Second John I thought about a
couple of different Possible new studies to begin this morning,
but I thought well we're in first John We'll just go on the second
third John before we move on to something else. So we'll look
at second John. I pray the Lord will Teach us
this morning out of his word Second John chapter 1 verse 1
I the elder unto the elect lady
and her children, whom I love in the truth, and not I only,
but also all they that have known the truth. How we see in every
part of God's word, those who speak the truth do so in love. John said, I love you. I'm writing
to you, whether he knew it or not at the time, the very Word
of God. And I'm doing it because I love
you. Remember Solomon, my son. Whenever studying the Word of
God, and we are exhorted all to study
God's Word, In 2 Timothy 2.15, study to show thyself approved
unto God. Not to impress men, but to show
by God's grace that what he said is important to you. That you
want to know what God said, that you're a student of his word. Study to show thyself approved
unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed. Rightly defining
the Word of Truth. Truth. When studying the Word of God,
always find out who's writing. Who's saying what's being said.
Find out to whom they're writing. And then find out what they're
saying. Those three basic things always. When you study God's
word, who is writing or speaking? We have here, John says, I'm
the elder, the elder. And he tells us who he's writing
to, the elect lady. And then we'll, by God's grace,
try to see what he says. But who is writing or speaking
is important because every person has a different perspective on
things according to the providence and gifts of God. He gives all
gifts as it has he's pleased to do so in various measure as
we've seen in the book of Ephesians and elsewhere Now you might think
that if somebody is speaking the truth Or writing the truth
and it really doesn't matter who they are and there's some
truth to that There's some truth to that. But when you're studying
God's Word There is some weight to knowing Who is speaking? Who is it that wrote, the Lord
is my shepherd? But him who from his very youth
kept his father's sheep. In the providence of God, he
was gifted as a boy to be such a shepherd that he killed a lion
and a bear who threatened his father's sheep. And years after
that, he was inspired by God to write, the Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He protects
me. He takes care of me. He watches
over me. He provides for me. I'll never
lack. I'll never lack. And there's
some weight to knowing that it was the same Apostle Peter who
denied our Lord three times who afterwards in the book of Acts
stood up and said to those Jews who I'm pretty sure were still
in the stoning business, you killed the prince of life. You
murdered God's son in boldness. And he said to them, your only
hope is to bow to him. It was the proud, self-righteous
Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus. who gave so much credibility
to his own pedigree and heritage, who later wrote, doubtless, I
count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things and do count them but doubt that I may win Christ
and be found in him, not having my own righteousness. To the
Pharisee, Their personal righteousness was everything. But to this Pharisee
now, under the grace of God, having had Christ Jesus revealed
to his heart, says, my righteousness is done and I wouldn't have it. But I want that righteousness,
which is through the faithfulness of Christ. The righteousness
which is of God. By faith in his son. And that proud Pharisee, who
was looked up to and revered by his peers, is also the one
who later wrote in Ephesians 3, 8, unto me, who am less than
the least of all saints, is this grace given. But I should preach
among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches Christ the one who persecuted
Christ and his people before what a privilege he said what
a Blessing of his grace God bestowed upon me That I might preach the
one that I once cursed There's some weight to that now It is the wisest man who ever
lived Other than the God man The one to whom God said, what
do you want? And I'll give it to you. And
he said, Lord, give me wisdom to rule your people. It is the
wisest man that ever lived who said this, Proverbs 4, 7, Wisdom
is the principal thing. With all of your getting, get
wisdom. Get understanding. Does that
mean anything to you? There is significant to who it
is that writes. But most important is this. Most
important, God did not eradicate the personalities and the experiences
of the men that he used to write the word of God, but he used
their individuality, as we've seen in these examples and many
others. And they wrote concerning that which they had experienced,
but they never wrote. a single word in this book, but
what was inspired directly by God Almighty. And this is what
we need to understand above all else. Never forget that this
is the inspired word of God. That really should be all we
need to say about that. This is God's word. This is God
speaking. Who's speaking? Well, it's John,
but it's God. And it's important to know to
whom the scriptures are written. If Christ is speaking to the
entire world, every human being that ever lived, when he says
in Revelation 3.20, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any
man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and
will sup with him and he with me. If he's speaking to every
sinner that ever lived in this world, then he is the beggar
at the doors of men's hearts that this world's religion believes
and declares him to be. But if he's speaking to his church, as it says two verses down from
that one, that he is, in Revelation 3.22, it says, he that hath an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Then it's a whole different meaning.
Then he's teaching us something of his long suffering to his
elect people. He's teaching us that even though
we shut him out, even though we mistreat and neglect him,
he loves his sheep and he's not going away until every one of
his sheep has embraced him with that first love. He will not
go away. It's a different message based
on who it's written to. The Lord Jesus Christ doesn't
knock on doors. He is the door. But when it comes
to his church now, he loved the church and he gave himself for
her. And when he knocks, it is effectual unto her. Read the
Song of Solomon 5 verses 2 through 8. The writer there says, I put
off my coat. The Lord is knocking on the door.
He said, I put off my coat. How shall I put it on again?
Too much trouble. And then the Lord puts his hand,
he moves his hand. And the writer says now, oh,
he goes and he flings the door open, but the Savior's gone.
And he goes looking. Where's my Savior? Have you seen
him? Have you seen him? When you see him, tell him, I
love him so much I'm sick. I've got to have him. The Lord,
when he comes, when he knocks, When he moves his hand toward
his church, it don't matter whether we put
our coat off or not. He just need move his hand toward
us and we'll be so in love with him again that it hurts. Sick
with love. To find out what is being said
in scripture, Well, that may just seem too obvious to even
say. Well, of course we've got to find out what's being said.
But this is about context. Too often what is being said
is perverted because the context is ignored. In all ways, there's
the immediate context of a verse of scripture, which is sometimes
defined by chapter divisions and sometimes not. Mostly not. But there's the immediate context.
There's the general context of that book of the Bible. Every
book of the Bible has a central theme and a central focus and
a certain perspective based on who wrote it. And that whole
book of the Bible is a general context. And then there's the
overall context of the entire word of God that must be always
considered. Every scripture in this book
is to be understood with regard to the overall context, which
is clearly declared to be in this book the person and work
of Christ. The context always is Christ
and what he did. If I tell you, for example, that
I drove a Plymouth Duster when I was young, That's a specific
detail of my life, like a verse in scripture, a specific detail.
If I tell you more about that time of my life, that revolves
around that fact, that's like a chapter. That chapter would
explain why I drove a Plymouth Duster. It's because I was broke. That's all I could, I paid 400
bucks for that car. But also why is because I had
just gotten a job and I had to have something to drive. I wasn't
going to walk 16 miles to work. That's why I got it. And so you
see more detail is filled in. I needed transportation and I
needed it fast. That chapter of my life would
even tell about my friends at the time because I bought that
vehicle from a friend from church. But in the overall context of
my whole life, you would understand that when I tell you what I drove,
I'm not talking to you about cars. I'm talking to you about
me. It's just one aspect of me. And
that's what this book is. Every scripture is a glimpse
of Christ. When the scriptures speak of
heaven, it's not talking about the afterlife. It's speaking
of Christ. Because His presence is heaven.
Paul said, I want to depart here and be with Him, which is far
better. Even when the scripture speaks of sin, it's telling you
about Christ. It's in the context of Christ
who was manifested to take away sin. It is a hymn book, H-I-M,
in every aspect, every detail, every scripture. He himself began
at Moses in Luke chapter 24 It says he began at Moses and the
prophets and in the psalms also in all of the scriptures. He
expounded to his disciples The things concerning himself. He
showed them how that all of the scripture concerned himself And
then he opened their understanding when they realized that this
book is Christ revealed Then they knew what God said He opened
their understanding that they might understand. So John here,
who is it that's writing? Well, he refers to himself as
the elder, the elder. I think this has some bearing
on the passage. Turn to 1 Peter chapter five,
and let's learn something about elders. And just briefly, I just
want us to see by way mostly of introduction this morning
to this book, Who's writing, who to, and what about? That's
pretty simple, isn't it? But very important, John the
Elder is writing this epistle. And listen to the Apostle Peter
in 1 Peter 5.1, he said, The elders which are among you I
exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings
of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed,
that we understand. John said, our hands handle the
word of life. That's who's writing 2 John.
He was a witness to the sufferings of Christ. And he said, what
we've seen and heard, that's what we declare unto you. You
see, that's important because that's always true. You can't
tell something, you don't know anything that you haven't experienced. And if you don't know it, you
can't tell it. We've experienced Christ. We
didn't see Him physically or hear His words audibly, but like
one born out of due time. Saul of Tarsus, Paul, the Apostle
Paul said, like one born out of due time. He appeared unto
me. Has He appeared unto you? Not
visibly, not audibly, but we have an even more sure word of
prophecy. than that, than visible and physical
and audible. And that's vital when declaring
the Word of God. And here's what he said, as an
elder, I exhort you as an elder, feed the flock of God which is
among you. That's what an elder does. He's an overseer. No matter how old he is, age
may correspond with this and it may not. But he's an overseer, taking
the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly. And not for filthy lucre, but
of a ready mind. Why is John writing what he wrote
in 2 John? Well, I just feel compelled,
you know. God, you know, appeared to me in a dream and I just felt He said, I'm writing this because
I love you. Not because I have to. Because I want to. I pray that that's why I preach
the gospel. I pray that you'll teach your
children and be a witness to your neighbors and your fellow
workers and whoever God gives you opportunity to be a witness
to. Not because you feel like you're supposed to, but because
you love the Master and you care something about them and you'd
like to see the two meet. Is that why they carried that
man on his bed up on the roof of that house and knocked the
shingles off and dropped him down? They knew something about the
master. They loved him. They revered him. They knew who
he was and they loved their friend, their brother. That's what it's
saying here and not for gain, not for profit, but because you
love. Not for filthy lucre, but of
a ready mind. Neither is being lords over God's
heritage. Not for prestige either. Not for look at me. You know,
look how much I know. Let me bestow some pearls of
wisdom upon you. I despise that, don't you? Thank
God that that's repulsive to us. That's not what a preacher
is, and I don't care what preacher it is. not being lords over God's heritage,
but being an example to the flock. And when the chief shepherd shall
appear, you shall receive a crowd of glory that fadeth not away.
And I want to go a verse further because this has to do with what
an elder is too. Likewise, you younger submit
yourselves unto the elder. Submit yourselves to the due
authority that God has established, whether it's your parents, whether
it's your boss, whether it's your pastor, whoever. Yea, all of you be subject one
to another and be clothed with humility, for God resisteth the
proud. Any authority, any ability, any
gift, any wisdom, any knowledge, any understanding, anything is
a gift from Him and nothing to be boasted of. but to rejoice
in and be thankful for and to use for his glory. You see the
three reasons he says not to do it? Then why do it? Love. If you
love me, feed my sheep. And John said in 1 John, if you
love him, you love his sheep. He sees to that, you see. He
arranges it that way. When he said to Hosea, go love
a woman who's very unlovable, Gomer, go love a woman. He wasn't just giving him instruction.
He also gave him a heart to love her. How are you going
to obey that? Go love somebody. Go and love
that woman that's despicable. She's repulsive. She's unfaithful. She's unworthy of any sympathy, much less love. Go love her. How are you going
to obey that? God's going to give you the heart to do it,
that's what. You're fixing to fall in love with her if God
says go love her. That's how he sends his elders
too. We know some things about John
also from the book of John. Five times at least in the book
of John, John refers to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. Almost as though that's all you
really need to know about me is the master loved me. The son
of God loved me and gave himself for me. What really matters about
you? What do we need to know about
you? What sums up your life? The disciple whom Jesus loved. Is it any wonder at all that
John writes so much about love? You remember 1 John? The love
of Christ in his epistles, and you remember how much 1 John
had to do with love? Love for him and for his people,
for the family of God. Even in this short epistle that
we're looking at right now, it's a major theme. Love. And then who's he writing to?
Unto the elect lady and her children. Now some believe that this is
written to an individual woman, and her biological children,
perhaps a widow since a husband is never mentioned or addressed,
but many also think this is addressed to a church, referred to as a
lady, and the children being its members. And I have very dear friends
that I respect very greatly in the gospel on both sides of that. And I'm not sure it matters a
whole lot. The word lady isn't so much important here in that
regard. We'll talk about that word in
a minute. But in this regard I don't think
it's that much of that much importance. Certainly in Christ there's neither
male nor female. Relations 328. But I'll tell
you what the key word I believe here is in regard to who this
epistle is written to. Elect. elect Chosen of God those who
are hand-selected by God you listen up That's what he's saying
here. This is for you. Are you one
of those? How do you know well John told
us in first John about that didn't how do you know faith and love
Do you believe only Do you love the Son of God? Now if you reject
and despise the Lord Jesus Christ, then this is not written to you.
You're opening somebody else's mail if you try to apply this
to you. If you reject and despise the Lord Jesus Christ. If you
go get a letter out of your neighbor's mailbox, while they're not looking,
and you open up that letter, and it's a love letter. And you start reading it and
you start getting all weepy and you say oh look how much they
love me. You're a psycho aren't you? You're a fool. But this
world religion says that the Bible is God's love letter to
mankind. No it's not. God's love is in
Christ. Now this book is still preached
to you if you despise him because Even if you hate Christ now,
who's to say? God may give you repentance to
the acknowledging of the truth. It may be written to you and
you just don't know it yet. But I'll tell you this, if you
despise God's Son, if you have no regard for God, what He said,
His Son, His way, His will, His work, then you can't lay claim
to the promises written in this book. You're reading somebody
else's mail. Now the word lady doesn't matter
with regard to gender so much. I don't think, do you? There's
no male or female in Christ, but it's a term of endearment
and respect, isn't it? The elect lady. And I think that
does matter. It is a term of endearment. And he's already said, I love
you. I'm writing to you because I love you. Do you know what
I think about God's elect in this world? The elect lady. How do you feel about God's elect
in this world? You know what I think by God's
grace? I think they're the greatest people in the world. Absolute
greatest people in the world. There's just no doubt in my mind
about it. They weren't chosen because they were great or different
in any way from the reprobate. We're all by nature, the children
of wrath, even as others, Ephesians chapter two, but being recipients
of the grace of God and him working in them both to will and do of
his good pleasure. and being able to see the grace
of God in them, and God having taught them something about what
love is, and having shed abroad his love in their hearts, they
are the finest people that there are. I say that with all of my
heart. I say that about you. Do you
know what our Lord says about them? About his elect? He said,
you are the salt of the earth, in Matthew 5, 13. And if the
salt have lost his flavor, wherewithal shall it be salted? It is thenceforth
good. You listen to this now. This
world is salted by the people of God. But if you take the salt
away, it is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out
and to be trodden underfoot of men. Do you realize what he just said? When our Lord said to Nicodemus,
now God so loved the world, do you understand what he was saying
now? Without God's people in this world, this world ain't
worth burning. It's good for nothing in the
eyes of God. That's just the truth. This world
exists for his sheep. It exists for his son and all
who are in his son. Hebrews 11 32. Let's look at
that Hebrews 11. I want you to see something here.
I'm talking about the elect lady whom I love John said Hebrews 11 32 Paul is talking
about here. Those who are the faithful in
Christ who by God's grace through faith in Christ were conquerors
in this world who chose him over this world
and walked with him and honored him and obeyed him. Noah moved
with fear, obeyed God and built an ark. And listen to what he
said in verse 32. And what shall I more say for
the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and of Barak and of
Samson and of Jephthah and of David also and Samuel and of
the prophets? who through faith subdued kingdoms,
wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths
of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of
the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in
fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received
their dead raised to life again and others were tortured, not
accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection.
And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourging, yea,
moreover, of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn
asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered
about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. And look at this little parenthetical
statement right here, of whom the world was not worthy. Do
you feel that way about God's people? By God's grace, I believe I do.
The world's not worthy of you. Don't ever pander to this world.
Don't ever trust this world or put any faith
in this world or be spotted by this world. The world's not worthy
of you. By God's grace now, by God's
grace, They wandered in deserts and mountains and dens. He talked
about the grace of God in them. Through faith, a good report
through faith. And the world is not worthy.
This is how I see you, who are committed to Christ here. It's
not just church membership. It's not just your name is on
the roll if we even had a role. It's just not that you just come
through every once in a while. But those who are committed to
the cause of Christ, who by faith have overcome this world. This is the victory that overcometh
the world, even our faith, scripture said, which is God's gift. But you are the people that I
want to surround myself with. You are the people that I throw
in my lot with. I'm with you. By God's grace,
I want to be with you. You are the people that I look
up to and I cherish in this world like I do my own children. I
respect your opinions above that of godless men and women who
may be way more qualified than you in certain areas and may
even be of higher intelligence. But I respect your opinion above
theirs because God hath made foolish the wisdom of this world
and you have understanding that this world will never have. You have wisdom that only God
can give. And look how many times before we stop today I want to see how
often the word truth Just in the first four verses of this
book of 2 John, the word truth. The elder unto
the elect lady and her children whom I love in the truth, and
not I only, but also all they that have known the truth for
the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us and shall be with us forever.
Grace be with you. Mercy and peace from God the
Father. And from the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of the Father, in truth and love. I rejoice greatly that
I found of thy children walking in truth, truth, the truth, the
truth. Verse two clearly shows that
when he says truth, he's not just merely talking about a collection
of facts. He's talking about a person in
me that dwelleth in us and will always be with us. And of course it includes his
gospel also, his word, but he is the incarnate word. In this
phrase in verse one, he says, I love you in the truth. Do you understand what that is,
what that means? It's tantamount to saying, I
love you in Christ, but it includes his gospel, his truth, his doctrine,
his word. Because the gospel, what is the
gospel? It's Christ preached. We preach Christ. That's what
the gospel is. You can't really define it any
other way. It's good news. What's good news? The Savior. Unto you is born this day in
the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Those were
the good tidings, the glad tidings of great joy. Christ really is
all. Think about this, the gospel
is Christ preached. Faith is Christ loved and trusted. What is faith? Faith is defined
by its object. Faith is not just believing everything's
gonna turn out all right. That's just some power of positive
thinking nonsense. Biblical, scriptural faith is
Christ loved and believed and trusted in and rested in. That's what faith is. It's defined
by its object. Repentance is what? It's everything
else abandoned for Christ. It's what we read a while ago
in Philippians, where Paul said, I leave everything else behind
that I may win Him. That's what repentance is. It's
a change of mind. I used to value this stuff. Now
it's Christ alone. What is worship? Christ revered
and praised. What is service? Christ obeyed. The truth is Christ told, Christ
declared. So I love you in the truth. This
is important. This is vital. People say this
about false preachers. They'll listen to somebody that's
a blasphemer, denies the effectual nature of Christ's blood, how
that his precious blood actually obtained eternal redemption for
his sheep, and didn't make salvation possible. He saved us with his
blood. They deny the the very character
of God and say that God loves everybody when you go to hell
or go to heaven his love doesn't really do much for you but he
sure hopes you know that you go to heaven they say this about but they
say a lot of good things they say a lot of good things but
if it's not Christ it's not the truth it's not the truth Christ
is the truth and if you love the truth you know that You recognize
that you understand that turn to 2nd Thessalonians chapter
2 2nd Thessalonians chapter 2 verse
8 2nd Thessalonians 2 8 then shall
that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the
spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of
his coming, even him whose coming is after the working of Satan,
with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for
this cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they should
believe a lie. Now think of the wording here.
They received not the love of the truth. And God sends them
strong delusion, verse 12, that they all might be damned who
believe not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness. See, it's not just what you don't
agree with or do agree with. It's what you delight in. Oh,
I believe the doctor. Yeah, but do you love the truth? Do you love the truth in so much
that when somebody denies Christ or blasphemes his name, it makes
you sick and angry. You're a defender of his truth.
It makes you just like if somebody said something bad about my wife. Because I love her. That's why
it's fixed to be owned. That's why you're going to regret
it. But we are bound to give thanks
all the way to God for you, brethren. Beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning. Here's why you don't hate the
truth. Because God from the beginning
chose you. To salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit Belief of the truth you see that he chose you to
believe the truth He chose you to be set apart by his spirit
and to believe the truth Where into he called you by our gospel? to the obtaining of the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ One day the gospel was preached and
God having chosen you from the beginning and set you apart by
his Holy Spirit from those who went on in their hatred of the
truth and caused you to believe his truth. You embraced Christ
in preaching of the gospel and you fell in love with him. That's how that happens. The
truth. There are a lot of true things
that are not the truth. The truth. The truth will set
you free. In John 8, 31 through 36, you
can jot that down and read that later. The truth making you free
and the Son making you free are interchangeable in that passage.
And that's because in reality they are interchangeable. The
truth sets you free because the Son of God, who is the truth
incarnate, sets you free. It is in His will, His power,
His grace that accomplishes it. the truth. We love the truth
because we received that love from Him, being chosen from the
beginning. Those who love the truth love
one another in the truth. That's why we went to that passage.
Because if you love the truth, then you love me in the truth,
and I you. And not otherwise. To love you
in the truth means that Christ is our bond. Christ declared,
Christ revealed. He is our bond. His gospel is
our spiritual food. We sit down at the same table
together because Christ is my food and Christ is your food.
That's why we sit at the same table. That's what our love is
all about. Our love for one another. His
worship is our family time. That's our family time. That's
our time. His fellowship. That's just our
lives together. That's what we do with one another
in life. It's fellowship. It doesn't matter
where we are. Especially here. It's precious here because this
is his house. This is where the gospel is preached. And this is where we come to
enjoy the revelation of him together. And he said he'd meet with us
here together. And he does. But wherever we are, our fellowship
is in Him. It's just our lives together.
You take away Christ from me and you, and there is no me and
you. That's what it means to be in
love and the truth. It's in Him. He is our bond. The good news is you can't take
away Christ from me and you. It's not going to happen. Do
you realize that if you and I are in Christ, that we are one in
Him forever? We're always going to be together
in the true sense, in a way in which in no other sense as it
is true, as it is sweet, as it is wonderful. We are one in Him
forever. It's a bond of love that can't
be broken or diminished in any way. Our friendship is supernatural. Do you realize that? It's supernatural. It goes way beyond anything that exists in this world or
anywhere else. And it's only going to get stronger.
And for his glory, it's going to be forever. We may have fallen out now for
a while, but you know what? It's not going to last. It's
not going to last. I love you in the truth. And
you may. And as the last phrase of verse
one states, this is the case with all who are his chosen all
who are his elect, all those who love the truth, love one
another in the truth. You remember when the Lord Jesus
said to his disciples, this world will know that you're my disciples
because of your love for one another. How extraordinary must that love
be? How conspicuous, how distinguishing? is that love that his people
have for one another. It's the very love of God shed
abroad in our hearts and it's not like any other love. That's
why it's recognized for what it is. And what a gift it is. What a
gift. And the older I get, the more
I pray by God's grace I understand this. what is truly valuable in this
world. And how precious are those who
are my brothers and sisters in Christ. How precious. Do you love me? By God's grace, I love you in
the truth. I wouldn't be here if I didn't. And that's the gift and grace
of God. And I just want to notice one thing about verse two, and
we'll look at verse two mainly next time, but this is for the
truth's sake. Which dwelleth in us and shall
be with us forever. You see, the truth is bigger
than we are. The truth is bigger than we are. This is not for our sakes. I'm
going to be gone soon, one way or the other. Maybe real soon,
maybe kind of soon, but it's going to be soon. But may his
truth abide here while this world stands. That's what it's about. As long as this world stands,
his truth endures forever. And if I go, that's okay. I want to say if you go, that's
okay, but I can't even say that. I don't even want to think about
that. But I'll tell you this, this
is for his sake. We love one another in the truth for the
truth's sake. Not just about us. That's why
we can't let petty things disrupt what we have here. what God has
entrusted us with here. It's for his sake. It's for his
gospel sake. It's bigger than you. It's bigger
than me. It's not about my feelings or your feelings. It's not about
my honor or your honor. It's not about my rights or your
rights. It's not about my pride or your pride. Will you or I be a detriment
to the cause of God's truth and bring shame to him who is the
truth for the sake of getting our way or getting our just due? Do you know what your just due
is? Next time you think about, well, I didn't get, I didn't,
you know, I didn't deserve that. Think about what you do deserve.
May I think about that? Well, I didn't deserve that.
Yeah. In the simple words of that little
song that we sing, let's forget about ourselves and concentrate on Him and worship Him. He has shed abroad His love in
our hearts to that end for His sake May He cause that
love to grow, and His name to be glorified here. Let's pray.