Love in the Realm of Truth

Transcript

GRM 1008
6/8/2008
Love in the Realm of Truth
II John 1-3
Gil Rugh


We'll be in II John, II John is one of the smallest books in the New Testament. There are four one-chapter books in our Bibles, as we have them they are one chapter—Philemon, Jude, II John and III John, four books that comprise one chapter as we have them in our New Testament. The shortest two are II and III John. III John is shortest, it has 219 words. I know you're really interested in the details. And II John is the second smallest book in the New Testament with 245 words. What I found interesting, these little one-chapter letters are the standard size letter of New Testament times. We look at them and say, they are really short. Remember these are the letters written to people or to churches, and you get an idea of how exceptional a letter like the letter to the Corinthians was ____________. A letter like II John would have been a standard size letter in New Testament times, it would have fit on one sheet of papyrus. And the standard size for a sheet of papyrus for a letter was 8” x 10”. So we haven't changed much, our standard letter sheet today is 8½” x 11”. Two thousand years ago the standard size was 8” x 10”. Some things have stayed pretty much the same.

So here John has written what to us is a brief letter, but it would have been a rather standard size letter in New Testament times. John is the author, we're talking about the Apostle John. He wrote the Gospel of John; he wrote I John, II John and III John; and then he wrote the book of the Revelation. All of that, of course, under the inspiration and direction of the Holy Spirit, but he's the human instrument that the Spirit used to pen those letters.

II John has really a summary of the material that is found in I John. Maybe John wrote II John first and then elaborated on it in I John, because obviously when they were originally written they weren't called I , II and III John. They were just letters written to individuals or churches. What you do find is difficulty developing in the churches. John probably wrote these letters in the early 90s, somewhere between 90 and 95 A.D. The book of Revelation would have been written about 95 A.D. Jesus Christ had been crucified and raised from the dead approximately 60 years before. All the other apostles have passed from the scene, John is the last, if you will. During those 60 years since the death of Christ and the establishment of the church in Acts 2, difficulties and problems came up in the churches. We come across that in some of the Paul's writings.

In I John, John addressed some of the issues that were coming up, what really is happening. Come back to I John 2. He finds that some teachers and some people in the churches have broken away, they are no longer submitting themselves to the teachings that had been left them by the apostles, submitting to the truth of God as He has revealed it. They have broken away from apostolic churches and churches committed to apostolic doctrine. And these false teachers are also trying to lure others to follow them. Remember Paul had warned the Ephesian elders in Acts 20 about the danger they would face. From among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, seeking to draw the disciples away after them. Look in I John 2:19, they went out from us but they were not really of us. So referring to some there who had pulled away from true believers, true biblical churches. John and his teaching and the teaching that had been left by other apostles. They went out from us but they were not really of us. For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But they went out so it would be shown that they are not all of us. And John takes as a clear evident, when a person has abandoned biblical truth he has finally revealed his true character.

Now these were teachers and individuals who had an appeal to believers. At one time they had functioned within the church, had been recognized, evidently, as teachers, accepted as true believers. But now they have exited. We're not talking about just a person who has moved to another believing church, we are talking about those who have separated themselves from God's truth and the truth that is being proclaimed among His people. You'll note down in verse 26, these things I have written to you concerning those who are trying to deceive you. So you see they have left the fellowship of believers and the teaching of God's Word and they are trying to influence other believers to follow them. That's the context and the setting for really I, II and III John. It's the church having to deal with false teachers and false doctrine and to handle it properly.

You come back to II John, two key words that you ought to be aware of in this letter—the word truth and the word love, truth and love. The word truth will be used five times in the first four verses, the word love will be used four times in the first six verses as he establishes the foundation. Truth and love, and often they are played off. Some say to people, we don't have to be so firm on the truth because we want to be loving. John sees no such separation. True biblical love can only function in the context of God's truth. And God's truth always produces God's love in lives. So there can be no separation, no distinction. The kind of love John is talking about always takes place in the context of God's truth, and when God's truth is at work it always produces God's results, which will be love among His people.

The first three verses form the introduction to this short letter. We start out, as would be standard in a letter, with the author identifying himself and then identifying the recipient or recipients of the letter. The writer is the elder. He's writing to the chosen lady and her children. He goes on to say, whom I love in truth. Not only I, but also all who know the truth, for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever. Grace, mercy and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Son of the Father in truth and love. That emphasis on truth and love. They will never be separated. We must stand for the truth, but we cannot do it in an unloving way. We must love others but we cannot use that as an excuse to yield on the truth.

The writer is the elder. So he doesn't identify himself personally, but it's been recognized from early times that John is the writer. You might think that he would have identified himself as the Apostle John, but he identifies himself in a more personal way that connects him to those that he is writing to. He says he is the elder. That word is used three different ways in the scripture, particularly the New Testament. One way is simply to refer to an older person. In Titus 2:2, this is not a common use in the New Testament but is used in Titus 2:2, older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, and so on. The word translated older men is the word we have as elder here. It's the Greek word, presbyteros. We bring over presbyterian, the presbyterian churches governed by elders. We have Presbyterian denominations, but the names comes from the style or type of government that they have. So one of the ways this word presbyteros is used in the New Testament, Titus 2:2, it's for an older man.

A second way it's used in the New Testament and the background is in the Old Testament is for the governing leaders in Israel. In Israel authoritative leaders were recognized as elders. Often they would have been older men, mature men that came to their position recognized, and they soon formed a recognizable group. In fact, when Israel was in bondage in Egypt, elder leadership developed. We know that because in Exodus 3 when Moses is going to go as God's representative and lead them out of Egypt, he is to go and speak to the elders of the people. So there was a leadership structure, perhaps somewhat informal at that time, but recognized that there were men who had the responsibility even in Egypt for oversight of God's people.

Come back to Numbers 11:16, God says to Moses He is going to expand the leadership team, if you will, to get help for Moses. The Lord therefore said to Moses, gather for me 70 men from the elders of Israel. We're not told how large the group of elders in Israel, but keep in mind we're probably talking a couple million people. But from among the group of elders in Israel, 70 are going to be selected and God would put a portion of His Spirit on those 70 so they could assist Moses and have God's wisdom in leading and overseeing God's people. And that's the background. When you come to the New Testament, we come into the gospels, the elders are referred to numerous times as leaders in Israel. Come to Luke 20:1, on one of the days while He was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders confronted Him. So you see the elders are a clearly identified and recognized group in Israel. The priests, the scribes responsible for the Law, its interpretation, its transcription and so on. The elders comprised a leadership group in Israel. That's a second way the word elder is used in the New Testament—the leaders in Israel, the common way.

The third way and the way that is particularly pertinent to us is its use of the leaders in the church, leaders in individual local churches. You can see the transition. When the church started in Acts 2 it started with Jews. Through the first 10 chapters of Acts until you get to the last part of Acts 10 it is basically a Jewish church. It's natural that when you're going to talk about leaders in the church, you're coming out of a Jewish background that you pick up the concepts of the leaders in the church will be elders because that's what the original people were used to calling their leaders. Doesn't mean the church is Israel, it simply means the title for their leaders is basically the same.

Acts 14, and here Paul is establishing the leadership structure in churches he has established on his first missionary journey. Verse 23, when they had appointed elders for them in every church. You'll note, elders, plural, in every church, singular. That seems to be consistent in the elders in local churches, there is a plurality of elders entrusted with the oversight, the shepherding responsibility of God's people. And so they appointed elders for them in every church. Having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. So Paul is moving on. Churches have been established in different places, oversight has been put in place for those churches and he moves on. I Timothy 3 gives the details, list of the qualifications for elders. Titus 1 also talks about the qualifications for men who would be elders.

I think this is the background for the Apostle John referring to himself as the elder. We're moving out of the days of apostolic leadership for the church, it's almost over. John is an aged man. I mean, it has been 60+ years since Christ was crucified and raised from the dead. John was one of His disciples who ministered with Him during His earthly ministry. That was over 60 years ago. If John were in his early 20s when he was doing that, he's a man well into his 80s by now. The other apostles have passed from the scene, basically by martyrdom. And John here identifies himself with the people in a personal way, as an elder, a role he would have had in the context of local church ministry. Apostles had broad oversight over all the churches, where the elders are associated more particularly with the local church.

Turn to I Peter 5. Peter began his first letter by saying, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. Then when you get to chapter 5 verse 1, therefore I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder. So you see here Peter identifies with them. They couldn't have been apostles, the apostles were a unique group. But he identifies with them in the leadership of their church, with the elders of that church because he's also an elder. I think that's what John is doing when you come to II John 1, the elder to the chosen lady and her children. He's identifying with them on a level that makes it more personal, because there would be elders in this local assembly also.

He's writing to the chosen lady and her children. We initially early in the letter have a little bit of a quandary. There are two ways this may be taken and has been taken. The first is it could refer to an individual woman and her children. That seems to be obvious, he's writing to the chosen lady and her children, a specific woman and the children she has. That's a possibility and it's held by some fine commentators. I won't go into a list, but names you would recognize. Some of you have read commentaries on II John and would be familiar with that. So that's one view. Down at the end of the letter, verse 13, the children of your chosen sister greet you would mean that he also is perhaps in contact with her sister and her children and so they were back and forth in greeting. That's one way to take it, would be a natural way.

The other way that it's been taken, also by good commentators, and these go down through history, is the reference is to a local church and its members, feminine here referring to the church. Writing to the chosen lady, this elect group of believers that comprise the church and its members. And that would fit with verse 13, the children of your chosen sister greet you. He's sending greetings from another church to them, rather than between family members.

It won't change the content of the letter. Whether it is written to an individual believer or to a church, the truth in the letter and the responsibilities conveyed are binding on believers. So it won't change our understanding of the letter. My preference is that it's written to a local church and its members, and that would account down through the section. Verse 4, he says, I was very glad to find some of your children walking in truth. So he's writing to the children of this lady and he also find that some of her children are walking in truth. So how many children did this lady have? It would seem to fit where John is in another place and he's met members of that church and they are being faithful in their walk in the truth. The plural you is used, the Greek plural you is used in verses 4, 8, 10, 12, which would be consistent with identifying writing to a group in a church. So I would tend toward that myself.

He addresses this lady, this church as I am taking it, as chosen. And that's the Greek word elect, the eklekta. We just carry it over into English, elect. So it's always interesting to me the kind of doctrinal truth that is brought out in a letter that pervades the New Testament in almost an incidental way. We have people today, when you talk about the doctrine of election, say I don't believe in the doctrine of election. Then you say, I thought you believe in the Bible. Well, I do but I don't believe the doctrine of election. Well you have to believe the doctrine of election. Here is an example, the elder to the elect lady, eklekta. We just carry it over into English, elect. The one chosen. Now you may not believe in the doctrine of election like someone else does, may have a different understanding of it, but you have to believe the doctrine of election because the Bible talks about the elect, those who have been chosen. So he's writing to the chosen lady and her children. I take it he's writing to a church he identifies as the elect, the members of that church who have been chosen by God.

Come back to Ephesians 1. If this is a relatively new doctrine to you, I just want to say enough to stir you up, then we will move on. Verse 3, Paul says, blessed by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. Now note this, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. That word chose, again our same basic word—the ones who have been elected, chosen, selected by God. He chose us in Him. When? Before the foundation of the world. That's why the book of the Revelation, chapters 13 and 17 will refer to names that were written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world. Now we may have some discussions on how those names got into the Book of Life. On the basis of which He chose us before the foundation of the world. Some would say He used His foreknowledge, He looked down in time and saw who would believe and He chose them. Others would say He just chose them out of His sovereign determination within Himself. But one thing we have to agree on if we're going to accept the scripture, it was done before the creation of the world, before the foundation of the world, before Genesis 1:1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. But He had already chosen us in Him by that time. So as we are here in time, in space at this period in history, that was done. So even though people we have people debate was it on the basis of His foreknowledge or not, however it was done, it was done. We are where we are. God's work of selection has taken place. Paul goes on to talk about the fact that this centered in God's own free action within the triune God in Ephesians 1.
Come over to II Thessalonians 2. The doctrine of God's sovereignty is one that we tend to tiptoe around. But you can see John writes a letter like this and puts it in the first line. We want to defend our own sovereignty. But the scripture is consistent and clear—there is one Person who is sovereign, one entity. God, three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Sovereignty resides with God and that includes in all areas, including our salvation. Note verse 13. Paul writes to the Thessalonians, these are new believers. It's only been a period of short months since Paul preached the gospel there, people got saved and the church was established at Thessalonica and Paul had to leave. And he writes back to them, note what he says in verse 13. But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning. He's chosen you from the beginning for salvation, through sanctification by the Spirit in faith in the truth. In God's sovereign work of election, choosing men or women to come to believe in Him, He not only ordained the end that they would be the recipients of His salvation, He also ordained the means. He's chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit. This would be accomplished by the work of the Holy Spirit of God, setting you apart. That's what sanctification means, remember? To be set apart. Set apart from the world for God and bringing you to faith in the truth. So God's work of choosing people to salvation involved the work of the Spirit in setting them apart and bringing them to faith in the truth of the gospel. That's why we are saved, that's we are here as a local church. I could go on vacation and write a letter back and write it to the elect at Indian Hills and all its members. It would be the same thing, God's sovereign work, He is the One who does the choosing. The chosen lady, chosen by God.

Jesus mentioned this back in John 15, while He was on earth. Of course the Old Testament is filled with it as well. God is sovereign. You say, well I guess I can't be saved if I'm not elect. I guess not, you don't want to be. But then again I'd tell you go ahead and believe in Christ. We've done this before. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Call upon Him. Well maybe I'm not chosen. Don't worry about what God does, worry about what you have to do. God commands all everywhere to repent. Repent and believe in Christ, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. And then what you will understand is the only reason you did that was because of the work of the Holy Spirit in setting you apart and bringing you to faith because God had chosen you.

In John 15:16, Jesus speaking to His disciples, you did not choose me, but I chose you. There is our same basic word again. And appointed you that you would go and bear fruit. And your fruit would remain. You see the package. You're not only chosen for Him, but ordained the outcome—you'd go and bear fruit, your fruit would remain. So that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He will give it to you. This I command you that you love one another. That's where we're going in II John. So you see much of the same content expanded greatly in his gospel, an emphasis on love and truth.

Verse 19, if you are of the world the world would love its own. And because you are not of the world but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. That sovereign selection, election of God, calling us out of the world, choosing us out of the world to belong to Him, being separated by the Spirit to belong to God, placing our faith in Him and His truth. Results in the world hating us. You'll note, there are not exceptions here. Some that are chosen out of the world won't be hated by the world, others will. Because I chose you out of the world, it's because of this the world hates you. If you are of the world the world would love you because the world loves its own, as He goes on and we won't go into.

Come back to II John. It's really not developed in this letter. He just addresses the elect lady and her children. He goes on to say, whom I love in truth. The I is emphasized as John wrote it here, denoting his own personal love for these believers. The love is the love produced by the Spirit of God. We call it agape love, and this basic Greek word, agapao or agape, noun and verb. I love you in the truth. It's the love produced by the Spirit of God in the life of the child of God. Remember Galatians 5:22, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, so on. This is what the Spirit of God produces in a life. Remember Christ said, I chose you, appointed you to bear fruit. That fruit remains. I love you in truth.

This love is the self-sacrificing love, the love that gives itself. One writer said agape is undefeatable, good will. It's the attitude toward others which no matter what they do we'll never feel bitterness, we'll always seek their highest good. Another wrote, it contains such thoughts as caring for other people, showing loyalty to them, seeking their good, in contrast with other words which are more expressive of seeking one's own enjoyment, own satisfaction. There are various words for love, a couple of others used in the New Testament—phileo love which is family affection. It's not an inferior love but it has a different emphasis in it, but it's a good quality love, it's used of Christ. The church at Philadelphia had brotherly love. But we're talking about agape love here which is self-sacrificing love.

I Corinthians 13 describes this love in some detail. Verse 4, love is patient, love is kind. We're talking about agape love, this love which is a selfless love, a love that is always acting for the good of another. Patient, kind, not jealous. Love does not brag, is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly. You know how much of our world talks about you have to promote yourself, you have to remind people how confident you are, how good you are at your job. I was reading a newspaper article in the last couple of weeks and they are telling you how to do a resume. You have to be sure to put in there and tell people how good you are. I've done this, I can do this. But we _______________ we're boastful, we're bragful, I'm better at this than anybody else would be. It's not arrogant, it does not act unbecomingly, it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered. Sometimes you see, well we use marriage because that is our closest relationships in the human realm that we generally all experience. And you're having a marital disagreement and conflict, you don't know what they did to me. Well if you're a believer you ought to say, you shouldn't know either because you haven't kept any count of it, it's done with, it's put out of our mind, it doesn't even take into account a wrong suffered. But people come and they have a whole list of grievances.

Had a person leave the church one time, and believe me they gave me 15 typed pages that they had kept a record over the years they were here of all the wrong things and bad things they thought I had done to them. I feel bad for them. I could have given them a more complete list than that, but I didn't tell them that.

Does not rejoice in unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth. Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fail. You never fall out of love and in love when we're talking about God's love. You are always in love. It never fails, never fails, never fails. But I don't love them anymore. Well you need to come to know the Lord so His Spirit will produce love. Well I do know the Lord. Then don't tell me you don't love them anymore. One of the things you are saying is a lie. You don't love them anymore, then don't claim that you belong to the Lord because the Lord's love never fails. Now we're talking about His love being produced in us. This is what Paul is talking about here, this fruit of the Spirit. It never fails, it never dries up, it never quits, it never stops, it is unique in its enduring quality. Love never fails.

Come back to II John. We'll have more to say about this in a moment, but he's going to say more. Whom I love in truth. He's talking clearly in these opening verse about the truth of God's Word, the truth of the gospel, the truth of what God has spoken. Jesus said in His high priestly prayer to the Father for His disciples, sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. I love you in truth, in the truth, for the sake of the truth he'll say in verse 2. They are inseparably joined together. My love for you takes place in the context of the truth, the truth that we share in common, the truth that has gripped our hearts, the truth that has transformed us and made us new. This is the sphere in which this love operates. That's why the unmistakable evidence, the person who doesn't love other believers doesn't know God. They go together, that's why some people, I'm a Christian but I don't go to church. Just too many hypocrites, too many things ________. Well, you reveal what you are. They went out from us because they were not of us. There is an identifiable mark as we saw in I John 2.

And John says, I'm not the only one, it's not that there is a special relationship here that makes it unique, but also all who know the truth love you. It's a love shared by all those who have come to know the truth. Perfect tense in the verb here, all who know the truth, or much better, all who have come to know the truth because the perfect tense expresses something that has happened in the past and it's ongoing. The perfect tense is often used to denote something of permanence, it endures. So all those who entered into a knowledge of the truth and thus know the truth love these believers. That's a characteristic. We have a family love. John started his first letter by saying he wanted to have fellowship with them because our fellowship is with the heavenly Father. And it's out of that fellowship with the Father that we have fellowship with one another, it's out of that love relationship we have established with our heavenly Father that we have a love relationship with the other children of our heavenly Father. That's the love that the Spirit has produced in the lives of all believers. They have entered into a knowledge of the truth through faith in Christ. This has a dramatic impact on every aspect of their life. We talked about the doctrine of sanctification, that's a carryover to this. We love fellow believers.

This becomes the strongest bond. Remember when some came to tell Christ that His mother and physical brothers were waiting to see Him? What did He say? Who is My mother, who are My brothers? These who have come to believe in Him, become His followers. That's His family. That family supersedes and becomes the prime relationship, that's the relationship which is eternal, the relationship we have entered into as members of the family of God.

So biblical truth is not only objective facts, it is objective facts, propositional truth, but it is objective truth that transforms a life. The Word of God is alive and powerful, it changes a life, makes a person new, makes them different, removes them from belonging to the realm of the world to now belonging to the family of God. That sets up a relationship of animosity that some of you experience in your physical families because of the new relationship established.

II John, John goes on, for the sake of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever. ______________ now, what is for the sake of the truth, or because of the truth, starting verse 2. Well he says in verse 1 whom I love and he modifies that with two prepositional phrases here—in truth and then in verse 2 because of the truth. I love you in the realm of the truth and it's the truth that produces this love in my life. It is God's truth at work in my life that has produced this love for you as the chosen of God. Remember II Corinthians 3:18? As we are beholding in the mirror of God's Word the glory of God, we are being transformed by the Spirit into conformity with God's glory. That's God's truth working its transforming power through the ministry of the Spirit in our lives. That's what John is saying—I love you in truth, this is the realm in which our love operates, the truth of God that has brought us together. And I love you because of the truth, on account of the truth, for the sake of the truth. As it's translated here it really means on account of or because of the truth, which abides in us. This truth has taken up residence in our lives by the presence of the Spirit of truth as we'll see in just a moment. The Holy Spirit of God is called the Spirit of truth. John refers to Him this way numerous times in his gospel and in his first epistle. And the truth of God abides in us, the Spirit who gives God's truth abides in us. That produces this love. That's why they are inseparable, the truth and love. Without God's truth and the presence of the Spirit of truth, there wouldn't be this kind of love. The world operates with a lower level of love. Well they do sacrificial things, yes, but always for selfish reasons. And so the world falls in love and out of love, and in love and out of love. Unbelieving people are in love and out of love. But you'll note here, for the sake of the truth which abides in us. That's where it lives. And will be with us for the foreseeable future, into the ages, forever. You know this is the love relationship that will never end. I have a human love for people on this earth that I will not enjoy for eternity because they do not know the Lord. On the human level I love them, but that love isn't a forever love because unless God changes their heart there will come a time when we will be separated for time and eternity.

But the love God is producing in our life for fellow believers, look around, these are the people you are stuck with for eternity. Might as well learn to love them and get along with them now. You can't even escape by going to heaven because when you get there, Hi! It's me. This love will be there forever, this is God's family. Isn't it what we expect with our children and try to enforce it but it's difficult because of their sin nature. We tell them you have to get along with your sister, you can't treat your brother like that. Well in God's family He's saying you have to get along, you're My children, I expect certain kinds of behavior and conduct, certain kinds of relationships, certain kinds of treatment among yourselves. That's what we're talking about. It will be with us forever.

Back up to I John 4:7, this whole concept. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. This kind of love we're talking about is the love that God produces in a life. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God for God is love. That's not all that He is. One of His attributes is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. It's not that God has warm feelings for us. God sent His Son to die for us. This is a love of action, doing what is good and necessary for the other person. God wasn't fulfilling a need in Himself by entering into a relationship with us, He was meeting a need we have that we could not meet ourselves—He sent His Son. Verse 10, and this is love, not that we love God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation, the satisfaction for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us we ought also to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us because He has given us of His Spirit.

Verse 16, we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love. The one who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him. Verse 19, we love because He first loved us. Verse 21, this commandment we have from Him that the one who loves God should love his brother also. And on it goes. Chapter 5 verse 2, by this we know we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. This is the love of God that we keep His commandments. Not trying to stir some kind of warm feeling. People identify worship with getting some kind of warm feeling, sentimental feeling—I felt like I worshiped. What does worship feel like? What does loving God feel like? This is the love of God that we obey Him. It doesn't have anything to do with whether I have a warm feeling or not, some kind of sentimental kind of worldly love. We're talking about if you love God you obey Him. People who say they love God and disobey His Word are lying, they don't love Him.

This is what we're talking about in the context. You see inseparable, loving God, obeying His truth, loving others because when you enter into a love relationship with God now God resides within you and He is producing His character in your life which is His love. Yes but there are some people hard to love. But thing about what you were—a wretched, hell bound sinner, not a desirable thing about you and God had His Son die for you. That's why that's the ultimate example and expression of love.

Come back to the gospel of John, let's look at a couple of statements quickly. When we talk about truth we're talking about the Word of God, we're talking about the presence of God in a life. You cannot separate God from His truth. When God's truth is present in your life God Himself is present in your life, and the Holy Spirit is the One that is the focal point of that presence. John 14:15, Jesus says, if you love Me you will keep My commandments. You see how John has picked up these ideas and carried them on in his epistles. I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper that He may be with you forever, that is the Spirit of truth. The truth as it abides within you and will be with you forever. And the Spirit is the One who gives truth, that enables us to understand truth. He's the One who inspired the Old Testament prophets, He inspired the apostles and prophets in the New Testament, He's the One according to I Corinthians 2 that enables us to know truth because the natural man, the man apart from the Spirit, cannot know the things of the Spirit of God for they are spiritually discerned. He is the Spirit of truth. You know Him because He abides with you, will be in you and now is as believers. Verse 21, he who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. Verse 23, if anyone loves Me he will keep My word, My Father will love him, We will come to him, make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not love Me does not keep My words. So you see the Spirit of truth, love truth.

John 15:26, when the Helper comes whom I will send you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth. John 16:13, but when He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He is the Spirit of truth. What is the fruit of the Spirit? Love. We cannot disassociate the love of God for the people of God from the truth of God. And the church gets into all kinds of trouble because it's trying to divide what God says is indivisible. We think, we don't want to make a point of that aspect of truth because we want to love people and be inclusive enough that they will feel welcome. In other words, we'll sacrifice love because we're going to sacrifice truth. Now in the presenting of truth, we do it in love but there is no distinction. We're not talking about part of the truth. That's not saying, well let's pick out the essentials, driven to distraction. But people say, can't we just concentrate on the essentials? That's what we concentrate on, the essentials are found between Genesis and Revelation. Who am I? God's editor? What arrogance to tell the living God, yes, God, you said this but I've decided that's not essential. You understand I've done you a favor, I've gone through here, I've pulled out a lot of this and I've put it in the nonessential column. Oh really? And who are you? Well I thought you would appreciate my narrowing it down so we could show love. We show love by being faithful to truth. And the Spirit of God has brought the knowledge of truth to us because of God's electing work, and now within our lives He produces His love.

So John can say, grace, mercy and peace will be with you from God the Father, from Jesus Christ the Son of the Father. In truth and love. We'll pick up at that point.

What's our church about? It's about truth and love. Is it more about truth than love, or is it more about love than truth? We're talking about a mixture. I'm eating a cake. Well did you eat the milk, the flour or the sugar? I ate the cake. Yes, but which did you eat? You didn't eat the cake unless you ate the mixture, right? That's the way it is with us, we have truth and love. We have more of one than the other, we want to have it all. The Spirit of truth producing the love of God that means we would give our lives for anyone here, we would function in love, we do function in love because God's mercy, God's grace, God's peace is with us, the empowering work of the Spirit as we submit to the truth and obey it.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your grace. Thank you for the beauty of your Word, its simplicity, its completeness. Lord, may these truths take hold of us, may we look in the mirror of the Word carefully and see if indeed we are manifesting the love that you have described and set forth, the love that your Spirit produces and only You can produce the ministry of Your Spirit in our lives. Lord, we can't do it. We fall in love, we fall out of love, but Lord, when you change a life and make us new, when we're born into your family a miraculous change occurs. The beauty of your character begins to be produced in our lives. Lord, we see the selfishness replaced by selflessness, we see the beauty of your character being developed in one of Your children. Thank you for your truth, thank you for your love, thank you that they reside in us forever. In Christ's name, amen.