Turn back to 2 John, 2nd Epistle
of John. I'm going to look at the first
six verses. I don't believe I've ever brought it from 2nd or 3rd
John. And I've enjoyed looking at these. The title of the message, in
truth and love. Walking in truth and love. You know, walking indicates,
it indicates direction. It indicates continuance. It's
walking. It indicates pace. You're walking. You're not running. You're not
making haste. You're walking. And it indicates a way of life. That's what he's talking here,
he's talking about a way of life. It also has the meaning of HABIT
and PRACTICE. The habit and practice of the
one he's writing to was walking in TRUTH and in LOVE. Wouldn't you like your life to
be defined like that? God Almighty, I pray, God give
us the grace that our life is defined in this manner, walking
in truth and in love. It is not a theological walk. It is not a ceremonial walk.
It's not a religious walk. It's with the heart, he said,
in love. You see, we're walking in truth
and in love. It's a walk that's with the heart. It's walking in truth. We love
it. We love the gospel. We love the
truth. But it might be better said like
this. We love Him who is the truth.
We are walking in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me read these first
four verses like this. The elder unto the elect lady
and her children whom I love in Christ, and not only I, but
also all they that have known the Lord Jesus Christ. All those
who know Christ. For Christ's sake, which dwells
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 Christ in love, I rejoice greatly that
I found thy children walking in Christ." Doesn't that fit? Because Christ said, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. There is no truth apart from
Jesus Christ. He is truth. It says in John
117, for the law was given by Moses It was given to Moses and Moses
gave the law to the children of Israel there at Mount Sinai.
Christ, it says, grace and truth came by Him. It wasn't just given
by Him, it came by Him. He's the embodiment of grace
and truth. He's the embodiment of it. It's
a big difference because the Lord said this, John 14, 6, Jesus
saith unto him, I am the way. I'm not just showing you the
way, I am the way. I'm the truth, I'm not just telling
you the truth, though he did, I am the truth. I am the life,
I don't just give you life, I am life. HE IS THIS TO US. HE'S THE WAY TO GOD. HE'S THE
TRUTH OF GOD. HE'S THE LIFE OF GOD. THIS IS
WHAT HE IS TO US, NOT JUST GIVES TO US, BUT IS TO US, THESE THINGS. Now truth, and I want you to
get this, truth without love makes us harsh. I've met people
like that. I've met people who've gotten
a hold of truth and they were harsh. Love without truth is
just sentimental feelings and that's all it is. But put both
together and what we have is Christ and His salvation. We
have Christ and His salvation, truth and love. Now truth is
used five times in the first four verses and love is used
four times in six verses. This is the theme of John. This
has John written all over it. You know, some people argue about
who actually wrote this. No, John wrote this. This has
John written all over it. The way he talks. You go back
and read 1 John and then you read this. It's truth and love,
truth and love. Now this letter may have been
written to a certain church, certain congregation and the
members of that congregation. I believe, and almost everyone
I read, BELIEVES IT WAS WRITTEN TO A CERTAIN LADY AND HER CHILDREN. HE'S WRITING TO A CERTAIN LADY,
AND WHY NOT? DID NOT THE LORD DEAL WITH SOME
WOMEN DIRECTLY? WHAT ABOUT THE WOMAN AT THE WELL?
WHAT ABOUT MARTHA AND MARY? WHAT ABOUT MARY MAGDALENE? WHEN
HE ROSE FROM THE GRAVE, WHO WAS THE FIRST WOMAN HE REVEALED HIMSELF
TO? MARY MAGDALENE. WHO DID HE SEND TO TELL THE DISCIPLES
HE'S RISEN? MARY MAGDALENE. So it's not improper
that John would be writing to a lady. I read one person, then
I shut the book, because I didn't like what he said. But he said
it would be improper for John to express his love to a woman
like that. I thought, that's not so. I love
every one of you women. I do. Not like I love my wife,
but I love every one of you women. Isn't that right? And you women,
my wife loves every one of you men. Not like she loves me, but
she loves every one of you men. So there's a genuine, there's
a real genuine godly love that we have to one another in Christ. And we see this here in this
epistle. Now he says in verse one, the
elder, now he could be speaking of his office. He could be, because
he was an elder, apostle. But I think he could also, and
I know he's also speaking of his age. John was supposed to
be in, it is said that he was between 90 and 100 years old
when he died. He lived to be the oldest of
all of them on earth. They're all living in glory.
But the elder unto the elect lady, and her children, whom
I love in the truth, whom I love in Christ. That's why it's a
godly love, it's a holy love. And not I only, but also all
they that have known the truth, that have known Christ. Now you
notice here how John addresses her as the elect lady and her
children. God has CHOSEN her, CHOSEN of
God and PRECIOUS. Every one of God's children are
CHOSEN. He ADOPTED you, first of all
it tells us in Ephesians 1. Now when a parent adopts a child,
they what? They choose that child. That
child doesn't choose the parent. The parent chooses the child.
We are adopted of God. We are born of God. And so he
calls her the elect lady, the chosen of God, the precious of
God. And God has saved some of her children. I don't know if
he saved all of them, but I know he saved some of them. But I like that he called her,
I like this lady. Don't you like that term, lady?
I wrote down here, I thought there's two things that are almost
extinct from the earth, gentlemen and ladies. In this day, it's
difficult to find a real gentleman and a real lady. And I like the way he calls her
the elect lady. But how blessed to be saved that
God saved you But how much more blessed that God save your children. I think that's being even more
blessed, don't you? You know, Paul said this, Paul
said concerning the Jewish nation, he said, I would to God that
I'd be a curse from Christ if it, I'm paraphrasing, that if
it would, if it would save you, if God would save you, I would
be willing to be a curse from the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's
love, brother. That's love. But it's a blessing
that God saved me, but for God to save my children, my grandchildren, it's priceless, priceless. And notice here how John expresses
his love for her and the children in truth. I love you in truth,
in the truth and truly, I truly love you in Christ. It's a sincere
love, it's a real sincere love. They have one thing that unites
them in love, and it's Christ. It's Christ who is the truth.
And this love is family love. It's family love. Not I only,
but also all they that have known the truth. They love you also.
You know, there's people who watch us from, I mean, places
we've never been. It's last week, so it's more
from Russia. And Donna tells me these different
countries. You know, if they really believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, I love them and they love me. You love
them and we ain't even met, but they're family, they're family.
We have family all over this world. I can't tell you how many
brothers and sisters I've got. People ask me that all the time.
I've got innumerable brothers and sisters. I've got four sisters
and two brothers in the flesh, but that relationship is gonna
be dissolved. But my relationship with you in Christ is never gonna
be dissolved. It's going to grow and grow and
we're going to love each other like we ought to love each other.
We're going to worship God together as we ought to worship Him. We
have a lot to look forward to. We do. But this is family love. This is holy love. This is spiritual
love, like over in 1 Corinthians 13, you read that chapter, this
is the kind of love he's talking about. And he says here, for
the truth's sake, which dwells in us and shall be with us forever.
You see, truth dwells in us. It's not just some facts we believe.
Truth is in us. Christ in you, the hope of glory?
Well, truth is in you if Christ is in you. You know, Paul said
this in Galatians 1, and he said it right. Would it please God
to reveal His Son in me? Not just to me. in me in me truth
is in you we can read it like this for christ's sake who dwells
in us who dwelleth in us our bond is in christ we have the
same spirit of truth you see truth is a spirit it's called
in the gospel the spirit of truth god is what spirit it's the spirit
of god in you who believes And this truth, he says, will
be with us forever. Christ will be with us forever
and truth. You see, truth never changes.
It never changes and it'll be with us forever. What's true
now will be true throughout eternity. It will be true throughout eternity.
Grace be with you. Mercy and peace from God the
Father, from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, the source
of all blessings. You know, all blessings flow
to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. God the Father does absolutely
nothing apart from His Son, never has, never will do anything apart
from the Lord Jesus Christ. And He says, You're the Son of
the Father in truth and love. He keeps bringing that up. He
never leaves the theme of this epistle, truth and love, truth
and love, and He even carries it on in the third epistle. But He points out here the Deity
of the Lord Jesus Christ when He calls Him, and this is the
only time in Scripture I think that He's called like this, the
Son of the Father. This is the Father's Son who
came into this world, became a man, and died for us. Died for a multitude of sinners
no man could number. And He's going to bring every
one of them home. Every last one of them. I REJOICE, He says here, I REJOICE,
I REJOICED, past tense, GREATLY that I found of thy children
walking in truth." You know, I never thought about this until
just before coming out here. I think John must have probably
spent some time or maybe spent the night with some of her children. And he sat there and he talked
with them. and they talked over the gospel, and they rejoiced
together, and he got, I'm gonna write this woman a letter. I'm
gonna write this lady a letter. He said, I rejoiced. I found,
wouldn't you love that if one of the pastor went, or a visiting
pastor stayed with your children, and they wrote you a letter and
said, your family, it just rejoices my heart that they believe the
gospel, that I found them walking in truth and love. I found them
this way. Now you can't put any price on
that. I rejoice greatly that I found of thy children walking
in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father,
they're doing exactly what the Father has said. And this had
to be humbling to her because she knew how they used to walk. You know how they used to walk? You know how you used to walk?
Want me to read it to you? Ephesians 2 wherein in time past
you walked according to the course of this world according to the
prince of the power of the air the spirit that now worketh in
in the children of disobedience but now you walk in truth and
in love you know how humbling that had to be to her to read
that letter oh that's just I mean if he wrote me this letter it'd
just be I mean, you just, well, you'd cherish it, wouldn't you?
You'd probably read it every chance you got. Read it over
and over. I still got letters from Henry
I read from time to time, all the time. I've still got them
and I still read them. They mean a lot to me. But how much more
a letter like this? The cause of John's great rejoicing
was their conduct. Their conduct and their obedience
in love and truth. That's what rejoiced Him. It
was their conduct, their walking, their way of life. They're walking,
listen, they're walking in the truth day by day, not just Sunday
or midweek service, day by day by day. They walk in love and
truth whether they're at work, whether they are at home, whether
they're at the grocery store, whether they're here in the service.
We're the same. God's children are the same.
We're not one thing here and another thing out there. What
does it say? Walking, it denotes a way of
life. That's what you're known for.
What you're known for. This lady and her believing children
were examples of faith and a cause for rejoicing. They walked in
the truth. Spurgeon, I wrote, let me read
you a story here. Charles Spurgeon's father once
told Dr. Ford, an American minister, How
that when he had been from home a good deal trying to build up
congregations, there came a conviction that he was neglecting the religious
training of his own children, and he had almost decided to
preach less. On returning home, he opened the door and was surprised
to find none of the children about the hall. Ascending the
stairs, he heard his wife's voice and knew that she was engaged
in prayer. One by one, she named the children.
Regarding Charles, she put up a special petition telling the
Lord that he was high-spirited and daring-tempered. And when
she had finished her petition and instruction, the elder Spurgeon
felt and said, I will go on with my work. The children are well
cared for. Oh, the elect lady praying for
her children. And God answered her prayer.
He answered her prayer. And now I beseech thee, you know
that word means this, ask someone urgently and fervently to do
something, implore or entreat them to do something. And here's
what he's entreating her and her children to do, love one
another. You know that takes care of all
the problems. You know love will actually take care of the home.
You got trouble in your home? Where love reigns, it'll take
care of it. I'm telling you the truth, it'll
take care of it. Where love reigns. Love will cover a multitude of
sins. Isn't that what our Father did?
Isn't that what the Lord Jesus Christ did when He died on Calvary's
cross? Did He not cover a multitude of sins? Did He not put them
away? Aren't you glad He doesn't discover our sins to everybody?
Aren't you glad of that? That's because He loved us, and
He put them away. Oh, I beseech thee, lady, not
as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee. I'm not writing a
new commandment, but that which we had from the beginning, which,
you know, the Lord gave this commandment in John 13. In 1
John 2, chapter 2, verse 7 and 8, He gives this same thing. Not a new commandment. It's brought
forth in a new light. Our Lord Jesus Christ brought
it forth in a new light about loving one another. Love your enemies. That's a new
light. But that which we had from the
beginning, that we love one another. Whatever we do to or for one
another, let it Let us do it in truth, not pretense, and let us do it in love. You know, there's a real fellowship
among believers. It's a fellowship of love. It's
a bond of love. It's a fellowship of truth. We
believe the same truth. We have the same spirit. We're
of kindred spirits, aren't we? We're kindred spirits. We do
not have kindred personalities. I know that. Some are easier
than others. But we have a kindred spirit,
the Holy Spirit, born of the Spirit. We have the same Father.
Every one of us who believe, we have the same Father. You
know, everybody in here is different. You know, my father is not your
father as far as the flesh is concerned. But my Heavenly Father
and your Heavenly Father, it's the same. We have the same Father. We have true fellowship. Let
me read you another story. This man wrote, he wrote, called
it Christian Fraternity. It's not a meaningless phrase.
It expresses the tenderest and the holiest bond known as between
men and women. That fellowship may have competitors,
but no peers. When Remansat of Marseilles was
about to die, he assembled his large family at his bedside and
said, I have had the utmost delight in my children Your affection
and attachment to me and your tender love has been my delight,
but now I have a disclosure to make that will remove one from
among you. This secret I have kept and would,
were I to live, but as I must die, I feel that injustice to
my children and the distribution of property, I must make it known.
One of you is only an adopted child. The child of the nurse
on whose bosom my own child died. And he said, shall I name that
child? And they said, no, no, no. They cried with one accord,
let us continue to be brothers and sisters. That's fraternal
love. That's fellowship. That's the
love we have in Christ. You know, we all have a different
background. I don't want to know anything
about it. I don't want to know anything about your background.
I mean, I don't care how rotten it is. I don't care how rotten
your background is. I don't want to know it. I want
to know you in Christ. I want to know that. I want our
fellowship to be in Christ. I don't want anything to spoil
it. Oh no, they said, no, no, let
us continue to be brothers and sisters. Don't tell us which
one. I thought that was beautiful.
The best expression of love is conduct. The Lord said, Love
not in word only, but in deed and in truth. How many times
have you said, I've heard people, I love you, I love you, I love
you, and they're fighting all the time. Well, maybe if you
hated me a little more, we'd get along better. And this is love. I know what
the world calls love. This is love. That we walk after
His commandments. This is love to God. We walk
after His commandments. In other words, it's not hard
to submit to someone you love, is it? Christ said this, 1 John 5 verse
3 said this, For this is the love of God, that we keep His
commandments, and His commandments are not grievous. They're not
grievous. Is God's word grievous to you?
It's not. No, no. And this is love that
we walk after His commandments. This is the commandment that
as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. Love,
walk in love. You know, the world makes love
largely a profession. People profess to love one another.
John says it's a behavior. Love is a behavior. You know,
it really doesn't make a lot of difference what you tell your
wife before you marry her. It doesn't really. It's a profound
difference on how you treat her after you marry her. Or you can say, I love you, I
love you, because there's a lot of... I'm gonna leave it alone. There's a lot of that goes on. But it's a profound difference
after you're married, especially when you've been married nearly
50 years. How you treat each other. My mother and father were married
nearly 73 years. And it does make, you know, you
see it, you see it come out as time goes by. And love is something,
if it's real, it grows deeper. It's like, it's like the tree
in the storm. Those roots get deeper and deeper
and deeper. Now, the Lord couldn't love us
any more than he does. We can love him a lot more than
we do. Now truth here, he says, you
love in truth and in love. He speaks of truth and in love. Truth is something that's real.
This is not a theory. It's not a theory. Here's truth, God is. Here's
truth, God created the heavens and the earth. Here's a theory,
everything evolved. Isn't that called Darwin's theory? This book, there's not a theory
in this book. There's no theories in this book. It's truth. This
is the foundation. This is truth. I could go on with that thought.
What's truth and what's not. Truth is real, it's factual.
No lies of the truth. That being so, where should we
find the truth? Well, the Lord said in John 17,
17, Sanctify them through thy word, thy word is truth. Right
here. You want to know the truth? Open
the book. Read the book every day. Read it. Read it. We have no reason to be ignorant.
A more literal translation of that is this, the word that is
thine is truth. Now let me wind this down. John speaks of truth and love,
but why is truth so important? What's so important about this
truth, walking in truth? Well, our Lord said in John 8,
32, and you will know the truth and the truth shall set you free. A few verses down after that
says, if the Son sets you free, you're free indeed. Just a few
verses apart, because they're one and the same. Christ is the
truth, and if the truth sets you free, Christ sets you free.
The Son sets you free. But you shall know the truth,
and the truth will set you free. Truth sets us free from a lie. Look in verse 7. We'll look at
the rest of this chapter next week, but for many deceivers
are entered into the world. That sets us free from all these
deceits. I don't want to be deceived,
do you? I don't want to stand before God deceived. Well, the preacher said, if I
repeated this prayer, if I came forward, if I did this, if I
did that, I'd be saved. No, you're not. Well, God didn't
say that. That's why you should always,
as John said in 1 John 4, try the spirits because the person
standing here, including me this morning, is speaking by a spirit,
either the Holy Spirit or an evil spirit. It's one or the
other. That's why John said try. Now how do you try the spirits?
By the Word of God, by truth. Many deceivers have gone out
into the world, many liars, And then it sets us free. It sets
us free from false faith. Many of you, many of you had
a false faith before God saved you. Most of God's children come
out of false religion. You know that? Most of them make
a profession. And I have no doubt the Lord allows them that when
he does bring them out, they can see the real difference between
the two. But you're saying it'll save you from a false faith,
a false hope? Well, it just says they were
confounded because they had hoped. Superstition? I tell you, people are so superstitious. Black cat? Broken mirror? Wear the same socks if you hit
a home run? You're talking about weak. That's what it saves you. That's what truth saves you from.
I ain't gonna wear no socks or any socks. That ain't gonna make
a difference to that. But superstition, you think it
does. I had an aunt. Boy, she was superstitious. Black
cat go across the front of the room? One of those that throw
salt over their back or something? She was. And I would be too. Listen, I know a church. When
Henry first started going there to preach the gospel, he got
invited. They didn't believe the gospel
when they first went up there. He went and preached there. When
they had communion service, they used the wine, and after that,
what was left in the bottle, they took it out and they buried
it. Buried it. As if that would, yeah, that's
got the same expression. Really? They took it out and
buried it. Superstition! Paul calls them
old wives fables. That's what the truth sets you
free from. It'll set you free, listen, it'll remove our ignorance
of God, of the Lord Jesus Christ and
His work, Of salvation, it'll remove our ignorance of ourselves.
You know, I said it removes our ignorance of God. He said in
Psalms, I'm thinking of Psalm 50, but it's in the Psalms. You thought I was altogether
like yourself. Now you talk about ignorant, that's ignorant. And
when you learn the truth, you learn that there's no more two
opposites in all the universe than me and God. God is light,
I'm what? Darkness. God is holy, I'm sin. God is, you know it says Christ
died for the ungodly? That fits me. I am so unlike
God, you couldn't be any more unlike God. But I think God,
He died for the ungodly. He died for sinners. He didn't
die for anybody else, but He died for sinners. He died for
the ungodly. Henry went to visit a man one time in the hospital.
His wife asked him to go, the man was dying. Henry mentioned,
went in there and talked to him. He said, are you a sinner? He
said, no. And he said, I don't have anything to talk to you
about. I don't. Christ died for sinners. He didn't
die for anybody else. He died for sinners. And last of all, WALKING IN TRUTH AND LOVE IS
WALKING IN CHRIST. IT'S A PERSONAL WALK WITH GOD
IN CHRIST. IT IS A REAL WALK. IT'S YOUR
WAY OF LIFE. IT'S NOT SOMETHING YOU PICK UP
ON SUNDAY AND LAY BACK DOWN WHEN YOU GET HOME AND YOU PICK IT
BACK UP THE NEXT WEEK. CHRIST IS YOUR LIFE. FOR SOME REASON IT STRUCK ME
YESTERDAY WHEN I WAS in Deer Stadium yesterday evening. Leaves were falling. And it's
just beautiful. And I thought, the only reason
I'm here is for you, Lord. It just struck me. I'm here for
you. I'm not here for no other reason. I exist for no other
reason. I'm here for you. I'm yours and
you're mine. And then walking in truth and
love is walking in the light of scriptures. You can't walk in truth and love
and be ignorant of the Word of God. You know those who hunger and
thirst after righteousness are in the scriptures seeking Him
who is our righteousness. And then walking in truth and
love is walking by the power of the Holy Spirit. John 16,
13, Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide
you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself,
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will
show you things to come. And then last of all, walking
in truth and love is walking with God. And he walked with
God. He walked by faith, and he walked
in truth, and he walked in love. And then one day, he was not.
They couldn't find him. They couldn't find him. And he didn't come home. They
were out looking for him. They couldn't find him. Where's
he at? He's missing. No, he's not. He
might be missing to you, but he's not missing to God. He walked
with God and one day he walked right into glory with God. I pray that God will enable us
to walk in love, in truth, and in love. And in a little while,
walk right into glory with Him. And this truth, it says, shall
be with us forever. All right.