I appreciate those hymns. It is more than just taking up
time. Second John, this is a small book, but oh, what a great message is in it.
A small portion of God's word, but full, choice words, words
in season. Listen to some of the words in
this epistle. Elect, truth, love, grace, mercy,
peace, doctrine of Christ. Thirteen verses, and the whole
counsel of God is in it. All those wonderful words. I
really wanted to preach the whole Council, just to preach 2 John.
You'll find three or four things here in 2 John. You'll find,
first of all, a greeting. If you're taking notes, this
is the outline. We're going to look at a greeting,
then we'll find an encouragement, then we'll find an exhortation,
and then lastly we'll find a warning or, next to last, a warning and
a farewell. All right, let's look at the
greeting here. He just opens it up. It's just a letter. Put
it in. I say, just. This is the Spirit of God that
caused this man to write this glorious letter to the people
of God. But he writes this letter and says, The Elder, unto the
elect lady, or as I would address a letter to you, dear so-and-so. The Elder. If the translator hadn't put
up there John, we might not know who this was, would we? That's what John meant to happen. If he saw Revelation 1, if he
saw up there where it says St. John the Divine, he would be
furious, wouldn't he? John wrote the gospel of John. And he never mentions his own
name. He wrote these epistles. He never mentions his name. He
wrote the Revelation, or he translated it, or God wrote it, but he dictated
it. He never mentions his name. I
John, he mentioned it one time. John was a great man because
he was a humble man. He was a true disciple of Christ.
Because, and I know this because, he wanted the name of Christ
to be extolled and honored, and his own name to be forgotten.
That's a good definition of a real preacher of the gospel of the
job. A man who wants Christ's name to be mentioned often, and
he is never. And you can mark it down, that
person who allows his name to be put in a place of prominence,
that person has come in his own name. John just says the elder, the
elder, unto the elect lady. The elect lady, who's this? Well,
it doesn't give her name either, but that's not important either. The important thing is she's
elect. The elect lady, see, he could
be writing to you. You an elect lady? Hey, lady.
Hey, lady, there on the second row. Are you an elect? Huh? Can you know? Can a person
know they're an elect? John says so. Look back at 1
Thessalonians 1. John says it, though, doesn't
he, all the way through. And we know. that we have passed from death
unto life, and thereby we may know that we are the children
of God." We know, we know, we know, we know. Paul in 1 Thessalonians,
find it there, I want you to see there. 1 Thessalonians 1,
Paul says in verse 4, you got it? 1 Thessalonians 4, everybody
got it? He says, "...knowing, brethren,
beloved, your election of God." Paul is saying the same thing
as John, I know you're elect. How? How may one know? Verse
5, our gospel came. What gospel? The gospel that
God loves everybody and Jesus died for everybody and God wants
to do that. No, no, John says, Paul says, our gospel. Paul says,
he says, it's another gospel, it's not the gospel. He says,
our gospel. the gospel that we preach. If
any man preach any other, let him be accursed. If anybody believe
any other, they're going to be accursed. Our gospel. Romans
1. I didn't mean to stop here too
long, but you sure could, couldn't you? Romans 1, the gospel of
God, the gospel according to his glory, the gospel concerning
his Son. Just on and on, a gospel According
to the scriptures, the gospel that says God is God and man
is dead and Christ is the only hope. Our gospel. Our gospel came to you. There's
a lot of preaching going on, calling it gospel. It ain't.
Yeah, it ain't the gospel. And they ain't elect to believe
it and preach it. But where the gospel is, That's
where God is, and that's where God's sheep are, that's where
the elect are, those that are believing our gospel. Right? Our gospel came to you. John,
you once heard what you thought was the gospel, didn't you? Was
it the gospel? Any elect down there? Well, what are you doing
up here? Because this is where the gospel
came. That's where the elect go. See, wherever the gospel
is, that's where the elect are. The gospel is another word for
the voice of God, isn't it? God speaking of himself, his
Son, and his sheep hear his voice. Our gospel came to you, verse
5, not in word only, not just head knowledge, but in power.
Power. Life-changing. soul-saving, sin-forgiving,
yay, sin-forgiving, sin-putting-away, blood-washing power. Is there
power in the blood or not? Joe, you pray about it all the
time, thank you for the blood. Well, if Jesus shed his blood
for everybody, they might go to hell. There ain't no power
in the blood. Take that song up. Well, is there or is there
not? Day's power in the blood. Soul-saving,
sin-forgiving power in the blood. Not in your faith, in the blood
of the Lamb. Not any old Lamb, God's Lamb
that taketh away the sin of the world. Power in the blood. Oh, we could dwell here, couldn't
we? So you are. This is a good place to dwell.
Gospel came in power. And in the Holy Ghost, what's
the Holy Ghost, what does he do? Wherever God's people are,
wherever the elect is, that's where the Holy Ghost is. What's
the Holy Ghost doing to the elect? Oh, he's making them wallow on
the ground and laugh. Then the Holy Ghost is down at
Boling's hot dog stand on Saturday night, or Paul's on Friday night. And that's where the Holy Ghost
ends, because there's people wallowing on the ground laughing. Doesn't
that make that absurd? That's another spirit, people.
All that stuff going on in the name of the Holy Spirit is making
people act like animals and talk like fools, talk like babies. He doesn't make us talk like
babies. He takes babies and makes them talk like men. He suits us like that fellow
that Christ came and healed of the demons in him. He was acting
like one of these charismatic fools. He got the spirit all
right. He had the spirit. If he'd have
been in one of today's meetings, they'd have thought, this man's
anointed. Let him preach. He's flat anointed. Listen to
him. You know what Christ did to him
when the Spirit of God and Christ descended upon that man? You
know what he did to him? Sat him down, put his clothes on
him, sat him down, shut his mouth, and made him sit and listen to
Christ preach. It's just the opposite of what's
going on today. The Holy Spirit, our Lord, saying, that's all
that matters, what Christ said about the Spirit, isn't it? The Spirit of Truth. He'll guide
you into all truth. I don't hear any preaching of truth
going on today. You're hearing a lot of pep rallies,
religious pep rallies. Ain't you got the power? Come
on now, you need it? Get up and rub, rub, rub, rub,
rub, like a football game. Ain't no truth in it. The Holy
Spirit guides you into all truth. And he'll not speak of himself.
All you're hearing and preaching today is the Holy Spirit this
and the Holy Spirit that, with an occasional mention of Jesus.
Am I telling the truth? Yeah. He'll guide you into all
truth. He won't speak of himself. He'll
take the things of Christ and show them to you. He'll bring
to remembrance all things that I said. What did Christ say about
tongues? The things of Christ, what he
said, what did Christ say? The kingdom of heaven is not
in meek and dreary, but in righteousness. The kingdom of God is among you. Except your righteousness exceeds
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you won't get
in. Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. I am come that
they might have life. You believe not that I am healed,
thou and your sin, and on and on and on. Christ. The elect
lay, who's the elect? The gospel comes, the gospel,
our gospel. In power, and the Holy Ghost,
the Holy Ghost takes the things of Christ. He reveals Christ
to you. He reveals Christ to you. Holy
Spirit-filled people are people who are enamored with Jesus Christ. That's who is filled with the
Spirit. People who are flat in love with and worshiping Jesus
Christ. People who know that, like the article said, that there
ain't nothing else. There ain't another something
you need. Christ is all. Right? The Holy Spirit takes God's people
and reveals to them, you don't need anything else but Christ. All this other spirit's saying,
you need something else. What? You ain't got it? No, I
ain't got it. What is it? I don't know, but you need it.
You got it? I got it. What is it? I don't
know. Here it comes. You got it? Well, if it is Christ,
yes. And he's You got the anointing? Try it, son. Talk to one of these
idiots, spirit-filled idiots, today. Say, I ask you, are you
anointed? Well, if you mean as the Lord
open my understanding to reveal Christ as my wisdom, my righteousness,
my sanctification, my redemption, all my hope of salvation before
a holy God, that I am only accepted in the beloved, and in him are
hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead in the body, that he's my mediator,
my advocate, my righteousness, my substitute, my only hope before
God. Am I worshiping Christ and Christ
alone, rejoicing in him and him only? Has the Holy Spirit taken
the things of Christ, his person, his work, and revealed them unto
me? Yeah, I got it. And I'm talking in a tongue,
and this old tongue only wants to talk about Christ. That's all it wants to talk about.
Yeah, I got it. Still leave you here. It's And the elect lady. This lady
believed Christ. She knew Christ. She was rejoicing
in Christ. She worshiped God. She was rejoicing
in Christ Jesus, but no confidence in the elect. She was elect.
Is that you, lady? Hey, lady, on the third row. Elect. Now, all the elect believe the
same way. They believe the same one. Same
way, same one. Yes, they do. Because they've
all been taught of God. They've all been taught of God.
That's what Christ said. Now, people aren't elect, and
I've got to say this, for the sake of some new people or young
believers, people aren't elect because they believe. That's preacher's definition
of election. God looked down through time
to see who would believe on him, so he elected them. But that
would be God getting credit for something he didn't do, wouldn't
it? If their faith saves them, then
what difference does it make if God elects them? You see that ridiculous reasoning
there? People believe because God elected them. The elect believe because
God elected them, chose them from the beginning through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. By grace, you say, through
faith. And that's not of yourself, it's
the gift of God. God graciously elected you and said, in time,
that old boy is going to repent. That old boy or that young person
is going to believe Christ, going to believe. Why? Because God elected him. That's
why. You see, he gets all the glory,
doesn't he? That means salvation is all his
work, doesn't it? All right, so John says, under
the elect lady. You say, there's no way you're
going to get through this. I'm going to try. and the elect lady, a woman, a weaker vessel. People, when it comes to discipleship,
we're all women. The word of God calls God's people
the bride, doesn't it? His wife, the bride. When it
comes to discipleship, we're all the weaker vessel, because
Christ is our husband. He's our strong provider. We
don't provide anything, he provides it all. And this is written—ladies, rejoice—this
is written to a woman for all time and eternity to read about. A woman. There's no mention of
her husband. She may have been a widow. She may have been alone,
except for her children. A lonely woman, and there are
lonely women who have children around, but this was written
to this woman without any mention of her husband and no name given
to her. Far from being unimportant. You say, I'm a nothing. Virgie
used to say that all the time. She said, I ain't nothing. How's
that, Virgie? You do something for me just
every time I see you sitting there. Every time I come in here
and I see you faithfully come in here, 85 years young, I say,
it does something for me. It strengthens me. It encourages
me. Faithful in a few things. God's
not requiring you to do great things. Just be faithful in a
few things. You're far from being unimportant. Lady, you think I'm nothing.
I'm nobody. in and of yourself true, but
in Christ, you're an important part of this kingdom, lady. Important enough for God to write
in his book for all eternity, right? Amen. Verse 1, he says, whom I love
in the truth, her lady and her children, whom I love in the
truth, whom I love in the truth, and not I only, but also all
they that have known the truth." Verse 2, "...for the truth's
sake." They love the truth for the truth's sake. That's a good
verse, isn't it, Rick? They love the truth because it's
true. And they love all those who love the truth. What is it
that unites our hearts here in this place? We come from all
walks of life, different backgrounds, and we have different personalities.
I come from Kentucky, and if you went through this crowd,
you'd find people from all over. What brings us here? What is it that unites our hearts?
You see, you'll see me hugging up old Henry there. And we've
come from as diverse backgrounds, Henry, as you can come from,
don't we? Different circumstances, age.
Henry's old, and I'm young. But we're united in love. What is it, Henry? What is it?
We like automobiles. You work in a service station.
I used to work in a service station. It's the truth. And more specifically, it's the
gospel. The gospel is the truth. That's what unites our hearts.
Isn't that the blessed tie that binds? Blessed be the tie that
binds our hearts in Christian love. The fellowship of kindred
minds is just like that above. It's truth, the truth of the
gospel. It unites us in love. It unites us in love, and it
unites us from all walks of life. And you know, it's so amazing, and this is why it's
the truth of God, and it's God's work, is because it makes people
love each other more than they do their own flesh and blood.
That's how you know it's the truth. Husbands and wives, and this
truth is going to last forever, this love This love between brethren
in the truth is going to last forever. Look at verse 2. It's
the truth's sake which dwelleth in us and shall be with us forever. That love and the truth will
be with us forever. Forever. See, husbands are going
to leave their wives, and they do all the time. Wives will leave
their husbands. If not in this life, they will
in death. You young people getting married and saying, I love you,
this is for all eternity. No, it's not. No, no, no, no,
no. No, it's not. Probably won't
last six months. I hope it does. And if it does
last, the last time it's going to end when you get in that grave
or when she gets in the grave. Ain't no marriage and giving
and marriage in heaven. No. Christ is our husband. Only
those that are married to him now will be married to him then.
Husbands and wives, their love was in her, and children and
parents and so forth, but not this one. This is going to remain.
For now, by the faith, hope and love, and the greatest disease
is love. Faith shall pass away, hope, but love will never fade. We'll go on loving the truth,
the truth. We're going to hear the truth
preach the truth. You know that? We're going to hear the truth
preach the truth. And in verse 3, he says, Grace
be with you, mercy and peace. Grace be with you, mercy and
peace from God the Father. Grace, mercy, what do we need
from God? What do we need? What do you
need? Someone may say, Oh, if only
I had my health. Well, you had it once before,
what did you do with it? What good did it do you? You're
getting old. Well, if I only had my youth, what'd you do with
your youth? Well, if I only had money, you'd have that too. Oh,
money, that would, that would really, now that'd take care
of everything, you know. Money makes the world go round.
It may make the world go round. What about when the world stops?
It's going to stop, isn't it? It's going to stop. I tell you
what we need. You say, I may need a new job,
I need an improved situation, I need happiness, all these things
are going to pass. Tell them, old folks. Tell these
young people. Tell them. Youth isn't all it
cracked up to be. It doesn't last too long. It's
gone, isn't it? It came. It passed. Old folks, now what matters? Oh my. Anybody ought to be asking
themselves that. You ought to. Now what do you
need? You're about to go meet God. Now what do you need? Grace,
mercy, and peace. That's what we need. You know? That's what every person in this
room needs. Grace, mercy, and peace, and
it all got to come from God. These are eternal things. These
are eternal things. That's which is temporal, or
that which is seen as temporal, but these things are eternal.
You've given the, these, you teachers have given the young
people this definition of mercy. What is mercy, young people?
You remember? Mercy is not getting what you
deserve. Remember that? Mercy is not getting
what you deserve. All right, here's an illustration.
Say if Andrew, I'm just going to pick on you, Andrew. You're
just there. And say if Andrew's mother says,
Andrew, don't do something, don't do that. If you do that, I'm
going to spank you. All right? If you do that, I'm
going to spank you. Say Andrew does it. You know
what mercy is? Say she says this. Here's a better
illustration. Say she says, Andrew, if you do that, I'm going to
spank you ten times. Ten lashes. Ain't no way she'd
do that. She's too easy. Say she did. Say that ten times. I'll give
you ten lashes, Andrew, if you do that. And Andrew does it. You know what mercy is? If she
just gives him nine. Right? Now, that's mercy. It
is, isn't it? She didn't give him all that
she said he was going to get. Mercy would be if she said, just
give him five. Oh, lots of mercy would be if
she didn't give him any. Didn't give him any. You see,
you know what grace is? Grace is taking Andrew down and
buying him an ice cream cone to boot. Not giving him any spanking,
taking him to Dairy Queen. Now that's grace. He said grace is getting what
you don't deserve. Mercy isn't he didn't get what
he deserved. Grace is giving him what he didn't deserve. He
didn't do anything to earn that. Why'd he get it? Deborah's gracious. She loves him, he said. And peace would be, now Deborah
would have a right to be aggravated with him. She'd frown at him. eat that
old banana split. You don't deserve it. You ought
to get a whipping. I still might give you one. Well,
when you get through with that, God just might. Peace would be
her smiling at that boy. That's a good illustration of
grace, mercy, and peace. Mercy is, God said, you ought
to go to hell. Barnard said, anything this side
of hell is mercy, didn't he? People say, oh, why is this happening
to me? It's God's mercy that more ain't happening. Right? Because we've sinned against
God. We've ignored God all our lives. Haven't given a thought
to the One who clothed us, fed us, gave us our children, gave
us this, gave us that. Never gave a thought to God.
He ought to send us to hell with our shoes on. Right? Mercy is not getting what you
deserve. Grace is sending Christ down
to take your hell for you. Boy, we got what we didn't deserve,
didn't we? Unspeakable gift. I never spoke
on it. I've never been able to speak
on this unspeakable gift. God sending his Son. I've never
been able to rightly declare it. what God has done. I hadn't
seen it, hadn't heard, neither have entered in the hearts of
men the things God's done for it in Christ. Just what God did. Someday we're going to see Barbara.
Someday we're going to see Christ as He is. Someday we're going
to moan like we've been known, and we're going to shout. One
of our ladies said last Sunday, she said, What would you do if
one of us ladies shouted? I said, I'd shout back at you. But you're going to shout and
go away. I'm not encouraging unbridled
enthusiasm here, but ladies, we're all going to be ladies
there, and we're going to do some shouting. Why? Because we're going to enter
into this gospel. Sherry, you're going to enter
into this gospel. You're going to hear it preached.
You're going to see him who is the gospel. Nobody's going to
contain you, and you're not going to want to be contained. Praise
God! Grace, mercy, and peace. Grace,
getting what you don't deserve, and peace is. God's not angry
with you. God's people. Who's he writing
to here? Who's he writing to? The elect, isn't he? The wrath of God abides on the
ungodly. This is not written to every
man without exception. No. God is angry with the wicked
every day. God hates all workers of iniquity.
Any man or woman or young person not in Jesus Christ, God is,
the wrath of God is hanging over their head. And they're over
hell on a shoestring. But in Christ now, God must smile. God loves you. He's smiling at
me, an old sinner. My sin is ever before me. not
before God. John, did you hear what Jesus
said? Well, my sin is never before—it's
not before God. It ain't nowhere to be found.
God said, listen to this. Listen to this. Your sin's an
iniquity. I'll remember no more. No. Gone. I'll separate as far as the East
from the West. Where's that? How far does the
East go? How far does the West go? Where's God? Where's my sin? Gone. He said, Gone, Jesse. Gone, Jesse. The elect in Christ. God, you have peace with God. Peace with God. Why? Because
we make our peace No, don't say that. Isn't that awful? Isn't that blasphemy? It took the blood of God's Son
to make peace with this holy God. This God who demands perfection. It took the blood of God's Son.
He is our peace. God's smiling at me. Why? There's
somebody seated beside Him. He's got his arm around him.
Jesus Christ. He made peace by the blood of
his cross. Isaiah 50. What does that mean? That it pleased the
Lord to bruise him to an unrecognizable state. Barbara, that's what you
deserved at the hands of holy God. Now, that sounds crude,
doesn't it? And the world wouldn't like this,
but that's what it took, because that's what Christ got in your
place. Had you been there and God given
you what you deserved, he'd have stripped you naked and beat you
into an unrecognizable mass of bloody flesh. That's what he'd
do to you, son. And then threw your soul in hell to boot. That's
rough, isn't it? People haven't got the slightest
notion of what sin is all about. The only place we're going to
learn is at Calvary. When Christ was made sin, sin,
you remember that survey on sin in the Roanoke newspaper? You
remember that silly thing? They asked everybody what sin
was. They said sin's this, sin's that. Sin's so bad, people, God's
going to sin people for eternity. to suffer because of it. And he found it on his son. His
son was made sin, and he endured six hours of hell on earth. Well, he says it's from God. This peace comes from God and
from the Lord Jesus Christ who made it, the Son of the Father,
who made this peace with the Father. We're accepted in the
Beloved, the only begotten well-beloved You say it's too good to be true.
No, verse three, no, no, this is true. It's in truth and it's
in love. It's true. And God did it because
he loves you. You understand? God is holy and
he is loved in Christ. He loves you as much as he loves
his son. That's a mystery in it. Huh? That's a mystery. In Christ, though, it's true.
It's in love. Everything he did was because
of his love toward you. Oh, my, greater love hath no
man than this. Well, here's the encouragement,
OK? Here's the encouragement. And
some of you planted a garden, haven't you? You walk out there
in the garden after planting those seeds, you really rejoice,
and you go out there and you see those seeds starting You see those little plants.
I've never grown corn in my life. I've never had enough land. I've
only had a plot, a garden plot about as big as right here. And
you can't grow good corn. They tell me it takes at least
three rows to pollinate itself. And it's got to be pretty thick.
Well, I've got some now, and I planted some corn. And I went
out one day, and he's coming up. And I about did an Indian
dance around him. Corn! I don't know if he's going
to have anything to eat, but nevertheless, it's growing. It's
growing. And I rejoiced, and John rejoiced
that he planted the gospel, and he saw it coming up. Look at
it. He says, He says, I rejoice,
verse 4, greatly that I found that not only you are elect,
but I found you children walking in the truth. Stay with me a few minutes, would
you? Just a few minutes. Young people, I know I've lost
you. It's a miracle if an adult can
stay attentive to the message five minutes, let alone a child.
But here he says he found some children walking in the truth.
Some children believing the gospel. This is a rarity. It's a rarity
back then, I believe. It sure is a rarity today. It's
a rarity in our children believing and walking, living upon the
truth, loving, believing the gospel, worshiping, really worshiping
and rejoicing. That's what this means, really
worshiping and rejoicing in Jesus Christ, really. God granted some children. Oh, my. Oh, how I would rejoice,
and you would, too. One of the ladies called me on
the phone. She was concerned says she's been burdened by about
one of our young men for years now, and seen some encouraging
signs, and we both just wanted to weep together. And, oh, Lord,
she said, I've been praying. I said, I've been too. I know
his parents are. Lord, make him interested. What would it be like if one
of our young people actually believed in gospel? and rejoiced,
and more interested in it than some of this other stuff. Wouldn't you rejoice? Wouldn't
you rejoice, the prodigal son, Lord, to bring a prodigal son
home? Oh, my. Oh, my. The scripture says there is joy
in the presence of the angels when one sinneth repents. It'd
be some joy in here. He says it's the commandment
of God. The children are walking in truth as we receive commandment
from the truth. You children ought to believe
God. Barnard used to say, he said,
we ought to preach expecting men to believe him, not being
surprised when they do. He said, we ought to expect people,
it's God coming, God is. Why don't you believe? It's a commandment of God. Believe. God has commanded men everywhere
to repent. Oh, that they were wise and considered
their ladder in. It's appointed unto men, yes,
and young people wants to die, and after that to judgment. It's
just as true, more true than I'm standing here. It's a commandment
from God. Believe Christ. Christ, yeah,
he's seated on the throne of heaven just because you can't
see him doesn't mean he isn't. These teenagers commit suicide.
They find out. He is. He is. Any of these agnostics or unbelievers
don't believe in him and then pull the trigger. Find out. If you believe so strongly, find
out. He is. God, you who have not known,"
the scripture says, God in whose hand your breath is, this magnificent
creation called the human body. Only a fool would say that God
is not, that Christ is not. God came down in the form of
his Son, Christ. He said a lot of things. We'd
better be listening to him. We'd better believe him. We'd
better come to him. Yes, little children. John found
some, and he said, I rejoice. They were actually walking in
the truth. Actually walking. Walking doesn't mean passive
either, it means a life. They just didn't go and be baptized
like I was when I was twelve years old, baptized, and then
pfft. They were actually rejoicing
in the gospel. Actually, walking. Christ was
their life. Now here's the exhortation now,
verse five. He said, Now I beseech you, lady, I beseech you. I implore
you. It's not I'm not writing something
new under you, Sid. It's not something new, but it's
what you had from the beginning, that we love one another. Christ
said it from the beginning. Love one another. This is my
commandment, Christ said, that you love one another. Now, even
us believers need this over and over again, don't we? Huh? Even believers need this. Do
you need this? John says it. Why does John dwell
on this so much? Why did Christ dwell? The old
flesh loves itself. And Christ said, listen here,
love one another. Why? Because love is the only
true motivation for service, the only true motivation. The
only thing that will cause you to serve this Church is the love
for this gospel, the love for the people. Love is a true mark
of discipleship. Christ said this is the way all
men know, not just because you say your this or that, but you
love one another. It's the testimony of the gospel, much more than what we say. And
people see, hey, those people, as important as it is that we
stand for the truth, and we do, we're not going to back down
an inch, and we're known for that, it's equally as important
that we be known for loving one another. So-and-so left I knew. He didn't say he believed
this and believed that. That's all. See, it's all down
the drain. He loved the gospel. She loved the gospel. And they
said, this is the only gospel, and this is the only place where
the gospel is. Well, they left. Why? See that? The world's going to say, there
ain't nothing to that. It's the testimony of the gospel
and love. It's the truth in love. See that? You see that? See how important
that is? John dwells on it. It's the truth. You've got to have the truth.
You've got to have the gospel in love. Dwelling in love. You see that, John? You see that,
don't you? First John. See that second John? And third John? He dwells on
it all the time. That's what it means. Now, you've
got to have the gospel. It's vital. There's no church
without it. You've got no church without
love, either. Inseparable, unfailing, undying
love. Service. I need that. We all need it. This is the commandment.
Verse six. This is the love. This is love.
We'll walk after his commandment. Walk in love. Love one another.
You heard from the beginning, walk in it. Walk in it. God has ordained peace and love
for his family, and he hates those who disturb it. Hates them. You know what he said in Proverbs
6? God hateth them that sow discord. Isn't
it? I remember when I was a kid.
Any of you kids ever been punished for something your sister or
your brother did? Huh? Y'all were arguing or getting
in a fight or something, and your daddy or mama said it spanked
you both? Or you both got in trouble? Huh?
Why? Why would they do that? And you
pleaded, I didn't do it. She did it, and she was pleading,
I didn't do it, and he did it. One of them didn't do it, but
nevertheless, they were both in it. And mama or daddy punished you
both, huh? Why? They want peace. They want love, and they're going
to do whatever is necessary to obtain it, to the point of spanking
everybody in sight. It was four of us. My dad just
lined up and went, Now shut up! I want peace! Especially traveling
in the car for twenty hours to Florida. Shut up! He never said that, but I know
he thought it. I thought it was one. He wants peace, love. Why can't y'all get along? Why
can't you get along? In the same way with God's family. Why can't you get along? Same
way. Well, he did that. You love Christ as Christ loved
you, no matter what he or she did to you. You love him. He
said, many deceivers. Verse 7, many deceivers are out
there. And here's the warning. Many
deceivers. Many deceivers. Oh, I love you,
brother. I love you. I've been told that
by some people, and later on, it's so obvious they hate my
guts. Many deceivers are entering into
the world, a lot of pretended disciples, a lot of hypocritical
professors. Here's a warning to believers
to beware of deceivers. They're entering into the world.
Now listen, here's Satan's most devious ploy. Listen to me now,
quickly. I'll say this quickly. Satan's,
he is the deceiver. This is a deceiver. You see that,
verse seven, a deceiver and an antichrist. Satan is the principal
spirit of anti-Christ, right? He is the deceptive one. He is the one. He's the deceiver
of men, and his disciples are deceivers. Satan's ministers. And his most devious ploy—listen
to me now. Are you with me? Satan's most devious ploy and
successful ploy is to infiltrate the Church and to pretend to
be one of you. And then he subverts people by
subtleties. Subtle deceptions. I've been
saying this for years. Subtle deceptions, innuendos,
suggestions, and the way he does it, his principal way of doing
it, is with the Bible. He couches everything he says
in biblical language. That's his most devious and successful
ploy. When he enters in, you think
he's want for talent, good words and fair speeches. Deceive the
hearts of the simple. Don't you be deceived, brethren.
And look at it. Look to yourselves. Look to yourselves
that we lose not those things which we have lost. that we receive
a full reward. What things? What things? What
have we been talking about all morning? The gospel we've got
here, the fellowship of the saints, the brethren, love, unity, and
so forth. And you notice it said there,
anybody that says that Christ does not come in the flesh We dealt with that this morning,
and it's signs of the spirit of antichrist that denies deity. Jehovah's Witnesses are antichrists. Paul said that even now there
are many antichrists. Didn't John say that? Many antichrists. He said that in 1 John 2, verse
18. Many. Not just one you have to worry
about, many. Christ said many. shall come in that last day.
Jehovah's Witnesses are all anti-Christ. They deny the deity of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Don't they? Yes, they do. They deny the Godhood of Jesus
Christ. They deny his deity. Any Arminian
gospel is anti-Christ. Anything that says, yes, Christ
saved you, or Christ plus. Anything that says Christ plus,
yes, we believe in God's word plus the Book of Mormon. Antichrist. We believe in Christ plus good
works. Antichrist. Plus. Christ plus. Signs. We
believe in Christ, Jesus, what he did, plus you've got to have
signs in one. Antichrist. Antichrist. And John says, Don't lose what
you have here. Verse 9, Whosoever transgresseth
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, he doesn't have God.
The doctrine of Christ. What's that mean? The doctrine
of Christ, that Christ is God. The doctrine of Christ. I quote
that all the time, don't I? John eight, twenty-four. If you
don't believe I'm he, Christ said, if you believe not that
I am, you're going to die. Who are you? I am. Now, you know,
the Jews knew who he was, said he was saying. God, I'm God.
I'm from above, you're from beneath. If you believe not, you die and
you're sinning, right? Right? Christ is sovereign, a
doctrine of Christ, that Christ elects a people. It says it all
through the Scriptures. Christ saves and Christ alone,
that Christ keeps and Christ alone, that Christ sends his
Spirit and his Spirit speaks of Christ alone. It's all Christ. The doctrines we assist upon
are nothing less than the doctrine of Christ, that Christ is Christ. Christ is Christ. What's that
mean? That he's Christ. What Christ
means is the Messiah. What does the Messiah do? Saves. Not just a leader, not just a
show-how-to, the Savior. That woman at the well said,
When Messiah has come, he'll show us, he'll tell us, he'll
save us. What'd Christ say? I am. I am. He's the Savior. He's all. The
doctrine of Christ is nothing more, nothing less than Christ
and him alone. Anybody who denies this or compromises
this or adds to it or takes away from it is anti-Christ. Right? Anti-Christ. And verses 9 through
11, he says, he warns us, he says, don't you be part and parcel
to this, to anybody that has it. Verse ten, if there come
any unto you and bring not this doctrine, if somebody comes to
your door and they have a little sign that says, Church of the
Latter-day Saints, or a little name tag that says, The Kingdom
Witnesses. If they don't have a sign, if
they got blue pants on and a blue tie and a white shirt, they're bringing this doctrine
to you. You know, the first thing you need to say if you believe
that Jesus Christ is none other than God Almighty, the first
thing you say to them, and they say, well, we believe that, say,
get out. Yeah, but get out. That's what he's saying here. And he
says, don't say goodbye. You know where the word goodbye
comes from? Good, B-Y-E. Good, B-E. Good, God be with
ye. God bless ye. That's where goodbye
came from. God bless ye. Don't tell them,
God bless Tell him, if you don't believe
what I just said, go to hell. Is that too rough, Sam? That's what Paul said, didn't
he? If you don't believe that Jesus
Christ is God, you ought to just go to hell, okay? Is that too
rough, Terry? Paul said it, didn't he? Amen, love not the Lord Jesus
Christ, let him be accursed, let him go to hell. And he will. They will. Oh, that's rough language. Oh, preachers ought not to be
so rough. Oh, they ain't seen rough yet. They ain't seen rough. Jesus Christ is rough on all
those who don't worship him. God is not all love. He is in Christ. Boy, he's all
love in Christ, isn't he? He's all love in Christ. Outside
of Christ, he's wrath. He's a consuming fire. And here's the farewell. It's
just a simple farewell. I've got many things to say to
you, you see, in verse 12. I don't want to keep writing
here. I want to come see you. I trust
to come unto you and speak face to face to you, that our joy,
your joy, my joy, I want to see you in person. Let's discuss
this gospel. Let's talk about these things.
Verse 13, the children of thy elect sister greet thee. There
are some more kids. This is not her flesh-and-blood
sister, but another sister. Evidently, she knew who he was
talking about. Dialect sister. Maybe it was her sister and her
nephews and nieces. Maybe it was. That's glorious,
though. And everyone had something. Oh, by the way, I'm so glad that
Andrew and Jennifer are walking in truth. John could have said,
Oh, I'm so glad to hear that they believe and rejoice in the
gospel and the word. And Cousin Billy, And Cousin
Bobby, they believed it, too. They said, hey, wouldn't Deborah rejoice?
She rejoiced in not their only kid. You're kidding me. Not that
rascal. That's what they say about me
now, Henry. That's what they say about not him. Yeah, him. He believes this gospel. He's
walking in it. He's preaching it. No, no, no way. One man said, I'd be in prison
by seventeen. He was close. He was mighty close. But by the grace of God, I'd
have stayed there. Oh, I would rejoice. Lord, give
us some children. Give us some adults. Give us
some children. But I sure rejoice in you ladies.
You hear that, ladies? Ladies, elect ladies. Grace, mercy, and peace be to
you, from God and from Christ. All right, Joe, did you pick
a hymn out? 187. Men, you're now going to
have to get going and on the road. Lord willing, we'll see
you in a few days. 187? First, second, and fourth stanza.
First, second, and fourth. ♪ Before our fathers' thrones ♪
Before our arien prayers ♪ Our fears, our hopes, our aims, our wants ♪
Our comfort and our cares ♪ When we asunder fall It's a simple thing, but please
help me to rejoin this heart and hope to meet again. I continue
to sing. I'm singing.