Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. If you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to preach from the book of 2 John. It's a short letter, one chapter,
right after 1st, 1st, 2nd, 3rd John. Well, this is 2 John. And
I'm going to start in verse 7 of this book. And the title of the
message is Fellowship of Truth. The Fellowship of Truth. And
what we're concerned with in these verses, as John, writing
by the inspiration of the Spirit, is if we are true believers in
the Lord Jesus Christ, true Christians, sinners saved by grace, with
whom are we to have fellowship? In other words, who are we to
recognize and accept as our brethren in Christ? Because as you know,
over in 1 John 5, in verse 19, he made this statement. This
is 1 John 5, 19. And we know that we are of God. Now, that's referring to believers
in the true church of the Lord Jesus Christ, who know Christ,
who believe in Him, and confess the truth. So he says, and we
know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. Now that's the unbelieving world. They lie in the wicked one, that's
what that means, which is Satan, inspired by Satan. And what he's
saying here is that we have no fellowship with the world, but
we have fellowship with the believers, sinners who have been saved by
grace, brought to faith in Christ. And how, upon what basis, or
by what measure, do we understand how to receive brethren in Christ? Well, in 2 John, verse seven,
he makes this statement. Now, he's already talked about
truth and love. That our fellowship is a fellowship
of truth, and it's a fellowship of love, and you can't have one
without the other. Love and truth. And he says in
verse seven, for many deceivers are entered into the world who
confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is
a deceiver and an antichrist, antichrist. Now these deceivers
that John is speaking of are men and women who claim to be
Christians, who claim to be sinners saved by grace, who claim to
believe the gospel, but they deny particular cardinal doctrines
of the gospel, of the word of God. And in this case, they deny
that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. Now, many scholars
say that that's speaking of people like the Gnostics, who claimed
to believe in Jesus, but they did not believe that he was man.
You see, this is the doctrine of the person of Christ. And
the doctrine of His person states from the Bible that Jesus Christ
is both God and man in one person. He's the God-man. And that's
an astounding truth. But it had to be so in order
for Him to save His people from their sins. And you need to understand
that. The Bible says that he had to
be made like unto his brethren. It says he humbled himself to
become a servant. And he is both God, the second
person of the Trinity. We've talked about the Trinity.
Christ is God, the second person of the Trinity, Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit. He's the Son. And the Son was
made flesh, the scripture says. The Word, John 1, 14, the Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. And so He is God and yet
He is also man without sin. And if you study theology and
you get into the high doctrines as men state them, that's called
the hypostatic union of Christ. In other words, it states it
this way, that Christ is God-man, God manifest in the flesh, the
union of the two natures, the nature of God, the nature of
man, without sin. And they're united together in
the one person of Christ, but there is no mixture of those
natures. It's not a mixture of God and
man. The nature of God and the nature
of man cannot be mixed, but they are united in the person of Christ. You say, well, why do we have
to know all that? Well, here's the point. If Jesus Christ did
not come in the flesh If he did not take unto himself a perfect,
sinless humanity, human body and soul, he could not have saved
his people from their sins. It's stated over in Matthew chapter
1, verse 21, when the angel Gabriel revealed to Joseph that he shouldn't
put away Mary because she was with child, because the child
that was in her womb was of the Holy Spirit. And Gabriel said,
you shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people
from their sins. That human baby in the womb of
the Virgin Mary is the man Christ Jesus. There's one mediator and
one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. He's called the son of man. He's
also the son of God, but that baby, His name shall be called
Jesus which is a name that means God saves or God our salvation. For He shall save His people
from their sins and then if you look at Matthew 1.23 it goes
on to say His name shall be called Emmanuel which being interpreted
is God with us. God manifests in the flesh. So
now here's the point that John's making here, these deceivers,
they claim to believe in Christ But if they deny the humanity
of Christ, they're deceived, and they are deceivers. They're
not Christians. They're anti-Christ. That's how
serious this is. You see, people today really
do not think much of what we call the doctrine of Christ.
because they'll believe, well, you know, you don't have to believe
all this. And I've even heard of people
going into churches and talking with the pastor and the pastor
says, well, we don't preach doctrine here. Well, if you don't preach
doctrine, you don't preach anything. But my friend, doctrine is important. That's how we understand. And
that's how we make a proper judgment. Now don't say you don't judge,
because you do. It's in our very makeup, our
fabric of our being to judge, to make judgments. Who am I going
to listen to? If you're listening to me right
now, you're going to make a judgment over whether or not I'm telling
you the truth or telling you a lie. And you have to do that. So that when you go into a religious
organization, and you sit down and you hear a preacher preach,
and he's going to say things, he might read some scripture,
hopefully you read scripture, because that's what we're supposed
to be preaching. And you have to listen critically, not trying
to find something wrong, but making certain that what you're
hearing is the word of God. So here's a person who comes
along and he says, oh, we all believe in Jesus. We're all Christian. We all believe grace. Well, do
you believe that Jesus is God manifest in the flesh, that he's
God man? Well, no, they say, I don't believe
that he was man. Well, that's a deceiver. That's
antichrist. You say that's being too hard.
Well, you have to take that up with the Lord. This is his word,
okay? Now, but also let me say this
about verse seven. When he says, look at it again,
for many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not
that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. This is a deceiver
and an antichrist. I believe that the issue here
is not just the person of Christ, but also the work of Christ.
What Christ actually accomplished in his obedience unto death as
the surety, the substitute, and the redeemer of his people, the
people whom God gave to him before the foundation of the world.
What did he accomplish? Did he make sinners savable or
bring forth a possibility of salvation? Or did he, as his
name means, did He actually save His people from their sins? This
is the doctrine of Christ. It's the doctrine of His glorious
person, who He is. God manifests in the flesh. Isaiah said in Isaiah 9, unto
us a child is born, that's His humanity. Unto us a son is given,
that's His deity. Bible says in Galatians chapter
4 that in the fullness of the time God sent forth His Son,
that's His deity, made of a woman, that's His humanity, made under
the law, that's His mission. All the conditions of the salvation
of His people required by the law of God were put upon His
shoulders to redeem them that were under the law. So it's his
person and the doctrine of Christ includes the doctrine of his
finished work. What did Jesus Christ accomplish? And so when he says, these deceivers
confess not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, you have
to understand, why did he come in the flesh? Well, he came in
the flesh as the surety of God's people, God's elect, not all
without exception. All the sins of God's chosen
people were imputed to Christ, laid upon Him. He bore our iniquities,
the scripture says. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. And so He came into the world
bearing the sins of His people only by imputation. He was not
a sinner. He was not made to be a sinner.
He never was a sinner, never will be a sinner. But he was
made sin in the sense that he's the surety of God's people, meaning
that our sin-dead, the sin-dead of God's chosen people was placed
upon Christ's account. And in order for him to pay the
debt, he had to die. And in order for him to die,
he had to become man. He had to have a human body.
God cannot die, you can't kill God. You remember these signs
back in the 60s that said God is dead. You can't kill God. Oh, you can put him out of your
mind and you can go around acting like he's dead, but he's not
dead. You can't kill God, he's life. But Christ, the God-man,
had to die in order to pay the sin debt. Justice had to be satisfied
and righteousness had to be established. Now, how did that come about?
The God-man, Jesus Christ, died on the cross as the surety and
the substitute, taking the place of his people under the law to
die as a substitute, and the redeemer, paying the debt of
the sins of his people. So you see there? Now, if you
deny any of that, you claim to be a Christian, and you deny
any of that, you're a deceiver. and an antichrist. So look at
verse eight of 2 John. He says, look to yourselves that
we lose not those things which we have, which we have wrought
or gained. This is not talking about what
we've worked for. but we have worked, and he says,
which we've gained, but that we receive a full reward. Now
that's spoken, not in the sense of, you better watch for it,
or watch it, or guard it, or you're gonna lose it. Because
if you are saved by the grace of God, you cannot lose it. But
that's said in light of those who apostatized, as written back
in 1 John chapter two. those who claim to be Christian,
and then they left the gospel, left the church, and turned against
Christ. And of course, John says in 1
John 2, 18 and 19, they never were saved to begin with. If
you're saved by the grace of God, by the power of God, you
will never lose it. And you say, well, you're preaching
once saved, always saved. I'm preaching if you're saved,
you will always be saved. So he says, be on your guard
against these deceivers. Don't let them infiltrate the
church. Many will come unto you saying
these different things, but you don't want to be dragged away
from the gospel and reveal that you never were saved to begin
with. That's what he means in losing the reward. Receive a
full reward is the reward of grace. That's not rewards in
heaven that we earn by our works. The full reward is final glory
in heaven based upon the righteousness of Christ imputed, charged to
us. And that's part of his work too.
Christ shed his blood as the payment for all the sins of his
people, his sheep, his church, And he provided an everlasting
righteousness of infinite value, whereby God could be just and
justify them. And so we have a righteousness
that he's talking. This is the righteousness of
God revealed in the gospel. So he says, be on your guard
against these deceivers. And listen to what he says in
verse nine. Listen to this, he says, whosoever transgresseth
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. Now, did you see that, read that,
hear that? The basis of true fellowship
is the doctrine of Christ. Now, it's not only doctrine by
itself, but that's where it begins. If I come to a person and we
start talking And I begin talking about the gospel, about who Christ
is, what he did, why he did it, where he is now. And that person
looks at me and says, well, I don't believe that. Then I immediately
know that person is not my brother or my sister in Christ. Now,
my prayer is that if they're one of God's own, that they will
be brought to see the truth. And they will, if they're one
of God's own. But they give no evidence at
that time of being my brother or my sister in Christ. So I
cannot speak peace to them. I cannot embrace them as a brother
or sister in Christ. Now I can love them as a human
being. I can help them and I can tell
them the truth, which is the best thing I could do for them.
But they're not my brother or sister in Christ. And that's
what he's saying here, whosoever transgresseth. Now, what transgression
is he talking about? He says it, and abideth not,
continues not in the doctrine, the teaching, the truth of Christ,
that is the glory of his person and the power of his finished
work, his blood shed as the payment, full payment of all the sins
of his people that ensures their salvation. His righteousness
imputed to us and received by God-given faith by which we are
justified before God. His preserving power. That's what it is now. You can't
believe that you can be saved and then lost and then preach
the doctrine of Christ because Christ is the preserver. He's
the representative, he's the surety, he's the substitute,
he's the redeemer, he's the life giver, he's the preserver, he's
the intercessor of all his people. They shall be saved. So if you
don't continue in that doctrine, you don't have God. What that
means is you're not in fellowship with God. John spoke of that
in 1 John 1, our fellowship is with the Father and the Son because
we walk in the light. That's the truth, that's the
doctrine. But now go on in verse nine, he says, he that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ, he that continues in that truth,
the gospel of God's grace, conditioned on Christ, he hath both the Father
and the Son. He is in fellowship with the
Father and the Son. And it's by the power of the
Spirit, that's fellowship with God. Now, if a person, as evidenced
by their unbelief, does not have fellowship with God, then they
don't have fellowship with God's people. And that's what he comes
up with next here. Look at verse 10. He says, if
there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, this gospel,
this truth, as it is in the word of God, He says, receive him
not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed. Is that too
hard? Well, that's the reality of it.
Now the house here is not referring to your own personal individual
homes. And he's not telling believers
here that you cannot have unbelievers in your home. You may have, some
of you husbands may have a wife that's not a, you might believe
and they're not a believer. You don't have any right to kick
her out of your home. And vice versa, some of you wives may
have husbands who are unbelievers. You may have children who are
unbelievers that live with you. You may have relatives who come
to visit, friends who come to visit. That's not, what this
is talking about is the household of faith, the church. And he's
saying that if they come to you and they don't bring this truth,
this doctrine of the glorious person and the finished work
of Christ, then you're not to receive them into the church
family, the fellowship of faith. You're not to recognize them
as a brother or sister in Christ. And I know people say, well,
this is awful hard doctrine, and it is. But let me give you
an example of our Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. This is
over in Matthew chapter 12. Matthew 12. And at this time,
the Lord, He was going from place to place and He was preaching. And He was preaching one day
in a house with some people. And verse 46, this is Matthew
12, 46. Listen to this. It says, while
He, that is the Lord, yet talked to the people, Behold, his mother,
that's Mary, his human mother, and his brethren, that's their
other children. You know, the Catholic Church
would tell you that Mary didn't have any children. She did. Her
and Joseph had children after the miraculous birth of Jesus.
And he had half-brothers. And it says, behold, his mother
and his brethren, his half brothers, stood without, that is outside
the house, desiring to speak with him. They wanted to talk
with him. And verse 47 says, then one said unto him, a person
went to Christ and said, behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand
without desiring to speak with thee. Look at his answer in verse
48. He said, he answered and said
unto them that told him, who is my mother? And who are my
brethren? What is he talking about? He
knew his mother was Mary, his human mother, and he knew of
his half brothers, but he's making a point here. And it may seem
hard, but it's not hard at all. Here he is preaching the gospel,
calling out his people, His spiritual brethren. They're called, that's
what God's elect, the ones for whom Christ died are called His
brethren. He took upon Him the nature of
His brethren. And He says, who is my mother?
Who are my brethren? Verse 49, and He stretched forth
His hand toward His disciples. true believers who followed him
and said, behold, my mother and my brethren." Now, what is that?
His mother and his spiritual family. He says in verse 50,
for whosoever shall do the will of my father, which is in heaven,
the same as my brother, my sister, my mother, that's my spiritual
family, he says. And he's making a point of this,
the earthly family. though as precious as it is,
it doesn't compare to the spiritual family. The earthly family, it's
temporary, but the spiritual family is forever. And who are
my brethren? Those who do the will of my Father
which is in heaven. Now, what is the will of my Father
which is in heaven? John had spoken of that in 1
John so many times. obey His commandments, do His
will, His revealed will by way of command. What is that? It
is to believe on the Son, believe in Christ, and love the brethren. That's the will of the Father.
That's what He's talking about. He's not saying that my brethren
are those who try to keep the Ten Commandments, because if
that's the case, then we have no brethren. Because that's not
even in the context. It's those who believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and love the brethren. They stay with the
brethren. And he says in verse 11, back
in 2 John, he says, for he that biddeth him Godspeed is a partaker
of his evil deeds. If somebody comes to you without
bringing this true doctrine, claiming to be your brother in
Christ or your sister in Christ, claiming to, asking for support
for their ministry, They come into the church and they don't
bring this doctrine, this gospel of God's grace, free and sovereign
grace. in and by the Lord Jesus Christ,
conditioned on Him, fulfilled by Him, securing the salvation
of every sinner for whom He died in His death, burial, and resurrection,
because that's the fulfillment of righteousness. If they bring
not this doctrine, and you receive them, and you help them, and
you call them your brother or sister, you are a partaker of
their evil. You're in fellowship with their
evil, that's what that means. And that's what he says, don't
receive them in that sense. Now again, you're not to be mean
to them, but you're certainly not to give them a voice in the
church. And you're certainly not to receive them into the
church and support them in their false doctrine. They're deceivers,
they're antichrist. And so he ends this short book
in verse 12. He says, having many things to
write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink, but I trust
to come unto you and speak face to face that our joy may be full. The children of thy lex sister
greet thee. Amen. Now, these are very, very
important issues about brotherhood, about fellowship, about the church,
You know, the word church means called out ones, those who are
called out of the world and brought into the family of God. How are
they called? By the preaching of the gospel,
wherein the righteousness of God is revealed, the merits of
Christ, obedience unto death, imputed to his people. It's by
the preaching of that gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit,
whereby the Spirit gives them life and brings them in. I hope
you'll join us next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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today and may the Lord be with you.