Brethren, I do pray that you'll
be able to listen tonight and hear this message. I've been
asking God to give me a message in the past month on some things
that I think the Lord has shown me and I just didn't know how
to preach it. And I've been asking for that
message and I think that He's given it to me. As John was reminding these brethren
here, to love one another. Obey Christ and love one another
for the truth's sake. And that we do this by abiding
in Christ. As he was speaking on this, he
gives the reason. The reason we are to love one
another and to abide in Christ. And it's this, verse 7, for many
deceivers are entered into the world. Now I don't have to convince
you that there are many deceivers. You understand that. I could
quote a lot of scripture and show you how Christ warned us
of this, but you know this. You know that there are a lot
of deceivers in this world. A deceiver pretends to believe
Christ, maybe they even think they believe Christ, but they
don't. And because they don't, they
don't love the brethren either. Now John is about to speak about
the deceiver's doctrine. That's what he's about to to
speak about what he teaches. But I want you to understand
this and what I hear sometimes from believers, true believers,
is that they misunderstand that character matters too. Character
of a person matters too. And so before we get into the
deceiver's doctrine, I want you to see something here that John
says in 3 John. If you look there with me, Just
right there on the page. In verse 9, or one page over,
John says, he's speaking here of a deceiver. And he said, I
wrote unto the church, but Diotrephes, now this Diotrephes did not have
the truth and love of God in his heart. He did not. And so he did what a deceiver
does. Now watch what he did. Verse 9, he wanted vain glory.
who loveth to have the preeminence among them. Deceivers use the pulpit to gain
vain glory. They use the pulpit as a stepping
stone to get this vain glory and riches for themselves. Peter
said this, he said, through covetousness shall they with feigned words
make merchandise of you. They're covetous in their heart
and they'll speak true words but they're feigned words because
you're just merchandise to the deceiver. So he can get this
vainglory that he wants for himself and this filthy lucre, as Peter
called it, money that he wants for himself. He was covetous. He wanted the preeminence. Diotrephes
sowed discord. He himself broke fellowship with
John and with the other ministers. Look there in verse 9. John said,
He receiveth us not, wherefore if I come, I will remember his
deeds which he doeth, pratting against us with malicious words.
See, Diotrephes initiated this division between him and John
and the other ministers. He told them, I don't want you
coming here and preaching anymore. That's what Diotrephes told them.
And then he spread lies about John and his fellow ministers. This is a deceiver. This is his
character. And then, but he didn't stop there. Look what he did,
verse 10. He says, and not content therewith,
he wasn't content just spreading lies about John and separating
from John. Neither doth he himself receive
the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth
them out of the church. He wouldn't receive those who
were once his brethren, and he forbid them to receive these
folks who were brethren. He forbid those that he was ministering
to, he forbid them to have fellowship with their brethren and if they
did, he cast them out. Now I want you to hear what the
Spirit of God says to you and I who believe on Christ. Now
listen to what he says in verse 11. Beloved, follow not that
which is evil, but that which is good. Diotrephes was evil. What he was doing, he was evil.
John warned his brethren, don't follow evil, but follow that
which is good. Now listen to John. He that doeth
good is of God. He's born of God and because
the spirit of truth and the spirit of love is in him, his desire
is for Christ to have the preeminence. And so he goes about doing everything
he does in love to his brethren so that Christ has the preeminence. They hear Christ preached and
he has the preeminence. And he says, but he that doeth
evil hath not seen God. Diotrephes and the rest of the
deceivers have not been born of God. They haven't seen God.
But I want you to look here now at Demetrius. He's an example
of good. Demetrius, he's an example of
good character. Verse 11, Demetrius hath the
good report of all. and of the truth itself. That
means this man's character was in accord with the word of God.
And he says, Yea, and we also bear record, John and all his
fellow ministers, and you know that our record is true. John
bear record of this one, who was of a bad character, an evil
character, and he bear record of Demetrius, who had a good
character. And the brethren believed him.
They believed his warning and his commendation. So that's why,
back in 2 John, that's why he reminds us to love one another,
and then he gives us this reason for there are many deceivers
in the world. Remember what Christ said? By this all men shall know
you're my disciples if you have love one toward another. Character matters because the
Spirit of God makes us a partaker of the divine nature. He changes
a man. He makes you to be a partaker
of his nature and creates in you a new nature so that he that
doeth good is of God. God gets the glory for that.
But he that doeth evil hath not seen God. That's clear, isn't
it, that character matters? Now, that's as important as the
doctrine a man preaches. Now, let's look at the doctrine.
The deceiver is not only of an evil character, he denies the
person and work of Christ in what he teaches. Now, listen
to this in 2 John 7. He says, for many deceivers are entered into the world, and
here's the doctrine. who confess not that Jesus Christ
is come in the flesh." This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Antichrist is not some, you know,
big boogeyman that's going to come along one day that everybody's
so fearful of. Antichrist is anybody who is
anti-Christ. That's antichrist. Anybody. It's people. You and me. They're just like you and me.
They're sinners. They're antichrists. The deceiver, though, he says
here, denies that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. And what
he's saying is, is they're going to deny the person and work of
Jesus Christ. Somewhere in their doctrine,
they're going to deny the person and work of Jesus Christ. Some
will say he's a teacher, he's a good example, he's a healer,
but they deny his deity. They deny he's God in human flesh. There's people who teach that,
who preach that, that he's not God. Now at the other end of
that extreme, remember Christ said there's some that would
be so subtle if it were possible they'd deceive the very elect.
And at the other end of that spectrum, you got others that
may preach his deity and they may preach the five points of
Calvinism. They may preach total depravity and unconditional election
and limited atonement and irresistible grace, perseverance of the saints,
but they deny the work of Christ in His people in defense of the
work Christ did for His people on the cross. We've actually
heard that argument. We don't preach what Christ did
in His people because we want all the glory to be on what Christ
did for His people on the cross. Brethren, you don't glorify Christ
more by denying one aspect of His work in an effort to glorify
another aspect of His work. That's not glorifying Christ.
You preach the whole work of Christ. Everything that Christ
is and everything He's done for His people, we preach all of
Christ. There was the Gnostics who, what's
what John's dealing with here, the Gnostics who, they said that
because everything is sinful, that if Christ came into this
world, He could not have been made flesh because then He would
be a sinner. Today, some say he could not
have been made sin on the cross because then he would have been
a sinner. It's the same error, it's just in today's fashion.
It's just the same error. Now this is the issue, brethren.
This person's a deceiver and he's Antichrist. And this is
the issue. Not only does a deceiver have
a covetous character, somewhere in their message they're denying
some aspect of Christ's person and Christ's work. And that's
the issue. You know, we sometimes might
talk about these differences that other other people have with us, and
they'll let you know what those differences are, you know, and
they'll say, you don't preach the law, or you don't preach
morality, or you, you know, whatever these different things are, but
that's not the issue. That's just a smoke screen. The
issue is Christ and what He accomplished and for whom. That's the issue. The issue is Christ, who He is
and what He did. Now, secondly, knowing there
are all these deceivers in the world, John, and knowing how,
if it were possible, they would deceive the very elect. That's
subtle, brethren. And knowing that, John says here,
he's speaking by the Spirit of God, he says to us to make your
calling and election sure and be on guard. Look here, verse
8. He says, look to yourselves that
we lose not those things which we've wrought, the margin says,
which we've gained, Look to yourselves that we lose not those things
which we've gained but that we receive a full reward. He's saying
what the Apostle Peter said. In 2 Peter 1.10 he said, Brethren,
give diligence to make your calling and election sure. You give due
diligence to make sure you're the called of God and you've
been elected by God. And He says, for if you do these
things, you shall never fall. For so an entrant shall be abundantly
ministered to you from Christ. If you're His, if He's called
you and you're truly an elect child of God, He's going to minister
to you abundantly and keep you from falling. And you're not
going to fall away from Him. You're going to be ministered
unto abundantly right into the kingdom of God. right into that
final day, and he's going to keep you. But he says now, make
your calling and election sure. Look to yourselves. You know,
when I'm preaching, I don't ever say look to yourself. But this
is what he's saying. Before you can have spiritual
discernment to discern the deceiver, make sure you yourself are chosen
of God and called by God. Make certain you yourselves are
in Christ before you can have spiritual discernment to understand
or to perceive a deceiver. You understand that? That person
who abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, if we're going to
discern that, we have to make sure we abide in the doctrine
of Christ, we ourselves. Mama can teach you the five points
of Calvinism, but mama can't reveal Christ to you. That has to be done by God. Only
God can teach us the righteousness of God. A preacher can teach
you a system of doctrine, but only God can reveal Christ in
you. Make sure we haven't just learned a system of doctrine.
Make sure we haven't just learned five points. Make sure we know
Christ. Make sure we've learned Christ
and know Him. That's where we want to be. Look
to yourselves, first of all, to make sure that you abide in
the doctrine of Christ. And look to yourselves, don't
look to somebody else. Look to yourselves. Paul said
examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. Prove your own
selves. Know you not your own selves
that how that Jesus Christ is in you except you be reprobate?
Christ said the man who puts his hand to the plow and looks
back, he's not worthy of me. The man who loves mama more than
Christ, he's not worthy of Christ. The man who loves his wife more
than Christ, he's not worthy of Christ. We start in this warfare
and you don't get the discharge from this. If you sit down and
count the cost, Christ said, make sure you have everything
you need to fight this warfare and to go forth in this battle.
And what you need, if you find anything in you that makes you
think you can fight this battle, you've lost it to begin with.
When we examine ourselves, what we find out is we don't have
anything. We don't have anything whereby to save ourselves. We
don't have strength. We don't have anything. We depend
entirely upon the power and grace of God. Now, if you're in that
place and you're depending entirely on the power and grace of God,
You trust that He chose you. He called you before the foundation
of the world. Chose you in Christ. That Christ
is your only righteousness. That it's only by the Spirit
of God that you believe. And you know it's only by Him
you'll persevere. Now you're where you can begin. You made your calling and election
sure. You know He's everything. And without Him, we can do nothing.
Isn't that what Christ said? How simple is this? Christ said,
Abide in Me. Just like that branch is abiding
in the vine. He said, because if you're severed
from me, just like that branch, you can't live. You can't do
anything. So we need Christ, don't we?
We can't do anything. Make your calling and election
sure. And then once you've proven yourself, then guard against
these deceivers. Look to yourselves to be on guard,
he's saying. So they don't beguile you away
from the gospel of Christ, the doctrine of Christ, like the
devil tricked Eve in the garden. He's subtle, brethren. The devil's
subtle. Whatever appeals to you, that's
what he'll appeal to you with. Whatever you like that's going
to tempt you away from the doctrine of Christ, that's what he's going
to come at you with. And get this now, the devil don't
mind you being religious. The devil's not, he's not doing
his greatest work out in a bar and in a club. That's not where
he's doing his greatest work. He's doing his greatest work
in a pulpit. Deceiving men and women, giving them a false hope
in religion so that they think they're secure and safe and they're
just wrapped up in a refuge of lies. That's where he's doing
his work. Christ said, take heed that no
man deceive you. Take heed. John says here that we lose not
those things we've gained or that we've wrought. You don't want to sit under the
gospel all this time then perish. That's what he's saying. You
don't want to sit under the gospel. Think of all the struggle you've
gone through and all that you've endured so far. You don't want
to lose this ground that you've covered. You don't want to come
this far then turn back and you don't want to one day meet Christ
and have Him say, depart from me, I never knew you. Look to yourself and guard against
these, but that we receive a full reward. Now, you know, brethren,
we're not looking for individual rewards when we get to heaven
so that, like, I'll have a reward that'll be greater than your
reward or somebody else will have a reward that's greater
than mine. We don't teach rewards. Our reward is Christ. The reward
in Scripture is spoken of as being heavenly glory, an entrance
into heavenly glory with Christ, to be made like Him and to have
Him, to have God the Father and God the Son. That's our full
reward. We're not mercenaries here. We're not trying to serve God
just for what we can get out of God. Our reward is Christ
Himself. And you know, I think something
else John could be saying here is he might be talking about
himself and other ministers of Christ. He says that we lose
not what we've gained or what we've wrought, but that we receive
a full reward. Here's what I mean. Paul said
in Philippians 2.16, he said he was encouraging the Philippians
to follow Christ and love one another, and he said that I may
rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain,
neither labored in vain. Paul said again to the Thessalonians,
what is our hope? What is our joy? What is our
crown of rejoicing? He said, are not even ye in the
presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our
glory and our joy. Paul is saying, look to yourselves
brethren, be on guard that you are not deceived by these deceivers,
so that we, that Christ is used to minister to you, so we won't
lose what we've gained. We won't lose all this labor,
won't be in vain, but we'll have the reward of seeing you who
we've ministered to truly saved and truly brought to glory with
Christ. The deceiver doesn't love the brethren. But I can
tell you this, Those that Christ sends to minister, they love
those they minister to. And they don't want to see them
perish. They don't want to see them perish. Don't ever, ever,
ever let the devil put in your mind that somehow your preacher,
your pastor has something against you. That's not what I'm laboring
for. That's not, believe me, it's
not. I'm not in it for the money.
No. I am in it for you. I want to
see you saved. I love you. There is a difference. There is a big difference. Now
look here with me. Thirdly, he says abide in the
doctrine of Christ. He says in verse 9, Whosoever
transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath
not God. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. Now, what he is
telling us here is the man who abides not in the doctrine of
Christ, he hath not God and he never did have God. He never
did. Brother Henry Mann used to say
Christ's body never loses living limbs. It doesn't. Christ doesn't
lose his people. He doesn't lose his people. But
what is this doctrine of Christ that he tells us to abide in?
What is it? What is the doctrine of Christ?
I want to give you three or four things here. What the doctrine
of Christ is. Now, if you never believed on
Christ, you listen to this. And you that have, you look to
yourself, make sure you're abiding in the doctrine of Christ. When
I say look to yourself, I'm saying look to yourself, make sure you're
looking to Christ only. First of all, the doctrine of
Christ is who He is. Now everybody believes that a
man named Jesus walked in human flesh on this earth. Everybody
believes that fact. That's a historical fact. Everybody
believes the fact. That's not salvation. Believing
there was a man named Jesus who lived and who died on the cross
and suffered that terrible death, just believing the fact of that,
that's not salvation. Not at all. That's not what we're
talking about when we're talking about abiding in Him is knowing
who He is and believing who He is. It's not just knowing facts
about Him. Everybody believes that. But
to say He's come in the flesh, to say that He's come in the
flesh, that's to say that He existed before He came. If you
come to this earth in the flesh, well, you existed somewhere before
you came here. and you were in some other form
before you came here. Isn't that right? If you came
somewhere, came to somewhere, y'all came from somewhere to
get here tonight. So to say He's come in the flesh
is to say He came from somewhere. He was already in existence before
He came here. Well, who is He? He's God. The Lord Jesus Christ is God. God in human flesh. God came
down and took flesh and walked this earth. He is God. That's who He is. A dear lady
called me not long ago and she wanted me to come preach. Preach
to her and some friends of hers and I pray she still does. But
she began, I guess she told the folks in her church where she
was and they started listening. And she's telling me they were
agreeing with everything I preached. And she said, and then she came
back, she said there's just one thing they don't agree with.
I said, what's that? She said that Christ is God. That's a big one. If Christ is
not God, we don't have a Savior. You understand that? If He's
not God, we don't have a Savior. He's God. He said, I and my Father
are one. If you've seen me, you've seen
the Father. And the Pharisees knew what He meant by that. They
said, you blaspheme God because you, being a man, made yourself
God. They understood what He meant.
He's God, brethren. He's God. If He's come in the
flesh, He was with God. That's where He came from. Equal
with God the Father and God the Spirit. He come down. He's the
Son of God. He always existed. He's the Creator. He's the Creator. That baby in
Bethlehem that laid in a wooden manger made the tree that made
the manger. That one who hung on the cross
made the tree that made the wood for that cross. Those spikes
they nailed into His hand, He made the iron from which those
spikes were made. He is the Creator. You know that
is attributed to Him throughout the Scriptures. Read John. He is the Word that was in the
beginning. The Word was with God and the
Word was God. All things that were made were
made by Him. Colossians 1 says He made all things. He made everything
for Him and everything was made by Him. And He's before everything. He's the reason it was made.
He's God the Creator. That's who He is. The devil wants
a sinner to deny he's God because if he's not God, we don't have
a Savior. Only a God-man could save. A man, as a man, he could bear
the sin of his people. As God, He took that sin away
completely. As man, He could bear the curse
and condemnation in the room instead of His people in our
place. And as God, He made infinite
satisfaction and eternally redeemed His people. It's necessary that
He be God and man. Our salvation is utterly dependent
on it. So that's first of all who He is. Then the doctrine
of Christ is what He accomplished and for whom. What He accomplished
and for whom. His name is Jesus, for He shall
save His people from their sins. That's what the Spirit of God
told Joseph and told Mary. This One that's formed in you
is the Son of God, He's holy, and His name shall be called
Jesus, Savior, for He shall save His people from their sin. That's
why He came. He had a people He came to save.
And He came to save us because we couldn't save ourselves. He
came to save us from our sins. Adam brought all the world, Adam
brought everybody into condemnation. He didn't make it possible for
you to be condemned, He condemned you and me. And He made us to
be born with a defiled nature. Christ is the last Adam and by
His obedience He made all His people righteous, inside and
out. He makes us righteous outside
by fulfilling the law for us and He makes you righteous within
when He creates you anew in righteousness and true holiness. And one day
He will raise our bodies righteous and holy without sin. And we
will be righteous through and through. It's His work for His
people and in His people. That's the work of Christ. And
both are just vitally, vitally, vitally important. He came to
put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. He came to do it
for all those God the Father chose and gave to Him before
the world was made. And that's exactly what He did.
Go to Ephesians 1. Let me show you this real quick.
I'm going to wind this up because I'm going to go long if I don't.
Ephesians 1, look here. Verse 3, Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings. Where did He do it? He is talking
now to those that believe. He said up there in the first
verse, He is talking to the saints, to the faithful in Christ Jesus.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who
blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ according as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world. Here is why He did it. That we
should be holy and without blame before Him in love having predestinated
us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according
to the good pleasure of His will to the praise of the glory of
His grace wherein He has made us accepted in the Beloved. He
chose His people, and He predestinated us one day to where He would
send the gospel forth, and we would be born of His Spirit,
and He would call us to be His sons and daughters, and that's
all, the next verse says, that's all through the redemption of
Christ Jesus. Christ came and laid down His
life for those God chose in Him before the world was made. That
angers sinners, it angered me, but that's the purpose, is to
bring you down in humility to ask God for mercy, because that's
how God saved. in mercy and grace. And everything
He did on that cross was to manifest the righteousness of God. He
was made sin and God wouldn't pour out justice on Him until
before He was made sin because He was manifesting God's just.
God only does what's right. And then He bore that curse and
condemnation to manifest God's just. In doing so, he satisfied
justice and justified his people. That's not just something I'm
passionate about, brethren. That's the gospel. That is the
gospel. And you missed this, and you've
missed the gospel. This is what I was trying to
show you Sunday, that the gospel is wherein the righteousness
of God is revealed. That's the purpose of preaching
this. This is what God's going to reveal to his people. How
many times have you heard me say that what happened on the
cross is a great mystery? I've said this so many times.
I don't know how Christ was made sin. I have no idea how Christ
was made sin. What happened on that cross is
a mystery as much as the incarnation is a mystery. I can't explain
either one of them. But I can tell you this, the
whole Word of God declares why. Every bit of it does. to manifest
the justice of God, to manifest that God's the justifier, to
declare the righteousness of God. That's not something I'm
passionate about, that's the gospel, that's my salvation,
that's my gospel. Well, the doctrine of Christ
is where He is now. He came, when He came, He was
the prophet, priest and king of His people. and he is still
the prophet, priest, and king of his people. He is seated at
the right hand of God. He is the prophet. If you hear
this word tonight, it won't be because I am preaching it, it
will be because Christ is preaching it. He is the prophet. And he
is the high priest. Only the high priest could represent
the people to God. And he is at God's right hand
representing his people right now. And he is the king. That means he is the sovereign
and all power is his. He is doing as he will in heaven,
in earth, and under the earth. and he's calling out his people
with this gospel. That's what he's doing now. In
other words, he has not failed, he shall not fail, and he cannot
fail. Now here's death and life in
one verse, verse 9. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. And he that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son. He got both. This is the commandment.
Look back at verse 6. This is the commandment that
as you've heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. What is
it? Abide in the doctrine of Christ. Christ said it. And you
know, some argue, and I've read these commentaries of people
arguing on this about abiding in the doctrine of Christ. Does
that mean to abide in the doctrine that's about Christ or to abide
in the doctrine, the teaching of Christ, the teaching that
Christ taught? Which one does it mean? People
just argue about anything. Christ's doctrine was abide in
the doctrine of Christ. Christ's teaching was abide in
that doctrine that's all about Christ. That was his teaching.
Abide in Christ. That was his teaching. That's
the commandment. So here's one last thing, brethren,
I want to show you. If anybody comes to you without
this doctrine, or they come to you with that
character, like Either one of them. Both of them are important. Sometimes you can't tell by a
message they preach. It's so close to the truth. If
you didn't know, you wouldn't hear it. If you didn't know,
you wouldn't hear they're denying some aspect of Christ's work. But this character is involved,
too. It's involved, too. And look what he says now. Now
listen to this carefully, verse 10. If there come any unto you
and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house,
not this house and not the house you sleep in. Receive him not,
neither bid him God's speed. For he that bid him God's speed
is partaker of his evil deeds. Now you listen carefully and
God help us to hear this. If a man comes And he brings
not the doctrine of Christ. And, or, if you hear a report
about a man and his characters like theatrophies, you stand
with Christ on the side of truth. Stand with Christ on the side
of truth. Don't receive him into your house.
Don't give him a hearing. Don't give him a word of encouragement.
Yeah, you can give him a word of encouragement. Encourage him
not to preach anymore. Encourage him to stop preaching. But now listen, if you bid him
Godspeed, if you straddle the fence in the name of charity
and brotherly love, if you say, I'm not going to,
I believe Diotrephes is a brother and I believe John is a brother,
And I'm not going to listen to John say that. I'm just not going
to do it. John said, you're a partaker
of his evil deeds. That's a fact. You see, when
God puts you to a test, you're not just going to say, I decided
today I'm not going to show up for the test. You're not going
to say, well, today I'm just going to excuse myself from the
classroom. You ain't going to remove yourself from the test.
God killed. And I'll tell you this, he's going to bring his
people down on the side of truth. And they're going to stand with
Christ and they're going to love their brethren. And that's how
you're going to love your brethren, is standing with Christ, abiding
in the doctrine of Christ. That's how we love. That's why
he began up there and he said, I rejoice greatly that I found
of thy children walking in truth, abiding in the doctrine of Christ,
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 have had from the beginning, that we love one
another, and this is love, that we walk after His commandments. And this is the number one commandment,
this is it, that you heard from the beginning, that you should
walk in it. Abide in the doctrine of Christ. That's love. That's how we love. Go back and listen to that message
from 1 John chapter 5 on verse 3. This is the love of God. Go
back and listen to that. This is the love of God. We believe Christ and abide in
Christ. And if we bid a man Godspeed
in not abiding in the doctrine of Christ, we're encouraging
him and supporting him in preaching lies on our God. It's just that
real. I pray God will bless that. That's
something we need to know and understand, brethren. Doctrine
and character matter. Both matter. Amen.