Open your Bibles, if you would,
to 2 John. 2 John. We'll continue our study
in this small epistle, personal letter written by John to a dear,
dearly beloved saint, one of the elect of God. He calls her
the elect lady. We'll continue our study in this
letter. Again, written to a certain woman
and her children who are chosen of God. chosen of God. They've been redeemed by the
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and they are born again
by the Holy Spirit of God all according to the power of God.
We looked at the first verse last week where we saw the elder
which could be either John's position or his age both will
fit that he's writing again to a certain lady whom he calls
the elect lady and her children whom he loves in Christ Jesus.
And he brings forth that they are loved also by the brethren,
all the brethren at the end of the verse. Elect in the Greek
is electos, which means, according to Weist, one picked out or chosen. One picked out or chosen. In
Beloved, that can apply to every one of God's people. Isn't that
marvelous? One picked out, chosen. And the reference, of course,
is to the fact that the lady was one of God's elect, one of
the chosen ones of God, being chosen out from among mankind
by the sovereign grace of God for salvation. And we know that
this occurred in eternity, before the foundation of the world,
and it was in Christ. Ephesians chapter 1 makes it
very clear. It says, Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
He hath chosen us. Remember, Paul's writing to blood-bought
saints in Ephesus, and he says, According as He hath chosen us
in Him, being Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love. See in our natural state we are
not holy and we are full of blame. But in Christ we are made holy.
And we are blameless before God in Christ role in the perfect
righteousness of Christ and then Paul goes on the pen. Having
predestinated us on to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself according to the good pleasure of his will. To the
praise of the glory of his grace wherein he had made us accepted
in the beloved. So this elect lady is in Christ
according to the good pleasure of God's will. Every believer
can say the same thing. That we are elected in Christ
before the foundation of the world according to the good pleasure
of God's will. And what do we do? We give all
glory to the great I AM. Listen to this little stanza
from a song, all glory to the great I am who chose me in the
blessed lamb. Whilst millions of the human
race will never know or taste his grace. And blessings on atoning
blood by which I'm reconciled to God. Praise be to the Spirit
given who frees from sin and leads to heaven. Listen to this. I'm going to read those two verses,
the first two again. All glory to the great I am,
that's the Father, that's Jehovah, who chose me in the blessed land,
in Christ, whilst millions of the human race will never know
or taste his grace. What an incredible truth, isn't
it? Election. The election of God. That we
were chosen in Christ. Again, like I always say, never
let it become commonplace, beloved. It's a doctrine that knows no
bounds. It's incredible. Let's read the whole letter tonight
of 2 John in light of that. So we can see the context of
our verses tonight. the elder being John unto the
elect lady and her children whom I love in the truth and not I
only but also all they that have known the truth for the truth
sake which dwells in us and shall be with us forever grace be with
you mercy and peace from God the father and from the Lord
Jesus Christ the son of the father in truth and love I rejoice greatly
that I found of thy children walking in truth as we have received
a commandment from the father. And now I beseech thee, lady,
not as though I were out a new commandment unto thee, but that
which we have had from the beginning with that we that we love one
another. And this is love that we walk
after his commandments. This is the commandment. that,
as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. For many
deceivers are entered into the world and confess not that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver in an Antichrist. Look to yourselves that we lose
not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive
a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son. If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine,
receive him not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed. For
he that biddeth him Godspeed is a partaker of his evil deeds. Having many things to write unto
you, I would not 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 dialect sister greet thee. Amen. Tonight we'll be looking
at verses 2 and 3. Let's read verses 1 to 3 tonight
again, once again. The elder unto the elect lady
and her children whom I love in the truth, and not I only,
but also all they that have known the truth. For the truth's sake
withdraw or which dwelleth in us and shall be with us forever.
Grace be with you, mercy and peace from God the Father and
from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father in truth and
love. Now the admonitions and the warnings
which we see all through this short letter and the assertion
of the truth and the defining of error When he says all those
who deny that Christ has come in the flesh are antichrists
and deceivers, these warnings are applicable to the whole universal
church. Even though it's a letter penned
to a certain lady, it's applicable to the whole body of Christ.
So therefore, we know the recipients of this letter are the members
of Christ's body. they're born again believers
because again it's an admonition there's an admonition for the
believer to love one to love one and this can hardly be applied
to one person because we know it's applied to the church universal
our lord gave us a commandment that we love one another we looked
at last week that this lady was a lady up high-sustaining in
society and even though she were She was of high standing. John
addresses her in a manner that's common to all believers. And
I love this. He calls her the elect lady.
Beloved, we are the elect ones. Now, we don't we don't stretch
our suspenders saying, oh, yeah, I want to know, we humbly say
I'm one of the elect ones. And I'm amazed that God would
have mercy on me. I'm just amazed. And this was
a common way that they greeted each other, which we looked at
last week. But her standing in society and her wealth, it does
not distinguish her from anyone else in the economy of grace.
It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor in grace. It doesn't
distinguish you that way. No. Because before God, she differs
not one from the poorest of the flock. Again, what Brother Scott Richardson
says is so true. The ground at the foot of the
cross is absolutely level. Whatever your standing is in
society, it doesn't matter. We're all needy sinners. We're
all needy sinners. And it's the great equalizer,
isn't it? It is literally the great equalizer. And it produces,
When one's born again, it produces the sweetest of results in the
heart of all its recipients. We're new creatures in Christ.
We're not the same people we were. We're not. So the rich, the poor, the educated,
and the uneducated, the weak, and the strong, all have the
same perfect standing before God in Christ. If you're a believer,
your standing is the same as mine and our standing, imagine
this. I know we often vault people
up. Paul, David, John, they all have
the same standing before God as we do. Isn't that amazing?
That's amazing. That's truly amazing, but it's
true. It's true. God didn't keep records
of all that person did this and that person didn't do this. They're
going to get more of a reward in this. Aren't we thankful that
Christ is our reward? That's an exceeding reward, isn't
it? That's how you can't even put a price on that. Oh, my gosh. So all God's people, his elect
are taken from the same pit. Think of that, too. God saved
us all from the same pit. We were all in the same pit.
We were in the pit of sin. Every one of us. We couldn't
get out. We may have tried by morality, but we just slid down
in the miry clay. We just slid down in the miry
clay. We were all dead and trespassed the sins and had no hope before
God. And we know, though, that we've been shown and taught that
our salvation is all a grace. Spurgeon wrote an excellent book
called All of Grace. I'd recommend you read it. It's
wonderful. Salvation is all of grace from beginning to end.
All of grace. Yeah, we had nothing to do with
it, with our salvation. Again, we are merely receivers
of the grace of God. Merely receivers of the grace
of God. Read Psalm 103 and notice the
word he. Notice what he's done for us.
Look at that sometime. It's absolutely amazing what
He's done for us, what God has done for us. He does it all,
beloved. He does it all, from beginning
to end. Salvation is of the Lord. And we who are, again, who are
the elect of God are recipients of the free and sovereign grace
of God in Christ. We didn't seek it. We didn't
ask for it. It was given to us. Well, praise
be to God, it was. so we see here that the apostle
loves her loves the elect lady loves her children who are born
again who also love the truth in a lot of this love is again
the love of God which is shed abroad in our hearts by God in
all believers possess this law this love is a great love and it comes
from our great God But in our natural condition, we do not
have it. We do not have it. We do not
love God in our natural condition. We do not love the God of the
Bible. We do not love the things of
God. We do not love the fact that
He's Lord, that He's sovereign, which He is. He's sovereign. He's over all. And so John pens
this letter again, he says, the elder unto the elect lady and
her children whom I love in the truth. And not I only, but also
all they that have known the truth. Now let's look at verse
two. For the truth's sake which dwelleth in us and shall be with
us forever. It is if John said, I love you
in the Lord. That's what it's like. It's like
he said, I love you in the Lord, which is what we tell each other,
don't we? We love each other in the Lord. We come from all
different walks of life. We'll look at that later. We
probably would never have had anything to do with each other
in our natural state. We had a dear brother out in
Oregon. He went home to be with the Lord. And he was 78, I think,
when he died. And he said, I'm going to be
honest with you guys. I never would have hung out with any of you. I never would've wanted to be
around any of you. He says, but now you're the only people I
want to be around. And the gospel's the only thing
I want to hear. Isn't that amazing? That's grace. That's grace. Only God can do that. Only God
can do that. He loves her for the truth's
sake, which dwelleth in us and shall be with us forever, the
scripture says. The Apostle John here is expressing
his sincere and heartfelt love. A love which is from God, which
is shed abroad in his heart, and he's expressing the sincere
love that he has for this elect lady and for her children, whom,
again, he loved in the truth. He loved in the truth. And he
brings forth again the joy that he finds in those who walk in
the truth. We as believers love all men.
We're supposed to love our neighbors ourselves. But God gives his
elect a special love for those who are in the family of faith,
for those who are born again. We have a special love for God's
people. It's different. It's totally
different. That's why oftentimes you guys
have heard me say you're my family. I'm closer to you all than I
am to my own blood. They don't want to hear the gospel. They don't want to be around
the gospel. But I can sit with you guys and talk for hours about
our king. That's all that really matters
to me. But my family, I know it's show for you after two hours,
maybe two hours if we're lucky, what after we've done talking
about the weather and the things that that have occurred and and
then it just kinda fades away unfortunately in and and we as
believers yearn to talk about Christ don't we and when the
Lord opens the door we're excited if he opens the door for us to
speak to them but most the time they don't want to hear nothing
so we're all in the same boat aren't we but but praise God
we have a family in Christ with God's people. And this is our
eternal family, beloved. We're going to spend eternity
in glory together. It'll be incredible. This is
just a little foretaste of what it's going to be like. I've had
several people say they wish they could just stay here all
week and we could preach all the time and just have meetings
all the time, but we can't do that, can we? The Lord hasn't
ordained that. But, oh, it's such a blessing
when we get together. It's such a blessing. So this
special bond of love that believers have one for another is a special
bond of truth. And who are we bound together
in? Christ. We're bound together in Christ,
beloved. And we see here that John stresses
this fact by his five references to the truth. In the first four
verses, let's read the first four verses and notice the word
truth is used five times. The elder unto the elect lady
and her children whom I love in the truth and not I only but
also all they that have known the truth. There's a second one
for the truth sake which dwelleth in us shall be with us forever. Grace beyond you and mercy and
peace from God the father. and from the Lord Jesus Christ
and the Son of God in truth, there's a fourth one, in love,
I rejoice greatly, verse four, that I found of thy children
walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the
Father. Five times he brings that word up. It's all the same
word in the Greek. Five times. So the special bond of love,
again, that believers have one for another is in Christ, who
is the truth. Who is the truth. And John stresses
that by these five references in the first four verses of this
epistle. Now, believers do not love each
other because we are temporarily compatible and we do not love
each other because we are naturally drawn to one another. No, we
love one another because of the truth. That's why we love because of
Christ. And that truth, the love of the
truth inspires and enables us. What is each believer supposed
to do? We're to esteem others better
than ourselves. The total opposite of what the
world does. What does the world do? Look
out for number one. Esteem yourself better than everybody
else. But the scripture flips it upside down and says we are
to esteem others better than ourselves. That's not to promote
ourselves. That's not to move ourselves
forward. No. We are to esteem others better
than ourselves. And that's for every believer.
That's for every believer. So the love of the truth inspires
and enables us to esteem others better than ourselves. Listen
to what Paul pens in Galatians and in Titus about this. In Galatians 6, verse 10, he
pens this, as we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto
all men. And that means all men, not just
the family of God, all men, especially unto them which are the household
of faith, but especially to the Lord's people. The house, listen
to that, the household of faith. Why is it called, why are we
called the household of faith? Because we're family. Sister D, your kids all lived
under your home. And that was your household. When we lived at home under our
parents' houses, we were in the household of our parents, weren't
we? And my three brothers and my mom and I were the household.
Sister, you with your family too, you were the household with
your mom and dad. That was the household. And the rest of your
family, we are the household of God. All the elect of all
the ages. We have a family bigger than
we could ever know. Here on earth and in glory. We
just know a few of them here on earth. And we feel blessed
to know them, don't we? And to fellowship with them.
But oh, when we get to glory. There's a number no man can number.
Oh my. Oh my. In Titus chapter 3, Paul
writes this, all that are with me salute thee, greet them that
love us in the faith. Why does he say greet them that
love us in the faith? Because all believers love each
other. That's what distinguishes us. That's what sets us apart. And how do we love each other?
By the love of God, which is shed abroad in our heart, and
we love each other in Christ. We love each other in Christ.
And then he finishes off with, Grace be with you all. Amen.
That's Titus chapter 3, verse 15. And we will see in the study
that truth and love is a constant theme all through this wonderful
letter. And it is set again in contrast. Again, remember we looked at
contrast this weekend. The contrasts are all through
the Scriptures, beloved. It's set, the truth and love
is set in contrast to the era of Antichrist, the false teachers
and the false professors, who claim to abide in the doctrine
of Christ, but do not, they do not. Therefore, they have not
God, because they do not abide in the doctrine of Christ, and
they do not have the Father, and they do not have the Son. Look at this, for the truth's
sake which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us forever, verse
two. for the truth's sake which dwelleth
in us and shall be with us forever." Now the word truth again occurs
five times in these first four verses. It refers both to Christ
and to the doctrine of Christ, because the two cannot be separated.
True doctrine is all about Christ. True doctrine is all about Him.
It cannot be separated. Truth is more than mere facts
about Christ, because Christ is truth incarnate. He's truth
incarnate. Turn, if you would, to John chapter
14. John chapter 14. And then I'll have you turn to
John chapter 18. I'm going to read a section here
in 2 Thessalonians while you're turning there. Do you know that
belief of the truth identifies us as God's elect? Belief of
the truth. Believing the record that God
has given us identifies us as believers. I was talking to someone this
week and they said, how can you tell me that I'm not a believer? And I said, well, what think ye of Christ? Well, the answer I got was, well,
he's a good teacher and, you know, the person went on for
a little while about saying, you know, saying this and that,
what they thought. And I said, let me read you 1st
John, chapter 5, which we just studied, right? Because God's
people believe the record, don't we? And I read that portion of
scripture, and I said, you do not believe the record that God
hath given of His Son. Therefore, I know you're not
saved. and number two the person didn't
really believe they were a sinner. They said oh yeah I'm a sinner
but they really didn't you know after probing and talking. Because
they don't see their need. They don't see their need for
Christ. But for God's people we believe what God says. We
believe what the word of God says we believe we're sinners
we know we're sinners we've been taught that and we know we have
a desperate need for a savior. And we know by God's grace and
mercy that that Savior, the only one who can save is Christ Jesus
our Lord. 1 Thessalonians, it says this,
or 2 Thessalonians 2, 13 and 14. But we are bound to give
thanks always to God for you. And Paul again is writing to
the Thessalonians. He's saying we give thanks to
God for you. And every preacher gives thanks to God for God's
people. Let me tell you, we do, all the
time, all the time. Brethren, beloved of the Lord,
again, divinely loved ones, because God has from the beginning chosen
you, the elect lady, chosen you to salvation, and listen to this,
through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. We believe the record, and the
record speaks of he who is the way, the truth, and the life,
beloved. And by God's grace and by God's mercy, we believe it. And then it says, where unto
he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at John chapter 14.
Look at here what the Lord says here. Jesus saith unto him, I
am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the
Father but by me. Then over in John chapter 4,
it says this, God is the spirit, and they that worship him must
worship him in spirit and in truth. And then in John 8, 32,
it says, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make
you free. That's the truth of the scriptures,
which speak of Christ. And who is the truth? As we just
saw there in John 14, 6. Now turn over to John 8, John
chapter 18. And we will read verses 33 to
40, and look closely at what our Lord tells Pilate, and look
at Pilate's response here. Look at this. John 18, starting
in verse 33. Then Pilate entered into the
judgment hall again and called Jesus and said unto him, Art
thou the king of the Jews? Jesus answered him, Sayest thou
this thing of thyself, or did others tell thee of me? Well, we know the answer to that. Look at verse 18. Pilate answered,
Am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief
priests have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done?" So
there's the answer. Who told him this? Verse 36, Jesus answered, My
kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered
to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from
hence. Pilate therefore said unto him,
Art thou a king? Now right there, beloved, he
just wants a yes or no answer. That's all he's after. Jesus answered, thou sayest that
I'm a king to this end? Was I born? And for this cause
came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth.
There's the truth again. Everyone that is of what? The
truth. Heareth my voice. So our Lord
and Savior answers him, Basically telling him that his conclusion
is correct And he is indeed the king not a king the king He's
the king And beloved God we know that
our Lord was king before he even came to this earth Before he came in the flesh he
was born into this world as king and Savior He came as a high
priest, a priest to offer himself as our sacrifice and atonement.
And he came as king to rule over his kingdom and his covenant
people. And we know that all that are given to him of the
Father are all of the truth. All of the truth. We hear his
voice. We hear the voice of the one
who is the truth, because God's given us ear and ears. And what
do we do? We follow Him who is the truth.
He is the truth. And note here that Pilate had
absolutely no clue that the very one who's standing right there
before him, the very one who's standing right there before him
is truth incarnate. The Lord Jesus Christ, the God
man. Look at verse 38. Pilate saith
unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he
went out from unto the Jews and saith unto them, I find no fault
in him at all. Now, Pilate, we know, was a politician.
He was a politician. He was a governor. He was a politician.
And he's also a skeptic. He's a man of the world. And
he asked Christ what is truth. He asked Christ what is truth.
He had again no idea that the one who is the way, the truth,
and the life is standing right in front of him. The Lord Jesus
Christ, the sent one of God, the Messiah, he had no idea.
See, this is the state of natural man. This was our state before
we were born again. We have no idea who he is. We're blind. He's blind to the
things of God. He's blind to who Christ is.
Remember Joseph and his brothers? They don't have a clue it's Joseph.
Joseph's the type of Christ. He's a picture of Christ, and
we'll see that in our studies as we continue on with that. So we are blind to the things
of Christ, and we see that right here. Blind to the only Savior
of sinners. The only savior of sinners is
standing right in front of Pada and he says, what is truth? My, just shows you how blind
we are. Just shows you how blind we are.
And there is the truth and faithfulness of God. There's the truth and
faithfulness of God incarnate right there, the Lord Jesus Christ. The one who all the promises
are yay and amen in. Standing right before Him. And
He knows not Christ. He knows not Christ. Again, Jesus
Christ Himself is truth. He is the true God. He's the
true God. And the true man. The truth of
all the covenant. Transactions. They're all fulfilled
in Him. All the types and promises and
shadows and prophecies in the Old Testament. They all center in Him. They all end in Him, beloved. Think of this too. He says, what
is truth? Whatever Christ said was truth. He didn't lie. He wasn't a sinner
like we are. So what He told Pilate is the
truth. And we know that true doctrine
comes from Him. It centers in Him. And the Gospel
is truth that comes from God. The Gospel is truth that comes
from God. And it is in the Scriptures which
are the truth. The Gospel is good news of salvation
for sinners in Christ. True salvation. And it's spoken
of in that which is true. These scriptures are the truth. Right here. We always say, don't
give me your opinion. Show me in the scriptures. Show me in that which is true.
And then I'll bow my knee to it. Christ again is truth. Truth. The scripture, the substance
of it, is all true. From beginning to end. And it's
authored, think of this too, it's authored by He who is the
Spirit of truth. God the Holy Spirit is the Spirit
of truth, beloved. and it teaches it is it is he
who is the spirit of truth who teaches God's elect doing it's
he was the spirit of truth who reveals the truth to us otherwise
we'd be just like the Pharisees the Sadducees they
were religious but lost. Pilate was just Just a lost man,
a Gentile dog. So don't matter if you're religious
or Gentile, if you're lost, you're lost. And this book tells us of the
Son of God. It tells us of the Word of God
who dwelt in eternity, the second person of the Trinity. And it
tells us of the manifestation of the Word of God. The Son of God in human nature.
In His name is the Lord Jesus Christ. It speaks of His coming
into this world. Why? To save His people from
their sins. And it tells of the chief sinners. giving all the glory to God for
their salvation. And again, every single believer,
we all believe we're the chief of sinners. Why? It proclaims justification before
God by the righteousness of Christ. That's what this true book proclaims. And it's, again, authored by
he who is the spirit of truth. It tells us a pardon by the precious
blood of the God-man. That the atonement that He made
is so great and so glorious that all the sins of all the elect
of all the ages are remembered no more by God. No more. And then it speaks of the resurrection
of the dead in Christ. So Christ is the truth. He is
the living God. He's the king of kings. He's
the king of the world. He's the king of the universe.
He's king of all things visible and invisible. And we see that our Lord did
not give Pilate a yes or no answer, did he? And we see Pilate didn't wait
for one either. Knowing this, by God's grace
and mercy, the believer in Christ rejoices that God has revealed
Christ to us. Knowing that we were just like
Pilate, dead in trespasses and sins. And praise his mighty name. I was talking to a dear brother
yesterday, talking to Brother Zane, and Brother Zane was saying,
I'm so thankful God didn't leave me where I was. I'm so thankful God didn't leave
me where I was, that he sent a grace preacher. What a blessing, eh? Because
he could have left us where we were, but we were his people. We were his chosen. We didn't
know it. Oh, praise God he didn't leave
us where we were. Because we were dead in trespasses
and sins. But praise God, we've been translated
from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God's dear
son. And how? All by the power of God. Never
forget that. All by the power of God. Notice
that here Pilate says to the Jews, he says, I find in him,
that's Christ, no fault at all. And says, but ye have a custom
that I should release unto you one of the Passover. Will ye
therefore that I release unto you the king of the Jews? They
cried. Then cried they all again, saying,
not this man, but Brabus. Now Brabus was a robber." They hate the Prince of Life. My, let's go back to our text
here. For the true sake which dwelleth
in us, and shall be with us forever. And we see all through this epistle
so far, truth and love. It's repeated in this epistle.
And throughout John's writings, as we saw also in 1 John, because,
you know, they're companions. Truth and love are companions.
You won't find one without the other. You won't find one without
the other. They cannot be separated because
in God, in God is light. There's no darkness in Him at
all. He's the truth. He's the truth. And God is also
love. He's also, look, can't separate
them. Can't separate those attributes. Now people may vault one attribute
over another, but we shouldn't. His attributes are all the same.
He's God Almighty. So the truth is to be cherished. The truth being Christ and the
truth of his word. We're to cherish those as believers. We're to cherish him and we're
to cherish his word. Smith brings forth that this
truth, being Christ in the scriptures, is not merely apprehended by
the intellect, but welcomed in the heart. Welcomed in the heart. Well, think of this. The truth
is a welcome guest in the heart of the Christian because we have
a new heart. God's taken that stony heart
from us that did not want Christ as a guest. And what does this new heart
do now again? You heard me say it many times. I'm going to say
it again. It hungers and thirst after righteousness and Christ
is our righteousness beloved. That old heart didn't hunger
and thirst after Christ. All the new heart does. Oh my. New nature does, doesn't it?
hungers and thirsts after he was called the way, the truth
and the life, our Redeemer, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And remember, he promised to never leave us nor forsake us.
Look at verse two. In light of that, we'll be with
him forever and glory, beloved, all by his abundant mercy and
his abundant grace. Look at this for the truth's
sake, which dwells in us and shall be with us forever. Unceasing. Unceasing. Verse two, believers love one
another also. Look at this, for the truth's
sake, it says in verse two. It says here that believers love
each other for the truth's sake. For Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. The life of
the believer is spent on this cause. For truth's sake. For truth's sake. Because he
or she lives and loves for this cause, the truth's sake. Four little words. In verse two,
four little words before us, but they define the believer's
existence. What would our lives be without
the truth, without Christ? what would our lives be without
the truth? Without Christ? Well, we would not be sitting
and listening to the gospel, would we? No. You couldn't pull me in this
place in my natural state. No, we wouldn't be sitting and
listening to the gospel. We'd have no desire to be with
God's born-again people either, would we? Did we desire to be
with God's people? the blood-bought saints of God? Maybe I wanted to be around religious
people after I got religious, but not the born-again saints
of God. Not those people who believed
in election. Oh my. My goodness. Four little words. And the things we did and the
things we spake They had no eternal value. And if we were left in
that same place, the things that we speak and the things that
we do would have no eternal value. None. None whatsoever. You know why? Because we would
be consumed with the world, and we would be consumed with ourselves. That's the truth. Because that's
what natural man's consumed with. Again, I ask you who are the
children of God, can you imagine your life without the truth,
without Christ? Can you even imagine? We can't
even imagine, can we? Because we look at our old life
and we think, I'm not the same person I used to be. I can't even imagine my life
without Christ. I wonder, to be honest with you,
how I survived without Christ. I know now he kept me. The reason I didn't destroy myself
by wickedness is because he kept me. And it's the same for every
one of God's blood-bought people. It's incredible. Is not everything about the believer
bound up in these four little words, for the truth's sake? Beloved, we are here. Why are
we gathered together? Why does God bring us together
in a body here in Almont, Michigan? Well, we're here to further the
gospel, beloved. And think of this, we get the
blessing of sweet fellowship with one another. But really,
we are here to further the gospel. And the gospel goes out on the
Internet. It's amazing where it goes. The countries where
the messages are, it's absolutely astounding. Out goes the gospel,
though. We're here for the furtherance
of the gospel for God's glory, beloved. And we meet, who do we meet to
hear about? He who is the truth. He who is
the truth, the Lord Jesus Christ. We meet here to hear the truth
proclaimed, right? The gospel of God's salvation
in and through Christ alone. and we support the work for the
furtherance of the truth for the furtherance of the gospel
you know what all else in this world will pass away will pass
away including ourselves but the truth will go on forever
for eternity for eternity whom have I in heaven but thee
see this is what the believer says right whom have I in heaven
but thee No one. No one. When we go to heaven and we'll
be so enamored with Christ, well, we'll get the blessing of seeing
other saints there too, but they're just as enamored with Christ
as we are. We'll just be rejoicing. Oh, it'll be wonderful. It'll
be wonderful. Absolutely incredible. Whom have
I in heaven but thee? And there's none upon this earth
that I desire beside thee. Psalm 73, 25. We don't desire anyone else but
Christ. We love our spouses and we love
our family, but oh, how we love Christ. Oh, how we desire to
see him and be in his presence. Listen to these words. by our
dear brother John in his gospel. In John 17 verses 21 to 24, he
writes this. And think of this in light of
these four words, for the truth's sake, which again dwell within
us and shall be with us forever. Listen to this, John 17 verses
21. If you want to turn there, you can. I'm going to read them,
but you don't have to. John 17 verses 21 to 24, that
they all may be one. Christ is speaking of his bride.
As thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may
be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent
me, and the glory which thou gavest me I have given them,
that they may be one even as we are one. He's the head, we're
the bond. I in them, dwells in us and now
in me he's the head again where the body he's the vine where
the branches that they may be made perfect
in one the only were only perfect in Christ and only because his
righteousness we're not we are the most imperfect means in ourselves
he's got for salvation in Christ, for full atonement, full salvation
in Christ, the forgiveness of all our sins. That they may be perfect in one,
and that the world may know that Thou hast sent me and hast loved
them as Thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also
whom Thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory which Thou hast given me, for Thou lovest me
before the foundation of the world. Let's read verse 3 now, in 2
John. Grace be with you, mercy and
peace from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Son of the Father, in truth and love. I'll read it again. Grace be unto you, mercy and
peace from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Son of the Father, in truth and love. Note that John, by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit of God, has grace come before mercy and peace.
Take note of that. Grace be with you. Mercy and
peace from God the Father. Grace always precedes mercy and
peace. We've obtained mercy by the grace
of God. and we have peace with God through
Christ Jesus our Lord by the grace of God. We are what we are by the grace
of God. Think of this, without the grace
of God there'd be no mercy for the sinner. There'd be no mercy
for the sinner without the grace of God. There'd be no peace with
God. but by the grace of God. Mercy
and peace comes and it all flows from our Heavenly Father, beloved,
in and through Christ to us. It flows from the Father, grace,
mercy and peace, but grace always precedes it. And it flows to
we who are God's people, to us in and through Christ Jesus our
Lord. Grace shall be with you and mercy
shall be with you and peace shall be with you from who? God the
Father. Look at that. Grace be with you,
mercy and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus
Christ. Note who it comes from. We don't
seek it. We don't ask for it. It comes
to us from the father through Christ who is Christ is the son
of the father in truth this grace and mercy and peace
is realized and enjoyed only one way only one way in truth
and love truth and love and it's only enjoyed by the born-again
blood wash It's only enjoyed by us. Not
by worksmongers, because they're constantly trying to do something
to gain merit and favor with God. Oh, but it's sure enjoyed by
God's people, isn't it? Aren't you thankful that you
have obtained mercy from God the Father? And aren't you thankful
that you have peace with God in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ? I sure am. I sure am. Oh my. So John the elder and
beloved disciple is the one who, think of this, John the elder
and beloved disciple is the one who knew the truth, the Lord
Jesus Christ. He saw the truth. He heard the
truth. He laid his head upon the breast
of he who is called the truth. What did he do? He told others
about the truth, about the one who is the truth, the Lord Jesus
Christ. So rejoice, beloved of God. Rejoice
that you know the truth. Rejoice that you know he who
is called the truth, and rejoice that you have had revealed to
you the truth of the scriptures, which point right to Christ,
right to Christ. who is the truth again. And all
this truly is a gift from our glorious God, isn't it? It's
all a gift from our glorious God. And all we can say is Amen. That's all we can say.