 764 00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:30,040 There should be some motivation, but the motivation should 765 00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:31,040 not be coming from me. 766 00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:33,200 The motivation should be coming from the Word of God and the 767 00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:33,840 Spirit of God. 768 00:32:34,200 --> 00:32:37,160 And so we come back here and he says, okay, those are deceivers. 769 00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:39,400 Anyone that's preaching something different than Jesus. 770 00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:41,160 And then. 771 00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:44,280 And so then he says this verse 8, look to yourselves. 772 00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:48,960 And I think that that's interesting here because I think 773 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:54,160 a lot of times when we talk about the inside of the church, we 774 00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:55,560 talk about false teachers. 775 00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:56,600 We always think outside. 776 00:32:57,640 --> 00:33:00,920 We always think like the bad guys outside those other churches. 777 00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:02,880 Those was other people on the Internet. 778 00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:05,560 But that's going to be that, okay? 779 00:33:05,560 --> 00:33:07,680 There's always going to be false teaching out there. 780 00:33:07,760 --> 00:33:10,000 There always has been and there always will be. 781 00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:12,080 The Bible says that there will always be false teachers. 782 00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:13,840 There will always be the spirit of the Antichrist. 783 00:33:13,840 --> 00:33:15,960 There will always be people that preach different Jesuses. 784 00:33:15,960 --> 00:33:16,400 Okay? 785 00:33:16,880 --> 00:33:20,560 So we can look out and try to identify false teachers, but the 786 00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:23,080 number one thing that we should do is look within ourselves 787 00:33:23,080 --> 00:33:26,280 to look inwardly and say, okay, where is it coming in here? 788 00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:27,440 Is it coming into my life? 789 00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:28,720 Is it coming into my study? 790 00:33:29,140 --> 00:33:30,220 Is it coming into our church? 791 00:33:30,220 --> 00:33:31,700 Is it coming into our small group? 792 00:33:32,180 --> 00:33:33,860 And be aware of that and be vigilant. 793 00:33:34,020 --> 00:33:38,020 He says, look to yourselves that we lose not those things which 794 00:33:38,020 --> 00:33:38,900 we have wrought. 795 00:33:39,140 --> 00:33:41,100 By that we receive a full reward. 796 00:33:41,100 --> 00:33:41,780 Meaning this. 797 00:33:42,180 --> 00:33:43,980 Don't miss out on the truth. 798 00:33:43,980 --> 00:33:45,900 If you miss out on the truth, there are things. 799 00:33:45,900 --> 00:33:49,260 It doesn't mean that we lose our salvation, but it does mean that 800 00:33:49,260 --> 00:33:52,620 we could lose out on our full reward of walking with Christ in 801 00:33:52,620 --> 00:33:55,780 obedience because of the fact that we are deceived. 802 00:33:57,300 --> 00:34:02,900 Now there is a problem, a huge problem if deception seeps into the 803 00:34:02,900 --> 00:34:03,180 church. 804 00:34:03,180 --> 00:34:05,940 Because as we well know, there could be people within the church 805 00:34:05,940 --> 00:34:06,980 who are not believers. 806 00:34:06,980 --> 00:34:09,860 Those unbelieving people that come in the church can fall into 807 00:34:09,860 --> 00:34:14,180 that deception and actually be not saved because of the deception 808 00:34:14,180 --> 00:34:15,220 that falls within the church. 809 00:34:15,540 --> 00:34:18,700 I personally don't believe According to Romans 8 and many other 810 00:34:18,700 --> 00:34:20,980 passages that we can lose our salvation. 811 00:34:21,629 --> 00:34:25,149 But I do know that we can lose our reward in our salvation, meaning 812 00:34:25,149 --> 00:34:28,229 we can lose the benefits and the blessings of walking in the truth. 813 00:34:28,229 --> 00:34:31,149 And so he says, here, look to yourself so you don't lose those 814 00:34:31,149 --> 00:34:34,029 things that have been given to you by the way of spiritual gifts 815 00:34:34,109 --> 00:34:37,469 and spiritual teachings so that you can receive your full reward. 816 00:34:38,589 --> 00:34:40,269 And I think that's something to think about. 817 00:34:40,589 --> 00:34:43,229 I think that for all of us as Christians, we don't want our joy 818 00:34:43,229 --> 00:34:43,949 to be stolen. 819 00:34:43,949 --> 00:34:46,349 We don't want our effectiveness to be stolen. 820 00:34:47,720 --> 00:34:50,840 We don't want our, our Christian walk to be limited and 821 00:34:50,840 --> 00:34:52,040 hindered by false teaching. 822 00:34:52,040 --> 00:34:52,840 I hope we don't. 823 00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:55,240 And so he says, look to yourselves. 824 00:34:56,360 --> 00:34:58,880 And so the first thing that we do, the first thing that I do when 825 00:34:58,880 --> 00:35:01,360 I think about false teaching is I don't look around the church 826 00:35:01,360 --> 00:35:04,440 and go, I wonder who's listening to all those weird videos 827 00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:04,760 online. 828 00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:08,360 I'm going to be like, show me your Internet history. 829 00:35:08,360 --> 00:35:12,280 You probably all know I look, I start with myself. 830 00:35:13,490 --> 00:35:16,930 I protect myself in the power of God and the truth of God. 831 00:35:17,330 --> 00:35:18,490 I pray for my family. 832 00:35:18,490 --> 00:35:21,530 And then obviously, if all of us do that, and hopefully as the 833 00:35:21,530 --> 00:35:24,250 pastor and spiritual shepherd of the church, then I'm concerned 834 00:35:24,250 --> 00:35:25,010 about the flock. 835 00:35:25,650 --> 00:35:28,530 But, but I could be so concerned about the flock not finding 836 00:35:28,530 --> 00:35:31,290 false teaching that I could be deceived, thinking that I'm where 837 00:35:31,290 --> 00:35:32,850 I need to be and I could fall into the. 838 00:35:32,850 --> 00:35:34,690 Anyone can fall into the trap of being deceived. 839 00:35:34,930 --> 00:35:36,530 We have to be so cautious about this. 840 00:35:38,060 --> 00:35:39,060 And so we see verse nine. 841 00:35:39,060 --> 00:35:42,660 He says, whosoever transgresseth sins and abides not 842 00:35:42,660 --> 00:35:45,100 in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. 843 00:35:46,380 --> 00:35:47,820 And that's an interesting verse. 844 00:35:48,140 --> 00:35:51,660 You know, there, there is a lot of interpretations of that verse. 845 00:35:53,740 --> 00:35:58,620 And so what we could see here is this to, to deny the. 846 00:35:58,940 --> 00:36:03,420 And I think this is going back to the transgression of not believing 847 00:36:03,420 --> 00:36:04,380 in the true Jesus. 848 00:36:04,750 --> 00:36:05,030 Okay? 849 00:36:05,030 --> 00:36:07,390 Because I think in wave context, he's continuing the thought. 850 00:36:07,710 --> 00:36:11,150 So whoever transgresses and abides not in the doctrine of Christ, 851 00:36:11,150 --> 00:36:14,910 meaning there is no way to find salvation if you do not have 852 00:36:14,910 --> 00:36:18,430 the proper doctrine or teaching or belief in Jesus Christ. 853 00:36:19,390 --> 00:36:19,830 There's. 854 00:36:19,830 --> 00:36:22,390 There's no way that we can have true fruit unless we have the 855 00:36:22,390 --> 00:36:23,150 true Jesus. 856 00:36:24,030 --> 00:36:24,350 We. 857 00:36:24,350 --> 00:36:26,830 We can't have a church that goes, well, you know what, they don't 858 00:36:26,830 --> 00:36:28,790 really preach the right Jesus, but they've got a lot of. 859 00:36:28,790 --> 00:36:30,430 Really, there are a lot of people are getting saved. 860 00:36:30,830 --> 00:36:33,110 You know, if they're not preaching Jesus properly, it's, it's 861 00:36:33,110 --> 00:36:36,270 not true multiplication, it's not true growth, it's not true fruit. 862 00:36:36,430 --> 00:36:37,350 So what is he saying here? 863 00:36:37,350 --> 00:36:41,790 He's not saying that whoever sins at all isn't a Christian. 864 00:36:41,950 --> 00:36:44,510 He's saying whoever transgresses and not and does not 865 00:36:44,510 --> 00:36:46,950 abide in the doctrine of Christ, they don't have God in their 866 00:36:46,950 --> 00:36:47,230 life. 867 00:36:47,470 --> 00:36:48,990 It isn't God driving their life. 868 00:36:48,990 --> 00:36:50,590 It's something else driving their life. 869 00:36:50,990 --> 00:36:54,070 He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both 870 00:36:54,070 --> 00:36:55,550 the Father and the Son. 871 00:36:56,440 --> 00:36:58,400 So if you want to have a relationship with God, what is he 872 00:36:58,400 --> 00:36:58,600 saying? 873 00:36:58,600 --> 00:37:00,120 He says have a relationship with Jesus. 874 00:37:00,520 --> 00:37:01,960 That's, that's how it really works. 875 00:37:02,440 --> 00:37:04,360 You have to preach Jesus to know God. 876 00:37:04,360 --> 00:37:06,360 You have to preach Jesus to have true fruit. 877 00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:10,320 You cannot have the wrong doctrine of Christ and believe that 878 00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:11,960 God is going to do work in our midst. 879 00:37:13,400 --> 00:37:13,920 You know what? 880 00:37:13,920 --> 00:37:17,640 There's a lot of people out there that will ask me, well, Pastor, 881 00:37:17,640 --> 00:37:20,440 do you think that this church over here or this belief system over 882 00:37:20,440 --> 00:37:21,720 here are true Christians? 883 00:37:22,610 --> 00:37:25,850 And I don't want to get down into the weeds of, of every single 884 00:37:25,850 --> 00:37:27,970 person who is in that church is not a Christian. 885 00:37:27,970 --> 00:37:29,010 Well, all I say is this. 886 00:37:29,010 --> 00:37:31,850 If they have the right view of Jesus Christ, I can at least say 887 00:37:31,850 --> 00:37:33,250 that they're believers in Jesus Christ. 888 00:37:33,250 --> 00:37:36,210 If they believe in Jesus in the proper way, biblically speaking, 889 00:37:36,210 --> 00:37:38,009 they might be wrong about a lot of other things. 890 00:37:38,009 --> 00:37:40,850 But if they believe in Jesus Christ alone for their salvation, 891 00:37:41,090 --> 00:37:42,130 they are Christians. 892 00:37:42,290 --> 00:37:43,130 They are believers. 893 00:37:43,130 --> 00:37:45,730 They are saved, but they're, they're. 894 00:37:45,890 --> 00:37:46,770 I would say this. 895 00:37:46,770 --> 00:37:49,170 Is everyone within the Baptist church saved? 896 00:37:49,530 --> 00:37:50,650 And I would venture to say no. 897 00:37:50,650 --> 00:37:52,810 I'm probably sure that there are people that are deceived into 898 00:37:52,810 --> 00:37:54,650 believing other things that are going to save them. 899 00:37:55,050 --> 00:37:59,010 And so trying to get caught up in these big swaths of, are, are 900 00:37:59,010 --> 00:37:59,770 these people saved? 901 00:37:59,770 --> 00:38:00,570 Are these people saved? 902 00:38:00,570 --> 00:38:02,970 Well, if their church is preaching something anti Jesus, I'm 903 00:38:02,970 --> 00:38:04,730 going to say it's not a good church to be involved with. 904 00:38:04,810 --> 00:38:06,730 It's not a good religion to be involved with. 905 00:38:07,610 --> 00:38:11,370 I think people can be saved in spite of wrong teaching around them. 906 00:38:11,850 --> 00:38:12,490 We know that. 907 00:38:12,490 --> 00:38:12,930 We know that. 908 00:38:12,930 --> 00:38:16,160 There's examples over and over again of people that are in the wrong 909 00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:16,440 church. 910 00:38:16,440 --> 00:38:18,960 But they see, they read the Bible themselves and get saved. 911 00:38:18,960 --> 00:38:21,440 And hopefully they learn that that's a church that they need to 912 00:38:21,440 --> 00:38:21,920 separate from. 913 00:38:21,920 --> 00:38:24,280 And so I'm, I'm going to get to that point here. 914 00:38:24,520 --> 00:38:28,520 And, and I think that will probably end with just kind of whetting 915 00:38:28,520 --> 00:38:29,240 the appetite for. 916 00:38:29,240 --> 00:38:29,760 For next week. 917 00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:34,280 But it says, if there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine. 918 00:38:35,080 --> 00:38:40,440 So someone comes in the church or in your Christian life, and they 919 00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:42,470 don't bring the doctrine of Jesus Christ properly. 920 00:38:42,470 --> 00:38:44,070 The teaching of Jesus properly. 921 00:38:45,430 --> 00:38:46,470 What does it say here? 922 00:38:46,470 --> 00:38:49,830 Remember, this is the same guy who in the same breath is saying, 923 00:38:49,830 --> 00:38:50,630 truth and love. 924 00:38:50,630 --> 00:38:51,510 Love your neighbor. 925 00:38:51,510 --> 00:38:52,550 Love, love, love. 926 00:38:53,270 --> 00:38:56,990 So again, just being a loving Christian doesn't mean we overlook 927 00:38:56,990 --> 00:38:57,750 false teaching. 928 00:38:59,110 --> 00:39:01,750 So this is the actual application of this. 929 00:39:02,070 --> 00:39:04,550 This is how we marry truth and love. 930 00:39:04,710 --> 00:39:09,520 This is, if there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, 931 00:39:10,080 --> 00:39:12,400 receive him not into your house. 932 00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:16,960 Now, again, a lot of people would take this verse. 933 00:39:17,200 --> 00:39:20,120 Anytime we take a verse out of context, we can kind of get wonky 934 00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:20,480 ideas. 935 00:39:20,720 --> 00:39:23,120 So does this mean, like, an unsaved person can't come into my 936 00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:23,359 house? 937 00:39:23,359 --> 00:39:24,400 That's not what it's saying. 938 00:39:24,560 --> 00:39:25,800 Remember, it's her. 939 00:39:25,800 --> 00:39:27,440 The church is meeting in her home. 940 00:39:27,760 --> 00:39:30,800 So it's in the context of receiving them in into the fellowship. 941 00:39:31,280 --> 00:39:33,600 So he says, don't receive them into your fellowship. 942 00:39:33,910 --> 00:39:34,270 Don't, don't. 943 00:39:34,270 --> 00:39:36,910 Don't pull them in and welcome them in and say, oh, you can be part 944 00:39:36,910 --> 00:39:37,350 of us. 945 00:39:38,710 --> 00:39:40,470 Neither bid him Godspeed. 946 00:39:40,470 --> 00:39:45,430 Meaning the idea of, of not just agreeing with them, but actually 947 00:39:45,430 --> 00:39:46,270 promoting them. 948 00:39:46,270 --> 00:39:46,590 Right. 949 00:39:46,590 --> 00:39:49,350 If I tell someone Godspeed, I'm wishing well for them. 950 00:39:49,350 --> 00:39:54,070 I want their endeavor, their adventure, their trip to go well. 951 00:39:54,870 --> 00:39:57,550 So he says, if someone comes in with a false teaching of Jesus, 952 00:39:57,550 --> 00:40:01,200 we don't have to hate them necessarily as a person, but what 953 00:40:01,200 --> 00:40:01,720 do we do? 954 00:40:01,960 --> 00:40:05,400 We don't receive them and accept them. 955 00:40:05,960 --> 00:40:08,920 We don't join them and we don't promote them. 956 00:40:09,960 --> 00:40:10,840 And so that's the same. 957 00:40:10,840 --> 00:40:11,120 That's. 958 00:40:11,120 --> 00:40:11,720 That, that's. 959 00:40:11,720 --> 00:40:14,600 It's in the same teaching of loving and truth. 960 00:40:15,080 --> 00:40:20,600 So the truth is that if somebody offends the truth of the 961 00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:25,840 gospel, we love them enough to tell them the truth and to not promote 962 00:40:25,840 --> 00:40:26,680 their false teaching. 963 00:40:27,100 --> 00:40:29,660 So it's like my kid came up to me and said, dad, you know, and he 964 00:40:29,660 --> 00:40:32,820 has some weird idea about life, and I know that it's wrong, 965 00:40:32,820 --> 00:40:34,460 and I know that's going to lead him to danger. 966 00:40:34,620 --> 00:40:37,220 I don't love him by going, well, son, that's a great idea. 967 00:40:37,220 --> 00:40:38,460 Keep going after that. 968 00:40:39,420 --> 00:40:43,260 So for me to love my child in that moment is to speak truth and 969 00:40:43,260 --> 00:40:47,460 not condone him and not say godspeed on this and not promote 970 00:40:47,460 --> 00:40:49,900 that and not receive that into the fold. 971 00:40:49,900 --> 00:40:53,140 It would actually be the opposite to, to push on that and 972 00:40:53,140 --> 00:40:57,060 to actually to press and say, no, that's not true. 973 00:40:57,060 --> 00:40:58,500 We are not going to promote that. 974 00:40:58,980 --> 00:41:04,740 And so how can a person who is supposed to be loving deal with someone 975 00:41:04,740 --> 00:41:06,220 who's teaching false teaching? 976 00:41:06,220 --> 00:41:08,100 Well, it says right here what we're supposed to do. 977 00:41:08,580 --> 00:41:10,900 And so he comes to this idea here. 978 00:41:10,900 --> 00:41:13,220 And we'll talk more about that next week. 979 00:41:13,940 --> 00:41:17,180 And I think that, I know that we're at the end of the hour, but 980 00:41:17,180 --> 00:41:20,380 next week I want us to talk about how we properly deal with, 981 00:41:20,530 --> 00:41:23,450 with false teaching, because for sometimes we, we just like, we 982 00:41:23,450 --> 00:41:25,490 deal with it in anger and we actually. 983 00:41:25,570 --> 00:41:29,370 And then we can respond wrong to false teaching. 984 00:41:29,370 --> 00:41:33,250 And that false teaching can actually drive us to a place of fleshly 985 00:41:33,250 --> 00:41:33,890 reaction. 986 00:41:34,530 --> 00:41:37,410 So I don't know if you've ever seen two Christians debating. 987 00:41:37,890 --> 00:41:38,730 Happens a lot. 988 00:41:38,730 --> 00:41:39,650 And that's cool. 989 00:41:39,650 --> 00:41:40,690 I like debate. 990 00:41:40,690 --> 00:41:41,730 I think we should debate. 991 00:41:42,450 --> 00:41:46,130 But I've seen two people that claim to be Christian on a stage 992 00:41:46,720 --> 00:41:49,000 at odds with each other and yelling and screaming at each other 993 00:41:49,000 --> 00:41:52,200 in anger and bitterness and allowing fleshly reactions to come 994 00:41:52,200 --> 00:41:54,920 in because there is an opposition to what they believe to 995 00:41:54,920 --> 00:41:55,520 be the truth. 996 00:41:55,600 --> 00:42:00,040 So there's actually a biblical way to respond to another person 997 00:42:00,040 --> 00:42:01,360 who has a false teaching. 998 00:42:01,920 --> 00:42:03,280 And, and so I want us to. 999 00:42:03,520 --> 00:42:05,680 I'm going to need a lot more time to deal with that next week 1000 00:42:05,840 --> 00:42:08,160 because there's a, there's a, there's a whole thing with the idea 1001 00:42:08,160 --> 00:42:09,120 of apologetics. 1002 00:42:09,600 --> 00:42:11,960 Some of you know that there's a couple different classes at our 1003 00:42:11,960 --> 00:42:13,480 church that we're dealing with apologetics. 1004 00:42:13,480 --> 00:42:14,400 What's apologetics? 1005 00:42:14,730 --> 00:42:17,050 It doesn't mean that I'm apologizing for what I believe in. 1006 00:42:17,210 --> 00:42:19,770 Apologetics just means I'm defending actually what I believe. 1007 00:42:20,650 --> 00:42:24,690 So how do I properly defend what I believe without being combative 1008 00:42:24,690 --> 00:42:28,250 and still living with love and grace? 1009 00:42:28,410 --> 00:42:31,530 Because he says, live with truth and love. 1010 00:42:32,170 --> 00:42:34,610 And so we're going to talk next week how we can live in truth 1011 00:42:34,610 --> 00:42:38,730 and oppose other people who believe wrong things, but do it in 1012 00:42:38,730 --> 00:42:40,250 a spirit of grace and truth. 1013 00:42:40,810 --> 00:42:44,290 And I think biblically, we can maybe even have people change their 1014 00:42:44,290 --> 00:42:44,730 path. 1015 00:42:45,290 --> 00:42:48,650 And again, I think that one of the things that I have to be cautious 1016 00:42:48,650 --> 00:42:51,770 of is, you know, sometimes as a pastor's heart, we want to accept 1017 00:42:51,770 --> 00:42:55,050 everybody in, but there isn't a time and a place we can accept 1018 00:42:55,050 --> 00:42:57,210 everyone in by way of preaching the gospel. 1019 00:42:57,370 --> 00:42:59,650 But there's a difference between saying someone can come through 1020 00:42:59,650 --> 00:43:02,170 these doors and hear the preaching of the Word and having 1021 00:43:02,170 --> 00:43:05,610 people come in, receiving them, promoting them, and allowing 1022 00:43:05,610 --> 00:43:08,570 them to hold positions that are anti Christ. 1023 00:43:09,440 --> 00:43:14,320 And so I think that if we're all honest, that has happened within 1024 00:43:15,200 --> 00:43:19,080 the majority of Christendom across the world. 1025 00:43:19,080 --> 00:43:23,120 If you look at many of the denominations, they have allowed 1026 00:43:24,240 --> 00:43:29,200 partnerships that are not Christlike and therefore they are 1027 00:43:29,280 --> 00:43:32,640 opposing the truth of God in the guise of love. 1028 00:43:33,760 --> 00:43:36,930 And so we're going to talk about all those unique dynamics next 1029 00:43:36,930 --> 00:43:37,850 week when we come back. 1030 00:43:37,850 --> 00:43:40,250 So I will stop there and we will come back next week. 1031 00:43:40,250 --> 00:43:43,890 So I hope you come back and talk about that with me because it's 1032 00:43:43,890 --> 00:43:44,770 a hot blood issue. 1033 00:43:45,330 --> 00:43:46,530 There are some churches. 1034 00:43:47,330 --> 00:43:48,730 I'm just going to be honest, okay? 1035 00:43:48,730 --> 00:43:51,410 I love you guys, but I gotta, I gotta be honest with you. 1036 00:43:52,210 --> 00:43:55,010 There are some churches who are willing to overlook sin because 1037 00:43:55,010 --> 00:43:58,930 they say that they are loving and we can love biblically without 1038 00:43:59,170 --> 00:44:00,250 overlooking sin. 1039 00:44:00,250 --> 00:44:01,730 And that's what we want to talk about next. 1040 00:44:02,950 --> 00:44:05,390 Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church 1041 00:44:05,390 --> 00:44:05,990 podcast. 1042 00:44:06,230 --> 00:44:08,550 I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you. 1043 00:44:09,190 --> 00:44:11,550 If you would like to find out more information about our church 1044 00:44:11,550 --> 00:44:15,030 or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org 1045 00:44:15,270 --> 00:44:17,830 or find us on Facebook or YouTube. 1046 00:44:18,630 --> 00:44:23,070 You can also email me directly at Josh Massaroiddletownbaptistchurch 1047 00:44:23,070 --> 00:44:25,670 dot com if you've enjoyed this podcast. 1048 00:44:25,910 --> 00:44:29,550 Please subscribe and follow along along for future podcast and 1049 00:44:29,630 --> 00:44:30,350 updates. 1050 00:44:30,990 --> 00:44:31,950 Thank you so much. 1051 00:44:32,110 --> 00:44:32,910 God Bless. 1052 00:44:33,150 --> 00:44:34,430 Have a wonderful day.