God’s Truth Both Unifies and Divides

Transcript

GRM 864
7/06/2003
God’s Truth both Unifies and Divides
2 John 9-13
Gil Rugh

I want to direct your attention to II John. God didn’t put anything into His Word that wasn’t necessary for our benefit, our edification, our learning and instruction. Some portions of the Word of God were not written directly to us. An example, the Old Testament, the prophets came with a message directed toward Israel, but it was the eternal God speaking through the prophets that He ordained that there be a record made of that. The New Testament tells us it was for our learning and edification, that we benefit from that message even though it was not directed to us. In the New Testament, particularly it’s the epistles that are directed to the church and the life of the church. All the Word of God is inspired, God-breathed, and profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness, that the man of God might become perfect and complete and equipped for every good work.

But in certain portions of the Word of God, God addresses us directly concerning situations about which we must be aware and on the alert. The second letter of John is written to a church in John’s day, but it addresses and issue that has been an issue for the church down through the 2000 years of its history. It’s important to keep this in mind, and I’ll give an example of an alternative view later in our consideration of this passage. John’s dealing with the matter of love and truth. These are two issues of great importance to the church of Jesus Christ today. John has reminded us that true, Biblical love always takes place in the realm or sphere of the truth. Verse 1, John’s writing to a church and its members, “whom I love in truth.” His love takes place in the context of the truth. Furthermore, this love is motivated by truth. Verse 2, “For the sake,” or on account of, because of the truth “which abides in us and will be with us forever.” Whom I love in truth because of the truth. The truth motivates our love, and it’s the context in which our love takes place. This is truth which is eternal, truth which dwells within us, and truth which will be with us forever.

The problem that John is addressing in each of his epistles, if you will, I, II and III John, is the issue of heresy. False teachers have infiltrated the church. We’re not talking about those outside the church who may be preaching or teaching doctrines that are contrary to what God has revealed in His Word, we’re talking about those who have come in and been accepted as believers in the church. Now have moved away from sound doctrine, healthy teaching, the truth of God, and are teaching something else; and their influence is presenting a danger to believers. Now when someone comes in and presents himself as a believer and then after awhile begins to teach something that is contrary to the Word of God, they don’t say I want to present a teaching that is contrary to the Word of God. I want to teach you something that is in conflict with the Bible. They present it as something that is a new insight, that gives clearer understanding to the Word of God, that is something perhaps that has not been seen before. They always want to undermine any attempt at opposing their teaching by saying we want to function together in love. We can overlook some of our differences over doctrines and teaching because the main thing we want to demonstrate before the world is our love for one another and the unity that we have in Jesus Christ.

Let me use an example that I’ve used with you before, but it’s still pertinent because it is very much prevalent in influencing the church today. It’s being promoted by men who claim to be believers in Jesus Christ. There have been books written about it, I’m going to use the example of one book called The God of the Possible, written by a man by the name of Gregory Boyd. This view is the open view of God. The subtitle of the book The God of the Possible is A Biblical Introduction to the Open View of God. Published by Baker Book House in 2000. Baker is a family-owned book house, one of the few left I guess, and it publishes basically only reformed material. I understand they won’t publish dispensational material, for example. They don’t believe that doctrine is true. But they present this book to the Christian public. Here are some quotes from the preface and introduction to the book. You’ll see as we get into II John how there is similarity. In the preface or introduction where the author wants to prepare believers to be open to what he has to say: “I began to embrace what is now generally called the open view of God. Next to the central doctrines of the Christian faith the issue of whether the future is exhaustibly settled or partially open is relatively unimportant. It certainly is not a doctrine Christians should ever divide over.”

Now if you’re not familiar with the doctrine of the open view of God, it basically teaches God doesn’t know the future. He may know some things about the future, but basically, He does not know the future, He does not know for sure what you are going to do after this service today. You may be planning on going out to lunch at a certain restaurant. Well, God thinks that’s where you are going, but at the last minute you may change your mind and God will be surprised. He didn’t know you were going to do that. God doesn’t know what decisions you haven’t finally made yet. You may be thinking about buying a new house. God may think that’s a good idea. You may buy a new house and then it won’t work out well, and you know what? God is going to be disappointed, just like you are. He thought it would have worked out better, too. We say how do they get by with this? Well, they say this really shows how great God is because He can adjust to all these changes and work them in to a plan. Basically, God is just as surprised about future events as we are, just as disappointed and has to make changes like anyone does. That’s the view of the openness of God.

As I read my Bible, that’s not the God that is revealed in this book. To me, if you present a God, but He’s not the God presented in the Bible, you are presenting another god, a god of your own making. I say that is heresy, it’s another form of idolatry, creating your own god. Yet this man, writing as a professed Christian, with a book published by a professed Christian publishing house says this is not a doctrine over which we ought to divide. Ten pages later he says, “finally it is vitally important that we keep this issue and the multitude of other issues that Christians debate in perspective.” Jesus’ final prayer to the Father for His church was that “they may be one as we are one,” John 17:22. Believers are called to exhibit a loving unity among each other that reflects nothing less than the eternal, perfect love of the trinity. You see now, love is more important than truth. Unity is more important than truth. We certainly don’t want to divide over this doctrinal issue. Incidentally, Jesus’ high priestly prayer in John 17:22 has been fulfilled. People take that as though we have to be bringing it to pass today. All those who believe in Jesus Christ are one in Christ. That prayer was anticipation of the work He was about to accomplish on the cross, and His subsequent resurrection and then the establishing of the church and the giving of the Spirit in Acts chapter 2.

He continues, “for lovers of truth all theological issues are important.” There is a disarming statement. Of course, oh he’s one of us, oh for lovers of truth, and I’m one of those. “But compared to our common faith in the person of Jesus Christ and the importance of our loving unity in Him, this issue and most other theological issues are peripheral.” You see the subtle emphasis there. Compared to our love for one another, truth is not that important. It’s a peripheral issue. What is important is our love.

Now if it’s our common faith in the person of Jesus Christ, and John is going to deal with this, Jesus Christ is God. When you say God, the Father doesn’t know the future, gets surprised and disappointed by decisions He made that didn’t turn out, you have attacked the person of God. You have attacked the person of Jesus Christ. And yet he says compared to our common faith in the person of Jesus Christ. He must understand we don’t believe in the same person of Jesus Christ. I believe in Jesus Christ who was both God and man, who is the infinite creator, the God who knows all and planned all. That’s an essential part of His person, His being as God. If that’s not what you believe about Jesus Christ and His Father, we are not talking about the same God, the same person.

He concludes, “I pray that evangelicalism will come to see more clearly that the love with which believers debate issues is more important to God than the sides we take. I pray that evangelicalism will come to see more clearly that the love with which believers debate issues is more important to God than the sides we take.” Understand what he is saying. My prayer is that evangelicals will see love is more important than truth. It’s not where you stand on a doctrinal issue, it’s the love you have as you disagree over the doctrinal issue. That is the exact opposite of what John has been dealing with in this second epistle. He says it’s truth that drives love, that love only functions in the context of truth. Now here we’re being told that love functions outside the context of truth, and love is a crucial foundation. It’s the sphere and truth is peripheral, and where you are on the doctrinal issue is not as important as having love. John says the only kind of love he knows is the love motivated by truth, and that functions in the sphere of truth.

John said in verse 7 of this second epistle, “for many deceivers have gone out into the world.” The church, and we noted this in his first epistle, has been infiltrated by those who profess to be believers, and now were promoting heresy. They were attempting to delude and deceive believers and the church of Jesus Christ. Their particular heresy was they did not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. It’s important you keep in mind who these false teachers are. They are those who have been in the church, they are those who have been accepted and recognized as believers and teachers who have now changed their doctrine. The potential here for splitting the church is tremendous, because some people are going to say oh, I know them, they’re good people. I know them, they have a good heart, they’ve been friends of our family for some time. John now comes on the scene and says they’re part of the group of deceivers. In fact, they are the antichrist, not the ultimate coming antichrist, but one who is preparing the way for that ultimate antichrist.

If they deny the person of Christ, both His humanity and His deity, they are deceivers, they are antichrists. These teachers could sound quite good. You say oh I wouldn’t follow a teacher like that. But they’re saying, they are not denying the deity of Christ, they’re not denying that He’s the savior, the one in whom you must believe. They’re just saying we don’t believe His humanity was real. It was just an appearance that was used for a purpose; and let’s face it, don’t we all have problems trying to grasp the theanthropic union, the God-man union, that Jesus Christ is both God and man, one person, two natures. But one thing we can be sure of, He is God and has always been God. So, what we are preaching is not a major difference, not something we have to divide over. It’s just acknowledging there are some doctrines that are not as clear. I think that perhaps there is a better understanding of the humanity of Christ than we have sometimes been taught. Well, that begins to make sense to me. John says it is an antichrist speaking to you, it’s a deceiver. There is no middle ground here.

In verse 8 he says this is of great importance to believers. “Watch yourselves that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.” There are eternal consequences for believers involved here. You might lose rewards in eternity if you don’t sort this out properly and stand where you should stand.

Back up to I Corinthians chapter 3. You know the church wasn’t very old before the devil raised false teachers, even as he had raised up false prophets in the Old Testament who were secretly infiltrating the church, secretly introducing destructive heresies. In I Corinthians chapter 3 verse 8 Paul writes, “now he who plants, and he who waters are one.” Now note this, “but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.” Jump down to verse 11, “for no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident. For the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire.” What’s going to happen, is we’re going to be called into the present of Christ. There will be a judgment. All we have done as God’s children will be tested. Those worthless works will be burned up in the fire. Verse 13, “Each man’s work will become evident. The day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire. The fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, even by fire.” So, here’s a warning to believers, there are eternal issues at stake, rewards that God promises to those who love Him, rewards that can be lost if we are not faithful. That’s what John is talking about.

Come back to II John. He says be careful, be on guard. I want you to receive a full reward. This is not a game. There are serious consequences, even for believers, if you don’t exercise discernment here.

In verses 9-11 John is going to show that any association with false teachers causes a believer to be a participant in the evil deeds of that false teacher. Verse 11, he participates in his evil deeds. Serious matter. Look at verse 9. “Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God.” Verse 8 John warned about the possibility of the loss of rewards to anyone who allowed himself to be deceived by false teachers. It is possible for a believer to be deceived by a false teacher. It is never necessary for a believer to be deceived by a false teacher. The requirement of God is always that we as His people be discerning with His Word. Put nothing above the commitment of purity of devotion to Christ, that we test the spirits to see if they are from God, as John wrote in his first epistle, the fourth chapter. Now he draws a contrast between those who belong to Christ and those who do not. John has some awfully harsh things to say about these false teachers.

“Anyone who goes too far,” now note who we are talking about. The person who “goes too far and does not abide” or remain “in the teaching of Christ does not have God.” You see here is a person who at one time seemed to be evangelical, fundamental, solid in his teaching and his doctrine. But now he has moved on, he didn’t remain or abide in the doctrine that God had revealed. He’s gone beyond that; he thinks he has further insights. He doesn’t have God. That’s a strong statement. Someone who professed to be a believer and still professes to be a believer, like the example I read, but abandons the Biblical teaching on the doctrine of God, the person of God and His character doesn’t have God. I’m not called to judge the heart. John makes a judgment here under the direction of the Spirit of God. I’m often asked when I mention teachers in the church that I believe are erring seriously, do you think they are really saved? I have to say every time someone abandons the clear doctrine of the Word, the red flag goes up in my mind. I wonder if they are truly saved. Why have they abandoned the truth of God in this area? It doesn’t mean we don’t have differences of understanding a passage of scripture. When someone abandons a clear doctrine of scripture, there ought to be red flags raised in our mind. You know what I have to tell people? I ultimately don’t know, but I am called to deal with them and their teaching according to the Word of God. You know if you have a child, young child, and you have a relative who wants to feed them poison and you have a stranger who wants to feed them poison, you say I wouldn’t let a stranger feed my child poison but as a relative go ahead feed it to them. No, wait a minute. The issue is, if you’re feeding poison, you’re not giving it to my kids. In fact, I don’t want anything to do with you and I don’t want you to have anything to do with my kids. Doesn’t matter who you are. That’s the way we have to deal with it. We deal with the issue of the doctrine of the truth, but John raises it here. Anyone who abandons the Biblical teaching on the person or work of Jesus Christ doesn’t know God.

The one who abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. Back to I John chapter 2. Look at verse 22. Look at verse 21. I hope you have it underlined; we’re going to refer to it later. No lie is of the truth. We live in a day, you know, for instance Schaeffer used to talk about it 20 years ago or more, thesis and antithesis. Well, we live in a day of synthesis. That’s where the church of Jesus Christ is. We don’t like black and white, right and wrong, truth and error. I mean let’s look for middle ground, that gray, mushy middle that we don’t have to stand anywhere because we are everywhere. No lie is of the truth.

Verse 22 of I John 2, “Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ, this is the antichrist. The one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father, the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.” This is the issue. “As for you let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you will abide in the Son and the Father.” Here is the reminder, if you abandon this it is evidence you are not in God and God is not in you. Strong language. You know someone who has been accepted as a teacher in this church, then they abandon the doctrine and I stand up and say they are a liar, they’re the antichrist. People say oh so unloving, so rude, so unkind. We don’t have to deal with it that way. We have to deal with it the way God deals with it. You have somebody sitting on the curb giving my grandkids drugs I don’t walk out and say naughty, naughty. I really wish you wouldn’t do that in my driveway. You know I don’t want to make trouble; I don’t want to be a bother. I’d be running out the door screaming, swinging a shovel. But somehow in the church, oh it’s not a major thing if people come in and poison God’s children, if they try lead them to ruin, if they try to woo them away from the purity of devotion to Christ, to lose the rewards that He has promised. Well, we oughtn’t to say anything unkind, they probably had good intentions; and you know I’m just not going to lose friends over this, and on it goes. We find out it wasn’t just the Old Testament prophets who spoke so firmly. Here John the beloved disciple, they’re liars, they’re antichrists, they don’t know God. Serious matter.

Back to II John. These false teachers are still trying to influence believers, they’re still trying to be accepted in the church. That’s why the example I gave you, this person writes the way he does, still wants to be accepted within the evangelical community so he can continue to pump out this doctrine. Don’t be afraid of the word doctrine, it’s just the Greek word teaching. The teaching, the doctrine, that’s what we’re talking about, the truth that God has revealed. The one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. They are inseparably joined together. You cannot have the Father without the Son and the Son without the Father.

Back up a page in I John chapter 5 verse 9, “if we receive the testimony of men,” now note this, “the testimony of God is greater. For the testimony of God is this that He has testified concerning His Son. The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. The testimony is this, God has given us eternal life. This life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life, he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” Be careful we don’t fudge on these important things. I know it’s becoming increasingly common among those who profess to be Bible believers to talk about God. We want to talk about God, but we have faith in God, we worship God, it’s important that we honor God. I think we talk about this in this kind of context because most of the people in our country are not atheists. As long as we keep it somewhat neutral and talk about God, people don’t get offended. The Jews, it’s all right if you talk about God, generally speaking, the Catholics, the Protestants, and most religions are about God. So, we talk about God. But if you talk about you must believe in Jesus Christ, that’s offensive. We want to be careful that we don’t become guilty of covering up what needs to be revealed. I don’t want to just talk about God generally. We have to be clear we’re talking about the Son of God as the only way to a relationship with the living God. You’ll note, if you don’t believe what God has said you make God a liar. This is what God has said, this is the testimony He has given. A person who denies what’s in this Book is a liar, they ought to be identified as a liar, they ought not to be accepted as just having an alternative view that we can tolerate because of love.

Look at verse 10 of II John. “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching,” and that expression that starts verse 10, “if anyone comes to you.” It presents something as actually occurring. Different ways to give a condition in the Greek language, and this condition presents the condition as occurring. If anyone comes to you and I know they are. In other words, I’m writing to you about an existing situation, teachers trying to infiltrate. Some of these would be traveling teachers who come and they’re in town to preach the Word of God and they’re going to stay with you, be welcomed by you and so on. “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching,” this doctrine, particularly the one we’ve just been talking about, who Jesus Christ is, “do not receive him into your house, do not give him a greeting.” So now you have these who have withdrawn from the fellowship of believers, that church. I John 2:19, “They went out from us.” But now they are trying to spread their influence. You have two commands given at the end of verse 10, “Don’t receive him into your house, don’t give him a greeting.” You do nothing to help or encourage them.

Listen to what one commentator said, “for a true believer thus to greet a heretical teacher upon arrival or departure would be to express sympathy and encouragement to an individual intent on destroying the very faith that the believer holds dear.” I mean if it is such a serious issue and this person is really denying God, calling God a liar, and I want to be his friend; and I want to know, I don’t want this to come between us. We may not see everything alike doctrinally but that’s okay, we’re friends. Wait a minute. This is a serious issue to God; it better be a serious issue to me. I don’t invite him into my home, I don’t give him a greeting. I don’t want to do anything to encourage him. I was asked in the last hour, what do you do with certain cults and so on that come to the door? Well, you open the door and slam the door hard in their face. No. You know I don’t think we have to be mean in that sense. Someone who comes to my door, wants to talk to me, gets to hear what I have to say. If I want to hear what they have to say I’ll go to their door. You’re at my door. They come to the door and say can we talk to you for a moment. Let me explain to you what the Bible says. The Bible says that we are all sinners and that includes you. The Bible says the penalty for sin is death and you are on your way to hell. The Bible says the only solution is for you to place your faith in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who is both God and man, who died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sin and was raised from the dead. Unless you believe in Him as your savior, and Him alone, you are on your way to hell. Could we tell you what we think? No, you can’t. Would you take this literature? No, I wouldn’t. Can we come back? Not unless you want to hear what I have to say again. Then we’ll leave. Goodbye. Remember that on July 6, 2003, you heard at this house that you must believe in Jesus Christ, or you will spend eternity in hell. I don’t have to slam the door in their face. If they came to my door maybe God brought them to hear the truth, so why should they come to my door, and I listen to them? I’ve even had them come to my office at church. We would like to talk to you about certain verses. Before we do there’s one passage we will talk about and there will be discussion on nothing else until we resolve this passage. So, we spend an hour on that passage. Could we come back again? Sure. Next time they come back we still didn’t resolve this passage; we’re going nowhere else until we do. Let’s talk about this passage again. They can keep coming back as long as I can keep giving them the gospel. We don’t think it’s fair, you haven’t given us a chance to talk about these verses. But you’re in my office, we will talk about this passage. Can we come back again? You can, we will talk about this passage. One pair that came, came three times. The fourth time they thought they didn’t have anything to say about the passage so they didn’t think they should come back. I don’t want them to think in any way that I’m encouraging them. I’m open to present the truth to them. I’m not open to encourage them, I don’t them to in any way … As you’re aware I was on a television program, and a heretical teacher from this city was on the program. He wanted to explain how much we were alike. Finally, I said, before we go off the air, I want to say one thing. This man and I have nothing in common in theology. As far as the Bible is concerned, we are mortal enemies. What we believe is totally different. The interview is over, we go off the air, sitting there, the interviewer is there. This man gets up, walks out, slams the door. The interviewer is sitting there… All of that to say we don’t want to do anything to encourage. Don’t have to go out of our way to be mean and show, like John is reported in the early church fathers when the heretic came into the bathhouse where he was, he hollered at the top of his voice, hurry we must leave. Cyrinthius, the heretic is in the building, it may fall on us. That’s one way to deal with it. Here we have the apostle of love who was a rather firm man.

Verse 11. See how serious this is. “For the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.” Let me talk to you about having fellowship, the Greek word, koinonia. That’s the word translated participates. The one who gives him a greeting participates, fellowships, becomes a partaker in his evil deeds. I can’t maintain the relationship and not be responsible for the results. I don’t want to participate in his evil deeds, I just don’t want to have an enemy, I don’t like conflict. Well Jesus said, “He who is not with me is against me.” You must decide where you will be.

Back up to I Corinthians chapter 10. The curse of the church today is that it stands for nothing. Some kind of mushy, general doctrine of Christ and God, but presented in such a soft way that we have to be careful above all that no one is offended. All kinds of things are being taught in the church and we accept it under the guise that we’re a loving body, we’re big enough to put our arms around people who are different than us. Well, there’s an element of truth in that, but not different doctrinally. I don’t care what your nationality is, what the color of your skin, what your native language is. Those things, yes, we become one in Christ. Doctrinally, the Word of God is the standard. I Corinthians chapter 10 verse 20. Talking about false worship. Verse 20, “Now I say the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God.” You know what Paul is saying here? False worship is the worship of demons. False worship is the worship of demons. You understand there are people in churches in this city as well as in other places of worship today that are worshipping demons. Oh, I hope you won’t say that outside. But it’s Biblical, isn’t it? But what’s Paul’s concern here? Verse 20, “I do not want you to become participants, sharers, fellowshippers in demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You can’t partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.” Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? I mean what is this? We’re betrothed to Christ, we’ve been joined to Him, and now we’re going to go out here and dabble with demons? Are we trying to stir up the anger of God against us? It’s not a game. I mean what in the world? You can’t be a fellowshipper of demons and not bear consequences. So, you see how clearly the scripture draws a line. You see there are issues involved for us as God’s children here. The false teachers, those promoting this, they’re heretics, they’re antichrists, they’re liars, they’re on their way to hell. We must be careful of the damage they do, even to the church of Jesus Christ, by luring us into a worship of demons, into fellowshipping with them, and their perverse evil deeds in leading people away from Christ, taking rewards away that could have belonged to those who belong to Christ.

Come back to II John. You know there are some today who think this is too harsh a teaching. There are some today who would believe this church is too harsh, it’s unloving. We fail to understand the proclamation of the truth is not unloving. Let me read you what one modern-day commentator said about this passage. He finds that this passage is too severe for today, so he says, we have to remember the situation. There was a time when it was touch and go whether the Christian faith would be destroyed by the speculations of pseudo philosophic heretics. Its very existence was in peril. The church dared not even seem to compromise with this destructive corrosion of the faith. This is an emergency regulation and emergency regulations make bad law. We may recognize the necessity of this way of action in the situation in which John and his people found themselves without in the least holding that we must treat mistaken thinkers in the same way. You know what he’s saying? It’s not relevant for today, it’s too harsh for today. I mean we can understand John was in a special situation and he had to deal with it so firmly and harshly. But we don’t in the least have to think that we have to treat mistaken sinners in the same way. That was William Barclay. Some of you are familiar with William Barclay’s commentaries. As far as I know from the last of his writings, he died an unregenerate man and in ill health. An example of those who profess to be believers, wrote a series of commentaries on the books of the New Testament, was probably the foremost Greek scholar of New Testament Greek of his day. A false teacher, did not believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, believed in universal salvation for all. Any wonder why he thought were too harsh for today. You know there are some in the church of Jesus Christ in evangelical churches who say that’s terrible to say that. But they practice the same thing. They wouldn’t take a stand for the truth against error. They would say it’s terrible to say that it doesn’t apply to today, but the church is just a collection of what? Non discriminating thinkers who don’t make doctrine an issue. We’re more concerned about hearing a motivational sermon, something that will pump me up. Be a better parent, do a better job at work, be more successful. Then we avoid the doctrine that the Word of God says is so crucial.

If you do not cut him off, you become a fellowshipper in his evil deeds. That’s pretty abrupt, John’s done. A couple of words of closing remarks and the letter is over. Verse 12, though I have many things to write to you I do not want to do so with paper and ink. I have a lot of other things to say but I don’t want to have to write it to you. Sounds like Paul, doesn’t it? I have many other things to say, but I hope to come to you shortly. That’s what he says. But I hope to come to you and speak face to face so that your joy may be made full. You know John doesn’t expect among believers that this letter is going to be a downer. He thinks they are going to be looking forward to his coming so he can teach them some more again. They’re going to be thrilled and have great joy to have him. But I think there is a subtle warning here. You know sometimes your kids get to an age, they’re old enough to be left alone. But while you’re out you call back, just in case. What do you say when you call back? We’ll be home shortly. Just a reminder. Now there’s a time of reckoning coming. In case you haven’t told me everything we’ll be home shortly. Don’t worry, sweetheart, we’ll be home shortly. You know when you hang up the scrambling goes on and the apologies are being made and everything else. Well John is saying here, we’ll speak face to face. We’ve already gotten an idea of how firm John is when it comes to dealing with false teachers and false doctrine. So, a reminder that their joy will be made full, but function as you should. The children of your chosen sister greet you. I take it that’s a fellow church, where he is ministering right now, another sister church as we talk about today. Chosen of God.

You know at the beginning of our study I read you some excerpts from the preface and introduction to the book The God of the Possible. Let me read you the concluding statement of the preface of that book. “To all I offer this humble perspective for your consideration in love.” Now how can you stand and oppose a person like this and call him a liar and a heretic and an antichrist? I’m only humbly offering this perspective for your consideration in love.

As we close turn back to Romans chapter 16, Romans chapter 16. You know Paul writes in the context of love here. In Romans 16:16 he says “greet one another with a holy kiss,” the expression of their love and affection for one another. Verse 17, Romans 16 verse 17, “now I urge you brethren keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned and turn away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ, but of their own appetites. And by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.” This is an example of that smooth and flattering speech, intending to deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. When he says, “to all I offer this humble perspective for your consideration in love,” I say in the light of verse 18 of Romans 16, “For such men are slaves of their own appetites, and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.” You know this man that I’m using as an example is a cause of division among a whole denomination of churches. Some in that denomination cannot bring themselves to break off that relationship. They have brought themselves to decide the doctrine is not correct. But it’s probably not so bad that he needs to be put out. Which means what? He’s free to remain and pump the poison. Scholar, attractive speaker that he is, let him continue to see if he can deceive people and lure them astray.

Remember I John 2:21? “No lie is of the truth.” II John 9 says “those who abandon the truth are lost.” We must in no way compromise the truth lest we become fellowshippers, participants, sharers in their evil deeds. As John began in II John 1, “we must love in truth.”

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the truth that you have entrusted to us, the revelation of your Self given as your written Word. Your Word is truth. By your grace through faith in your Son this truth has been implanted in our hearts and minds. The Spirit of God has opened our understanding that we might see and believe the wonder of your truth. There are many who would deceive and delude us, lead us astray from faithfulness of devotion to our savior. Lord, may we be discerning, may we count the truth more precious than our lives. May we manifest the beauty of your love out of your truth and in the context of your truth. May you build us to greater maturity as we fellowship in love in the ministry of truth. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.