Good morning everyone. Please
turn in your Bibles to John 2, the second book of John. Recently we had a look at 1 John
and it was quite amazing the themes that ran through 1 John
and the depth of the explanation that John gave over serious matters. And that book in a sense was
one of these circular letters it seems and was brought forth
by the Holy Spirit because of the urgency of what was going
on in the church as it was being established, it was also being
attacked. Nothing's changed, has it? But
this second letter is more, I guess, just a personal letter. You read
the start of it and it's like a love letter almost. And John
speaks as an elder of a church, certainly is a representative
of the Lord, but he's also representing a church. And so you see, this
is a letter from the apostle to a church, an elect lady. It's a beautiful term, isn't
it? An elect lady and her children. And while he writes from himself
and he writes on behalf of the Lord, if you look at the end
there, he also sends a greeting from the church, that he's in
another elect sister. And as with all the scriptures,
it's timeless, isn't it? We can label ourselves as the
elect lady. And so we have this personal
letter. What's very interesting in this letter is that the fundamental
subjects haven't changed. I don't know what distance, what
time has passed between these two letters, but the issue is
still the same. The issues are still current
for us. So I just want to read it, it's
a brief letter and there's multitudes in it that I don't have time
to talk about today. But I'd just like to read it
and mention a few things along the way and then finish it up.
So he starts, the elder unto the elect lady and her children
whom I love in the truth and not only I but also all they
that have known the truth. for the truth's sake, which dwelleth
in us and shall be with us forever." Who's the truth? John writes,
and he loves the brethren in Christ the truth. Not only he, but everyone who
has known the truth loves the Lord's people and his church. And we do so for the sake of
Christ, the true sake. And it's He who dwells in us
and He who remains with His people for all eternity. So He begins,
Grace be with you, mercy and peace from God the Father, and
from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father. And that's
That's very important here in this letter because the case
that John makes is that Christ, that the Lord Jesus Christ, He
is that Messiah sent in the flesh, sent from God, sent as a rescuer
and a saviour of those who the Lord committed to Him. 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 the truth. There's no talk
of morality, there's no talk of law, walking in the truth. That's the greatest priority
that John has, he had in his first letter, and he has in this
letter, to walk in the truth. As we have received a commandment
from the Father, and now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote
a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the
beginning, that we love one another." John's issues haven't changed,
have they? And this is love, that we walk
after his commandments. This is the commandment. See, John's gone to singular
here. And the commandment is that as we have heard from the
beginning, we should walk in this commandment, in this truth.
Paul says a similar thing in Colossians 2.6. He says, as you
received Christ, so walk ye in him. How did we receive Christ? What was the beginning, our conversion? What was revealed to us? That we're desperate beggars,
that we have no credentials before God of our own, that we have
no strength, no righteousness, that we have a need that can't
be quenched by the flesh of men. That's how we receive Christ.
And that's the encouragement over and over again in the scriptures,
to just continue trusting Him, not for most things, but trusting
Him for all of our salvation. And that's the issue. See, John
goes on now with a warning, doesn't he? The biggest issue for John
is that the people of the Lord are walking in truth. That they're
trusting all of their salvation to the Lord Jesus Christ. All
of their lives, spiritually, physically, to Christ. But there are others that would
deceive us. He goes on, for, it's a because. And why is it so urgent? For
many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that
Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. Seems like a broad statement
and I'm sure many in religion would say, well, that's so broad.
We say that Christ came in the flesh. What John means here is
that Christ is a complete and absolute salvation for his people. If someone comes to us, and they have a message that
is Christ plus, if someone comes to us with an obligation or a
responsibility or a necessity, that we have to in some way complete
a work of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are a deceiver. They're
John's words, they're the Holy Spirit's words, and they're anti-Christ. He says, look to yourselves.
Look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have
wrought, but that we receive a full reward. What's our reward
as Christians? What's our full reward? It's
our Saviour, isn't it? His presence, His activities
in our life, His union with us, side by side, bearing this world
with us, strengthening us when we're weak, encouraging us, even
rebuking us at the times we need. But He's our reward. And what
is it that we have wrought? We're Christians, and we're described
as soldiers, and we're described to fight a fight, but that fight
is of faith, isn't it? Hebrews 4.11 encourages us to
labour. but to labour to rest, to labour
to trust in our Saviour. He's our reward. And the more
that we go on in this world depending upon ourselves, the more we're
actively separating ourselves in that union, if it would be
possible. But thankfully our Saviour is
faithful to the end. So it is serious and it is important,
isn't it? If we rely on anything for our
own salvation, as minuscule and as small as it might seem, we
reject Christ's salvation and we stand in our own strength. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ." John told us in 1 John, and we're
told by the Holy Spirit in the beginning that we're sinners.
We do transgress. We do sin. In fact, we sin in
everything we do, and we are sin. We in our flesh are an abomination
to the Lord. But if we don't stand in the
doctrine of Christ, we have no saviour, we have no sacrifice
and we have no redemption. In a sense we trust it to go
on our own. And as John makes a point in
1 John, we not only stand exposed to the wrath of God, we don't
have fellowship with God the Father anymore. We don't have
fellowship with God the Son. Now, I'll give you a great example
of this. We all have the tendency to drift. and to be susceptible
to be deceived by men, to be drawn away. We have a natural
disposition in our flesh that would reject God and would turn
away from faith in Christ to our own activities. We've got
a great example in Galatians of Peter, and for a time he stood condemned.
or it would seem that he stood condemned, that was his position.
All he did was move a cup and show some favouritism between
Jews and Gentiles. But Paul rebuked him because
at that stage, resting on his walk by sight, resting on the
abilities of his flesh to discern things, he stepped away for a
moment. from his faith in Christ. Can
believers fall away? Not forever. Is the Lord faithful
to restore them? Of course he is. Peter, as we
saw in Galatians, was rescued by another one that the Lord
sent, Paul. But it is possible, it is possible
for us to be impaired in our Christian life, in a sense, to
be buffeted to be caused to doubt, to be weakened in our faith. It's a natural disposition of
our flesh, and it's a natural disposition of everyone else's
flesh, and we are easily enticed. Keep reading in Galatians if
you want. There's a picture of yeast which grows, and it's subtle,
silent in a sense, and it plays on good things within us like
it did on the Galatians. We're warned that it grows, and
we're warned that it's dangerous, and we're warned that we're weak
and in need of our Saviour continuously. In 1 John, John shows that to
trust the Lord is to fulfil His commandments in Him. But it's
also the way to have fellowship with Him, and through that fellowship
He then promises to work in each of His people, that through His
people He might love others of His flock. So when we remove ourselves from
this doctrine of Christ, When someone comes, perhaps influences
us that there is something we need to do. I pray that the Lord will give
us grace to remember that all salvation is of the Lord, every
part of it. Galatians 5 makes a point that
the law is a package. It's complete and it's absolute.
If you want to turn to the law, then you need to fulfil it completely.
If you miss it at one point, you miss it at all points. Law and grace are mutually exclusive,
Romans 11.6. And so we either turn in a direction
in trust of our Saviour, or we do what Adam did in the garden
and we turn back to trusting ourselves, don't we? So it is
a serious issue. In a sense, it's a contrast,
too, to walking in the truth or walking in the light, as John
says in his first letter. It's a contrast. So there's two
issues, two main issues that John's carried through in this
letter. He encourages his people to walk in truth and he discourages
them from even being exposed to the lie. He says, if there come any, any
unto you, whether it's the obvious or whether it's just a manipulation
or an obligation or an illustration, we've all experienced them. We've
been in that whole system where we come in and we're left in
bondage. If any come to you and don't bring this doctrine, the
doctrine of the complete and absolute fulfilment of our salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is sufficient, that He has
supplied all things, that He is able, able to do all things
necessary to bring us in union with the Father in heaven. If
anyone brings this doctrine, does not bring that doctrine,
Receive him not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed. And the reason, verse 11, for
he that biddeth him Godspeed is a partaker of his evil deeds. At the very least we're encouraging
them, aren't we? But you think about it, if they're
seen to go in your house, if you're seen to greet them on
the street, you're seen to support what they're saying. And like
I said, you're used to subtle. So it's not only you, it affects everyone that you're
in fellowship with. John Finch is having many things
to write unto them, but what a beautiful blessing it is that
he doesn't want to write in paper and ink. He wants to come and
speak personally to these people. But we have a testimony here,
don't we, from the Apostle written to us directly and personally. I pray it's an encouragement to
us that this is the way we deal with our brothers and sisters,
the churches that we're involved with. the friends that we have
that come and visit, that we would be a great encouragement
to them, not to work, but to rest in Christ. And that we might
encourage them in some way, or warn them, or remind them of
the deceptions of false religion. Pray God's grace on us all.