to heavenly glories blind. That's what John said, didn't
he? We love him because he first All right, turn back to 2 John,
which Brother Samuel read to us. 2 John, a very short but sweet letter to
a lady in the church. It does not give her name, and
that is by design because this is written to every elect lady. and her children. A word not
just from John, but this is truly the Lord's word. Now, let's look
at it. Verse 1. The elder. John is the one who's
writing. John the Apostle, but John rarely,
well, John never uses his own name. He never used his own name. He was truly, John was truly
more interested in people knowing one name rather than his own. That name which Scripture says
is above every name. That name which Scripture says
is none of the name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved. The Lord Jesus Christ. John was
truly, sincerely interested in people not knowing himself, but
knowing Christ. That's rare, isn't it? It's unheard
of today in this name recognition world, especially among preachers. This is a man you can listen
to, a man who's not in it for a name for himself. So he just
calls himself the elder, the teacher. Unto, he addresses this,
unto the elect lady and her children, the elect lady. Now, the world not only rejects this truth,
this doctrine, the election, but they hate it and despise
it with a passion. Just use the word and you will
quickly get the ire of people, the hatred. But in God's Word,
in the New Testament alone, twenty-seven 27 times. 27 times. If God said something
once, it's to be believed, right? Not to be argued. And I don't
want to argue or try to prove this, but let me just say this. This is written to the elect
lady. True believers love the truth. They don't argue it. They don't try to reason things
from God's Word. If God said it, they believe
it. True believers love the truth and rejoice. They all rejoice
that God elected or chose a people. Why? That is, why do they rejoice
in this truth? Because as we sung the psalm,
"'Twas not that I did choose thee, for, Lord, that could not
be. Hadst thou not chosen me, I would never have chosen thee.'"
You take this young prodigal that you're looking at, or used
to be young, and a prodigal. I wasn't seeking the Lord, wasn't
interested. Had not the Lord sought me in
mercy and found me and chosen me, there's a billion, trillion
more prodigals out there. But he chose me. I wouldn't have had anything
to do with it. And all of God's elect who knows and believes
the truth of election. The elected. The elected, they
all know had God not elected them, they would never have chosen
him. Let me just show you from God's word, just a couple of
places, OK? And Ephesians chapter one in
particular, Ephesians chapter one and this word election or
this truth. is in the vocabulary of. God's
people and throughout the scriptures this is biblical language. Paul
wrote to the Titus. One verse one. He talked about
the faith of God's elect. The faith of God's elect Peter
talked about elect and pressure Paul. wrote of it many times.
The whole ninth chapter of Romans speaks of it. But in, what did
I say? Ephesians 1. Yeah, Ephesians
chapter 1. I heard an old preacher one time,
someone wanted to argue with him about this, and he said to
them, well, let's look and see what God's Word says. And all
that matters is what God says. All right? Now, let's answer
these very simple questions from God's Word. All right. Not what
we think or what so and so says or what our denomination says.
What does God say? Let's ask three very simple questions
about this subject. All right. Election, which means
someone choosing. Did you choose God or you claim
to be a believer? Most everyone in here does. Did
you choose God or did he choose you? And don't answer that from
your own heart or mind, answer from God's Word. What does God's
Word say? Look at Ephesians 1 verse 4. It says, According as he hath
chosen us. Who did the choosing? Our Lord
reminded his disciples of this often, did he not? At least on
two occasions, he said, You did not choose me. I chose you. Remember that? He asked them
one time, who do men say that I am? And they said, some say
you're John the Baptist risen from the dead, some say you're
Elijah, some say this. He said, who do you say that
I am? Peter said, you're the Christ, the son of the living
God. He said, flesh and blood didn't
reveal that to you, but my Father which is in heaven. He said,
I've chosen you. I chose you. All right, who chose
who? According to God's word. according
as he hath chosen us. All right? When did he make this
choice of his people? When did he make this choice
of a certain person? When did he do it? After they
believed? No, sir. According to the Word. Look at
it. Verse 4. According as he hath chosen us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. What could be plainer? When did
God make this choice? Before the foundation of the
world. All right. Why? Why? Did he choose certain ones because
they're better than others? Because he could use them more
greatly because they because he foresaw that they would believe
others would not believe. He did it. Verse five. He says,
having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
not man's will. John said this in another place,
John 1 13, not of him that it's not of the will of the flesh,
not of the will of man, but of God. And over and over, Paul
says that. All right let's go back to second
job now he's writing to the elect lady and her children. Evidently
this woman had some children who were believers. And that
makes them elect to. See this faith Ephesians
2 says faith is the gift of God it's not of yourself. Even faith
is not an act of man's will not at all. By grace you say through
faith and that's not of your sale it's the gift of God that's
my sovereign grace and choice. God chose who he would give this
gift of faith to. Aren't you glad. Well he did
and evidently this woman had some children who believe the
truth also what truth well what we've been saying thus far. And
so this is written, there are several ladies in here, I believe
that are elect, and I believe you have some children that are.
This ought to interest you. Nancy, this is written to you,
to the elect lady and her children. All right. And he says here in
verse one, whom I love in the truth. John loved this lady and
her children, and I do too. I do, too, whom I love in the
truth. Notice his emphasis on the truth,
because it's the truth that he's concerned about, and it's the
truth which hath brought us together. In the truth, and not I only,
read on, verse one, whom I love in the truth, and not I only,
but also all they that have known the truth. All that have known
the truth, all true believers, love those who love the truth.
And this could have been written from one of our brethren, couldn't
it? Another preacher or pastor from somewhere else that you
know and knows you well, couldn't it? Or that Tom Harding could
have written this to Jeanette Berry back then. An elect lady
and her children. Right there he is. From the elder,
Elder Harding, who loved Hugh and He knows the truth. All right. And all those that have known
the truth, now the truth. We're going to try to answer
this, what is the truth? Scripture says, talks about the word of
truth, the word of truth. All of God's word is the truth,
right? But now, specifically, specifically,
Peter said, this is the word which by the gospel is preached
unto you, the true gospel, not another. Paul talked about another. I was just reading yesterday
where Paul wrote and talked about some who believe another Jesus,
another gospel and even another spirit. Much of that's that, but there
is one truth There's one truth, one true gospel. And John writes,
it's because of this gospel that we know each other, because God
has chosen the people and brought them together. Well, look at
it, 2 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. All right. I was going
to quote it for you, but I want you to look at it with your own
eyes. We need to be like the noble Bereans who It says, search
the Scriptures to see if these things were so. Don't take my
word for it. This is not John Calvin's doctrine. This is John, the the apostles
doctrine. This is Paul, the apostle, this
more specifically of the Lord's doctrine, doctrine of Christ
himself. He's the one who spoke of doing
the choosing. Second Thessalonians two. Verse
13, you know this verse well. He says, we are bound to give
thanks always to God for you. True preachers don't get up and
thank people for coming. That's blasphemy. True preachers don't get up and
thank people for showing up. It's a privilege. It's an honor.
It's everyone's duty to worship God, to give thanks to God. The
true preacher and the true people of God always were bound to give
thanks always to God. What for? Read on. Verse 13,
For you, brethren, beloved, and the word beloved means for love
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation. You see that through sanctification
of the spirit? What does that mean? The word
always means set apart. That's what sanctification means.
Set apart. Who did the setting apart? We set ourselves apart?
No, sir. Sanctification of the spirit. He set apart a people to do what? Verse 13. Belief of the truth. Belief of the truth. All right,
go back to the text now. So. This is for all of you ladies
and men, it's not just for ladies, it's for men who are the elect,
who have elect children, who love the truth, who are loved
by your pastor and others who love the truth. All right. Verse
two, he said, now this is for the truth sake. For the truth
sake, which dwelleth in us and shall be with us forever. For the truth sake. Do you see
the emphasis that he places on the truth throughout here? Verse
four, he says, I rejoice that your children walk in the truth.
Look at the third epistle of John. Look right down or across
the page at third John. He says in verse three, I rejoice
greatly when the brethren came, testified of the truth that is
in me, even as I walkest in truth, I have no greater joy than to
hear that thy children walk in truth. Sounds pretty important,
doesn't it? It is. That's what we're saved
by, truth, and we'll see this in a moment. All right, this
is a word, this is a term, truth. which is rarely used today, rarely
used from the pulpit today. Men rarely use it, the truth,
because nobody, everyone's afraid of being dogmatic. No one is
dogmatic. Especially in this day and age,
all this talk about Islam and so forth, everybody getting together. All other religions are a lie.
But the doctrine of Christ, we're going to see that in a moment
if I get to it. There's one truth. Ephesians
4 says there's one Lord, one faith. One faith. Not many faiths. Not everybody
believes in the same God. We just have different roads
to get to. No, sir. One way. Our Lord said, I'm the
way, I'm the truth, I'm the life. He said, No man cometh unto the
Father but by me. Not Mohammed, not Krishna, not
Buddha, not Confucius, not Allah. Me, Christ said. Nobody gets
to the Father. Nobody is heard by the Father.
No one can even pray to the Father except through me. That's what
Christ said. To not believe that is to call
him a liar. But he's the truth. He is the
truth. I'm getting ahead of myself. This is a term, like I said,
it's rarely used today because there's no dogma dogmatism to
that. But the truth, our Lord said,
is straight and narrow. And the church, now the church,
the true church, true believers. When I speak of the church, I'm
talking about people, true believer, true worshiper and true preachers
and hearers and worshipers are all concerned Mainly with one
thing. The truth. Especially in this
day, when anything goes. But the true believer is concerned
with the truth. That's what John said, for the
truth's sake. Why else would he keep saying this? Huh? The
truth. The truth is that there's one
God. There's one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.
The true gospel, there is no other, but one. Paul went as
far as to say it's my gospel. The truth, God's word is the
truth. All other so-called books that
call themselves God's word are a lie. The truth is the truth of who
God is. And he's plainly revealed from
this word. It's not like men think he is or how men imagine
him to be or want him to be. It's as he declares himself from
this book. God clearly, plainly describes
himself in this book. The truth of who God really is.
And I'll give you a clue. He's not trying to be God. He is God. And all that that
means. Sovereign what man is the truth
is what man is. This book very plain declares
what man is not some good high and noble and lofty heaven deserving
creature who just made a few mistakes and the goods in him
just got to pull it out of him. No sir. This book reveals very plainly
the truth about man that he's God calls man throughout this
book worm A grasshopper, banditry. He says there's none good, no
not one. He calls all men liars and on and on and on. And if
you know the truth about yourself, you know that's the truth. The truth of how man is saved.
This book from cover to cover, very plainly, clearly declares
the truth of how man is saved. How? A cooperative effort between
God and man. No, sir. Salvation is of the
Lord. One hundred percent from start
to finish, from the electing to the calling, to the giving
of faith, to the protection, to the final glorification. Well,
that's the truth. There's only one truth. It's
not unknown or unknowable. But he says here in our text,
look at it. He says the truth dwelleth in us. It dwelleth in
the true people of God. It's in them. Why? How's the truth there? Did they
figure it out? Did they study harder than other
people? No. John 6, 45, our Lord says,
They shall all be taught of God. Who? Who's the all? He's quoting
Isaiah, which said, All thy children shall be taught of the Lord.
all God's children. Now, the whole world is not God's
children. Romans 8 clearly tells us that.
But the children of the promise are counted as the children of
God. Our Lord said to some, you're
of your father, the devil. He said of some, you're not my
sheep. As I said unto you, my sheep hear my voice. He's clearly
called some goats and some sheep. All of the sheep, all of God's
children are taught of the Father. All of them. They're taught of
the Father. Taught the truth. And it dwells
in them. That's how the truth is in them.
The Father put it there. He instructed them. He instilled
the truth in them. And it says it shall be with
us forever. They're not going to leave the truth. And the truth's
not going to leave them either. It's not going to forsake them.
There's going to be new things coming and going all the time.
There always has been, there always will be. You think things are wild and
crazy in religion now? We haven't seen anything yet.
We think we have. Once some wild fella comes along
and he's absolutely Absurdly ridiculous, you know,
a money man, a con artist from the word go, and then he no sooner
leaves than somebody worse than he comes along. That's what the
scripture says. Evil men and seducers shall wax
worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But the truth will be with us
forever. As long as there are some elect
still on this earth, they're going to hear the truth. God
has not left himself without a witness, as Scripture says. And he has his true witnesses
of the truth and his elect, his people, his sheep are going to
hear the truth. Mark it down. Truth shall be
with us forever. All right, now, what is the essence
of the truth? What is the essence of the truth? Can you give me one word? I've
already told you. Quoted John 14. Christ, he said, I am the truth. Now, I've got to hurry. I wanted to get through all these
verses. I told you, didn't I, John? I told you I'd get hung
up right here. Christ said, I am the truth.
In other words, everything that is the truth is found in Christ.
The truth of who God is. truth of what man is, the truth
of how God saves man. Everything is found in Christ.
That's what we, that's what John calls the doctrine of Christ
in a moment. In Christ, I am the truth, the truth of who God
is, what God says, what God does, how God is, how God saves, it's
all found in Christ. You want to know who God is?
You can't know God except knowing Jesus Christ. Isn't that what
Christ said? He said, No man knoweth the Father, save the
Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal it. It's a revelation
that He gives to His own. And Christ, now here it says,
the truth dwelleth in us and shall be with us forever. Christ
dwells in His people and will be with them forever. Alright,
verse 3. I've got to go on. Grace be with
you if you love the truth. If you know the truth, grace
is with you. You've got it by grace. Grace
is with you and mercy. See the word mercy? If this world
just knew a little something about the word mercy, they'd
understand something about the truth. We need mercy. Scripture declares
that God is holy and righteous and loving. Righteousness and
hate is iniquity. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness
and hateth iniquity. God hateth all workers of iniquity.
That's what the Scriptures say. Well, then who does he love?
The righteous Lord loveth the righteous. We read that tonight,
Brother Roy read that in Psalm, what Psalm do you read? 146. 146. The righteous Lord loveth the
righteous. Well, who's righteous? Scripture says it's not righteous.
No, not one. Are you confused, Preacher? No,
not at all. Scripture says we're righteous
in Christ. He has made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification and redemption. Mercy is God not giving us what
we deserve. Mercy is sparing somebody guilty. All right. Why does he do that?
Why does God spare anyone? Because Romans 8 says he spared
not his own son. Christ received absolute justice. Punishment for my sin. I got
mercy. He spared me. He didn't spare
his own son. He paid for me. I got mercy. Mercy means you don't deserve.
You don't deserve it. And if this world, like I said,
if this world knew just one, just a little bit about the word
mercy, they'd understand something of the truth. Salvation is by
God's mercy. It's not something we earn, something
we deserve, something that man is has coming to him, has a right,
has a every man has a right to be. No, sir. salvation by mercy. And we don't and peace, grace,
mercy and peace. Now, this is in every epistle,
people. Grace be with you, mercy and
peace from God, the father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, son
of the father in truth. And love. Peace. The word peace
is not just some psychological term for, you know, we need this
good feeling in our minds and our bodies. And, you know, we
just want to have peace, man. Oh, peace. This is talking about
peace between a holy and righteous and just God who's angry with
sinful men. Men, women who are deserving
of the wrath and the judgment of God. How can this holy and
righteous God who loves only righteousness, who hates iniquity,
who hates sin, be at peace with those that ought to receive his
wrath? The truth is Christ. It says
he made peace for us through the blood of his crop. Isaiah
53 says the chastisement of our peace. That means the whipping. God gave His Son the weapon that
I deserve. The chastisement of our peace
was laid on Him by His strikes. Brutal beating at the hands of
God's law. It's what I deserve from an angry
God. But no, not God. There's peace
between me and God. Why? I didn't make it. I didn't
make this peace. You hear people say that all
the time. When a man's lying on his deathbed, he made his
peace with God. You can't do that. Only Christ makes peace with
God for his people. And he did that by his stripes,
by his blood. Grace, mercy, and peace. See
that? Who is from? From God the Father and from
the Lord Jesus Christ. God's the one who must declare,
I'm at peace with you, Henry Sword. I'm not angry with you. I love you. I chose you. God's
the one that declares that. You don't do that. You don't
say, I chose you, God, or I'm going to let you be God. I'm
going to let you have peace, mercy on me. I'm going to let
you, I'm going to let... If you let him do anything, he's
not God, right? He does as he will with whom
he will. He chooses whom he will, and if he chose you, then he
chose you in Christ, and he whipped his son on your behalf. And now
he says, Henry, I'm not angry with you anymore, not because
you deserve it, but because my wrath was poured out on my son
for your sake, and I'm at peace with you. Now, that's the truth. That's
true. Grace, grace, mercy and peace.
Verse four. He said, I rejoice greatly that
I found of thy children walking in the truth. Our smallest children
in here know these truths, know the truth. Again, let me remind
you to go down in these classrooms. If you haven't already, remember
me telling you to do that. Go down in those classrooms and
just look around. Wall-to-wall truth. What do we
do for our children? People ask that all the time.
What do you do for your children? What kind of youth programs do
you have? What they mean by that is, do you take them to Disneyland?
Do you have a ball team? No, we don't take them to Disneyland,
but we do take them through God's Word, verse by verse. The time is too short. The Scripture
says, buy the what? The truth and sell it not. The time is too short for fun
and games and entertainment. You can find that at Disney World. This is too serious. When the
Scripture talks about today is the day of salvation, I mean
Wednesday night, December, what is it? 18. Today is a day of salvation.
Our children in here right now, they need to hear the truth.
Our Lord said the truth will set you free. This is too serious
to do anything else. It's life and death. Every time,
it's life and death matter. Every time we meet, time is too
short for me to play games with your children. for me to entertain.
It's not song and dance, it's worship. What are we doing for our children?
We're teaching the truth to them. God's Word. Paul thanked God
that Timothy, in his letter to Timothy, he thanked God that
his mother and his grandmother taught him from a child what?
The Scriptures, he said, which are able to make thee wise unto
salvation. Parents, your children's only
hope is in the truth, especially in this day. Their only salvation,
both eternal and temporal in this world, is found in the truth.
There's two worlds out there. Listen to me. There's two worlds
out there. There's a world of iniquity and
there's a world of religion. I don't know which is worse. Our children need saved from
both of them. Our children need saved from
the drug pusher on the corner to the Jesus pusher in the pulpit. And the truth alone will set
them free from a world full of false prophets and full of lies. What are we doing for our children?
The only thing that should be and can be done, teaching them
the truth, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little,
there a little. No, we're not taking them to Disneyland, but
we're taking them up Mount Sinai. We're taking them up Mount Pisgah.
We're taking them up Mount Moriah. We're taking them up Mount Ararat. We're taking them up especially
Mount Calvary. The truth alone will set us free. All right, now here's an exhortation.
Verse five, he says, Now I beseech thee, lady. Hey, lady, you listening? Yeah, you, lady. I beseech thee. Not as though I wrote a new commandment.
This is no new commandment, he says, but that which we had from
the beginning, that we love one another. John speaks of this
often, too, doesn't it? Why? Because those who love the truth
are going to be hated by the world. Didn't our Lord say this? Let's look at it. John, John,
chapter 15. Turn over there. John 15. And
this all goes together. John, chapter 15. And notice this, the world, John said in his first
epistle, he said, if you were of the world, the world would
love its own. They are of the world, and therefore
speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. He says,
we're of God, and he that is of God heareth us. Our Lord is
the one who said this in verse 17. These things I command you
that you love one another. You believers, love one another.
And He also says, love your enemies. Doesn't He? Yes, He does. Pray
for them that despitefully use you. And blessed are you if men
persecute you. Well, but He says, if the world
hate you, verse 18, if the world hate you, You know that it hated
me before it hated you. People, the religious world hated Jesus Christ. They're the
ones that killed him. What makes us think that all
these people that claim to love Jesus today really do, huh? They
love a Jesus of their making, but not the Jesus Christ of Scripture. The one who declared what I'm
declaring right now. They hate this, they hate the
true Christ of Scripture and hate all those who proclaim it
in him. Look at it, verse 19. If you
were of the world, if you were of the world, the world would
love his own, but because you're not of the world, but what? I
have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hated you. Verse 21, "...all these things
will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know
not him that sent thee." Well, so he says, love one another.
There aren't many of you out there. You've got mostly enemies. You need to love one another.
Love the brethren. Especially do good unto old men,
he said. But especially those that are of the household of
faith. Because the world hates the truth and those who believe
it. Now, he says, I beseech you, love one another. Surely now,
lady, surely you don't need to be told
to love your sister there, do you? Surely you don't need to be told
to think less of yourself, low thoughts of yourself, to quit
being selfish and self-centered and self-seeking and seeking
your own rather than the things... Surely you don't need to be told
that. He says, I beseech thee, I implore you, love one another. What does that mean? Don't love yourself. Don't love
yourself. Deny yourself. Our Lord taught
that. Deny yourself. Think low thoughts of yourself
and high thoughts of others. Preferring others. Seeking the
good of others. Seeking the happiness of others.
Seeking the gifts for others. Not yourself. Love one another. Surely we don't need to be reminded.
Sure, we do. Starting with me. So he said,
I beseeched him. All right. Look at the next thing
he says now. This is love that we walk after
his commandments. Verse six. This is love that
we walk after his commandment, and our Lord said that and I
had about 15 verses I wanted you to look at. We don't have
time. But our Lord He said, He that hath my commandments,
and keepeth them, he that is that loveth me. What all did our Lord say? Well,
He said, Give. Give. Give. He said, Turn not to cheat.
He said, Do good unto others. He said, if somebody asks you
for something, give him something else too. He said, Len, not expecting
it back in return. He said many things, didn't he,
like that. But now he said all of it's fulfilled in one word.
All of this is fulfilled in one word, love. You give to those
you love, don't you? Are you giving gifts to your
family right now because you have to? Don't be silly. Then why are you giving them
why are you why did you go two thousand dollars in debt. We said we're going to cut down
this this season we all agree we'll cut way back can't afford
it anymore. Did we. Well you see what I got you. Couldn't afford it. If you love somebody, you give.
Right? If you love somebody, you give. Tithing is not the rule. Give. The New Testament rule
is not tithing. That's law. That's duty. What
am I supposed to give? Giving is the rule out of love.
What can I give? How much can I give? Give. It's all fulfilled in this one
word, love. You'll turn the other cheek. Somebody you love hits
you. They'll say, well, you really
didn't mean that. Somebody abuses you, and they do. If you really
love them, you'll take it. You'll give, you'll lend, not
expecting anything in return. And on and on it goes, love,
love. So he spoke of the truth and
he spoke of true love. Back to our text, he said many
deceivers, verse 7, are entered into the world. Many deceivers,
called them antichrists. Now, let me just say one more
word about this. You know how religion is a big
money-making deal. You know how much money is in
religion. All the money in the world, it seems, is in religion
and banking. look at their buildings. What are the most elaborate edifices
in the land? Banks and so-called church houses. If so-called religion really
loved men like they talk, they'd build a block building and feed the poor and eradicate
hunger. Right? It's all talk. That's
what it is. It's all talk. Love, love, love. All of religion could get together
and eradicate hunger and poverty right now. We sure could. So he said they're deceivers.
Lots of them. Deceivers. They're entered into the world.
Who? Verse 7. Confess not that Jesus
Christ has come into play. This is a deceiver and an anti-Christ.
I wish I had time to deal with it. This is saying more than just
there's a man named Jesus who came to this earth. It was a
man named Jesus who walked on this earth. We studied that in
1 John 4, didn't we? That the true prophet declares
that Jesus Christ is coming to flesh. That means he was somewhere
before he got here. That means he was something or
someone before he came here. When you come somewhere, you
were somewhere before you got there. I came from in there into
here. That means I was before I got
here. And he was God before he became a man. God was manifest
in the flesh. And this is important due to
the next verse we're going to look at. All right, he came in
the flesh. Why did he come? Well, he said many times throughout
John, the Father sent me. I am come. I am come. I am come. The Father sent me." When you
come somewhere, that means you went somewhere on purpose to
do something. But you had a particular purpose
in mind when you got there. So it means much more than you
just believe Jesus lived. It means He was before He got
here. He came with a purpose. Well,
did he get it when he came? Did he get it done? Well, then
he left for it to go. Is he coming again? What's he
going to do then? So you see, it means much more
than just, I believe Jesus lived here. Read on. Verse 8, he says, Look
to yourself, that we lose not those things which we have wrought.
Now, he's speaking as a preacher here. He says, Watch out for
yourselves. Watch out. He's talking to a lady. Remember?
Lady? Hey, elect lady. Hey, elect lady. Look at me.
Yeah, you. You got a child that knows the
truth, don't you? It's just talking to you, Debra.
Watch out for yourself. Watch out for your daughter.
Watch out. Don't lose what you've heard. Don't let anybody or anything
deceive you or, in subtlety, trick you. Now, why isn't this
significant? He's talking to a lady. What did we just hear Sunday
morning about the fall of man in Genesis chapter 3? Paul talks
about it. He says, the woman being deceived.
So he writes this to a letter. Watch out now. Watch out for
you and your children. Don't listen to anybody or anything
that'll take this truth from you. Don't lose what you've heard. Don't lose it. We don't. And
we need that we receive a full reward. Now, Elect Lady, you know, you
know, every one of you who know the truth, you know that there's
not rewards in heaven. The word rewards, plural, is
never used in the Word of God in reference to heaven. There
are no rewards in heaven. There's a reward, singular. What is it? Jesus is going to
give me a little crown. I'm going to run around having
my little crown on. Christ is our exceeding great
reward, the Scripture says. Doesn't it? He says, I am your
reward. You get me. You get to be with
me. That's the reward. A full reward. All believers
get the same thing. Read on. Verse nine. Whosoever
transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath
not God. I need another hour to deal with
that. The doctrine of Christ. Read
on. Got to go. Verse nine. He that
abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son. I already told you that if you know Christ, you know
the Father. What the word Christ mean, what
it means when Christ came, what he did when he got here, what
does Christ mean? It means a substitute. It means
a mediator. It means a redeemer. It means
the intercessor. It means salvation. He's it. He's all. He's all in all. Christ is all. Not the preacher
in you, not the soul winner in you, not your faith in you. Christ is all. Christ is all
your salvation. You're saved by a person, not
a work you do, not praying through, not mama praying you through,
not you getting on your hands. Christ saves his people. I am
come to save, he said. Call his name Jesus, he shall
save his people from their sin. The doctrine of Christ means
the teaching that Christ is salvation, all of it. Well, whoever abides not in this doctrine,
he hath not Christ, hath not God. And if there come any unto
you, verse 10, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not
into your house, and don't even neither bid him Godspeed. You get them all the time coming
to your door, don't you? And they subtly and deceitfully
say things like this, we'd like to share a message with you about
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. When they do not believe that
salvation is in Christ, they believe it's in the church, the
Mormon church. They don't believe salvation
is in Jesus Christ alone. They believe it's, they worship
Jehovah. They don't worship Jesus Christ. They don't believe Jesus
Christ is God. They don't believe that. You get them coming to your door
all the time. God says He's committed all things
into the Son's hand, doesn't He? This is the doctrine of Christ. All judgment is committed unto
Me, Christ said. All authority is given unto Me
in heaven and earth, Christ said. This is the doctrine of Christ,
that Christ is all. And if any come to your door,
and hath not this doctrine, who is not attributing all of salvation
to Jesus Christ and Him alone, and not pointing you to Christ
and Christ alone, not pointing you to the church, or this and
that denomination, but pointing you to Christ, don't let Him
in your house and don't tell Him goodbye." That's what John
said. Goodbye, we got the term. Goodbye
means God be with you. Don't bid him goodbye. Don't
say have a good day. You don't want him to. You don't
want him to come to sea and land and establish another cross of
life. You don't want him to have a good day. You want him to have
a bad day. You want him to have every door shut in his face.
He hath not the doctrine of Christ. Is this too hard? This is not
me talking. This is John. This is God's Word. Don't let him in. And don't argue
with them, people. You're casting your pearls before
swine. Honestly. Read on. He that biddeth him Godspeed,
verse 11, is a partaker of his evil deeds. Like I said, you
don't want him to have a good day. You do want the Lord to
open his eyes. He's in darkness yet. Say what
you will, but if he won't receive it, leave him alone. That's what our Lord said. Verse
12, I have many things to write unto you that I would not write
with paper and ink. I trust to come unto you and
speak face to face that our joy may be full. And obviously, I
have many things I want to say to you tonight. I've been through
long already. But maybe, Lord willing, we'll
come back Sunday and we'll continue this very same thing. What? A message of God's mercy and
grace and salvation to the elect about the truth, which is Jesus
Christ. Now, the children, look how he
ends it. That's how he starts and ends it. The children of
thy elect sister. Far from despising the doctrine,
John can't quit mentioning it. Huh? That's the way God's people
are. Far from despising the truth
and arguing against it, they can't quit talking about it. Oh, by the way, your sister and
her elect children have said hello to you, elect lady. Amen. What does amen mean? Amen means that's the way it
is. Amen means so be it. Amen is a response which means,
and I like it. Amen means God said it and that
settles it. Whether the world believes it
or not, that's what God said. So, elect lady, where are you? You're out there. I love you in the truth and for
the truth's sake. You know, a true preacher, He can expect, and a believer
can expect to be hated. But that's alright, because there's
one thing, as we said, there's one thing that we're interested
in. The truth. God's glory. Whether anybody
likes us or not, whether the world receives us or not, whether
we receive great fame or not, We really don't want that. But
God must be glorified. His word must be heard. His word must be declared in
truth, whether anybody likes it or not. Well, I know somebody
will like it. I know that we have God sent
me one. All right. Do you like this thing? That's
a good sign if you do. All right, stand with me. Our Father, we thank You for
Your Word. Without it, we'd be in darkness.
But this is a lamp under our feet, a light under our path.
Your Word, the truth, sets men free. Your Word, which You said
You've written on the hearts of Your people, that new covenant
of grace, how we thank You for Your Word. We hold it dear. We
esteem it. more than all the words of men.
Yea, we say with David, let God be true, and every man a liar.
God's word must be heard and believed. We believe by your
grace, by your mercy. Help others to believe by your
grace when you reveal the truth to others. Get glory to yourself
in all things. And it's in Christ's name we
are met here tonight. Amen.